Scouts: Sorry folks, I’m not feeling too hot today, so you’ll have to come up with your own topic of the day.
Red Sox 5, Spiders 6 – Scouts: They Spiders are starting to heat up at just the right time. They took advantage of the Twins’ day off and walked it off against the Sox to finish the day in first place. Carlos Santana homered to cap off the evening.
Orioles 5, Yankees 8 (Game 1) – Prof: A doubleheader between AL East teams, one with hopes and dreams, the other languishing on the ash heap of sadness and failure. Four home runs in game one for New York. If I were Trey Mancini, I’d probably cry after every game out of pure frustration. No matter what he does, it’s not enough.
Orioles 8, Yankees 11 (Game 2) – Prof: I wanted to weave the brutality of this series into a narrative of The Wire, Omar, or even the combined works of John Waters, but there’s nothing that inspires the level of depression and despair that this Orioles team projects. Gleyber Torres is the boogeyman, hitting three more home runs in this second game of the doubleheader. All told, the Yankees set a record 59 dingers against the Birds this season.
Rangers 4, Blue Jays 19 – Prof: Meep! Pick an inning; Toronto probably scored in it. There was a grand slam in the fourth and that wasn’t even what pushed it over into ridiculous territory. Let’s check in with G Unit and the Baby B’s:
- Bo Bichette – 4-6 (1 RBI)
- Cavan Biggio – 2-6 (2 RBI)
- Vlad Jr – 2-4 (1 RBI)
- Randal Grichuk – 3-5 (4 RBI, including a solo homer)
Diamondbacks 8, Rockies 6 – Scouts: Arizona called up Joshua Rojas who’s been on a tear lately, and he continued to impress starting things off going 2-4 and igniting a rally. Arizona may not be completely out of it, but they sure will need a lot of work to catch-up this year and it starts with break out performances like Rojas.
Pirates 10, Angels 2 – Scouts: The Bucs snapped an 8 game losing streak by getting things done, in every aspect of the game. Four homers, all while the pitching staff held the Angels to just a pair of runs.
Rays 10, Padres 4 – Scouts: With the win the Rays find themselves 20 games over .500 for the first time since 2013. It’s a shame they still can’t get anyone out to come watch them play. Matt Duffy went 4-4 with 3 RBI’s in the win.
Reds 6, Nationals 7 – Prof: The Treat Urner hit a three run bomb and Matt Adams went yard as well, and the exhausted Curly Dubs held off Cincinnati’s late inning rally to secure victory.
Astros, White Sox – PPD
Fan Interference 
Another night, another emotional roller coaster for the Nats bullpen.
Erick Fedde held the Reds to two runs over six, and it was 6-2 Nats when he departed. Javy Guerra, making his first appearance since being DFA’d, going unclaimed, getting assigned to the minors, and recalled after the Roenis Elias baserunning misadventure, pitched a scoreless 7th, but the opening bars of “Gimme Shelter” played over the in-stadium P.A. at the beginning of his inning, and that was a harbinger of things to come. The Nats extended the lead to 7-2 in the 7th, and it looked insurmountable, but in the words of Bob Ryan, “Not so fast, my friend…”
Tanner Rainey had the 8th, and while the kid has shown a fastball in the upper 90s (although one that’s pretty much string-straight) and a wipeout slider, he’s struggled to be sharp when pitching the second day in a row, which is what he was asked to do last night. He gave up a two-run home to Aristides Aquino, he of the .429 average with 8 HRs in 35 ABs, and suddenly it was 7-4.
The Nats didn’t score in the 8th, and so because it was a save situation, that meant that Closer(tm) Sean Doolittle got the 9th, because by the book is how we roll. Granted, Hunter Strickland and Daniel Hudson, both viable alternatives, were unavailable (as was Wander Suero, who’s not quite a viable 9th inning alternative), but Fernando Rodney was fresh, and Doolittle’s been looking a bit frayed lately, but nonetheless, he was brought in to pitch for the 5th time in the last seven games. He somehow managed to survive, only giving up two runs and ending the game with two guys on base, so the Nats got a win, and he got a “save”, but damn…
(In totally unrelated news, word comes today that the Nats have signed Greg Holland to a minor league deal, to see if he has anything left, or if he can replicate his relative success in a Nats uniform from last year.)
The Nats now have a bullpen with plenty of veteran guys that throw hard and aren’t afraid to challenge hitters, and Davey needs to figure out how to best deploy them. Among the relievers, Doolittle probably throws softest, and only has success when he can locate his fastball high in the zone; when it’s down in the zone, he gets pounded, and his command isn’t there right now, no doubt due to overwork.
At any rate, they got the win, should have a coterie of fresh relievers to use in Doolittle’s stead tonight, and might even get a rainout tonight to give everyone a day off, including Juan Soto, who’s better, but could probably use one more day before getting back out there.
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I was today years old when I found out Aquino’s nickname is “The Punisher”:
https://deadspin.com/no-rookie-has-ever-homered-like-aristides-aquino-1837198784
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The Bums panzers put a hurtin’ on the Polish cavalry masquerading as a baseball team tonight at Macondo Banana Massacre Field. 15-1. Thirty games under the strange attractor. The Gopher King was in rare form tonight. I’ll have more to say about this atrocity tomorrow, when I’m finished laughing.
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