Baseball Chatter 08/05

DIAMONDBACKS

  • Went for over a month without facing a lefty. But they’ve faced them in three of the past four starts – and might see another one next week when the Dodgers visit Chase Field.

  • Had first three-game win streak in more than a month. It was their second win in as many days in a game started by an opposing left-hander, both of whom are former All-Stars.

 

BRAVES

  • Nick Markakis’ hit his sixth home run of the season and first in 16 games sin

    • Past nine games he’s 12-for-27 (.444) with four extra-base hits and six RBIs. That included career hits 2,000 and 2,0001 in Thursday’s 7-4 loss to the Dodgers.

  • R.A. Dickey allowed three hits, three runs and one walk with three strikeouts in six innings and improved to 3-2 with a 2.22 ERA in his past nine starts, after going 1-3 with a 6.23 ERA in his previous eight.

    • Dickey is 6-2 with a 3.30 ERA in 12 starts at SunTrust Park and the Braves are 8-2 in his past 10 home starts

  • Tyler Flowers and Kurt Suzuki make a combined $4.5 million this season, and to say the team is getting more than its money’s worth would be a major understatement.

    • Flowers’ two-run homer in the eighth inning of Tuesday’s 5-3 win against the Dodgers was the majors-leading 10th game-winning RBI for Braves catchers, who ranked second in OPS (.853) behind Cubs catchers (.862) and second in OBP (.365) behind Giants catchers (.366) before Friday. 

    • Braves catchers were also tied for third in homers (20), fourth in RBIs (67), tied for fourth in go-ahead RBIs (14), fifth in average (.285) and fifth in slugging percentage (.487).

 

ORIOLES

  • Kevin Gausman had a 6.39 ERA after getting bombed by the Chicago Cubs on the first day of the second half of the season, but since then has allowed two runs on 19 hits with 32 strikeouts against nine walks over four starts to lower his ERA to 5.15 on the season

  • Tim Beckham hit a home run in his first at-bat and three singles for a 4-for-4 day, the newly-acquired shortstop made it four straight multihit games since coming to Baltimore from the Tampa Bay Rays.

 

RED SOX

  • Boston has won three straight for the first time since winning six in a row from June 29-July 4. Despite a shaky July, the victory Thursday combined with Cleveland’s win over the Yankees gave the Red Sox a two-game lead in the AL East.

  • Andrew Benintendi, who sat out the last two games, surged out of an 8-for-54 slump with a ground-rule double to the triangle in center field in the first.

 

WHITE SOX

  • It was the fourth time Carlos Rodon struck out a career-high 11 and the longest outing of his career without a walk. He has 30 strikeouts in his last three starts, but he set out to attack the strike zone early, and this one was his most efficient.

 

CUBS

  • Kyle Hendricks (4-4), who worked seven innings, his longest start since May 24. But he allowed two homers in a game for the third time this season. He allowed that many only three times in his career before this year.

  • Cubs won’t face the Nats best pitching.

    • Stephen Strasburg is on the DL with a nerve impingement in his right elbow

    • Gio Gonzalez, who was supposed to start Saturday, is going on paternity leave.

    • Max Scherzer last pitched Tuesday, so he’s missing the series.

 

INDIANS

  • The Indians (59-48) have won nine consecutive home games.

    • They have won 11 of 14 overall.

  • Over his last 18 games, Austin Jackson has produced a .391/.473/.547 slash line, with 26 hits and 10 walks in 74 plate appearances.

  • Only Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, Nolan Ryan and Corey Kluber have rattled off 12 consecutive starts with eight or more strikeouts

  • Terry Francona, for the immediate future, doesn’t have Andrew Miller to use at the first sign of trouble in the late innings. But he does have Cody Allen.

    • Before Allen became a fulltime closer, Francona used him much the same way he’s used Miller, who is on the disabled list with patella tendinitis in the right knee. When there was trouble, no matter if it was in the sixth or seventh inning, Allen would usually get the call.

    • Francona has told Allen to get ready to step into his old role.

I told Cody that, depending on how much he’s pitched, we might use him earlier in the game because you hate to wait around for the ninth inning and not get there (with a lead),” said Francona. “I’d have to feel like we have a legitimate guy to pitch the ninth inning.Terry Francona

The leading candidates to replace Allen in the ninth would by Bryan Shaw and newly-acquired Joe Smith. Shaw has two saves this season, but only 10 in his career. Smith doesn’t have a save this year, but has 29 in his career. He saved 15 games for the Angels in 2014.

 

ROCKIES

  • Gerardo Parra went 1-for-2 and has now hit safely in 14 of his last 15 games.

    • He’s batting batting .436 (24-for-55) with 10 runs, seven doubles, two home runs, 14 RBIs and five walks over that span.

 

ASTROS

  • The only American League team yet to lose four consecutive games this season.

    • Their bats forced Toronto (51-58) to cycle through six pitchers in eight innings, including three in the fourth. Each of the six allowed at least a run.

  • J.R. Reed sent back to AAA

 

TIGERS

  • Justin Verlander got 16 swings and misses (nine with his fastball) and 18 called strikes (11 with his fastball).

    • He struck out Chris Davis three times, with a fastball swinging, a curveball looking and a 98-mph fastball swinging.

 

ANGELS

  • The Angels are back at .500 for the first time since July 2, pulled within two games of the Kansas City Royals for the American League’s second wild card spot. The Tampa Bay Rays and Seattle Mariners are in between the Angels and Royals.

 

DODGERS

  • Yu Darvish is the first Dodgers pitcher since 1900 to strike out 10 or more and walk one or fewer in his first start for the team.

    • Darvish went beyond his more recent peers as well. According to ESPN Stats and Info, Darvish was the 10th starting pitcher since 1990 to be traded at midseason in a year during which he was selected to the All-Star Game.

