The Baseball Buffet for 4/7/2025

Issue #238

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 11th day of the season included another full slate of games, with one double-header:

• TOR 1, NYM 2 - David Peterson was a bit wild but limited the damage (4.2 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 5 BB, 3 K) and then four relievers only allowed one hit with zero runs over the last 4.1 innings.

• CHW 3, DET 4 - Martín Pérez was again solid (6.1 IP, 4 H, 1 ER 4 K) and the White Sox were on their way to their third win of the season, but then their bullpen let up several walks and hits and Detroit scored three in the bottom of the ninth for the comeback victory.

• AZ 4, WAS 5 - Corbin Carroll had a double and a triple, and Jose Herrera hit a HR for Arizona, but the Nationals spread around their nine hits and five walks to score just enough to come out on top. Kyle Finnegan notched his third save of this young season.

• LAD 7, PHI 8 - Kiké Hernández hit two HR and the Dodgers out-hit the Phillies 9-6. But Tyler Glasnow was wild (2 IP, 2 H, 5 ER, 5 BB, 2 K) and Alex Vesia relieved him and let up a Grand Slam to Nick Castellanos. Later, Blake Treinen let up two runs in the bottom of 7th which ended up being decisive.

• BAL 1, KCR 4 - Kris Bubic pitched well (6.2 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 8 K) and the Royals got 13 hits off 24-year old Cade Povich in the first six innings.

• NYY 4, PIT 5 - The Pirates jumped out to a 4-1 lead and their starter, lefty Andrew Heaney, was outstanding (7 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 10 K). The Yankees scored three in the top of the ninth to force extra innings, but then in the bottom of the 11th, with Jack Suwinski on third base, Tommy Pham singled off Yankees closer Devin Williams for the game-winning RBI.

• STL 4, BOS 5 (Gm 1) - Rafael Devers finally hit his first HR of the year. Later the Red Sox came from behind to force extra innings and eventually win it in the 10th when Wilyer Abreu singled and Alex Bregman scored.

• CIN 2, MIL 8 - Chad Patrick pitched well (5.1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 4 K) and 21-year old Jackson Chourio provided the offense with two HR and five RBI.

• HOU 9, MIN 7 - There were 25 hits in this one, with the Twins getting an early lead 7-1 through the first four innings. But the Astros battled back, including Yordan Alvarez hitting his first HR of the season, a 2-run shot in the top of the ninth to send the game into extras. Houston scored two more in the top of the tenth and Josh Hader came back out to pitch a second inning and lock down the win—a day before his birthday!

• SDP 8, CHC 7 - There was a lot of action early as the Cubs took a 7-3 lead after just two innings. But the Padres kept coming, collecting 13 hits in all, including a 4-5 day for Luis Arraez and Jackson Merrill hitting his third HR of the year. Robert Suarez wrapped it up by notching his fourth save.

• TBR 3, TEX 4 - Kumar Rocker pitched well (5 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, though only 1 K), and the Rangers scored first, scored last, and in between Corey Seager hit his first HR of the year.

• ATH 5, COL 12 - Lots of hits (23) and runs scored (17) in Colorado today. Included were Athletics HR by Tyler Soderstrom and Lawrence Butler, and strong games by the Rockies’ Brenton Doyle (3-5 with a HR and a double) and Ezequiel Tovar (4-5 with two doubles).

• SEA 4, SFG 5 - Julio Rodriguez and Cal Raleigh each had a HR early, but the Giants scored four in the 4th including a 3-run HR by Mike Yastrzemski. The Mariners tied the game in the top of the ninth, but then pinch-hitter Wilmer Flores hit a two-out single to drive in the winning run in the bottom of the ninth.

• CLE 2, LAA 6 - Kyle Manzardo his his third HR of the year, but that was the only hit allowed by Tyler Anderson (5 IP, 1 H, 2 ER, 5 K). The Angels had homers by Logan O’Hoppe, Jorge Soler, and Kyren Paris, and then Ben Joyce and Kenley Jansen closed things down in the 8th and 9th innings.

• STL 7, BOS 18 (Gm 2) - In game two of the double-header the Red Sox jumped out to a 10-0 leader after three innings (Miles Mikolas pitched 2.2 IP allowing 11 H and 8 ER). Boston had 22 hits and St. Louis added 12, but there were only two HR: STL Thomas Saggese and BOS Alex Bregman. Some great lines otherwise though, like Jarren Duran 3-5, Rafael Devers 4-4, Alex Bregman 4-5, and Ceddanne Rafaela 3-4.

• MIA vs. ATL - Postponed

Today’s Trivia Question (new feature!!)

Luis Arraez had started the year rather cold, going 4-31 (.129). But in his last two games he has been 2-3 and 4-5, which nearly doubled his average to .256. The 27-year old has won three consecutive batting titles, with averages of .316, .354, and .314, respectively. Interestingly, he is the only player to win batting titles with three different teams. But which players have won four or more batting titles in their careers? Hint: There are more than you might think—14 of them! Answers at the bottom.

