Issue #646
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!
⚾ Welcome! ⚾
Yesterday’s schedule included a typical Wednesday full slate of games (15). Here are the results (link to all game box scores):
LAD 4, SDP 0 - Shohei Ohtani both hit and pitched in this one, and that began with him leading off the game with a HR, his 8th of the season. He then proceeded to pitch five scoreless innings (LAD SP Shohei Ohtani: 5 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K), while the Dodgers put up another couple runs against SDP SP Randy Vasquez (4.1 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 0 K). Teoscar Hernández added a solo HR in the ninth for good measure, while four Dodgers relievers pitched scoreless frames to combine for the shutout.
TOR 2, NYY 1 - This game featured a fun matchup of two good young pitchers, and they did not disappoint. NYY SP Cam Schlitter did well (6 IP, 8 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 7 K), but finally allowed two runs in the seventh. TOR SP Trey Yesavage pitched six scoreless frames (6 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 8 K), and the Yankees only finally scored a run in the bottom of the ninth before Blue Jays reliever Louis Varland was able to close it out for his 6th save.
MIL 5, CHC 0 - The Brewers scored four runs early, and MIL SP Kyle Harrison was outstanding with 11 K in 7 IP (2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB). Reliever DL Hall combined with him for a two-hit shutout, with William Contreras going 3-4, and David Hamilton going 3-4 with a triple (which he scored on due to a fielding error by Pete Crow-Armstrong).
CIN 9, PHI 4
BAL 3, TBR 5
HOU 1, MIN 4
TEX 5, COL 4
SFG 3, ARI 6
CWS 4, SEA 5
CLE 3, DET 2 (10)
ATL 9, MIA 1
NYM 4, WSH 8
BOS 4, KCR 3
PIT 7, STL 0
ATH 6, LAA 5
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Today’s Trivia Question
One of today's Birthday Boys (see below) is Kent Hrbek. He played his entire career with the Twins and hit 293 HR. That ranks second all-time for the combined Senators/Twins franchise, far behind all-time leader Harmon Killebrew who had 559 of his 573 career HR with the Senators/Twins. Six other players had 200+ HR for the Senators/Twins franchise—how many of them can you name?
(Trivia answers are provided for paid All-Star subscribers of the Baseball Buffet.)
🎂 Today’s Birthday Boys 🎉
Earl Averill, Josh Hamilton, Kent Hrbek, Matt Wieters
Currently active players who were born on May 21 include COL Tyler Freeman, PHI José Alvarado, and ARI Joe Ross.
Today’s Matchups
Today we have a short slate with only seven games, as many teams are either traveling or otherwise have the day off. Here is the full schedule:
CLE Joey Cantillo vs. DET Casey Mize
PIT Braxton Ashcraft vs. STL Dustin May
NYM David Peterson vs. WSH Cade Cavalli
ATL Spencer Strider vs. MIA Sandy Alcantara
TOR Braydon Fisher vs. NYY Carlos Rodón
ATH Luis Severino vs. LAA José Soriano
COL Zach Agnos vs. ARI Eduardo Rodriguez
Baseball Quote of the Day
One of today's Birthday Boys (see above) is Josh Hamilton, so here are some quotes from him;
"When I try to do too much, try to make things happen, it (playing baseball) becomes hard for me."
"I had to realize that I don’t get paid to hit the ball far in batting practice, I get paid to get on base, get hits, do all the things it takes to help the team win a game."
"I knew how I was capable of playing and put way more expectations on myself than anybody else would."
"It's very important to me to help people who are struggling, who are where I used to be."
⚾ Enjoy the games today!⚾
Did you know?
What you are reading are just some highlights from the full Baseball Buffet newsletter. Paid All Star subscribers receive all of the following, every day:
Game summaries for every game
Current MLB standings
Notable player transactions… injuries, call-ups, free agent signings, trades, etc.
Rotating statistical leader lists
Current hitting streaks of seven or more games
On this day in baseball history…
Career summaries for each of The Birthday Boys
Daily Hitter Watch and Pitcher Watch lists - who has historically done well or poorly against their matchup today?
Good Reads… my favorite recent baseball articles from other writers
… and the answers to the daily trivia questions!
Become an All Star subscriber to The Baseball Buffet today for $7 a month, or the annual rate of $49 a year. That is less than 14 cents a day for more baseball goodness delivered to your inbox every morning!
Did you know? I wrote a 600+ page book with the same title as this newsletter/blog? Now Taking the Field: Baseball’s All-Time Dream Teams for All 30 Franchises was published in early 2019, by ACTA Sports. It is available at Amazon and most other major booksellers.
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