We had a nearly full slate of games on Wednesday. Here's everything you need to know about the day's MLB action.
Wednesday's baseball scores
- Red Sox 9, Braves 8 (box score)
- Indians 3, Royals 1 (box score)
- Pirates 3, Reds 2 (box score)
- Cardinals 7, Nationals 6 (box score)
- Blue Jays 10, Rays 3 (box score)
- Marlins 2, Phillies 1 (box score)
- Mets 7, Dodgers 3 (box score)
- Angels 9, Rangers 3 (box score)
- Cubs 6, Brewers 4 (box score)
- Astros 9, Twins 1 (box score)
- Tigers 10, White Sox 2 (box score)
- Rockies 5, Giants 3 (box score)
- Athletics 8, Yankees 3 (box score)
- Mariners 5, Orioles 2 (box score)
Story hits three homers, including 505-foot bomb
What a night for Trevor Story. The Rockies' All-Star shortstop swatted three home runs against the Giants on Wednesday night, including a mammoth 505-foot blast that is the longest recorded by Statcast since the system debuted in 2015. Story did have a chance to hit a fourth home run in the eighth inning, but he struck out. Three dingers still makes for a pretty great night.
Obligatory note: Story's three-homer game and 505-foot bomb came at Coors Field, and the thin mountain air undoubtedly added some hang time. Still a monster game for Story, who has five homers in his last three games and is 14-for-32 (.438) with five home runs in his last eight games overall.
Story's homers helped the Rockies to their fifth straight win Wednesday night, increasing their NL West lead to 1 1/2 games over the second-place Dodgers. Colorado is in first despite a minus-8 run differential. The Dodgers? They have a plus-129 run differential. Baseball ain't fair.
Dodgers suffer trap series loss
Boy, this had to be a disappointing series for the Dodgers. After a wonderful weekend series win over the Diamondbacks, one in which Matt Kemp delivered clutch hit after clutch hit, Los Angeles dropped two of three to the Mets this week. Hyun-Jin Ryu allowed five runs (three earned) on 11 hits in six innings in Wednesday night's loss.
The Mets had 14 hits in the ball-game but only two extra-base hits, both doubles. Amed Rosario had three hits while Jeff McNeil, Wilmer Flores, Michael Conforto, Kevin Plawecki, and Brandon Nimmo had two apiece. Offensively, it was a total team effort for the Mets, who are quietly 23-19 in their last 42.
As for the Dodgers, the series loss to the Mets knocked them 1 1/2 games behind the Rockies in the NL West. This was a total trap series for Los Angeles. They had that hugely emotional series with the D-Backs over the weekend and then, rather than build on it against a bad team in the Mets, they lost the series. Rough.
Red Sox sweep Braves, Acuna sets franchise record for leadoff homers
Atlanta's standout rookie Ronald Acuna Jr. set the franchise record for single-season leadoff home runs with his missile off Boston's Hector Velazquez. The home run was his 24th of the season and the eighth leadoff homer in just his 44th start in the leadoff position. Acuna was named the National League Rookie of the Month on Tuesday, and he's making a strong case for the Rookie of the Year Award.
THE PHEÑOM STRIKES AGAIN.
— FOX Sports: Braves (@FOXSportsBraves) September 5, 2018
Ronald Acuña Jr. sets the @Braves' franchise record for single-season leadoff home runs with this missile. pic.twitter.com/7Avrwi5E3k
The Red Sox were down 7-1 entering the eighth inning and ultimately rallied for six runs on seven hits to tie things up. Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman put the Braves back on top with a solo home run in the bottom of the eighth inning, before Brandon Phillips won it for Boston with a two-run blast to put the Sox ahead 9-8 for the final lead.
The victory was also on a day when Mookie Betts, J.D. Martinez, Xander Bogaerts, Ian Kinsler and Eduardo Nunez were not in the starting lineup. Atlanta, a team fighting for the National League East crown, now holds a slim 2 1/2-game lead over the Philadelphia Phillies.
Severino labors vs. A's
It was not a good night for the Yankees on Wednesday. After stranding the bases loaded in the top of the first, the Athletics roughed up Luis Severino in the bottom half, scoring four runs on four hits, including three doubles. There were also two wild pitches and two passed balls in the inning. Gary Sanchez had a devil of a time behind the plate.
The A's continued to tack on runs following that first inning, and Severino didn't make it out of the third. It was his shortest outing of the season.
In his last 11 starts now, Severino has a 6.83 ERA in 55 1/3 innings, and opponents are hitting .323/.360/.574 against him. Ouch. Severino has gone from 1.98 ERA to a 3.52 ERA in those 11 starts. Also, his 96.2 mph average fastball velocity Wednesday night was his lowest in any game since April 2016.
It's possible Severino, who is still only 24, has hit a wall after throwing a career high 209 1/3 innings last season. Perhaps giving him extra rest before his next start -- or skipping a start all together -- is in order. Either way, extra rest or no extra rest, Severino's second-half collapse is a major problem for the Yankees.
Ohtani goes deep twice after Tommy John news
Wednesday afternoon the Angels announced two-way wunderkind Shohei Ohtani has suffered more damage to his right elbow ligament. Tommy John surgery has been recommended and, assuming he goes under the knife, it will keep him off the mound until 2020.
Ohtani is a two-way player though, and a few hours after the Tommy John surgery news broke, he was in the team's lineup at DH. He had a whale of a game too. Ohtani went 4-for-4 with two home runs and 3 RBI. They were his 17th and 18th homers of the year.
Ohtani will be shut down for the season once he has Tommy John surgery. For now, he's still able to hit, and he's not at risk of doing further damage to the elbow. He already needs Tommy John surgery. Can't get any worse than that.
Tommy John surgery carries a 14-16 month rehab timetable for pitchers. For position players though, it is usually 6-8 months. Will Ohtani be able to (or allowed to) hit next season while rehabbing? That's something the Angels, Ohtani, and the doctors will figure out when the time comes.
Kluber grabs MLB-leading 18th win
Corey Kluber became the first major leaguer to reach 18 wins by pitching the Indians to a 3-1 victory against visiting Kansas City at Progressive Field. Cleveland reduced its magic number to clinch the American League Central Division and a third consecutive playoff appearance to nine. Kluber recorded his fifth start with at least 10 strikeouts, tossing 6 2/3 innings with one run on just two hits.
Corey Kluber. Yeah, you could say he's dealing.#RallyTogether
— SportsTime Ohio (@SportsTimeOhio) September 5, 2018
STREAM: https://t.co/7WWM5OdFKr pic.twitter.com/dwupWqaQqC
Quick hits
- It's the final month of the 2018 regular season so sit back and take a look through Major League Baseball's top 50 players in CBS Sports' Dayn Perry rankings.
- A fan at the White Sox-Tigers game was hit in the face by a foul ball and taken to a Chicago hospital afterwards. The middle-aged male was sitting well beyond where the protective netting extends to the end of the camera box past the dugout, bringing the issue of fan safety at ballgames to the forefront once again.
- It's been 100 years to the day since the Major League World Series between the Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs began. CBS Sports' Cody Benjamin tells the story of how a September World Series, World War I and a shortened season changed the game of baseball forever.
- The Cubs are bracing for the possibility closer Brandon Morrow will not return this season. He is currently on the disabled list with biceps inflammation.
- Royals manager Ned Yost confirmed that Danny Duffy will not pitch again this season, as reported by MLB.com's Jeffrey Flanagan.
- After suffering a mild strain running down the first-base line on Aug. 25, Cardinals second baseman Kolten Wong has been activated from the 10-day disabled list.
