Friday gets the weekend started off right with a full 15-game slate. Here's everything you need about Friday's MLB action.

Friday's scores

Snell's breakout season continues

The post-hype portion of Blake Snell's career is off to a roaring start. Snell, who was once one of the top pitching prospects in baseball, had a lot of ups and downs from 2016-17, pitching to a 3.83 ERA (106 ERA+) in 43 starts and 218 1/3 innings. Not terrible, not great, just OK. When you come up with as much hype as Snell, "just OK" can be disappointing.

This season though, the 25-year-old southpaw is off to an outstanding start. He went into Friday's game at Fenway Park with a 2.45 ERA (159 ERA+) and a 0.99 WHIP in five starts and 28 1/3 innings. His 3.20 K/BB ratio was much improved from the 1.97 K/BB he posted from 2016-17. Snell continued his breakout season with another strong outing against the Red Sox on Friday.

player headshot
Blake Snell
LAD • SP • #7
April 27 @ Red Sox
IP7 1/3
H5
R2
ER2
BB1
K9
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Two runs in 7 1/3 innings actually raised Snell's ERA to 2.52. Even then, that's still an excellent outing against a very good lineup in a hostile, pitcher-unfriendly ballpark. Snell is up to 41 strikeouts with only 11 walks in 35 2/3 innings in 2018.

It should be noted Snell's breakout really started last season, about halfway through the year. He had a 4.98 ERA as late as Aug. 3, then pitched to 2.84 ERA with a .197/.262/.325 opponent's batting line in his final 10 starts and 57 innings. Snell has attributed the breakout to changing his position on the mound. He moved from the extreme third base side to the middle of the rubber.

Here, via Brooks Baseball, are Snell's horizontal release points by month since his MLB debut in 2016.

blake-snell-release-points.png
Blake Snell changed his position on the mound last year and it's made a huge difference. Brooks Baseball

His old release point had been about one foot toward first base from the middle of the rubber. Now his release point is about two feet from the middle of the rubber. It might not sound like much, but it can make a really big difference, and it has for Snell, who is off to a very good start to 2018.

Manaea's no-hit streak ends at 14 innings

Friday night A's left-hander Sean Manaea took the mound for the first time since no-hitting the Red Sox last weekend. And for the first three innings, it was more of the same. Three innings, no hits allowed against the Astros. It wasn't until Carlos Correa shot a clean single to right field with one out in the fourth that Manaea allowed a base hit Friday.

Spanning his past three starts, Manaea had not allowed a base hit in 14 innings before Correa's single Friday night. Those 14 consecutive hitless innings are a new Oakland A's record.

The previous record had been 13 innings by John "Blue Moon" Odom.

Manaea went into Friday's start with an AL best 1.23 ERA in five starts and 36 2/3 innings. Even if you remove the no-hitter, he still had a 1.63 ERA in his first four starts and 27 2/3 innings. After seven innings of one unearned run ball Friday, Manaea is down to an AL best 1.06 ERA. The young southpaw is in the middle of a breakout season.

Darvish breaks through against Brewers

The Cubs this past offseason signed righty Yu Darvish to a $126 million deal. That's why it was especially disappointing that he entered Friday's start against the Brewers with a 6.86 ERA for the year and 11 walks in 19 2/3 innings. Those are grim numbers, to state the obvious. What compounds matters is that the Cubs signed Darvish while in essence allowing incumbent Jake Arrieta to walk. Arrieta is, of course, now thriving with the Phillies (1.82 ERA after four starts).  

The good news for the Cubs is that Darvish on Friday turned in a strong outing against the (Eric Thames-less) Brewers ... 

player headshot
Yu Darvish
SD • SP • #11
vs. MIL, 4/27
IP6
H3
R1
ER0
SO8
BB2
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With that outing, he shaved more than a run-and-a-half off his ERA. Darvish's velocity is actually up slightly relative to 2017, but recently he has struggled to command the four-seamer and slider. That wasn't the case on Friday, though. Darvish's next challenge? Pitching well against a team other than the Brewers. Against Milwaukee this season, he has allowed one earned run in 12 innings. In his other three starts (against the Marlins, Braves, and Rockies), he has given up 14 earned runs in 13 2/3 innings.

