Monday brings us partial eight-game slate of big league action as 14 teams enjoy an off-day. There are games with postseason implications in Houston, Philly, San Diego, L.A. and Queens. Here's everything you need to know about Monday's MLB action.
Select games can be streamed regionally via fuboTV (Try for free). For more on what channel each game is on, click here.
Who wins every MLB game? And what underdogs can give you a huge victory tonight? Visit SportsLine now to see the exact score of every MLB game, plus get full player stat projections, all from the model that simulates every game 10,000 times.
Baseball scores for Monday, Sept. 9
- FINAL - Braves 7, Phillies 2 (box score)
- FINAL - Mets 3, Diamondbacks 1 (box score)
- FINAL - Brewers 8, Marlins 3 (box score)
- FINAL - Yankees 5, Red Sox 0 (box score)
- FINAL - Astros 15, Athletics 0 (box score)
- FINAL - Pirates 6, Giants 4 (box score)
- FINAL - Indians 6, Angels 2 (box score)
- FINAL - Cubs 10, Padres 2 (box score)
Alonso retakes MLB home run lead
In addition to the various postseason and awards races, there will be a race for the MLB home run crown these final few weeks of the season. Here is the home run leaderboard as of Monday morning:
- Pete Alonso: 45
- Mike Trout: 45
- Cody Bellinger: 44
- Eugenio Suarez: 44
- Christian Yelich: 44
Alonso reclaimed the home run lead in the first inning of Monday night's series opener against the D-Backs. He took Merrill Kelly deep for home run No. 46 on the season. Four innings later, he added his 47th home run to further increase his lead.
Alonso set the franchise's single-season home run record a few weeks ago. He needs five home runs in New York's final 19 games to tie Aaron Judge's rookie home run record. Alonso has seven homers in his last 19 games, in case you're wondering.
Also, it should be noted Monday's home runs extended Alonso's on-base streak to 34 games. That is the longest active streak in baseball and the longest such streak in Mets history. A historic rookie season, through and through.
Paxton, Yankees eliminate Red Sox from AL East race
There will be a new AL East champion this season. The Red Sox, the defending World Series champions and three-time defending division champions, were eliminated from AL East contention with Monday night's loss to the Yankees. New York won the lopsided season series 14-5. The last team to beat the Red Sox 14 times in one season was the 1973 Yankees (14-4).
James Paxton turned in a dominant pitching performance for the Yankees on Monday night. He struck out seven in 6 2/3 scoreless innings to continue his recent hot streak. Paxton is 8-0 with a 2.57 ERA in his last eight starts.
Of course, the Red Sox have been out of the AL East race for weeks now, so Monday's elimination was no surprise. It was a mere formality. Boston has not been within 10 games of first place since July 31 and Monday's loss pushes them to 18 1/2 games behind the Yankees.
The Red Sox are still mathematically alive in the wild-card race but things are looking bleak. Even with the A's getting demolished by the Astros on Monday (more on that in a bit), the Red Sox sit eight games behind the second wild-card spot with 18 games to play. Possible? Sure. Probable? Oh goodness no.
As for the Yankees, they kept pace with the Astros with Monday's win and the two teams remain tied for the best record in baseball at 95-50. New York's magic number to clinch their first division title since 2012 is now nine.
Astros end Fiers' winning streak
Gosh, the Astros are on some kind of roll right now. Houston put up 21 runs against the Mariners on Sunday, then, on Monday, it took them all of two innings to open up a 9-0 lead against the Athletics. MVP candidate Alex Bregman hit a three-run home run.
A's starter Mike Fiers was charged with nine earned runs in one inning Monday. Ouch! Despite that, Fiers has been so very good this season that he still has a 3.97 ERA overall. (He went into the game with a 3.51 ERA.) Not many pitchers can give up a nine-spot in one inning and escape with a sub-4.00 ERA.
Fiers went into Monday's game having won his last 12 decisions, one short of Hall of Famer Catfish Hunter's franchise record. Also, Fiers had been unbeaten in his last 21 starts, tying the franchise record held by another Hall of Famer, Lefty Grove. The Astros put a swift end to both streaks Monday.
