Here are the scores. Here are the highlights:
Rockies 5, Athletics 1: Germán Márquez struck out eight over six innings to help the Rockies win their fourth game in their first five contests. Their pitchers have only allowed nine runs in those five games. The Rockies pitchers. Not some hired goons or whatever. What a world.
Rangers 7, Diamondbacks 4: Despite six one-hit shutout innings from Lance Lynn, Texas trailed 4-2 in the bottom of the eighth but a Joey Gallo two-run homer tied it up and the Rangers put three more on the board via an Elvis Andrus two-run single and an RBI single from Nick Solak. Todd Frazier hit his first homer as a Ranger and had two doubles as well.
Nationals 4, Blue Jays 0: A hell of a starting pitching matchup, featuring rookie Nate Pearson tossing five shutout innings, allowing just two hits and two walks while striking out five batters in his major league debut. And he looked damn fine doing it too, painting corners with 97 mph heat:
He was more than matched by Max Scherzer, however, who struck out ten and allowed just three hits while pitching shutout ball into the eighth inning. Each starter was backed by equally stingy bullpen work in regulation, but the wheels fell off of Toronto’s in extras. Shun Yamaguchi was on the hill for the Jays in the top of the 10th. Toronto was the “home” team in this game despite it being in Washington because the 2020 season is basically Calvinball now. And, of course, we had a runner on second to start things because, again, the 2020 season is basically Calvinball. Carter Kieboom and Andrew Stevenson each walked to load the bases, Yamaguchi bore down and struck out the next two batters, but then Adam Eaton hit an infield single scoring one run and Asdrúbal Cabrera broke it wide open with a bases-clearing triple.
White Sox 4, Indians 0: Another genuine pitchers duel, with Zach Plesac of the Indians tossing eight shutout innings while striking out 11 while Lucas Giolito put up goose eggs for six and was backed by shutout relief by three pitchers for three more innings. Brad Hand could not hold things down for Cleveland once coming in in the ninth, though, giving up a leadoff double, walking a guy, hitting another guy, giving up a sac flies, having a batter reach on catcher’s interference of all crap, getting yanked and then watching another sac fly and a Luis Robert two-run single from the bench. Pretty deflating for Plesac, who probably wished he had the 1987 version of his uncle dan out on the mound locking things down for him.
Reds 12, Cubs 7: Mike Moustakas and Nick Senzel each hit homers in their return after their controversial COVID-19 vacations, Nick Castellanos, who was quite vocal the night before about Moustakas and Senzel being out, smacked a grand slam, and the Reds snapped a four-game losing streak. One cool thing happened for the Cubs after the Reds scored all those runs: they turned a triple play. Or at least they were credited with turning a triple play. With the baes loaded in the bottom of the seventh, Kris Bryant appeared to catch a Shogo Akiyama liner on the fly, then stepped on third to double off the runner there before firing across the diamond to first base to triple off the runner there:
If you watch the video he actually caught Akiyama’s liner on a bounce, but the ump missed it and that, for reasons aren’t entirely clear to me, is not reviewable so it stood. Bad night for the Cubs all around so we’ll let ’em have it.
Dodgers 4, Astros 2: Runs were pretty damn hard to come by last night, eh? Here L.A. and Houston each scored one in the second inning but couldn’t get anything else going in regulation. Neither could scratch one across in the 10th despite the runner on second, each of them scratched one across in the 11th, and then it was bupkis again in the 12th. In the 13th, though, Dodgers infielder Rdwin Ríos hit a leadoff homer which, again, per Calvinball rules, scored two and Dodgers reliever Dennis Santana locked it down in the bottom half. That gave L.A. both games in Houston, where the Dodgers’ bullpen combined to allow just one unearned run in 15 innings in the two games. And here we entered this season thinking their bullpen was the big question mark.
Oh, and there were no shenanigans in this one. I suppose Joe Kelly getting an eight-game suspension before the game threw cold water on anyone’s designs on vengeance.
