The Baseball Buffet for 5/25/2025

Issue #285

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 59th day of the season had a full slate (15) of Saturday games:

• BAL 5, BOS 6 (Gm 1) - Jarren Duran, Wilyer Abreu, and Abraham Toro each homered for Boston, but the game was 5-5 after six innings and continued that way through nine. In the bottom of the 10th, with one out, Rafael Devers singled to center to drive in Ceddanne Rafaela who was the ghost-running Manfred Man on second.

• BAL 2, BOS 1 (Gm 2) - Lucas Giolito pitched well (7 IP, 6 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 6 K), but so did Trevor Rogers in his 2025 debut (6.1 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K). The Orioles finally scored a run in the 8th and 9th, and Boston countered in the bottom of the 9th with Abraham Toro’s second HR of the day, but it wouldn’t be enough.

• KCR 4, MIN 5 - The Royals outhit the Twins 11-9, but they were almost all singles and they left 12 runners on base. Minnesota had HR from Harrison Bader and Kody Clemens, and in the bottom of the ninth with runners on second and third, Brooks Lee singled to center to drive in Carlos Correa for the winning run. Of note, the Royals struck out 18 times in this game. On the season, the Royals had the second fewest strikeouts of any team (coming into this game), with only the Padres having fewer. Royals hitters were averaging less than 7 K a game, and yet in this one rookie Zebby Matthews had 9 K in 4 innings, and five Twins relievers added 9 more.

• AZ 5, STL 6 - Matthew Liberatore pitched well (7 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K), and after two Cardinals relievers let the D-Backs come back in the 8th and briefly take the lead, Ryan Helsley struck out two in the ninth to get the win.

• SFG 0, WAS 3 - James Wood connected for his 13th HR of the year in the first inning, and Jake Irvin was outstanding (8 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 7 K) with Jorge Lopez pitching the ninth to combine for the 3-hit shutout.

• SDP 1, ATL 7 - Matt Olson hit his 12th HR of the year, and Ronald Acuña Jr. hit a two-run HR—his second HR in two days since coming back from the IL. The Braves tallied 13 hits, with all nine starters in their lineup getting at least one. Rookie catcher Drake Baldwin went 3-4, raising his average on the year to a lofty .355, and Grant Holmes did well (7 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K) to even his record at 3-3.

• MIL 1, PIT 2 - Quinn Priester pitched well against his old team (6 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K), but Mitch Keller matched him (6 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 7 K). In the bottom of the seventh, with Isiah Kiner-Falefa on second, Oneil Cruz tripled to center to drive in what would be the winning run.

• SEA 1, HOU 2 - In the first inning, Mariners pitcher Bryan Woo fielded a ground ball from Christian Walker but threw it away trying to make the tough out. Jose Altuve, who had been on first, was waved home and scored after making a head-first dive to avoid being tagged. Walker would later score in the inning, and that is all it took as Framber Valdez pitched well (6 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 4 BB, 5 K) and three Astros relievers locked down innings 7-9, with Bryan Abreu getting his 13th hold and Josh Hader his 13th save.

• NYY 13, COL 1 - After the aberration of losing to the Rockies 3-2 to open the series on Friday, the Yankees set things right by crushing Colorado in this one. Max Fried was once again outstanding on the mound (7.1 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K) and Ian Hamilton had three strikeouts in his 1.2 innings as well. New York banged out 21 hits, including nine off starter Kyle Freeland (4.2 IP, 9 H, 8 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 3 K). Aaron Judge hit his 18th HR, which temporarily gave him the MLB lead by himself. But that was the only long ball as doubles were in fashion today with six different Yankees connecting for two-baggers: Cody Bellinger, Oswald Peraza, Austin Wells, Trent Grisham, Anthony Volpe, and Pablo Reyes.

• CHC 4, CIN 6 - The Cubs out hit the Reds 11-9, and had HR from Justin Turner (his first of the year) and Carson Kelly, but were 0-9 with runners in scoring position. Colin Rea struck out 8 in 5 innings, but also allowed 7 hits and 6 ER. Elly De La Cruz was 2-3 with a walk, a HR, a SB, and 4 RBI. Andrew Abbott pitched well (5.2 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K) and Emilio Pagán secured his 13th save.

• TEX 5, CHW 10 - The White Sox had 14 hits, including HR from Mike Tauchman and Joshua Palacios. Five players had multi-hit games, including Luis Robert Jr. who went 3-5 with two doubles and his 19th SB (currently tied with Bobby Witt Jr. for the MLB lead).

• TOR 1, TBR 3 - Junior Caminero hit a 3-run HR in the bottom of the first inning, and that is all it would take as Shane Baz pitched well (5.2 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K), letting up just one run from a HR by Vlad Guerrero Jr. Pete Fairbanks pitched the ninth to record his 10th save.

