MLB Friday scores, highlights, live team updates, news: Harvey almost perfect in Reds debut
Plus Sonny Gray gets booed and everything you need to know about Friday's MLB action
The weekend begins with a full 15-game slate of baseball action on Friday. Here is everything you need to know about the day's MLB action.
Friday's scores
- Cubs 11, White Sox 2 (box score)
- Orioles 9, Rays 4 (box score)
- Mets 3, Phillies 1 (box score)
- Athletics 10, Yankees 5 (box score)
- Pirates 11, Giants 2 (box score)
- Blue Jays 5, Red Sox 3 in 12 (box score)
- Royals 10, Indians 9 (box score)
- Marlins 6, Braves 3 (box score)
- Rangers 1, Astros 0 (box score)
- Brewers 11, Rockies 10 in 10 (box score)
- Nationals 3, Diamondbacks 1 (box score)
- Twins 5, Angels 4 (box score)
- Reds 6 Dodgers 2 (box score)
- Cardinals 9, Padres 5 (box score)
- Mariners at Tigers - POSTPONED
Harvey nearly perfect in Reds debut
Just days after being traded from the Mets, Matt Harvey made his Reds debut on Friday night. What's more is that he came very close to throwing four perfect innings.
Facing pitch-count restrictions, Harvey exited early after throwing 55 pitches. Despite that, he finished the night having struck out two batters and allowed just one baserunner -- a Cody Bellinger "triple" that dropped in when right fielder Scott Schebler lost the baseball in the lights.
Harvey's fastball averaged 93.5 mph -- right around its seasonal average -- and he topped out at 95.8, per Statcast. He recorded all of two swinging strikes on the night -- one coming on his slider, the other on his changeup. As such, it's premature to pretend Harvey has righted the ship and all is great.
Still, for one night anyway, Harvey was again a productive member of a big-league rotation.
Gray booed during stinker
Sonny Gray entered Friday's appearance against his old team, the Athletics, with a 6.00 ERA. He'd enjoyed some recent momentum, tallying consecutive quality starts. Yet Gray failed in hs attempt to make it three in a row.
In fact, Gray failed to the extent that he was booed by the Yankee Stadium crowd.
Sonny Gray hearing boos from Yankees fans. A's tallied three straight hits on him. 4-0 in just the third.
— Julian McWilliams (@JulianMack105) May 11, 2018
In all, he tossed five innings and permitted nine hits and five runs while recording more walks (three) than strikeouts (two). He also allowed home runs to both Khris Davis and Matt Chapman.
Gray's seasonal ERA went up to 6.39. Woof.
Phillies blow game against Mets
The Phillies came into Friday three games up on the Mets in the race for second in the NL East. With two outs to go in the game, it looked like the Phillies would extend their lead to four. Not so.
Closer Hector Neris, who blew a save earlier in the week against the Nationals, stumbled again. This time, Neris served up home runs to Michael Conforto and Devin Mesoraco that transformed a 1-0 Phillies lead into a 3-1 Mets lead. New York was able to cinch the win.
Neris's gopheritis wasted a strong start from Jake Arrieta, who departed in the eighth inning having struck our five and limited the Mets to seven baserunners. Arrieta also started the game against the Nationals that Neris blew. Ouch.
Machado keeps O's winning streak alive
The Orioles have been horrible this season. Manny Machado has not.
Machado lifted his seasonal marks to .354/.440/.667 with a strong performance on Friday. He drove in six runs on two home runs, one of them a grand slam, as part of an O's victory against the Rays. Machado, by the way, still has more walks (23) than strikeouts (21) on the year.
Friday's win represented the first time this season the O's have won three consecutive games.
Contreras has huge day in Cubs rout
The Cubs and White Sox met for the first time this season on Friday. No one seemed happier about that than Cubs catcher Willson Contreras.
Contreras had a big afternoon, notching a pair of home runs and doubles while driving in seven of the Cubs' 11 runs. His 12 total bases represent the second most in a game this season, and ties the second most ever by a Cubs catcher -- tying Dioner Navarro and Clyde McCullough. The most remains George Mitterwald's 14 back in 1974. (Amusingly enough, Navarro's game came nearly five years ago, on May 29, against the White Sox.)
Contreras entered Friday hitting .246/.326/.407. He's now up to .268/.343/.488.
McCutchen has quiet return to Pittsburgh
Andrew McCutchen is, by almost any measure, one of the greatest players in Pirates history. He is fourth on the franchise's all-time home runs list and he is top 10 in pretty much every meaningful statistic, including total bases, OPS+, and and WAR.
McCutchen and his legacy returned to Pittsburgh on Friday for the first time since the offseason trade that sent him to the Giants. Though he was received with a standing ovation, he had an otherwise quiet night as part of a San Francisco loss.
McCutchen had a 1-for-5 game, with the hit, a double, coming in the seventh inning. By that point, the Pirates led 6-2. Pittsburgh would pile on as part of a boat race. As a result, McCutchen's Giants have now lost five games in a row.
Quick hits
- The Yankees lost Thursday to snap their eight-game winning streak, but they are still 17-2 in their last 19 games, and Jonah Keri details what that streak tells us about the team. Long story short, the Yankees are scary good.
- Giants 3B Evan Longoria said the "best decision might be to move" the Rays out of Tampa Bay rather than build a new ballpark. The Rays have long had attendance problems and they are currently looking for a new stadium site.
- Angels RHP Matt Shoemaker has been shut down indefinitely after suffering renewed discomfort in his forearm, reports the Los Angeles Times. He'll see a specialist next week. Shoemaker made one start this year before landing on the disabled list.
- Nationals C Matt Wieters will undergo an MRI after suffering a leg injury rounding first base Thursday night, reports the Washington Post. Wieters said he felt something "behind (his) knee, kind of go a little bit."
- The Mets will place OF Jay Bruce on the paternity leave list and recall 1B Dominic Smith, reports the Las Vegas Review Journal. Smith has hit hitting .278/.390/.417 with two homers in 31 Triple-A games this year.
