The Major League Baseball schedule for Thursday brought us just 10 games, but that's certainly better than nothing. Here is everything you need to know about the day in baseball.
Final scores
Indians 12, Dodgers 5 (box score)
Twins 6, Mariners 2 (box score)
White Sox 5, Orioles 2 (box score)
Phillies 1, Red Sox 0 (box score)
Nationals 8, Mets 3 (box score)
Tigers 5, Rays 3 (box score)
Brewers 6, Cardinals 4 (box score)
Rockies 10, Giants 9 (box score)
Athletics 8, Yankees 7 in 10 innings (box score)
Royals 7, Angels 2 (box score)
Brewers win third straight over Cardinals
By mid-June standards, this week's four-game series between the Cardinals and Brewers at Busch Stadium was about as important as it gets. Milwaukee had a one-game lead over the Cubs and a 2 1/2-game lead over the Cardinals in the NL Central when the series started.
The Brewers had no say in what the Cubs did this week, but they did take care of business against the Cardinals. After dropping the first game of Tuesday's doubleheader, they won three straight to close out the series. Eric Thames provided the clutch go-ahead two-run home run in the ninth inning Thursday night:
Two outs, 0-2 count.
— MLB (@MLB) June 16, 2017
Cue @EricThames. pic.twitter.com/cKWZ3ovtDB
Earlier in the game Keon Broxton clobbered a 489-foot home run, the longest in Busch Stadium history. Hitting a ballpark-record home run and winning three straight over a division rival must feel pretty sweet.
So, after the four-game set in St. Louis, the Brewers have stretched their lead over the Cardinals to 4 1/2 games in the NL Central. The Cubbies are two games back. The Brewers took care of business on the road this week. This was a pretty great series for them.
Giants erase 9-1 deficit, lose anyway
What a game in Colorado. It was one of those classic Coors Field barn-burners. The Rockies were up 8-1 after three innings and 9-1 after six innings. The Giants then pushed across two runs in the seventh, five in the eighth and one in the ninth to knot things up 9-9. Good gravy. Home runs by Buster Posey, Brandon Crawford and Nick Hundley sparked the comeback.
Alas, the huge comeback did not result in a win. In the bottom of the ninth, Raimel Tapia came through with a walk-off single for the Rockies. To the action footage:
I'm sure the Rockies envisioned needing a walk-off single in a game they led 8-1 after three innings. Also, given Hunter Strickland's history, Tapia should probably worry about getting hit in retaliation sometime in 2020 after beating him with a walk-off single.
Phillies end losing streak
At long last, the Phillies are back in the win column. Thursday's win snapped an eight-game losing streak in which they were outscored 50-20. Ouch.
Thursday's win was a 1-0 victory over the Red Sox and Chris Sale, if you can believe that. Ty Kelly drove in the game's only run with an eighth-inning double, and Nick Pivetta struck out nine in seven innings.
Still no score here as we've reached the 7th-inning stretch in South Philly.@Npivetta27: 7 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 9 K pic.twitter.com/KRxYrxALBP
— Phillies (@Phillies) June 16, 2017
The Phillies still have baseball's worst record at 22-43, thought this is a rebuilding year, so losing was to be expected. At least the losing streak monkey was thrown off their back Thursday.
Oh, and by the way, the loss dropped Sale to 8-3 on the season. He has pitched poorly in exactly none of those losses:
Chris Sale has three "losses" this season:
— Andrew Simon (@AndrewSimonMLB) June 16, 2017
7.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 10 K
8.0 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 0 BB, 10 K
8.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 10 K
Baseball isn't fair sometimes.
Spectacular Story
Things are going pretty great for the first place Rockies so far this season. They're off to the best start in franchise history, the young pitchers are all impressing, and staff ace Jon Gray will be back fairly soon. And on Thursday, Trevor Story made this spectacular catch at shortstop:
A Story you have to see to believe. pic.twitter.com/QiT2vo9HT5
— MLB (@MLB) June 16, 2017
Yep, things are going pretty great for the Rockies. Pretty, pretty great.
Lagares breaks thumb
The injury news just keeps going from bad to worse for the Mets. A few hours after placing Matt Harvey (shoulder) and Neil Walker (hamstring) on the disabled list, center fielder Juan Lagares hurt his thumb attempting a diving catch. He initially remained in the game, then exited between innings.
A short time later, the bad news came:
Another major Mets injury: x-rays revealed a fractured IP joint in Juan Lagares' left thumb. Same thumb he had a ligament tear in last year.
— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) June 16, 2017
Yeesh. One injury after another with the Mets. They welcomed Yoenis Cespedes, Steven Matz, and Seth Lugo back over the weekend, and they've since lost Harvey, Walker, and now Lagares.
Mets injuries:
— James Wagner (@ByJamesWagner) June 16, 2017
Syndergaard (lat)
Harvey (shoulder)
Walker (hammy)
Lagares (thumb)
Familia (clot)
Smoker (arm)
Cabrera (hand)
Milone (knee)
And between the injuries aren't bad enough, the Mets got roughed up by the Nationals to fall 9 1/2 games back in the division.
Davidson homers in fourth straight game
A few years ago Matt Davidson was a top power-hitting prospect with the Diamondbacks, and they used him as trade bait to get Addison Reed from the White Sox. Davidson's career has stalled out a bit since then, but the rebuilding ChiSox are giving him a chance this season, and it seems he is figuring things out.
Wednesday afternoon Davidson crushed his 14th home run of the season -- he hit 10 in Triple-A all of last season -- this one a fourth-inning solo home run against Chris Tillman. He has now homered in four straight games.
Here are the four homers:
Four straight games with a home run for Matt Davidson! Mercy! pic.twitter.com/sP9tEa0SaJ
— #VoteWhiteSox (@whitesox) June 15, 2017
Davidson went 2 for 4 in Wednesday's game overall and is now hitting .259/.306/.547 on the season. He is already the fifth player this year to go deep in four straight games. Here's the list:
- Salvador Perez, Royals: April 6-9
- Eric Thames, Brewers: April 13-17 (five straight games)
- Mark Reynolds, Rockies: May 5-9
- Mike Trout, Angels: May 12-15
- Matt Davidson, White Sox: June 12-15 (and counting)
The White Sox have slipped into last place in the AL Central, which is where many expected them to end up, though it seems they may have found something in Davidson. He could be a nice little power source going forward.
Indians rough up Hill, Dodgers
Dodgers starting pitcher Rich Hill has been noticably worse than last season heading into Thursday. He had only seven starts and a respectable 3.77 ERA, but command has been a major issue. He had been missing spots, walking too many and giving up the long ball while striking out fewer. That trend continued against the Indians.
In just four innings, Hill coughed up seven earned runs on eight hits, including a home run, with two walks and four strikeouts. Here's the home run, which came courtesy of Edwin Encarnacion:
.@encadwin's June (10 games):
— #VoteTribe 5x a day (@Indians) June 15, 2017
.375 (12-32)
3 homers
1.192 OPS
Here's Hammy's call of his second-inning bomb! https://t.co/WKVahoHkBGpic.twitter.com/DDeTLWcyRC
The outing ran Hill's season totals to a 5.14 ERA and 1.57 WHIP. At age 37 and with the ongoing blister issues, there's definitely reason for concern.
On the Indians' side, they avoid the sweep and are back above .500 at 32-31. They now head to Minnesota for a four-game series in which they could take back first place in the AL Central. Of course, they could also fall further back if the Twins keep bashing the ball around the yard. Big series coming in the Central.
Berrios deals for Twins
Young right hander Jose Berrios was torched in his first go-round in the majors last year (8.02 ERA, 1.87 WHIP in 58 1/3 IP), but this year has been a totally different story.
The 23-year-old Berrios continued his excellent campaign on Thursday, going eight strong innings and only allowing two runs on five hits. He struck out six against one walk. That puts Berrios at a 2.74 ERA and 0.96 WHIP through 46 innings this season.
6 Ks, 8 IP, 108 pitches. Good stuff from @JOLaMaKina. #TwinsWin#MNTwinspic.twitter.com/XJfUQam562
— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) June 15, 2017
I don't think we could say this was the best outing of Berrios' young career, as he had 11 strikeouts in 7 2/3 scoreless innings on May 18, but this was the longest outing of his career.
We shouldn't need reminders that sometimes very good to great players struggle in their first foray into the majors, but consider Berrios another case in a long line of examples.
Quick hits
- The Mets have lost both Neil Walker and Matt Harvey for weeks. They also gave some bad news on Noah Syndergaard.
- Pete Rose's Hall of Fame chances are pretty bleak.
- The Rockies have activated catcher Tom Murphy from the DL, sending Ryan Hanigan to Triple-A as a corresponding move.
- Jon Gray is getting close to returning to the Rockies. He's on a rehab assignment and could be back next week.
- The A's will call up prospect Matt Chapman and designated Trevor Plouffe for assignment.
- The Red Sox have placed left hander Brian Johnson on the DL and called up righty Austin Maddox from Triple-A.