• LAD 2, NYM 5 - The Dodgers couldn’t get much going against David Peterson (7.2 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 7 K) and Edwin Diaz got the final four outs for his 11th save of the year. Juan Soto was 2-5 with a double and 2 RBI, and Brett Baty went 3-3 with a walk and 2 RBI hitting of the ninth spot for the Mets.

• CLE 7, DET 5 - The Tigers jumped out to a 3-run lead in the first inning, but then both Luis L. Ortiz and the Guardians bullpen settled in after that. Casey Mize pitched well too (5 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K), but Cleveland scored three runs of their own to tie the game through nine. Brenan Hanifee came in for the top of the 10th, but the Guardians scored four and the Tigers could only muster two in the bottom of the frame and so fell short.

• PHI 9, ATH 6 - This one had 24 hits in all, but with a lot of runners stranded on base (10 for the Phillies, 16 for the Athletics). The lead ping-ponged back and forth through the game, with Brent Rooker, Alec Bohm, Kyle Schwarber, and Max Kepler hitting homers along the way (for Schwarber it was his 18th, to retain a tie with Aaron Judge for the MLB lead). Neither team scored in the 10th, but then in the top of the 11th Schwarber doubled to drive in two runs, the Phils added one more, and then Max Lazar, in his second appearance of the season, held the A’s scoreless to earn the save.

• MIA 6, LAA 2 - Connor Norby went 3-5 with a double and 3 RBI for the Marlins, but there wasn’t much else of note offensively in this one. Cal Quantrill did well in a short start (3.1 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K) and Janson Junk pitched the final five innings for a long save (5 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K).

Today’s Trivia Question

As noted above, Max Fried pitched well again such that he retains the MLB ERA lead with a 1.29 mark. Gerrit Cole is the last New York Yankee to lead at least the AL in ERA, just two years ago with a 2.63. Who was the last Yankee before that to lead the AL in ERA? (Hint: It was the third consecutive season in which a NYY pitcher led the AL in ERA.)

Trivia answer is at the bottom of the newsletter.

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).

➕ Sent on a Rehab Assignment

• TBR CF Jonny DeLuca

• NYM SP Frankie Montas

• CIN RF Jake Fraley

🤕 Placed on the IL

• BAL LF Ramon Laureano - 10-day IL (left ankle sprain)

• BOS 3B Alex Bregman - 10-day IL (right quad strain)

• TOR RP Yimi Garcia - 15-day IL (right shoulder impingement)

• SDP LF Jason Heyward - 10-day IL (left oblique strain)

⬆️ Notable Prospect Call-Up

• BOS SS Marcelo Mayer - the 22-year old was hitting with 9 HR and 43 RBI in 43 games at AAA

League Leaders

As noted above, Aaron Judge and Kyle Schwarber both hit their 18th HR which elevates them on the current leaderboard:

• 18 - NYY Aaron Judge

• 18 - PHI Kyle Schwarber

• 17 - LAD Shohei Ohtani

• 17 - SEA Cal Raleigh

• 15 - AZ Corbin Carroll

• 15 - LAA Taylor Ward

• 14 - CHC Pete Crow-Armstrong

• 14 - LAA Logan O’Hoppe

• 14 - AZ Eugenio Suárez

• 13 - CHC Seiya Suzuki

• 13 - DET Spencer Torkelson

• 13 - WAS James Wood

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 May 25…

• 1935: Babe Ruth hits his final major league home runs. Babe Ruth hit his final three HR as a member of the Boston Braves, though they lost the game to the Pirates 11-7. As described at baseball-reference.com, “In addition to a 5th-inning single, Ruth hits homers in the 1st inning against Red Lucas, 3rd inning against Guy Bush and 7th inning off Bush again. In addition, his final homer is the first in Forbes Field's history to clear its right field roof.”

• 1951: Willie Mays makes his NL debut. Giants rookie Willie Mays had been hitting .477 with Minneapolis, so was called up and went 0-for-5 against the Phillies, though he made three good plays in the field.

• 1982: Ferguson Jenkins records strikeout number 3,000. As described at baseball-reference.com, “Ferguson Jenkins of the Chicago Cubs fans Garry Templeton of the Padres for the 3,000th strikeout of his career. Jenkins is the seventh player to reach the plateau, but loses the game, 2-1.”

• 1989: The Mariners trade Mark Langston and acquire The Big Unit. As described at baseball-reference.com, “The Montreal Expos, hoping to add the last piece to a playoff contender, trade three young pitchers, Brian Holman, Gene Harris, and 6' 10" Randy Johnson, to the Seattle Mariners for Mark Langston. Mike Campbell will go to Montreal in July to complete the trade, but he will never appear in a game for them. Langston will win 12 games for the Expos, Johnson 130 for Seattle on his way to the Hall of Fame.”

