Scouts: I’ll be honest, I got nothing for you today. There’s nothing good going on in the world that isn’t political, and after writing so many of these, there are days where you just can’t come up with anything good. So help me out in the comments.
Mets 4, Phillies 5 F/10 – Scouts: Gabe Kepler texted Jay Bruce on Wednesday and asked the sluggers permission to rest him as they had a run of right-handed pitchers on the horizon. Bruce declined. Man baseball sure has changed. Anyways, it all worked out for the Phillies as Bruce hit a walk-off double in the 10th to win the game. After his hit, when he next passed Kepler, Kepler got a simple “I told you so” from Bruce.
Nationals 7, Marlins 5 – Scouts: Miami scored 4 runs in the bottom of the 9th, which would have been enough to win the game. If only they hadn’t given up 3 in the top of the same frame. The three runs came as a result of a Wild Pitch, Sacrifice Fly, and Passed Ball.
Athletics 2, Cardinals 0 – Scouts: Daniel Mengden and Beau Taylor are both fighting for a rotation spot in Oakland, and Mengden made a pretty good case for himself, out dueling Adam Wainwright to the tune of 4 hits over 6 shutout innings. The bullpen was able to come in and hold down the narrow lead as Oakland got a much needed win.
Mariners 4, Brewers 2 – Scouts: Look at that, Seattle’s getting hot again and starting to win some ballgames. After what felt like a month or two where they couldn’t lose, followed by a month or two where they couldn’t win, the M’s are back on the winning side of things. And for the most part they are doing it against good squads. J.P. Crawford was instrumental in this one, going 3-5 with 3 RBI’s
Braves 5, Cubs 3 – Scouts: Dallas Keuchel picked up his first win as a Brave after a 8 hit, 5.2 inning, 3 run performance. Good, but not you know, super great. Still a step up over what they had before. Nick Markakis seemed to be happy, and his 3 run homer in the third is what gave the Braves the insurance runs they needed to put it into cruise control.
Reds 1, Angels 5 – Prof: The Angels have a winning record now – one game over .500. Trout and Ohtani, of course, had a hand in it, but the lion’s share of the glory goes to my thicccc boy, Justin “The Big Buckin’ Chicken” Bour. The new husband and soon-to-be dad made the most of his time in the lineup with two home runs.
Pirates 14, Astros 2 – Scouts: Oh boy, this is what we call an old fashioned whoopin’. The Pirates had the game well in hand scoring two runs in each the first, second, third, and sixth innings. But that wasn’t enough for them as they nearly doubled their score in the 9th, adding 6 more runs and turning an already easy win into an embarrassment.
Rays 4, Twins 6 – Scouts: The Twins got a really bad break when Eddie Rosario had to leave the game with an ankle injury, but that wouldn’t keep them down on this day. Minnesota rallied to pickup 3 runs in the 7th and ensure that something positive would come out of the day.
White Sox 8, Red Sox 7 – Scouts: Boston once again can’t do enough to get a key win, dropping another to a team they really should be beating. Jose Abreu, who already had two RBI’s on the night, knocked in a two run dinger in the 9th, as Boston watched another lead vaporize.
Blue Jays 7, Yankees 8 – Prof: [Channels Zoolander] Like Billy Zane said, it’s a walk off. It was neck and neck between Toronto and New York. But that Gleyber Torres…so hot right now. It was his RBI single that won the game. Now, who else was serving Blue Steel realness? Well, Didi Gregorius and DJ LeMahieu both homered, extending the major league record for consecutive games with a home run.
Royals 3, Spiders 5 – Prof: The Royals hit a buzz saw named Trevor Bauer. The Noted Drone Enthusiast stuck out a season high twelve BBQ Boys in 6 2/3 innings. Jake Bauers (no relation) and Tyler Naquin both hit solo dingers.
Padres 10, Orioles 5 – Scouts: Another ballgame, another 5 homers surrendered by the O’s pitching staff. Greg Garcia, Franmil Reyes, Franmil Reyes again, Eric Hosmer, and finally Hunter Renfroe all went yard in Camden. Dylan Bundy is now 3-10 and sporting a 4.91 ERA.
