The second Saturday of the 2019 season occasioned a full slate. Most notably, Mike Trout and Aaron Judge put on impressive power displays, and the Cubs continued to get a mix of great hitting and bad pitching. Elsewhere, the Red Sox made franchise history, and not in a particularly good way. Homers weren't hard to come by around the league, which is the way of things lately. Remember Michael Pineda? He's back and looking like an important piece for the Twins. 

Now let's run it all down ... 

Baseball scores for Saturday, April 6

1. Cubs finally win; Red Sox don't

The Cubs snapped their six-game losing streak on Saturday night with a win over the Brewers. The Cubs are now 2-6 on the season, which is remarkable given that they entered the night hitting .307/.394/.496 as a team. As you might imagine it's a rare "feat" to hit like that while racking up losses. Regarding that very thing: 

The hero in this sorely needed victory was Jason Heyward, who blasted a pair of homers and also swiped two bags. He's now raking to the tune of .370/.419/.704 thus far in 2019, which is a pleasant surprise for the Cubs. Pitching, though, remains a concern. The Cubs entered the night with a 7.85 ERA as a team (!), and in this one they allowed eight runs, all earned. Starter Cole Hamels, however, did manage a quality start. 

As for their fellow travelers in unexpected suffering, the Red Sox were not as fortunate. Boston went up 3-0 early, thanks in part to a David Price RBI single, but they weren't able to hold the lead. The score was tied 4-4 in the bottom of the ninth when Carson Kelly stepped in against Colten Brewer: 

And with that, history was made: 

For Sox rooters, this no doubt calls to mind 2014, when the team followed up a championship season with a 91-loss campaign. It's too early to panic, of course, but the Sox quite literally have never before seen such early depths. 

2. Mike Trout is still Mike Trout

How's Mike Trout faring since inking that $430 million extension with the Angels? Well, he entered Saturday's game against the Rangers with a 2019 line of .375/.515/.833 (286 OPS+) with six walks against just two strikeouts and three home runs in his last two games. In other words, he's been vintage Trout and then some. 

So why haven't we been talking about him? It seems Bryce Harper and Christian Yelich have been sucking up much of the bandwidth in the early going. On Saturday, Trout seemingly decided to do something about that. Bear witness: 

That's a 458-foot grand slam, and that's Trout's first grand slam since September of 2015 and the fifth of his career. Related: 

Until further notice, he's still the best player in the game today. 

3. Michael Pineda is back

The Twins signed right-hander Michael Pineda back in December of 2017, but they did so knowing he would miss the entire 2018 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery. The Twins were betting on the stuff that -- before shoulder and elbow woes took hold -- made Pineda one of the most promising young arms in the game. 

On March 31, Pineda made his first start as a Twin and twirled four shutout innings against the Indians. Along the way, he struck out five, walked one, and spotted 28 of 40 pitches for strikes. On Saturday, he took the mound again, this time against a Phillies team that came in with an OPS of .914. The results ... 

player headshot
Michael Pineda
DET • SP • #38
vs. PHI, 4/6/19
IP5
H4
R2
SO5
BB1
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As you see up top, the Twins gave Pineda enough run support to allow him to pick up his first win since June 30, 2017, when he was with the Yankees. What's also encouraging is that Pineda in Saturday's start showed a velocity bump relative to his first start of the season. Even if he doesn't get back to sitting mid-90s as he did at his stuff peak, Pineda, now 30, can still command his fastball and slider. As well, he showed increasing confidence in his changeup in his start against Cleveland. 

Pineda will be vital to the Twins' efforts to return to the postseason in 2019, and in the very early going he's looked up to the task.

4. Judge breaks out

Yankees masher Aaron Judge entered Saturday night's tilt against Baltimore homerless in 26 at-bats and seven games this season. Given that Judge came into 2019 averaging a homer roughly every 3.5 games, that qualifies as a drought by his standards. Said drought is no more: 

Was he done? He was not done: 

And neither of those was a cheap one: 

Despite Judge's efforts, the Yankees fell behind until a Clint Frazier three-run shot put them back up for good. The Yankees came into the night as the AL's most homer-dependent team -- i.e., the percentage of their total runs that have come on homers is tops in the AL -- and that hasn't changed. 