As for Houston, they set a new franchise record for runs scored in consecutive games Sunday and Monday with 36. The Astros are hitting .285/.367/.518 as a team since the All-Star break. It's like having nine Ronald Acuna Jr.'s in the lineup (.290/.362/.511).
Indians gain ground in wild-card race
Thanks to the Astros beating the Athletics and Shane Bieber, the Indians picked up a game in the wild-card race Monday night. Bieber, who grew up in Orange County and attended UC Santa Barbara, was masterful against the Angels in Anaheim.
A rather large contingent of family and friends demanded a curtain call when Bieber exited the game and he delivered from the dugout top step. It's not often you see a player get a curtain call on the road. Bieber was playing in his hometown though, so I guess it's understandable.
Cleveland has won back-to-back games for the first time in nearly two weeks, and is now a half-game behind Oakland for the second wild-card spot. The idle Rays sit in the top wild-card spot and are 1 1/2 games up on the A's.
Big Papi throws out first pitch in Boston
Red Sox legend David Ortiz visited Fenway Park on Monday night for the first time since being shot in his native Dominican Republic back in June. He threw out the ceremonial first pitch before the Red Sox and Yankees wrapped up their four-game series.
Ortiz was shot through the abdomen on June 9 in what police in the Dominican Republic have called a case of mistaken identity. He was released from the hospital in late July and recently began posting pictures of himself on social media. Ortiz has hired former Boston police commissioner Ed Davis to lead an investigation into the shooting.
Highlight of the Day: Alvarez homers into third deck
The Astros had a deep and powerful lineup coming into the season. Once they called up Yordan Alvarez in June, they became almost unstoppable. Alvarez cranked two home runs Monday, including this titanic blast into the Minute Maid Park third deck:
According to Astros historian Mike Acosta, Alvarez is only the second player to hit a home run into the right field upper deck at Minute Maid Park. Jeromy Burnitz, then with the Brewers, did it back in September 2000. That was the ballpark's inaugural season and back when the Astros called the National League home.
Alvarez went into Monday's game hitting .314/.409/.655 with 22 home runs and 70 RBI in 70 games. He is the favorite to be named AL Rookie of the Year and, frankly, he should win it unanimously.
Stat of the Day: Yankees, Red Sox make quirky history
As noted earlier, the Yankees and Red Sox wrapped up their season series Monday night. New York won 14 times in 19 games against their historic rivals this year. The season series was very one-sided.
Weirdly enough, the Yankees and Red Sox did not play a single one-run game this season. Never before had these two teams played a season series without a one-run game and they've been playing each other since the dawn of time.
Reminder:
— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) September 9, 2019
Every Yankees/Red Sox game this season has been decided by *more than* 1 run.
Tonight's the last game of the season series.
They've never had a year in which they did not play a single one-run game against each other.
They've been playing each other since 1903.
The Yankees and Red Sox played only three two-run games this season. The average margin of victory in their 19 games was 4.63 runs.
Quick hits
- It's Monday, and Matt Snyder's latest MLB Power Rankings are out. Find out where all 30 MLB teams stand heading into the second week of September.
- We checked in on the season's race for the MVP Awards. You can read the top AL candidates here, and top NL candidates here.
- Red Sox legend David Ortiz returned to Fenway Park for the first time since being shot in June. He threw out the ceremonial first pitch.
- Angels star Mike Trout underwent a minor procedure on is foot Monday. The team says he is day-to-day.
- Cubs star Javier Baez is likely to miss the rest of the regular season. He has a hairline fracture in his thumb and the team hopes he can return for the postseason.
- The Red Sox fired president Dave Dombrowski after their loss to the Yankees Sunday night. The team made the announcement official on Monday.
- Here are five questions facing Boston's next GM, including the futures of Mookie Betts and Alex Cora.
- Mookie Betts says the Dombrowski firing won't impact his pending free agency and contract extension talks.
- Boston promoted a four-person group to work president of baseball ops in the meantime, which makes Raquel Ferreira the highest-ranking woman in MLB.
- Here's a look at seven potential GM candidates for Boston.
