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| Wednesday, June 29 | View in browser | ||||||||||||
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How the Mariners beat the Orioles tonight.
With two outs, JP Crawford took a two-strike pitch to left field to get on first. He drew a lot of pro forma throws over from Felix Bautista.
When Julio Rodriguez eventually got a pitch to hit he smacked it up the middle, off Bautista's glove or leg. Bautista threw it to Mountcastle who had a tag on Rodriguez but lost control of the ball, which bounced off various legs and feet and rolled up the line.
But most spectacularly blunderful, Rodriguez avoided the tag but also missed first base and landed farther from first base when Mountcastle picked up the ball. But for some reason Mountcastle tried to make a play on Crawford going to third rather than simply tag Julio, an easy play.
The runs didn't score until Jesse Winker hit a ball to the top of the right field wall, but that was enough.
Diego Castillo and I thank you Ryan.
In the ADL I find myself with five Mariners hitters (Winker, Suarez, Crawford, Raleigh, Trammel) and Robbie Ray and Diego Castillo (and I traded Paul Sewald). And five Orioles hitters (Hays, Mancini, Mateo, Hays, and I traded for Mullins) plus Dean Kremer. So tonight's nearly no hit fest was a balm for the pitching staff and crushing on the hitting side. No point here, exactly, but watching this game is engaging. And answers the question should I root for my hitters or my pitchers. I'll take 14 scoreless innings and a lot of worthless at bats rather than the other way around.
I won't say it's worth every minute, Peter (the YouTube under Winker) but Wantz trying to explain to Winker why he threw at him is pretty funny.
Definitive analytical video, worth every minute: https://youtu.be/QFUawXZhnlc
Although the Yankees' starters are fully healthy, Sears will make a spot start against the Athletics to give the team's other starters an additional day of rest. Over his first three appearances (one start) of the season, the southpaw struck out seven in seven scoreless innings. Sears is likely to be returned to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre following Tuesday's outing.
It wasn't the cleanest outing but Yajure was able to navigate around a couple of threats from the Nationals, including a bases-loaded jam in the third inning. It was his first MLB start of the year and he lowered his season ERA to 8.16 through 14.1 frames. The 24-year-old threw a season-high 65 pitches, including 41 strikes. Yajure could stick around in the rotation for another start this weekend at home against the Brewers.
Iglesias tagged Dodgers starter Tyler Anderson for a 432-foot, two-run homer in the sixth inning to provide the final two runs of the contest. It was the first long ball of the campaign for the shortstop after he slugged nine homers over 483 at-bats last season. Despite the lack of power in his first year with the Rockies, Iglesias has been a solid offensive contributor with a .298/.346/.381 slash line, 15 doubles, 20 RBI and two steals through 60 games.
For the second straight start Minnesota had McKenzie's number, as half of the hits off the right-hander Monday went for extra bases, including homers by Gary Sanchez and Nick Gordon. Through three outings against the Twins this season, McKenzie has an 8.31 ERA and 3.64 HR/9; against the rest of the league, he sports a 2.86 ERA and 1.29 HR/9.
Homers by Paul Goldschmidt and Juan Yepez accounted for most of the damage off Lopez, marking only the second time this season in 15 starts the right-hander has been taken deep multiple times. Lopez will be happy to put June behind him, as he stumbled to a 5.34 ERA and 1,29 WHIP on the month after posting a 1.83 ERA and 0.98 WHIP through his first 10 outings.
After a couple shaky performances the 40-year-old regained his form, posting his second-highest strikeout total of the season en route to his ninth quality start. Wainwright snapped a streak of six straight outings without a win in the process, and he'll carry a 3.07 ERA, 1.25 WHIP and 76:26 K:BB through 91 innings into his next start.
The rookie is putting the finishing touches on a solid June. Through 24 games on the month, Witt has a .264/.324/.505 slash line with five of his 11 homers and five of his 12 steals, in addition to 14 RBI and 17 runs. While there could be more growing pains ahead, the 22-year-old could also be gearing up for a very big second half.
Even though he reached base in two of his five plate appearances, Arraez's on-base average actually fell to .427 for the season. That mark leads the American League by a wide margin and is just two points behind St. Louis' Paul Goldschmidt for the top OBA in the majors.
Gordon's home run to deep right field built the Twins' lead to seven runs after six innings and effectively salted the game away. He'll be in the lineup for the seventh consecutive contest in the first game of Tuesday's doubleheader in Cleveland, occupying left field while batting seventh. Expect Gordon to continue serving as the Twins' primary left fielder while Trevor Larnach is likely out for the next six weeks after undergoing core-muscle surgery.
Rotowire:
Leon will make the short trip across Ohio to player for the team he hit .136/.296/.242 for in 25 games in 2020. He's yet to appear in a major-league game this season, though that will change Tuesday, as he'll bat eighth and start behind the plate in the first half of the doubleheader against the Twins.
Closer Monkey:
Washington Nationals – Kyle Finnegan was already “hot” in the bullpen and was ready to go in for the top of the 9th in a game the Nationals were initially down 2-1. When they rallied to take the lead, Davey Martinez stuck with his set-up man, knowing he’d be down Tuesday either way, having already gotten loose. The result was Finnegan’s first save of the season.
Hierarchy remains: Rainey | Finnegan | Edwards.
Yesterday's Biggest Play
Batter: Maikel Franco (WSN)
Pitcher: Chris Stratton (PIT)
Situation: Bottom 8th, 2 out, 0-0 count, Runner On 2nd
Score: PIT 2, WSN 1
Home Run (Fly Ball to Deep LF-CF)
2 runs scored on the play, and WSN's win probability increased 59% points, to 85%
WSN went on to win the game, 3-2
It's hard to believe anyone has added more probability to winning games this season than Aaron Judge but Baseball-Reference insists three players have.
Win Prob. Added (WPA) Leaders
Position Players
| Pitchers
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So now Tyler Wells has won his last four in a row. I'm betting the farm against him in his next start.
| Tuesday, June 28 | View in browser | ||||||||||||
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Jun 28, 2022 Top Performers
Pitchers:
Robbie Ray (SEA): 7.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 3 BB, 8 K, 80 GmSc
Patrick Corbin (WSN): 8.0 IP, 1 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 12 K, 78 GmSc
Framber Valdez (HOU): 8.0 IP, 0 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 5 K, 73 GmSc
Dean Kremer (BAL): 7.0 IP, 0 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 5 K, 72 GmSc
Luis Castillo (CIN): 6.0 IP, 0 ER, 5 H, 3 BB, 11 K, 70 GmSc
View All of Yesterday's Pitchers at Baseball-Reference.com