Oh, and speaking of power: 

Fifty!

5. Mets blast five homers in win

The New York Mets prevailed over the division rival Washington Nationals 6-5 on Saturday afternoon. The Mets (6-2) hit five home runs (all solo shots) in the wild back and forth game. Cleanup man J.D. Davis knocked two homers off of Nationals starter Patrick Corbin,in the fourth and sixth innings. Michael Conforto had a home run in the sixth inning off Corbin too. In the eighth inning with the Mets down 5-3, rookie Pete Alonso and new Met Robinson Cano hit back-to-back home runs to tie the game. An RBI single from Keon Broxton gave the Mets back the lead at 6-5, and closer Edwin Diaz retired the side in the ninth inning to secure New York's sixth win of the season.

Davis' first home run of the game came at 114.7 mph off the bat, and according to Statcast, it's the third hardest-hit home run for the Mets since Statcast began tracking them in 2015. Take a look...

With Saturday's win, the Mets snuck into first place in the National League East, and currently hold a half-game lead over the Phillies.

Quick hits

  • Walker Buehler pitched solidly, and rookie OF Alex Verdugo homered and tripled as the Dodgers moved to 7-2 on the year.
  • C Jorge Alfaro homered twice in the Marlins' win over the Braves.
  • LHP Wade Miley worked 5 2/3 scoreless innings in the Astros' shutout of Oakland.
  • RHP Carlos Carrasco made a bit of franchise history during the Indians' win over the Blue Jays: 
  • Christin Stewart's grand slam helped push the Tigers past the Royals and to a surprising 6-3 record on the season. 
  • Cardinals LHP Andrew Miller allowed a pair of home runs in his team's Saturday loss to the Padres. He's now got an ERA of 10.80 in 3 1/3 innings on the season. Over that span, he's walked four batters and hit another two. 
  • 1B Josh Bell went 3 for 5 with a homer as the Pirates edged the Reds. The Reds are now 0-4 this season in games decided by one run.
  • SS Tim Beckham went 4 for 5 with a home run and a double in Seattle's blowout win over the White Sox. Beckham is now batting .410/.477/.846 for the season. 
  • 1B Brandon Belt had two hits, one home run, and three RBI in the Giants' home win over the Rays.
  • The Boston Red Sox have reportedly called up right-handed relief pitcher Marcus Walden and infielder Tzu-Wei Lin, reports MassLive.com's Chris Cotillo.
  • As Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register notes, Dodgers outfielder Cody Bellinger has hit 70 home runs since he made his MLB debut on April 25, 2017. Bellinger leads the league in homers with six (through eight games) and the Dodgers lead MLB in home runs (21), runs (65) and RBI (64).
  • Clayton Kershaw (sore left shoulder) will take the mound on Saturday for his second Triple-A rehab start. In his first on Thursday, he allowed two runs and struck out six over 4 1/3 innings.
  • The reigning American League Rookie of the Year and Angels two-way phenom Shohei Ohtani told reporters that he thinks he could be ready to return before the end of April, but the final decision will fall to the training staff.
  • The Minnesota Twins announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Chase De Jong. De Jong started four games for the Twins last season, going 1-1 with a 3.57 ERA, six walks and 13 strikeouts. To make room for De Jong on the 25-man roster, the Twins DFAed Tyler Austin.
  • The Yankees called up infielder Giovanny Urshela from Triple-A and signed him to a major-league contract, optioned Thairo Estrada down to Triple-A and transferred Didi Gregorius to the 60-day injured list. Urshela has some major-league experience, playing 167 games over three seasons with Cleveland and Toronto. Most of his MLB time was spent playing third base, but he logged games at first, second and shortstop.
  • The Tigers announced that left-hander Matt Moore has been placed on the 10-day IL after spraining his right knee in Saturday's game against the Royals.
  • Pirates OF Gregory Polanco (shoulder surgery) is slated to begin a minor-league rehab assignment on Sunday.
  • The Cubs have optioned RHP Carl Edwards Jr. to Triple-A Iowa and placed LHP Mike Montgomery on the IL with a lat strain.