Brewers 3, Pirates 0: Another outstanding start, this one from Brad Woodruff, who allowed one hit — and that was a ticky-tack swinging bunt in the first — and struck out ten while working into the seventh. A two-run homer from Ben Gamel in the third and a solo shot from Keston Hiura in the sixth took care of the scoring. As a team the Pirates are hitting .171 on the year. Not great, Bob.
Braves 7, Rays 4: Atlanta went up 2-0, fell behind 4-2, but then scored five runs between the sixth and seventh innings to snap the Rays’ four-game winning streak. Freddie Freeman was the big bat for Atlanta, homering and driving in three runs on four hits. Not bad for a guy who had COVID-19 a couple of weeks ago and, according to the game story, was “praying for his life” when his fever hit 104.5 at one point.
Tigers 5, Royals 4: The Royals held a 4-0 lead after the top of the third but they wouldn’t score again. JaCoby Jones hit a tie-breaking solo homer in the seventh. Jones doubled twice in the game too. Jonathan Schoop hit a two-run dinger. The Tigers’ bullpen has been strong. They tossed six scoreless on Tuesday night and here they didn’t allow a Royals baserunner for the final four frames.
Red Sox 6, Mets 5: Jacob deGrom looked like, well, Jacob deGrom, allowing two runs over six, but once he left Christian Vázquez hit a solo homer to tie things up at three in the seventh and then hit a two-run single the next inning to extend a one-run lead into a three-run lead. That was key, as the Mets rallied for two more in the final two frames, thanks in part to a Yoenis Céspedes homer, but the Sox held on to snap their four-game losing streak.
The Sox liked playing a road game because, unlike at Fenway Park, where they can’t use their home clubhouse because it’s so cramped and thus have to dress separately in luxury suites, at Citi Field they could all be together. Here’s Nathan Eovaldi talking about that:
“We’re all together here in the clubhouse. We got the mask on. We’re staying same apart and stuff like that, but we’re all together in the clubhouse. And I think that’s what we miss the most. It’s nice having the suites and everything, but I feel like we never see each other.”
As someone who has worked by himself for 11 years and who has met his coworkers in person only a few times, my view is that being together is kinda overrated, but I suppose Eovaldi and I have different jobs.
Yankees 9, Orioles 3: The Yankees were supposed to be playing the Phillies this week but, because the cosmos do not care much for fairness, they were gifted with the Orioles, who give them tough competition about as often as the Washington Generals press the Harlem Globetrotters. Here the Yankees beat the O’s for the 17th straight time and for the 16th straight time at Camden Yards. Whatever. Nothing matters anymore. Gerrit Cole got the win while giving up three and pitching into the seventh. He was backed by homers from D.J. LeMahieu and Aarons Hicks and Judge. Seriously, the Orioles ought to take out a restraining order on the Yankees.
Twins 3, Cardinals 0: Rich Hill made his Twins debut by spinning five shutout innings and four relievers finished the job resulting in a combined three-hit shutout. Nelson Cruz doubled in a run, Eddie Rosario hit a solo homer, and Alex Avila singled one in. More importantly, the Twins looked pretty sweet in their new blues while doing it:
Giants 7, Padres 6: On a night when pitching was the order of the day, Mike Yastrzemski‘s bat came up big. He hit two homers, the first a game-tying solo shot in the third inning and the second a walkoff blast to give the Giants the win. He was 2-for-5 on the night. He’s hitting .409/.500/.773 on the young campaign. Which is silly given such a small sample size but it sounds more badass than “9-for-22.” Donovan Solano had a three-run home run in the eighth and Alex Dickerson also went deep as the Giants
Mariners 10, Angels 7: Kyle Seager drove in three runs as did Dylan Moore, who hit a three-run homer, as the Mariners came back from deficits of 4-1 and 7-6 to win it going away. Shohei Ohtani had a three-run homer, Mike Trout got three hits and Justin Upton hit his 300th career homer in a losing effort. The Angels, as always, flashing that star power an, as always, getting less to show for it than most teams do. They’ve lost four of their six games on the year.
Phillies vs. Yankees; Marlins vs. Orioles — POSTPONED