The Baseball Buffet for 4/30/2025

Issue #261

What follows is a new feature for 2025 at Now Taking the Field. The goal with The Baseball Buffet series is to provide the best daily dose of relevant baseball info in a smart-brevity format (mostly short bullets, getting to the point, with quick analysis/insights.) Think of it like what baseball fans of a certain age would look forward to in their morning newspaper’s sports section each day! Let me know what you think of each issue… leave a comment on the post or send me an email at [email protected].

⚾ Welcome! ⚾

The 34th day of the season had a full slate of 15 games:

• NYY 15, BAL 3 - Kyle Gibson’s 2025 debut for the Orioles was not pretty (3.2 IP, 11 H, 9 ER, 2 BB, 2 K), including giving up HR to the first three batters he faced. Carlos Rodon on the other hand was perfect through five innings and did well overall (6 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 K), allowing one HR to Gunnar Henderson. The Yankees had six HR amongst their 19 hits, including two from Ben Rice, and one each from Trent Grisham, Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger, and Austin Wells.

• KCR 3, TBR 1 - Junior Caminero had a HR and a double, but Michael Lorenzen otherwise pitched well (6 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 4 K), and three Royals relievers shut out the Rays the rest of the way, with Carlos Estevez picking up his 8th save.

• WAS 6, PHI 7 - Kyle Schwarber and Johan Rojas homered early to give the Phillies a lead. Zack Wheeler pitched well (6.2 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 K), but Nathaniel Lowe hit a 3-run HR in the top of the ninth to put the Nats up 6-5. The Phils had a few hits in the bottom of the ninth, and ultimately a wild pitch by Kyle Finnegan led to the Bryon Stott scoring the winning run.

• BOS 10, TOR 2 - Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit his third HR of the year, but otherwise Garrett Crochet pitched well (7 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 6 K). The Red Sox scored seven runs off of Bowden Francis in the first three innings, including five HR by Jarren Duran, Alex Bregman, Kristian Campbell, Rafael Devers, and Wilyer Abreu.

• AZ 3, NYM 8 - David Peterson pitched well (5 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 2 K) and Francisco Lindor, Starling Marte, and Pete Alonso all homered off of Eduardo Rodriguez (4 IP, 9 H, 8 ER, 1 K).

• CHC 9, PIT 0 - Shota Imanaga pitched well (5 IP, 6 H, 0 ER, 3 K) and Seiya Suzuki went 3-4 with a HR, a triple, and a double. The Cubs also got homers from Carson Kelly, Pete Crow-Armstrong, and Dansby Swanson.

• MIN 1, CLE 2 - Ty France hit a HR, but Tanner Bibee otherwise pitched well (7 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K). For the Guardians, Bo Naylor hit a HR in the third inning, and then Kyle Manzardo hit a walk-off HR in the bottom of the ninth.

• MIL 7, CHW 2 - Andrew Benintendi and Luis Robert Jr. hit back-to-back HR in the first inning off Freddy Peralta. But then he settled in (6 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 5 K) and three Milwaukee relievers shut out the White Sox in the final three innings.

• ATH 2, TEX 15 - Jacob deGrom was outstanding (6 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 7 K) and the Rangers pounded out 18 hits (no HR) with six guys getting two or three hits each. Shea Langeliers hit his sixth HR for the Athletics, but they couldn’t get much going otherwise.

• DET 4, HOU 6 - Kerry Carpenter hit a HR in the 1st inning, and Gleyber Torres hit on in the 9th inning, but it was between those that the Astros scored 3 runs in both the sixth and seventh innings off Tigers starter Reese Olsen and reliever Will Vest.

• ATL 8, COL 2 - Michael Toglia of the Rockies had the games only HR, his third on the year. But the Braves pounded hits off German Marquez (5.1 IP, 11 H, 7 ER, 1 K) and overall scored runs across five different innings.

• LAA 3, SEA 5 - Logan O’Hoppe hit his 8th HR of the year, but that wasn’t enough as hot-hitting Jorge Polanco powered the Mariners with two HR (his 8th and 9th this year) that drove in all five of their runs. Bryce Miller was a little wild but otherwise pitched well (5 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 5 BB, 6 K), and Andrés Muñoz acquired his 11th save which is tied for the MLB lead.

• SFG 4, SDP 7 - Willy Adames went 2-4 with a HR and a double, but the Padres built an early lead and then tacked on two more from a Xander Bogaerts HR in the 7th inning. Robert Suarez locked down his 11th save to keep pace with Seattle’s Andrés Muñoz for the MLB lead.

