What's on Tap: Previewing Monday's action - MLB

The Pirates and Rockies kicked Monday off with an afternoon game at PNC Park. It unfortunately saw starter Ryan Vogelsong carted off after he was hit in the head by a Jordan Lyles pitch. We should hear more about Vogelsong’s status this evening.

Later tonight, at 10:10 PM EDT, Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw will take on Reds lefty Brandon Finnegan in a series opener at Dodger Stadium. After Cubs ace Jake Arrieta tossed his second career no-hitter last month, I wrote that Arrieta — not Kershaw — is the best pitcher in baseball. Kershaw has done a terrific job since then of proving me wrong.

Entering tonight’s action, Kershaw is 6-1 with a 1.67 ERA and an 88/4 K/BB ratio in 70 innings. If you divide 88 by four, you get 22. No one has had a strikeout-to-walk ratio that good in baseball ever, and no one has even come close. Twins starter Phil Hughes set the all-time record with 11.625 strikeouts for every one walk back in 2014 with 186 strikeouts and 16 walks in 209 2/3 innings. Bret Saberhagen previously held the record with 11 strikeouts for each walk, and Cliff Lee came close in 2010 at 10.2778.

Kershaw has accrued double-digit strikeouts in each of his last six starts. The record is eight, done by Pedro Martinez in 1999 and Chris Sale last season. He’s facing a Reds team that has struck out 355 times this season, the fifth-highest total in the National League. It seems like a good bet that he’ll make it to seven. If he does, he will then attempt to tie the record next Sunday at Citi Field against the Mets.

[graphiq id=”5S58R5n1uM5″ title=”Clayton Kershaw Career ERA, WHIP and K/BB” width=”600″ height=”514″ url=”https://w.graphiq.com/w/5S58R5n1uM5″ link=”http://baseball-players.pointafter.com/l/8619/Clayton-Kershaw” link_text=”Clayton Kershaw Career ERA, WHIP and K/BB | PointAfter”]

The rest of Monday’s action…

Cleveland Indians (Mike Clevinger) @ Chicago White Sox (Mat Latos), 5:10 PM EDT (Game One)

Cleveland Indians (Cody Anderson) @ Chicago White Sox (Erik Johnson), Time TBD (Game Two)

New York Mets (Bartolo Colon) @ Washington Nationals (Gio Gonzalez), 7:05 PM EDT

Philadelphia Phillies (Vincent Velasquez) @ Detroit Tigers (Mike Pelfrey), 7:10 PM EDT

Tampa Bay Rays (Matt Moore) @ Miami Marlins (Wei-Yin Chen), 7:10 PM EDT

Los Angeles Angels (Nick Tropeano) @ Texas Rangers (Derek Holland), 8:05 PM EDT

Kansas City Royals (Ian Kennedy) @ Minnesota Twins (Ricky Nolasco), 8:10 PM EDT

Chicago Cubs (John Lackey) @ St. Louis Cardinals (Adam Wainwright), 8:15 PM EDT

Oakland Athletics (Rich Hill) @ Seattle Mariners (Taijuan Walker), 10:10 PM EDT

San Diego Padres (Drew Pomeranz) @ San Francisco Giants (Johnny Cueto), 10:15 PM EDT

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SEATTLE (AP) Aaron Judge homered for the third time in two games, Anthony Volpe and Greg Allen also went deep and the New York Yankees stretched their winning streak to four with a 10-2 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday night.

Judge hit a towering fly ball on the first pitch of the seventh inning from reliever Darren McCaughan that carried just enough to clear the fence in left-center field, even if it would not have been a homer at Yankee Stadium.

It was the 18th of the season for Judge, who hit a pair of homers in the series opener on Monday night.

While Judge hitting another homer will get the headlines, it was Volpe’s long ball that broke open the game. With two outs in the third inning, Seattle starter Logan Gilbert caught too much of the plate with a 1-2 slider and Volpe drove the pitch 413 feet for a three-run shot and a 6-0 lead. It was Volpe’s eighth homer of the season and snapped a 2-for-22 slide for the rookie.

Allen, filling in for injured center fielder Harrison Bader, hit his first of the season leading off the fourth inning. Isiah Kiner-Falefa also had a key two-run single in the first inning as the Yankees took advantage of an error to give starter Nestor Cortes a 3-0 advantage before he took the mound.

Kiner-Falefa had another two-run single in the ninth. New York has scored at least 10 runs in three straight games for the first time since Sept. 15-17, 2020.

Cortes (5-2) mostly cruised through five innings, allowing two runs and five hits with six strikeouts. Ty France and Teoscar Hernández had RBI doubles in the fifth inning. Judge nearly stole another hit from Hernández after robbing him of a homer on Monday, but his diving attempt at Hernández’s liner fell for a double.

Gilbert (3-3) lasted just four innings for the second time this season. The five earned runs allowed were a season-high and the four strikeouts matched a season-low.

SEE YA LATER

Seattle catcher Tom Murphy and manager Scott Servais were both ejected by plate umpire Brian Walsh in the sixth inning. Murphy was ejected after yelling toward first base umpire C.B. Bucknor following a check-swing that was called a strike. Servais argued the decision to eject Murphy and was quickly tossed by Walsh. It was the second ejection this season for Servais.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Yankees: Bader (hamstring) was placed on the 10-day IL after leaving Monday’s game in the third inning injuring his right hamstring running out an infield single. OF Franchy Cordero was recalled.

Mariners: McCaughan was recalled from Triple-A Tacoma to add a long reliever to the bullpen. RHP Juan Then was optioned to Tacoma. It was Seattle’s first roster move in 24 days.

UP NEXT

Yankees: RHP Clarke Schmidt (2-5, 5.58) took the loss despite allowing only one earned run over five innings in his last start against Baltimore. Schmidt has gone at least five inning in five of his last seven starts.

Mariners: RHP George Kirby (5-4, 3.43) was knocked around for seven earned runs and four home runs allowed in his last start against Pittsburgh. Both matched career highs.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb and https://twitter.com/AP-Sports

What’s on Tap: Previewing Monday’s action

Aaron Judge hits 18th homer of season, Yankees beat Mariners 10-2