We're launching the weekend with a full slate of Friday MLB action, headlined by a Yankees-Cubs encounter in Wrigley. Let's dig in ...
Final scores
Yankees 3, Cubs 2 (box score)
Reds 13, Giants 3 (box score)
Pirates 4, Brewers 0 (box score)
Nationals 4, Phillies 2 (box score)
Orioles 4, White Sox 2 (box score)
Mets 8, Marlins 7 (box score)
Blue Jays 8, Rays 4 (box score)
Cardinals 10, Braves 0 (box score)
Twins 4, Red Sox 3 (box score)
Royals 3, Indians 1 (box score)
Diamondbacks 6, Rockies 3 (box score)
Tigers 7, Athletics 2 (box score)
Astros 7, Angels 6 in 10 innings (box score)
Dodgers 8, Padres 2 (box score)
Rangers 3, Mariners 1 in 13 innings (box score)
Mauer hits first career walk-off homer
Friday night, in the series opener against the Red Sox at Target Field, Twins catcher-turned-first baseman Joe Mauer did something he had never done before in his 14 seasons as a big-leaguer: hit a walk-off home run.
Mauer, who was playing in his 1,615th career MLB game, sent Twins fan home happy with his opposite field shot against Matt Barnes:
That is not a cheap home run! Opposite-field shot into the back bullpen? That's quite the poke.
Mauer is clearly no longer the hitter he was during his prime -- he came into Friday's game hitting .230/.295/.310 on the season -- but there's some magic in his bat. He showed it Friday night.
Pujols hits 595th home run
Future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols is inching closer and closer to joining the ultra-exclusive 600 home run club. He belted career homer No. 595 on Friday night. To the action footage:
That is Albert's fourth home run of the season. Here is the all-time home run leaderboard:
- Barry Bonds -- 795
- Hank Aaron -- 755
- Babe Ruth -- 714
- Alex Rodriguez -- 696
- Willie Mays -- 660
- Ken Griffey Jr. -- 630
- Jim Thome -- 612
- Sammy Sosa -- 609
- Albert Pujols -- 595 and counting
- Frank Robinson -- 586
Getting to 600 home runs is a lock for Pujols. Can he get to 700 though? His contract runs through 2021, meaning he'll need to average 21.8 home runs per season from 2017-21 to get there, and only once in his career has Pujols hit fewer than 28 home runs in a season. (He hit 17 homers in 99 games during an injury shortened 2013 campaign.)
If nothing else, the contract ensures Pujols will get a chance to hit 700 home runs. The Angels sure hope he can get there. It would be a tremendous accomplishment.
Gardner stuns the Cubs
The Cubs were one strike away from a 2-0 win over the Cubs on Friday afternoon when Yankees leadoff hitter Brett Gardner smacked a go-ahead three-run home run to right field. Chicago had been complete control of the game up to that point. Here's the video. Gardner went down and golfed a slider into the seats:
Aroldis Chapman closed out the win for New York in the bottom of the ninth. The Yankees are an AL-best 18-9 on the season, and nine of those 18 wins were come-from-behind victories. They have been the comeback kings so far in 2017.
Two 25-year-old stars show up early in Yanks-Cubs game
That notable interleague series ticked off above? Two notable young participants made their presences felt early. First it was reigning NL MVP Kris Bryant who put the Cubs on the board with a first-inning, opposite-field homer. Here's video of it. As you're probably aware, Bryant usually hits for power to the pull field, so his Friday homer off Michael Pineda was a bit of a rarity for him ...
Noted opposite-field slugger (ha) Kris Bryant just went deep to right field. As you can see in 2016-17, that doesn't happen much. pic.twitter.com/4JXs27KDPG
— Mike Petriello (@mike_petriello) May 5, 2017
Hitting for power the other way is typically a good sign. Speaking of which, Bryant's been absolutely aflame of late after starting the season pretty slowly. Bryant opened 2017 one for his first 16 at the plate, and as recently as April 23 he was batting just .230/.326/.392. That changed in a hurry, though. In his last 10 games coming into Friday's, Bryant had a line of .500/.587/.895, thus lifting his OPS+ for the season to a lofty 160. Then he went out and donged Pineda to right field.
That brings us to Bryant's 25-year-old counterpart, Aaron Judge. Judge is already notable for his hulking frame (6-foot-7, 282 pounds), and he's also gotten off to a tremendous start in 2017. His production to date is such that he landed at No. 5 on our most recent installment of Top 100 Players. Obviously, it's the damage that Judge does off the bat that drives his value. Speaking of which, please regard this scalded double to lead off the second on Friday ...
.@TheJudge44’s 2B in the 2nd left the bat at 119 mph.
— #Statcast (@statcast) May 5, 2017
He has NINE batted balls of 115+ mph in '17. No one else has more than two. #Statcast pic.twitter.com/4EuweE0IxK
Yes, 119 mph off the bat. That's mega-elite exit velocity, as implied by Judge's relative familiarity with such readings. Judge would also add a single later in the game. When you hit the ball that hard, you don't really need to, say, hit .309, but that's precisely what Judge is doing at this writing.
