Here are the scores. Here are the highlights:
Yankees 6, Rays 2; Yankees 5, Rays 1: The Yankees swept a big doubleheader against their division rival and that’s super important, blah, blah, blah, but everyone is gonna remember this for Aaron Boone’s over-the-top profane rant against rookie home plate umpire Brennan Miller in Game 1.
It came after Brett Gardner struck out on a 1-2 pitch that, nah, wasn’t a strike, and after an earlier questionable call on a pitch to Aaron Judge. Gardner went back and started smashing his bat around the dugout pretty good and Boone jawed at Miller and got ejected. After the ejection he went out to give Miller what-for:
If you can’t read lips, Boone said “my guys are f***ing savages in that f***ing box and you’re having a piece of s**t start. I feel bad for you. But f***ing get better. That guy is a good pitcher. But our guys are f***ing savages in that box. Our guys are savages in the f***ing box. Tighten it up right now, OK? Tighten this s**t up.
I’m not sure that that really holds up as a cogent argument — the ump should be calling balls and strikes better even if his guys are, I dunno, missionaries up there too — but that’s not the point, of course. It was just some magical stuff that (a) had the immediate impact of lighting a fire under his team; and (b) will no doubt be a go-to rallying cry/joke/t-shirt slogan for the rest of the year. Indeed, I saw people selling t-shirts online with that slogan before the game was even over. The Internet is amazing sometimes.
Marlins 4, Padres 3: Brian Anderson doubled home the winning run in the ninth to give Miami its first walkoff win of the season. That was a big hit on a night when Marlins batters constantly failed with runners in scoring position but they were in a position to win thanks to Marlins pitchers who struck out 15 Padres batters. They took two of three from San Diego
Phillies 7, Dodgers 6: Philly got to the soft underbelly of the mighty Dodgers — the bullpen — and scored four runs off of three L.A. relievers in the seventh inning. Bryce Harper‘s RBI single that inning tied things up and Rhys Hoskins‘ two-run single gave Philly a two-run lead. Harper has been on fire of late. He went 6-for-13 with three doubles, a homer and seven driven in in the four-game set against L.A. and is hitting .313/.404/.521 with ten driven in in 13 games in July.
Red Sox 5, Blue Jays 0: Chris Sale had an excellent outing, tossing six shutout innings while striking out 12. He allowed two hits and two relievers who followed him allowed zero hits in the final three frames. Meanwhile, Rafael Devers and Mookie Betts each hit homers. Devers’ was a three-run shot. Devers has feasted on Blue Jays pitching this year. The AP notes that he has 28 RBI against the Blue Jays in 2019. It’s the most runs batted in for any player against a single opponent in one season since Gary Sheffield drove in 28 runs against the Orioles in 2005. Devers has three more games against Toronto in 2019.
Royals 6, White Sox 5: Jorge Soler hit a two-run homer, Billy Hamilton hit a two-run single and Cheslor Cuthbert had three hits as Kansas City sweept the four-game set and took its sixth of seven games.
Indians 6, Tigers 3: Cleveland keeps rolling. Trevor Bauer struck out ten while working into the seventh, Jordan Luplow and Jose Ramírez each hit two-run homers with Ramírez knocking in three in all. The Indians have won 11 straight games over the toothless Tigers this season.
Cardinals 7, Reds 4: The Reds took a 3-0 lead but the Cards tied it up ad then Tommy Edman hit a grand slam that broke that 3-3 tie. The Cards have won five of six. The Reds have stumbled out of the gate in the second half and have gone from at least nominal contention in the bunched-up Central to eight games back. That was mildly fun while it lasted.
Nationals 13, Braves 4: Stephen Strasburg had himself a game, hitting a three-run home run to cap off an eight-run third inning for the Nats and then adding a two-run single later on. It wasn’t his greatest day on the mound — he allowed three runs and couldn’t get out of the sixth — but his arm didn’t need to carry the day when his bat was doing all that. Víctor Robles and Brian Dozier each drove in a couple as Washington routed Atlanta and pulled to within five and a half in the East.
Twins 6, Athletics 3: Eddie Rosario hit a pinch-hit, go-ahead, three-run homer in the seventh inning and Mitch Garver and C.J. Cron each went deep after him to pad the lead and to stop the A’s five-game winning streak. Kyle Gibson allowed three over seven innings to pick up his ninth win. And here’s a weird thing:
[Athletics starer Mike] Fiers threw only 89 pitches, but the heat factored into manager Bob Melvin’s decision to remove him. Fiers also had the misfortune of glancing at the scoreboard and seeing Gibson’s pitch count of 106, mistakenly believing it was his.
“Mentally, it crushed me,” Fiers said.
We’re all victims of whatever it is our minds do to us, I suppose.
Astros 6, Angels 2: Alex Bregman and George Springer homered while Wade Miley pitched two-run ball into the sixth inning as the Astros earn a series split from the Angels. Springer had four home runs in the four-game series. Mike Trout returned to action L.A. but went 1-for-4 in DH duty.
Brewers 5, Diamondbacks 1: Zach Davies allowed only one run on five hits over seven innings. Dbacks starter Merrill Kelley was even better, line score-wise, allowing one run on three hits and striking out six in his seven innings of work. Milwaukee got to Yoan López in the eighth, however, plating three, and then Ryan Braun homered in the ninth. Lorenzo Cain robbed a homer too, on what was probably the catch of the day yesterday:
Giants 3, Mets 2: The Mets scored one in the first, the Giants scored one in the fourth and it stayed a 1-1 game for 11 more innings. Things heated up in the 16th, though, with a Pete Alonso homer putting the Mets up 2-1. Chris Mazza could not lock it down for New York, though, giving up a leadoff double to Alex Dickerson, an RBI double to Brandon Crawford which tied it up, hit a batter, gave up a single that loaded the bases and then allowed Donovan Solano to smack a walkoff RBI single for the Giants win. Silver lining from the Mets is that they got eight shutout innings from their bullpen. Quantity ain’t everything, though, I suppose.
