Fan Interference

Prof: Lots of late night, west coast based games yesterday. A bit tough to do my fair share since it’s going into the wee hours, but I’ll give it the old college try. Today’s musical selection is going to be a good old fashioned 60’s jam. Hope you enjoy it!

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Reds 0, Athletics 5 – Scouts: The Reds had more errors than hits as Mike Fiers threw his second no hitter of his career, the 35th pitcher to collect at least two.  Fiers did not go it alone as he had some help via a few spectacular defensive plays, which you’ll see below, including Roman Laureano who pulled a homer back from beyond the wall in the 6th.

 

White Sox 2, Spiders 0 – Prof: I’m not really going to talk about the game per se, but about someone who was the hero of the game. Y’all remember when Lucas Giolito was the Chosen One? He was going to lift the Nationals to the Promised Land. And then… nothing. It was like he was stuck in sand, moving nowhere. Finally, the Nationals gave up on him and he found himself in Chicago. It was a rough road for Giolito, but he seems to be finding himself now. He’s lowered his ERA a full point and a half. In this particular game, he had a shutout going into the eighth, and struck out eight. Good for you, Lucas. Good for you.

Mariners 4, Yankees 5 – Scouts: You know, if the Yankees ever manage to get some of their injured players back, they are going to be in a pretty good position to do some damage this year.  After a 8th inning rally sputtered, they came up big in the 9th.  Down to their final out, Gio Urshela homered in Gleyber Torres, and DJ LeMahieu singled in Cameron Maybin to complete the improbable comeback.

Red Sox 8, Orioles 5 – Scouts: J.D. Martinez was stuck on 199 career homers for the last 62 at bats, but that’s nothing a quick visit to Baltimore couldn’t solve.  Martinez went to deep center in the first scoring a pair.  Xander Bogaerts and Mitch Moreland also homered in the contest despite Baltimore actually putting up something of a fight.

 

Rangers 4, Pirates 5 – Prof: Guys, I didn’t even realize that Hunter Pence was still playing. Where have I been? Anyway, Hunter Pence went 3-3 and drove in all four runs and it still wasn’t enough. It was a two run homer hit by Gregory Polanco that put Pittsburgh over the top.

Twins 3, Blue Jays 0 – Prof: You know who we haven’t talked about in a hot minute? Aaron Sanchez – not the taco guy. But the reason why we haven’t talked about him is because he’s not doing so hot. And he didn’t do so hot in this game, either. I mean, that seems a bit harsh. He pitched the same amount of innings as Twins pitcher Jose Berrios, had one more strikeout than Berrios, but he gave up three runs. Sometimes you can be pretty decent and still lose.

Angels 5, Tigers 2 – Prof: Shohei Ohtani came back from the injured list and served as a designated hitter in last night’s dame. Ohtani was hitless, but he did have an RBI. As in the White Sox recap, I’d like to talk about a particular player as opposed to the actual game itself. That player is the one, the only, the incomparable Andrelton Simmons. Simba is the quintessential defensive shortstop. He might be one of the greatest of all time. He’s certainly the greatest of this generation, hands down. Simba’s worst plays are Gold Glove winners for anyone else. It was a sad day when he left Atlanta and now he’s been with the Angels almost longer than he was in a Braves uniform, which makes me even more sad. Still love you, Simba.

Diamondbacks 3, Rays 6 – Scouts: Can you believe that the Rays are 11 games over .500?  Neither can I.  I know the division isn’t the best so far this year, but what’s going on here?  Who are these guys? Well, for one there’s Brandon Lowe, who won the AL Rookie of the month in April and is hoping to pull down that award again this month.  Lowe lead off the game with a 405 foot homer and the Rays never looked back from there.

Nationals 0, Brewers 6 – Prof: Stephen Strasburg is lit up for four runs, but struck out eleven. This gif says it best:

Anyway, Milwaukee scores all of their runs in the seventh inning. Those four attributed to Strasburg, and then then woeful Nats bullpen came into play, with Dan Jennings coughing up the rest.

Phillies 11, Cardinals 1 – Prof: Bryce Harper has a grand slam, Rhys Hoskins bashes in a solo homer, and more than one fielder’s choice and throwing errors sealed the deal for Philadelphia in this ugly matchup. The surprise is who committed one of the errors – Paul Goldschmidt, who is usually golden at first base. Fun fact – Odubel Herrera doubled due to fan interference! Which one of you were at the game? (hahaha)

Marlins 2, Cubs 5 – Scouts: Kris Bryant had plenty of reason to smile last night as he rounded the bases during a 3-run walk off homer against the sad sack Marlins squad that beat them handily the night before.

 

Royals 12, Astros 2– Prof:  Everyone likes a grand slam, right? How’s about two? That’s right, folks, Kansas City laid Houston out like a Sunday suit with two grand slams last night.

Giants 14, Rockies 4 – Scouts: Mac Williamson has been on a bit of a tear lately.  In his past 23 games in Triple A Sacramento, he’s smoked 9 homers, earning his call-up last-night, where he continued on his tear with yet another homer.  Mac wasn’t the only one to achieve lift-off in Colorado, as Evan Longoria, Kevin Pillar also went deep as the Giants bats absolutely exploded.

Braves 0, Dodgers 9 – Scouts: Woof, things aren’t looking so good for Atlanta as they have completely lost their groove.  Justin Turner found the power again, homering not once, not twice, but thrice.  Meanwhile, the Barves were shutout managing a paltry 4 combined hits.

 

Mets 7, Padres 6 – Scouts: Pete Alonso drove in two runs on a pair of singles, and then to put a cap on an already fine evening, absolutely destroyed a ball, smoking it 449 feet to deep left, bringing his RBI total on the night to 4.