Zimmerman does it again for Nats
Ryan Zimmerman is showing no signs of slowing down. The Nationals' elder stateman went into Friday's game with the Phillies leading MLB in batting average (.424), slugging percentage (.859), OPS (1.326), OPS+ (241), hits (42), total bases (85), and RBI (30). His 11 home runs were tied for the NL lead.
Then, on Friday, Zimmerman went 3 for 5 with a double and his 12th home run of the season against the Phillies. It was part of back-to-back home runs with Anthony Rendon. Stephen Strasburg also went deep in the game.
Here are the back-to-back dingers:
April showers bring ... May showers. pic.twitter.com/wZZp7WCvD9
— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) May 6, 2017
Zimmerman raised his season batting line to .433/.474/.885. Here's how ridiculous that is:
#Nationals Ryan Zimmerman would have to go 0-for-10 for his season batting average to fall below .400 and 0-for-48 for it to dip below .300.
— Ryan M. Spaeder (@theaceofspaeder) May 6, 2017
The is still a lot of season left to be played -- a lot -- but at the moment, Zimmerman has to be the leading candidate for NL MVP and NL Comeback Player of the Year. Eric Thames has been awesome too! But Zimmerman is on another level right now.
Ynoa bails out the O's
It's never a good thing when your starter doesn't make it out of the first inning. Friday night the Orioles lost left-hander Wade Miley 12 pitches into the game with what they're calling a wrist contusion. Miley was hit by line drives on back-to-back pitches. Here's the video:
Miley recorded only two outs before leaving the game, which put the Orioles in quite the pickle. They were going to burn up their bullpen in the first game of the series against the White Sox unless someone stepped up and ate some innings, and young right-hander Gabriel Ynoa did exactly that. Here's his line in relief of Miley: 6 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K.
Ynoa was a starter in the minor leagues, and the O's called him up earlier this week for exactly this reason, in case they needed someone for super long relief. Ynoa threw 101 total pitches. He's the first pitcher to throw 100-plus pitches in relief since ... Andrew Albers last August, for the Twins. I didn't realize it last happened so recently. Go figure.
Either way, tremendous job by Ynoa sparing the bullpen. And, as a reward, he will likely be sent to Triple-A on Saturday for a fresh long reliever. Such is life for a young pitcher with options remaining.
Morales helps Jays to comeback win
So far this season has been, without a doubt, absolutely brutal for the Blue Jays. They went into Friday's game with an AL-worst 9-19 record. Even if you believe this is a true talent 90-win roster, playing at 90-win pace the rest of the season will only get them to 84-78 on the season. They'll need to play at a 98-win pace the rest of the way to get to 90 wins, which is about what it'll take to secure an AL wild-card spot.
Anyway, gory math aside, the Blue Jays scored a big come-from-behind win against Chris Archer and the Rays on Friday night. Kendrys Morales was the hero on offense. He clubbed a game-tying two-run home run in the seventh inning, then smacked a go-ahead three-run home run in the eighth.
Friday night? Kendrys delivers.
— MLB (@MLB) May 6, 2017
Game-tying HR: https://t.co/kMfGinuFqi
Go-ahead HR: https://t.co/CyIPp1PFeT pic.twitter.com/xKC39xzZrd
The win improves the Blue Jays to 10-19 on the season. They're now 5-5 in their last 10 games, so at least they're starting to head in the right direction. Toronto can't play .500 (or worse) ball much longer though. They're going to have to go on a big run soon to get back in the race.
Arroyo bests Arroyo
Christian, meet Bronson. Bronson, this is Christian:
No, Christian Arroyo and Bronson Arroyo are not related, but they did go to the same high school. Small world, isn't it?
Quick hits
- Orioles closer Zach Britton is going for another MRI on his achy forearm. He recently returned from the DL, but is still experiencing discomfort. (Dan Connolly, Baltimore Baseball)
- The Cardinals on Friday placed OF Stephen Piscotty on the 10-day DL with a strained hamstring. They also await the results of an MRI on OF Dexter Fowler's shoulder.
- While Mets SP Noah Syndergaard will be out for a while with a torn lat, a second opinion showed nothing more than a "simple tear." (Anthony DiComo, MLB.com)
- In his first minor-league rehab start, Dodgers SP Rich Hill (blisters) allowed four runs in just two-thirds of an inning. He's expected to make another rehab start before rejoining the Dodgers.
- The Royals have placed SP Ian Kennedy on the DL with a hamstring injury.
- Over the last week, the top three jersey sellers are Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, and Aaron Judge. (Buster Olney via Twitter)
- Nationals OF Bryce Harper is out of the lineup Friday with a sore groin.
- The Mariners have placed SP James Paxton on the DL with a forearm strain.
- The Mets have placed C Travis d'Arnaud on the DL with a bruised right wrist.
- The Nationals placed RP Shawn Kelley on the DL with a lower back strain.
- The Dodgers placed 1B Adrian Gonzalez on the DL with forearm tendinitis.