Prof: We’ve got a full slate today, so let’s forgo the formalities.

Cubs 7, Pirates 1 – Scouts: The two teams squared off in the 2019 Little League Classic in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and it was all about the Cubbies.   First Nicholas Castellanos homered, then Jason Heyward, then Anthony Rizzo.  The Bucs were shut out until the 9th inning and at that point, it was long past over.

Orioles 7, Red Sox 13 – Scouts: It’s not just that the O’s lose, it’s that they lose big, while also scoring enough runs where if their pitching was even semi-competent, they’d win.  The O’s jumped all over Nathan Eovaldi, who wasn’t able to make it out of the third inning, but couldn’t handle not blowing an early 6-0 lead.

Spiders 8, Yankees 4 – Prof: It’s just weird to see the Yankees on the losing end of a match when they spent the last month in the win column against Baltimore. But Baltimore is not the Magical Land of Cleve. Mike Clevinger went five innings and struck out ten, while delicious Francisco Lindor truffle and Oscar Mercado both homered.

Padres 3, Phillies 2 – Prof: Limited amounts of Bryce Harper yesterday, as he was benched due to dehydration. He was experiencing blurry vision – difficult to be effective in the outfield and at the plate if you can’t focus on the ball. Plus, his wife is super duper preggo and could give birth at any moment. Meanwhile, San Diego hit two homers and Kirby Yates continues to be a highly effective closer, getting his 35th save.

Mariners 7, Blue Jays 0 – Prof: This was all Seattle, all the time. Four home runs, and Yusei Kikuchi pitched a two hit shutout, with eight strikeouts to boot. The majority of the G Unit did not play, while the Baby Bs were all 0-4.

Tigers 4, Rays 5 – Scouts: Back-to-Back walk-off wins for the Rays, this one came courtesy of a bases loaded single by Ji-Man Choi.

Cardinals 5, Reds 4 – Prof:

Did you realize the Cards are still in first place?
Even against the Cubs, who are a half game out?
Villainy was nowhere to be found, but
I still believe that dark forces are at work.
Let’s do individual stats.

Martinez gets the save.
Alex Wood gets the loss for the Reds.
Goldy hit a two run homer.
I hope you’re figuring out what I’m doing here.
Cincinnati tried to come back in late innings, but it just didn’t work.

Dodgers 3, Braves 5 – Scouts: This was probably the best match-up of the day with Atlanta stepping up big thanks to a Grand Slam by Rafael Ortega who picked up his first homer of the year, second of his career!  Cody Bellinger gave the Dodgers an early 3 run lead with a homer in the first, but they Dodgers were shut out the rest of the way from there.

Brewers 8, Nationals 16 – Scouts: Oof, Milwaukee just got absolutely walloped in this one, and it was much worse than the score board indicated as 4 of their runs came in garbage time in the 9th.  The Nats took out their frustrations after a 14 inning loss to the Brew Crew the night before by clubbing a team record 8 homers.

Mets 11, Royals 5 – Prof: Super Rookie Pete Alonso is now the all time National League home run hittingest rookie. That’s right, I used incorrect grammar, but this is such a cool thing it deserves unique language. Alonso is pretty much a shoo-in for Rookie of the Year, and as much as I love my Braves pitchers, Alonso has been so important to the Mets this season. And then he goes and does stuff like this. He also went 3-4, while my favorite Met Michael Conforto went 2-4 with four RBI.

Twins 6, Rangers 3 – Scouts: The Twins finished up a much needed sweep of the Rangers thanks to Jorge Polanco’s triple in the 8th that brought three runs across the plate.

Marlins 6, Rockies 7 F/10 – Scouts: Nolan Arenado homered twice, but it was a Garrett Hampson single that was the final dagger in this one, walking off the game in extras.

White Sox 2, Angels 9 – Prof: Mike Trout and Albert Pujols had the day off, but they didn’t need them. Four home runs barreled off the bats of Los Angeles of Anaheim of Southern California. Shohei Ohtani had two RBI, Matt Thaiss had four RBI.

Astros 4, Athletics 1 – Prof: Big day for my dude Zack Greinke! First of all, he went seven innings, struck out six and only gave up one earned run. Successful outing for our mysterious pitching cypher. Most importantly is that this seals ZG’s route to getting ever closer to a potential Hall of Fame career – this was his 200th win. I’m going to take a bit of a detour here, so bear with me. In the modern game, it’s going to be harder and harder for guys to get to 300 games. 3,000 strikeouts? Yeah, I think that’s definitely not going away. But 300 games might be a relic of another time. Will future voters look at lowering the threshold of wins for Hall of Fame pitchers? I think so. I believe that in the future, we will see the automatic discussion number fall to 275 wins, solely because of the way the game is being played today. I think that regardless of win totals, ZG is going to be making a weird three minute speech in Cooperstown about a decade from now, and my happy ass will be there. Oh, and Alex Bregman hit a three run bomb to put Houston over the top.

Giants 1, Diamondbacks 6 – Prof: MadBum lost despite nine strikeouts. Probably because he gave up three runs in the first inning. The only run scored for San Francisco was off the bat of my small son, Scooter Gennett, who drove in Baby Yaz.