Speaking of shutting down the Brewers, they came into this key four-game set in Wrigley on an eight-game winning streak. Through the first two games, though, Milwaukee has scored a total of three runs. 

Ohtani goes deep against Yankees

Over the winter many folks, myself included, expected Japanese two-way star Shohei Ohtani to wind up with the Yankees. They had the most international bonus money to spend and they offered a chance to win right away with a young roster. It seemed like a logical fit.

Instead, Ohtani spurned the Yankees -- he didn't even meet with them to hear their pitch -- and instead signed with the Angels. On Friday, he played his first career game against the Yankees, and he wasted no time showing them what they're missing out on. Ohtani took Luis Severino deep in his first at-bat.

That's some impressive bat speed and power. Ohtani turned around a 97 mph fastball on the inside corner and sent it over the high wall at 112 mph.

Friday's home run is the fourth of the season of Ohtani, who has now taken Severino and Corey Kluber deep. Those two are arguably the two best pitchers in the AL.

Acuna amazes with bat, glove

The Ronald Acuna era is only three days old, but he has already done some amazing things on the field. Thursday he swatted a long home run into the second deck at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati. On Friday, he showed off his legs and gloves.

First, Acuna ripped a liner through the infield against Phillies ace Aaron Nola, and he turned it into a double with his speed. Look at this:

How fun. Acuna can fly, man. He can fly and he can hit the snot out of the baseball. That was literally the hardest hit ball by a Braves hitter on the young season.

Two innings later, Acuna, a natural center fielder who is playing left in deference to Ender Inciarte, flashed his defensive skills by robbing Odubel Herrera of extra bases with a diving catch. Check it out:

Scouts use the 20-80 scale to rate prospects, in which 80 is excellent, 20 is terrible, and 50 is average. According to Baseball America, the 20-year-old Acuna sports a 60 hit tool, 70 power, 70 defense, 70 speed, and a 60 arm. That is outrageously good. Future MVP type stuff.

On Thursday we saw the 70 power. Friday we saw the 60 hitting ability, the 70 speed, and 70 defense. All Acuna needs to do now is throw a runner out to show us that 60 arm, and we shall have seen all five tools.

Holland blows first save chance

The Cardinals signed Greg Holland to a one-year, $14 million deal a few weeks ago to help solidify their bullpen, and after a few tuneup outings in middle relief, Holland was given his first save opportunity Friday night. It did not go well.

Holland faced four batters Friday and retired none. The Cardinals gave him a 5-2 lead and the ninth inning went Corey Dickerson double, Francisco Cervelli single, Jose Martinez error allowing Colin Moran to reach base and a run to score, Jordy Mercer game-tying two-run double. You can see video of the double here.

No, the error didn't help, but Holland faced four batters and allowed four balls in play with an average exit velocity of 95.5 mph. That's not good. Also, Holland's velocity is down in the super early going:

It is early and he didn't have a proper spring training, so the hope is Holland will add velocity as the season progresses. Right now though, he looks nothing like the guy who was a two-time All-Star with the Royals. Heck, he doesn't even look like the guy who was an All-Star for the Rockies last season. 

Following his outing Friday, Holland has allowed six runs (three earned) with more walks (eight) than strikeouts (six) in 6 1/3 innings for St. Louis.

Votto homers once again

After a sluggish start to the 2018 season, Joey Votto is officially on fire. Votto clubbed his fourth home run of the season Friday night. He has gone deep in each of his past four games.

Before this four-homers-in-four-games stretch, Votto was hitting .247/.352/.260, which is unfathomable for a hitter of his caliber. Now his batting line is a more robust .272/.383/.413. He's getting there.

Pillar hits rare Blue Jays triple

Thanks to some Joey Gallo defensive hilarity, Blue Jays center fielder Kevin Pillar tripled in a run Friday night. It was a legit single that landed in front of Gallo in left field, but the high hop off the Rogers Centre turf send the ball over Gallo's head and to the wall. Oops. Here's video of the play.