• MIA 2, LAD 15 - The Dodgers beat up on Miami SP Sandy Alcantara (2.2 IP, 7 H, 7 ER, 5 BB, 2 K), with Freddie Freeman and Teoscar Hernandez each having two doubles against him, and Shohei Ohtani hitting a first-inning HR too. Meanwhile three Dodgers pitchers held the Marlins in check, with the versatile Kike Hernandez even pitching a scoreless ninth inning.

• STL vs. CIN - postponed

Today’s Trivia Question

Yankees Pitcher Jim Bouton was an All-Star in 1963 when he went 21-7 with 2.53. He was also a best-selling author (“Ball Four”), actor, activist, sportscaster, and one of the creators of Big League Chew. Over the course of his career he had some outstanding teammates. Can you name his five different teammates who either had already, or would in the future, win two consecutive MVP awards across four different decades?

Who’s on the move?

In this section I won’t list 26th-man moves, or every time a team shuttles relievers back and forth to AAA to keep a stock of fresh arms in the bullpen. I’ll focus on the biggest, more impactful demotions, promotions, and injury list changes (for a full list, see all the latest MLB transactions).

➕ Starting Rehab Assignment

• WAS SP Cade Cavalli

• CHW 3B Josh Rojas

• ATH 2B Zach Gelof

• DET OF Manuel Margot

• BAL SP Trevor Rogers

🤕 Placed on the IL

• CLE RP Paul Sewald - 15-day IL (right shoulder strain)

• LAD SP Tyler Glasnow - 15-day IL (right shoulder inflammation)

League Leaders

It has been over a week since I checked in on RBI… and there are now several major sluggers a top this leaderboard:

• 31 - LAD Teoscar Hernandez

• 29 - NYY Aaron Judge

• 28 - NYM Pete Alonso

• 28 - SFG Wilmer Flores

• 26 - CHC Kyle Tucker

• 25 - SEA Jorge Polanco

• 25 - CHC Seiya Suzuki

• 24 - MIL Jackson Chourio

• 24 - CIN Elly De La Cruz

• 24 - LAD Tommy Edman

• 24 - ATH Tyler Soderstrom

• 24 - DET Spencer Torkelson

On this day in baseball history…

Here is what stands out to me for this day in baseball history (for a longer list, see the feature at the Baseball Almanac or the Bullpen feature at Baseball-Reference.com):

📅 On April 30…

• 1922: Charlie Robertson throws a perfect game. Charlie Robertson of the Chicago White Sox, a 26-year old rookie, pitched a 2-0 perfect game against the Detroit Tigers. Clearly the highlight of his career, as Robertson had a 49-80 (.380) record, with a 4.44 ERA and below-average 90 ERA+ over eight seasons.

• 1961: Willie Mays hits four HR. Willie Mays of the San Francisco Giants hit four home runs in a 14-4 victory over the Braves in Milwaukee.

Besides that perfect game in 1922, several no-hitters have been thrown on April 30th:

• 1940 - Tex Carleton, as described at baseball-reference.com, “Picked up off the scrap heap by the Brooklyn Dodgers just months after being given his unconditional release by the Double-A Milwaukee Brewers, starting pitcher Tex Carleton throws a no-hitter against the Cincinnati Reds at Crosley Field.”

• 1946: Bob Feller of the Cleveland Indians hurls his second no-hitter, beating the New York Yankees 1-0.

• 1967: Steve Barber and Stu Miller of the Baltimore Orioles combined on a no-hitter in a 2-1 loss to the Detroit Tigers in the first game of a doubleheader. Barber pitched 8 2/3 innings and Miller one-third of an inning.

• 1969: Jim Maloney of the Cincinnati Reds struck out 13 as part of a 10-0 no-hitter over the Houston Astros, the third of his career.

🎂 Today’s Birthday Boys🎉

• Phil Garner (1949) had a 16-year playing career, mostly with the A’s, Pirates, and Astros. A 3-time All-Star, he played a mix of positions, but primarily 2B and 3B. He stole 20+ bases five times, and had a little pop with a high of 17 HR in 1977. After retiring Garner went on to have a long career as a manager, first with the Brewers and then with the Tigers and Astros. His greatest success came in 2005 when he led the Astros to the NL Pennant, losing to the White Sox in the World Series.

• Bill Pierce (1890) was a Negro Leagues catcher, first baseman, and manager for several years before the founding of the first Negro National League. He played for various teams from 1910-1925, including the Detroit Stars in 1924 where according to baseball-reference.com he had a .337/.410/.589 slash line in 62 games.