Dodgers 2, Diamondbacks 8 – Prof: Whew, y’all. The Diamondbacks were hot from the jump, getting four runs before the Dodgers even knew what hit them. Eduardo Escobar hit a three run homer in the first inning and it was all gravy from there. For Los Angeles, Cody Bellinger had his own homer, but it was too little, too late.
Rockies 6, Giants 3 – Prof: David Dahl hit a grand slam and drove in five runs total (a career high). The Giants are a sad shell of themselves.
Rangers 4, Tigers 1 – Prof: He’s going the distance! He’s going for speed! Not really, but Mike Minor really did go the distance, pitching an effective complete game (his second of the season). The former Braves great struck out seven and only allowed five hits. And speaking of hits, WHAM WHAM WHAM in the fifth inning – three Ranger jacks and that’s all, folks.
Fan Interference 
On May 8 the Tiggers were surprisingly close to .500 at 16-17. Since then they’ve gone 10-32 (including 1-9 in their last 10), a .238 win percentage. If they continue that for the remaining 87 games they’ll finish 47-115. It may not even be possible for them to make it to that mark considering they will likely trade Shane Greene (21 saves for a team that has won 26 games total) and Matthew Boyd (6th in K’s and 15th in WHIP in MLB). There’s a great chance they eclipse the 2003 Tiggers for worst team record ever. They’re so bad I willing watched 3 guys speak Spanish last night instead of them.
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“Miami scored 4 runs in the bottom of the 9th, which would have been enough to win the game.”
This statement is technically true, although if it had been 4-1 entering the bottom of the 9th, rather than 7-1, Javy Guerra wouldn’t have had a chance to surrender a run and load the bases before yielding to Sean Doolittle with two outs in the 9th. The good doctor gave up a bases-clearing triple to make it 7-5 before getting a strikeout to end the game.
Prior to that, the Nats were baffled for five innings by someone named Zac Gallen. I could see from my couch in VA that Gallen was fairly predictable in his pitch sequencing. First pitch fastball with little movement, then a steady diet of cutters/breaking stuff that had the Nats on their heels for five innings. In the sixth, they finally figured out that swinging at the fastball was the right way to go, and they chased him in short order. Kid’s got filthy stuff, though, so if he can be less predictable with it, he may have a future.
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Takes a couple of years for the crafty ones to learn how to fool guys, but once they do, it’s on like Donkey Kong. Just need an old guy to teach him some pitcher juju 😂
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Gallen was leading AAA in just about every stat so it was only a matter of time before they brought him up. I don’t think the Gnats “figured him out” as much as his fastball, which is usually pretty lively itself, went flat by the sixth inning; he had lost a few MPH orf it which should have raised a flag for any manager with a mind in his brain. Gallen has a tendency to overhype himself and gets winded midgame. Jar Jar Baseball, as is his wont, didn’t get the message after the first two batters hit Gallen’s first two pitches in the inning, and of course he then brought in the Gopher King to pour gasoline on the fire.
Then, too, the Gnats seem to have let it sink in they need to get on their horses if they want to nab a wild card slot. Teams with something to win for will usually start powering up about this time of the season. Teams going nowhere may have pride but that usually won’t surmount awakening talent across the lines.
Even so, If I were a wealthy Gnats fan, though, I might donate a few rocking chairs to the boolpen given all the recent silver haired scrapheap acquisitions. I doubt if too many folks don’t realize this boolpen will get gnawed to pieces like a Michael Vick chew toy if the front orifice doesn’t make at least one solid trade for another piece soon.
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“I doubt if too many folks don’t realize this boolpen will get gnawed to pieces like a Michael Vick chew toy if the front orifice doesn’t make at least one solid trade for another piece soon.”
We are aware of the vast shortcomings in the ‘pen, to the point that a number of us still think that the team should sell in July, not buy, because the cupboard is kind of bare in the minors.
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I think it’ll depend on how close to a postseason slot the Gnats are. They’d probably figure they could make it into October with a rental arm, or even a stud piece, and then whether they do or not they’ll blow it up and sell over the orfseason. As of tonight it looks like they’re going to climb over the strange attractor, so here it is – an old friend we’ve been missing:
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