Why is the triple notable? Because it is already the fifth triple of the season for the Blue Jays. That had five all last season. For real. Here is the bottom of last season's triples leaderboard:

26. Mariners: 17
27. Athletics: 15
28. Angels: 14
29. Orioles: 12
30. Blue Jays: 5

Yes, the 2017 Blue Jays did set an MLB record for the fewest triples by any team in baseball history. Now they have five triples 25 games into 2018, tied for the sixth most in baseball. Go figure.

NFL draft picks throw out first pitches

The Cleveland Browns held the No. 1 and No. 4 picks in this year's NFL draft, and on Thursday, they used them to select quarterback Baker Mayfield and defensive back Denzel Ward. The duo was on hand in Cleveland Friday to throw out the ceremonial first pitch at Progressive Field. The video:

Not great! It always amazes me when elite level athletes like Mayfield and Ward are unable to throw a baseball less than 60 feet to home plate. Not as easy as it looks!

The first pitches were ugly. The Indians made everyone forget about them with three first inning home runs against Mariners righty Erasmo Ramirez. Francisco Lindor, Michael Brantley and Edwin Encarnacion did the honors:

The Indians have really struggled offensively this season for whatever reason. They went into Friday's game with only 81 runs scored, fourth fewest in baseball. Only four times in their first 23 games did the Indians manage to hit three home runs. Then they hit three in one inning Friday.

Quick hits

  • Cubs 3B Kris Bryant missed his fourth consecutive game Friday. He has been sidelined since Sunday, when he was hit on the helmet by a pitch from German Marquez of the Rockies. Bryant is not in MLB's concussion protocol. 
  • Braves RHP Julio Teheran left Friday's start with right trap tightness, the team announced. Teheran allowed three runs in three innings before exiting the game. He threw 43 pitches.
  • Rockies LHP Tyler Anderson and 2B DJ LeMahieu exited Friday's game injuries. Anderson had an apparent chest issue while LeMahieu is dealing with a hamstring problem, the club announced.
  • Mariners OF Dee Gordon was removed from Friday's game after crashing into the outfield wall. The team says he was removed as a precaution. Gordon hit the wall while attempting a catch earlier in the game.
  • Giants OF Mac Williamson was not in Friday's starting lineup. He was scratched from Wednesday's game with a neck issue and the team is confident he will avoid the disabled list, reports NBC Sports Bay Area.
  • As expected, Brewers 1B Eric Thames underwent surgery to repair a torn thumb ligament, the team announced. He's expected to miss 6-8 weeks. 1B/OF Ryan Braun and 1B Jesus Aguilar will fill in at first base for the time being.
  • According to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, the A's are discussing a one-year contract extension with OF Khris Davis. Davis is under team control next season as an arbitration-eligible player. Currently, he is scheduled to be a free agent after 2019.
  • The Reds have activated RHP David Hernandez from the 10-day DL, the team announced. He has yet to pitch this season due to inflammation in his shoulder. UTIL Phil Gosselin was sent down in a corresponding roster move.
  • The Phillies have placed RHP Ben Lively on the 10-day DL with a lower back strain, the team announced. He was hammered for seven runs in 2 1/3 innings Thursday. The Phillies have not yet announced who will fill the rotation spot.
  • The Marlins reinstated INF Martin Prado, the club announced. Prado miss the start of the season while recovering from knee surgery. Knee trouble limited him to 37 games last season.
  • The Braves have activated C Tyler Flowers from the DL, the team announced. He had been out since injuring his oblique on Opening Day. C Carlos Perez was designated for assignment in a corresponding move.
  • The Reds Sox activated SS Xander Bogaerts from the disabled list and placed INF Brock Holt on the 10-day DL with a left hamstring strain, the team announced. Holt had been filling in at shortstop while Bogaerts was hurt.
  • The Rangers have activated RHP Tony Barnette from the 10-day DL, the club announced. He had been out roughly two weeks with a minor shoulder issue. RHP Jose Leclerc was sent down in a corresponding move.

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