    • Darvish’s nine predecessors in that group had posted a 5-1 record in their first starts for a new team but with a 4.40 ERA and 1.42 WHIP.

  • Manager Dave Roberts said skipping Alex Wood for a start is “a possibility but it’s unlikely” despite Wood’s velocity and stuff being “a tick down” in Thursday’s win over his former team, the Atlanta Braves.

    • The Dodgers have taken it easy on Wood this season. Only four of his 17 starts have come on the traditional four days’ rest. He had five days off before the start in Atlanta. He got an extended break in early June when the Dodgers placed him on the DL with sternoclavicular joint inflammation in his left shoulder. But Wood might benefit from another little break.

    • Since starting the season with a fastball averaging 94 mph and touching 96 – above his career norms – Brooks Baseball.net shows Wood’s average fastball velocity has dropped each month. It was down to 91.9 mph in July.

    • Thursday, he crossed the 100-inning mark for the season and averaged 91.5 mph on his fastball against the Braves. Roberts also noted a lack of “late life” on his pitches.

 

MARLINS

  • Marlins don’t always win when Giancarlo Stanton is giving them the long ball, going 17-9 in those games in which he’s homered twice.

 

BREWERS

  • Brandon Woodruff became the fifth Brewer to make his major-league debut this season, joining Paolo Espino (May 19), Brett Phillips (June 5), Josh Hader (June 10) and Brinson (June 11). 

    • Woodruff got better as the game went along and wound up tossing a quality start his first time out,

 

METS

  • Jacob  deGrom (12-5) labored through five innings — he wanted to go six, but was lifted for a pinch hitter in the fifth. He threw 99 pitches — 81 through the first three innings.

  • Amed Rosario went 1-for-3, pulling a quick-bat single inside the third-base line in the fifth inning before stealing his first base with a 29.4 sprint speed (feet per second) that is the fastest recorded on a steal by any Met this season, according to MLB.com.

 

YANKEES

  • In their past 48 games, nearly half of their season, the Yankees are 19-29.

  • Gary Sanchez as his major league-leading 12th passed ball and a pair of wild pitches pushed the Yankees toward a 7-2 loss to the Indians, their fourth straight and fifth in six games.

 

TWINS

  • At 44 years and 72 days, Bartolo Colon is the oldest American League player to win a complete game since Nolan Ryan (45 years and 155 days) on July 4, 1992.

    • In his fourth start for Minnesota, Bartolo Colon (3-9) scattered nine hits and allowed four earned runs for his 37th career complete game and first since Sept. 5, 2015 with the New York Mets. He struck out five and walked one for his first win in nine starts since May 15 with Atlanta.

 

A’s

  • The A’s enter this weekend’s series as one of four teams in the American League that do not have a complete game from their pitching staff.

    • Kendell Graveman threw the last one, Aug. 19 in Chicago against the White Sox, 149 games ago.

    • The franchise record for the longest streak without a complete game is 151, from July 9, 2008 to July 5, 2009.

  • Oakland ended July leading the major leagues with 112 walks but compiled the majors’ third-lowest average in the month, .231.

    • That average was the fourth-lowest for July in club history. The A’s also set a franchise record by striking out 229 times last month.

    • Oakland also established franchise records for strikeouts in each of the past three months.

GIANTS

  • Rookie outfielder Austin Slater, who injured his hip on July 9 and was expected to miss at least 10 weeks, is progressing a bit faster than expected, Bochy said, and could be ready to play by the start of September.

    • The former Stanford star was batting .290 in 29 games this season.

 

PHILLIES

  • Dylan Cozens, who is on the 40-man roster but is hitting .223 with 23 homers and 149 strikeouts in 386 at-bats, is not an option.

    • Neither is Roman Quinn, who has been sidelined since May with a ligament injury to his non-throwing elbow.

 

PIRATES

  • Josh Bell entered Friday with an RBI in four consecutive games and 11 RBIs in his past 12.

    • The rookie first baseman has been so productive driving in runs lately that, since June 28, only the Colorado Rockies’ Nolan Arenado (37), the Chicago Cubs’ Willson Contreras (30) and the Miami Marlins’ Marcell Ozuna (30) have had more RBIs in the National League than Bell (25).

 

CARDINALS

  • The Cardinals began the final third, 54 games, of their season Friday against a Cincinnati team whose earned run average (5.96) was nearly a run higher than any other team in the National League.

  • Cardinals are just 4½ games behind division-leading Chicago, even after losing 3-2.

 

RANGERS

  • Since coming off the disabled list July 3, Martin Perez has a 7.27 ERA and one win in six starts.

    • He allowed seven earned runs in 4 2/3 innings, dropping to 0-4 with a 9.41 ERA in his last four starts.

 

RAYS

  • Blake Snell was optioned to Triple-A Durham on Friday because the Rays needed a fresh arm for a heavily used bullpen and because, well, the left-hander earned it.

    • Snell, 0-6 with a 4.98 ERA in 14 starts during his sophomore season, pitched a combined 91/3 innings on the recent road trip, including only four during his Thursday night start in Houston.

    • The move could mean RHP Austin Pruitt will remain in the rotation. Cash said he did not know what the demotion means for Snell — if he will return at some point later in the year, or if he will remain with the Bulls for the remainder of their season and call it a year.

    • Cash did say Snell’s second demotion this season had as much to do with the team wanting to help the bullpen as it did with wanting Snell to get more work in an environment where he won’t hurt the big-league club’s chances of reaching the postseason.

 

NATIONALS
  • In his last 10 games at Wrigley, including the playoffs, Daniel Murphy is batting .526 (20-for-38) with four home runs and six RBI.

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