• Jumbo Brown (1907) pitched in parts of 12 seasons in the majors, mostly with the New York Giants and New York Yankees, but also a little with the Indians, Reds, and Cubs. He bounced back and forth between the minor and majors, usually pitching as a starter in the minors but used almost exclusively as a reliever in the majors (249 games, but only 23 starts). His best major league season came in 1938 when he posted a 1.80 ERA in 43 relief outings and 90 IP for the Giants. Born Walter George Brown, the nickname Jumbo was due to his size, as baseball-reference.com lists him as being 6’4” and 295 pounds.

Today’s Matchups

A full slate (15) of games today, plus a second game in Cincinnati due to yesterday’s postponement. Some games that jump out to me are:

• DET vs. HOU features two rookies in Detroit’s Jackson Jobe (2.70 ERA, 14 K in 20 IP in 4 starts this year) vs. Houston’s AJ Blubaugh making his major league debut.

• BOS vs. TOR has Boston SP Lucas Giolito making his return to the majors after not having played all of last season. As of the time of this writing, Toronto’s starter is TBD.

Other pitchers on the bump today include ATL Chris Sale, SDP Michael King, MIN Pablo Lopez, AZ Corbin Burnes, and TEX Nathan Eovaldi.

HR Watch

Predicting who might hit a HR on any given day is a challenge. But here are a few to consider based on opposing SP past performance:

• TOR Alejandro Kirk, 4-11 with 3 HR vs. BOS Lucas Giolito

• NYM Pete Alonso, 6-15 with 3 HR and a double vs. AZ Corbin Burnes

• STL Nolan Arenado, 6-13 with 2 HR vs. CIN Andrew Abbott

• PHI Bryson Stott, 5-14 with 2 HR and a double vs. WAS Jake Irvin

• TEX Jake Burger, 5-13 with 2 HR and 2 doubles vs. ATH Luis Severino

• TEX Kevin Pillar, 5-18 with 2 HR vs. ATH Luis Severino

Hits Watch

If you play MLB’s Beat the Streak mobile game, or otherwise bet on/parlay players to collect hits, I’ll try to provide some good options in this section. In addition to the HR Watch guys listed above, here are some others to consider based on opposing SP past performance:

• LAD Freddie Freeman, 8-15 with a triple and 2 doubles vs. MIA Cal Quantrill

• CLE Steven Kwan, 7-14 with a double and 0 strikeouts vs. MIN Pablo Lopez

• CIN Spencer Steer, 6-12 with a HR and a double vs. STL Miles Mikolas

• NYM Brandon Nimmo, 6-15 with 2 triples and a double vs. AZ Corbin Burnes

• PHI J.T. Realmuto, 5-12 with a HR vs. WAS Jake Irvin

• SEA Julio Rodríguez, small sample but is 6-8 with a HR and a double vs. LAA Tyler Anderson

Who is streaking?

These are players on active hit streaks and who for this reason (if playing) might also be interesting picks to get a hit today:

• 20 - KCR Bobby Witt Jr

• 12 - CIN Gavin Lux

• 12 - CIN Elly De La Cruz

• 11 - PIT Adam Frazier

• 10 - STL Willson Contreras

• 10 - NYY Aaron Judge

• 9 - DET Zach McKinstry

• 9 - BOS Alex Bregman

• 9 - PIT Ke’Bryan Hayes

• 8 - LAD Teoscar Hernandez

• 8 - SEA J.P. Crawford

• 8 - MIL William Contreras

• 7 - LAD Andy Pages

• 7 - TEX Josh Jung

• 7 - ATL Eli White

Who might struggle today?

Betting against any given player to not get a hit is tough, as guys in the starting lineup get at least one hit in a game more often than not. That said, here are some guys who clearly have struggled against their opposing SP today:

• PHI Kyle Schwarber, 2-16 with 5 K vs. WAS Jake Irvin

• CIN Jake Fraley, 0-10 with 4 K vs. STL Miles Mikolas

• SFG Matt Chapman, 3-20 with 4 K vs. SDP Michael King

• ATH Miguel Andujar, 2-15 with 3 K vs. TEX Nathan Eovaldi

⚾ Enjoy the games today!⚾

Today’s Trivia Answer

Pitcher Jim Bouton is most well known for his time with the Yankees (1962-1968), but he also spent a little time later with the Seattle Pilots (1969), the Astros (1969-70), and then briefly attempted a comeback with the Braves (1978) at age 39. As a result, Bouton had five different teammates who either had already, or would in the future, win two consecutive MVP awards across four different decades. They were: Yogi Berra (1954-55 MVPs), Mickey Mantle (1956-57), Roger Maris (1960-61), Joe Morgan (1975-76), and Dale Murphy (1982-83).

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