Hope you had a nice holiday. Now, back to the grind. Here are the scores. Here are the highlights:
Reds 8, Rockies 1: Homer Bailey scattered eight hits and allowed only one run in six innings, picking up his first win since August of last year Jose Peraza, Scott Schebler and Scooter Gennett homered. The Rockies have lost 11 of 13.
Padres 1, Indians 0: Corey Kluber struck out ten dudes and allowed only one run on five hits over eight innings and got the loss. The Padres starter, Trevor Cahill, couldn’t even finish five innings so a guy who threw 12 pitches in two-thirds of an inning got the win. But please, tell me that wins and losses matter for pitchers. Six Padres hurlers combined to shut the Tribe out on five hits. The lone Padres run scored on a fielder’s friggin’ choice.
Royals 7, Mariners 3: Whit Merrifield and Mike Moustakas hit homers and the Royals ganged up on Felix Hernandez for six runs — five earned — in six innings. Hernandez has a 5.04 ERA. The man who once was king?
Brewers 6, Orioles 2: Eric Thames‘ April turned out to be a bit of a fluke — he was never gonna keep that pace up — but he hit two homers yesterday. Stephen Vogt and Travis Shaw did too, backing Jimmy Nelson who allowed one run, unearned, over seven innings. Milwaukee is in first place, three and a half up. It’s July 5, folks.
Athletics 7, White Sox 6: Melky Cabrera singled in a run to tie things up in the top of the ninth but Franklin Barreto, who had been slumping badly — hit a walkoff homer in the bottom half to give the A’s the win. He also hit an RBI triple. Yonder Alonso — who gave Barreto a pep talk just before that triple — hit two homers.
Pirates 3, Phillies 0: Jameson Taillon struck out nine over five innings but used a lot of pitches to do it, so four relievers finished off the shutout. Andrew McCutchen hit two homers, solo shots, both of them. Clint Hurdle on the homers:
“He hit the first one good and the second one more good”
Baseball man.
Rays 6, Cubs 5: The Rays put together a five-run fourth against Jon Lester as the Rays beat the Cubs in their first matchup against Joe Maddon since he skedaddled. Steven Souza and Tim Beckam each drove in two.
Marlins 5, Cardinals 2: Christian Yelich hit a three-run homer off of Lance Lynn. Lynn said this after the game:
“I would like to have that pitch back”
Sorry, Lance. We’ve reviewed your request and it has ben denied on the basis of baseball not working that way.
Twins 5, Angels 4: Byron Buxton had three hits, including a homer. Someone alert the authorities, as we may have a case of identity theft going on here. Kyle Gibson allowed two runs in six and two-thirds innings, walking two and striking out four. The cops should maybe keep an eye on that guy too, actually, because that ain’t the Kyle Gibson I know.
Tigers 5, Giants 3: The Giants’ six-game winning streak comes to an end as Victor Martinez homered and singled in a run and Michael Fulmer allowed three runs over eight innings of work. Miguel Cabrera, left after six innings due to left hip tightness. Manager Brad Ausmus said he expects Cabrera to play on Wednesday night. Cabrera, of course, would play if he had a sucking chest wound and a case of scurvy. Whether it’s a good idea that he plays Wednesday is anyone’s guess, but I’ve come to assume that if Cabrera says he’s aching but OK, he’s injured and if he actually leaves a game due to an injury, he should probably be in a hospital. On one level: admirable. On another level: that’s hurt the Tigers many times in the past.
Blue Jays 4, Yankees 1: CC Sabathia came back from his stint on the DL and couldn’t make it out of the third inning. His counterpart, J.A. Happ, allowed only one run on four hits in six innings. That one run came via an Aaron Judge homer that was an absolute rocket, denting a metal casement above a door behind the left-center field wall. He’s strong.
Nationals 11, Mets 4: Daniel Murphy did what he usually does: kill the Mets. Here he drove in five runs on four hits and Bryce Harper drove in two on three hits as the Nats won in a laugher. Murphy is hitting .341 on the season. He’s hitting .405 against the Mets since leaving them following the 2015 season.
Dodgers 4, Diamondbacks 3: Clayton Kershaw was dominant, taking a no-hitter into the seventh inning, shutting out the Dbacks that long and striking out 11. It was probably good that the no-no got broken up by Chris Owings‘ infield single, because Kershaw was at 100 pitchers or so already. That said, the Dodgers bullpen almost cost the big guy a win here, with Brandon Morrow putting two on in the ninth and then Kenley Jansen allowing a three-run homer to Daniel Descalso. Kershaw hasn’t lost since May 6, by the way. He’s 9-0 in 12 starts since then, with a 1.98 ERA. His 13 wins is tops in the bigs.
Red Sox 11, Rangers 4: Andrew Benintendi had a pretty decent day: 5 hits and two homers, driving in six. I mean, it could’ve been better. When he hit that second homer he already had one, plus a double and a couple of singles, so a triple would’ve given him a cycle. Shame, really. Yu Darvish was selected for the All-Star team the other day. Here he was torched for seven runs on eleven hits. Boston has won six straight.
Astros 16, Braves 4: Jose Altuve homered and drove in four runs, Yuli Gurriel doubled twice to drive in four and Josh Reddick hit a grand slam which, yep, counts as four as well. The Astros win in a romp. Braves rookie Sean Newcomb came into the game with a 1.48 ERA in his first four career starts. He left this one at 3.58. Baseball is hard.