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

• COL SP Austin Gomber

🤕 Placed on the IL

• MIL SP Nestor Cortes - 15-day IL (left elbow flexor strain)

• PIT RP Colin Holderman - 15-day IL (right knee sprain)

• LAD SP Blake Snell - 15-day IL (left shoulder inflammation)

😀 Activated from the IL

• ATL C Sean Murphy

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 7…

• 1977: Birth of the Blue Jays. At Exhibition Stadium, the Toronto Blue Jays play their first game ever with a victory against the Chicago White Sox, 9-5.

• 1979: Ken Forsch joins his brother in the no-hitter club. Astros pitcher Ken Forsch pitched a no-hitter against the Braves. His brother Bob Forsch pitched a no-hitter the year before.

• 1984: Jack Morris throws a no-hitter. Tigers right-hander Jack Morris no-hits the White Sox 4-0 at Comiskey Park, strike out eight though walking six batters.

🎂 Today’s Birthday Boys🎉

• Adrian Beltré (1979) is a Hall of Famer and one of the all-time greatest third basemen. He provided both strong offense with 477 HR and 3,166 hits over his 21-year career, and strong defense winning five Gold Glove Awards. He had 100+ RBI five times, and led the NL with 48 HR in 2004 while playing with the Dodgers. He retired with a .286/.339/.480 slash line and 116 OPS+.

• John McGraw (1873) is a Hall of Famer and was a star player in the late 1800s. He was particularly outstanding at getting on base and then running well as he had a career OBP of .466 (third highest ever) and five seasons with 40+ SB. He scored 100+ runs five times, including leading the NL with 143 in 1898 and 140 in 1899. Late in his career he was a player manager and then was a long-time manager with the New York Giants. Across 31 years managing the Giants he had a .591 winning percentage (2,583-1,790), won 10 NL Pennants, and World Series Championships in 1905, 1921, and 1922.

• Bobby Doerr (1918) is a Hall of Famer and was an All-Star nine times as a 2B for the Red Sox. He missed one prime season in 1945 to WWII, but nonetheless had 100+ RBI six times, even though he only hit 20+ HR three times. Spinal problems forced him to retire early at the age of 33, at which time he had a career .288/.362/.461 slash line and 115 OPS+.

• Josh Hader (1994) has been one of the most dominant closers of his generation, posting 30+ saves five times and microscopic ERAs of 1.23 in 2021 and 1.28 in 2023.

Today’s Matchups

Some teams are travelling or otherwise have the day off, but we still have a solid slate of 11 games today. Some games that jump out to me are:

• LAD vs. WAS is the start of a new series, with the 9-2 Dodgers travelling to the 3-6 Nationals. Dustin May was good in his first start, and MacKenzie Gore was outstanding in his first, though less so in his second.

• TEX vs. CHC includes Nathan Eovaldi, who threw the season’s first complete game his last time out, facing the Cubs’ Justin Steele.

• BAL vs. AZ is at least nominally interesting as we have Zach Eflin vs. Zac Gallen.

HR Watch

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

• SDP Manny Machado, only 4-19 with 11 K… but those four hits have been 3 HR and a double vs. ATH Luis Severino.

• HOU Jose Altuve, 11-33 with 1 HR and 5 doubles vs. SEA Logan Gilbert

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. Early in the season there aren’t any active streaks to report on yet, so in addition to the HR Watch guys listed above, here are some others to consider based on opposing SP past performance:

• NYY Aaron Judge, small sample but is 4-5 with two doubles vs. DET Casey Mize

• SDP Luis Arraez, small sample but is 3-5 vs. ATH Luis Severino (and it is Arraez!)

Who is streaking?

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

• 10 - MIL Brice Turang

• 10 - ATH Jacob Wilson

• 9 - SFG Heliot Ramos

• 9 - MIL Jackson Chourio

• 9 - STL Nolan Arenado

• 8 - SEA Victor Robles

• 7 - SFG Jung Hoo Lee

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:

• HOU Jeremy Peña, 1-23 with 5 K vs. SEA Logan Gilbert

• SDP Xander Bogaerts, 3-31 with 8 K vs. ATH Luis Severino

• AZ Eugenio Suárez, 0-11 with 7 K vs. BAL Zach Eflin

• DET Javier Báez, 2-15 with 7 K vs. NYY Carlos Rodón

• SFG Patrick Bailey, small sample but is 0-7 with 6 K vs. CIN Hunter Greene

• SFG Matt Chapman, small sample but is 1-9 with 5 K vs. CIN Hunter Greene

• SFG LaMonte Wade Jr., small sample but is 0-9 with 4 K vs. CIN Hunter Greene

Once we get a few weeks into the season I’ll starting sharing out some starting pitchers to consider for strikeout totals (over/under bets), some teams that might explode offensively that day, and even some fun with NRFI (no-runs in the first inning bets). But these kinds of things are hard to judge early in the season until we see how teams and players are starting out the year

⚾ Enjoy the games today!⚾

Today’s Trivia Answer

Luis Arraez has three batting titles (the past three years). If he should win a fourth, he’ll be in even more elite company, as only these 14 players have done so:

Ty Cobb, Tony Gwynn, Honus Wagner, Rod Carew, Rogers Hornsby, Stan Musial, Ted Williams, Wade Boggs, Dan Brouthers, Cap Anson, Miguel Cabrera, Roberto Clemente, Harry Heilmann, and Bill Madlock.

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