• 2014: Josh Beckett threw a no-hitter. Josh Beckett of the Dodgers records the first no-hitter of the year by blanking the Phillies, 6-0.

🎂 Today’s Birthday Boys🎉

• Martin Dihigo (1905) is a Hall of Famer who had a long career mixed between the major Negro Leagues and Latin American winter leagues. Born in Cuba, he was a two-way player, excelling as both a pitcher and a hitter, and playing all four infield positions and the OF. He debuted at age 18 in 1923 and played through the age of 45 in 1950 in the Mexican League. If we focus on his numbers in the major Negro Leagues, as indicated at present at baseball-reference.com, we have stats from nine seasons including Dihigo leading his league in HR twice, and batting average once with a .375 mark in 1926. For his career he had a .307/.389/.528 slash line and 138 OPS+, and on the pitching side for his major league career he had a 27-10 (.587) record, 3.34 ERA, and an impressive 141 ERA+ (though it is said that across all leagues in which he played he won over 300 games in total). Finally, an entry at baseball-reference.com noted that Dihigo is the only player to be inducted into the American, Cuban, Dominican, Mexican and Venezuelan Halls of Fame.

• Miguel Tejada (1974) was a power-hitting SS with a 16-year major league career, the first half spent with the Athletics, and the rest between the Orioles, Astros, Giants, Padres, and Royals. He hit 30+ HR four times, scored 100+ runs four times, led his league in doubles with 50 in 2005 and 46 in 2009, and posted 100+ RBI six times, including leading the AL with an impressive 150 in 2004. A six-time All-Star, he took home AL MVP honors in 2002 after hitting 34 HR with 131 RBI and a .308 average. Tejada was also known for his durability, frequently playing all 162 games in a season and at one point having a 1,152 consecutive games played streak, from mid-2000 to mid-2007. He retired with 307 career HR, 1,307 RBI, a .285/.336/.456 slash line, and a 108 OPS+.

• Joe Judge (1894) had a long 20-year career (1915-1934), mostly as a 1B for the Washington Senators. He didn’t have much power as a hitter, topping out at 10 HR in two seasons, but did have 10+ triples in nine different years. He was good at getting on base and didn’t strikeout much (965 walks vs. only 478 strikeouts), and retired with a .298/.378/.420 slash line and 114 OPS+.

Today’s Matchups

A full slate of Sunday games (15), so lots of possibilities. Some games that jump out to me are:

• MIL vs. PIT features two lesser-name pitchers who are on a roll: the Brewers have Logan Henderson who is 3-0 with a 1.69 ERA and 23 K in 16 innings so far this year, while the Pirates have lefty Bailey Falter who has only allowed one ER in four starts in May (23.2 IP, 11 H, 1 ER, 17 K).

• SDP vs. ATL not only presumably has Ronald Acuña Jr. in his third game back (will he hit another HR?), but also features two solid pitchers in Dylan Cease (4.50 ERA, 64 K in 54 IP) and Spencer Schwellenbach (3.52 ERA, 49 K in 61.1 IP).

• NYY vs. COL has Will Warren who has been really good in his last three starts (18 IP, 13 H, 3 ER, 26 K) against… Antonio Senzatela who most definitely has not been good lately, or all year really. In his four starts in May he has pitched 20.1 IP, allowing 34 hits, 18 ER, while striking out only 12 (on the year he is 1-8 with a 6.34 ERA, 25 K in 49.2 IP, and 1.97 WHIP).

Also throwing today are DET Tarik Skubal, SFG Robbie Ray, TOR Chris Bassitt, SEA Luis Castillo, KCR Kris Bubic, STL Sonny Gray, PHI Jesús Luzardo, and NYM Kodai Senga.

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:

• TBR Brandon Lowe, 7-14 with 3 HR and 2 doubles vs. TOR Chris Bassitt

• HOU Yordan Alvarez, 9-19 with 3 HR and a double vs. SEA Luis Castillo

• MIN Willi Castro, 4-15 with 2 HR vs. KCR Kris Bubic

• CHW Michael A. Taylor, 4-10 with 2 HR and a double vs. TEX Patrick Corbin

• AZ Josh Naylor, 6-19 with 2 HR vs. STL Sonny Gray

• BOS Rafael Devers, 7-20 with 2 HR and a double vs. BAL Dean Kremer

• KCR Salvador Perez, 8-22 with 2 HR and 2 doubles vs. MIN Bailey Ober

• NYY Paul Goldschmidt, 8-21 with 2 HR and 2 doubles vs. COL Antonio Senzatela

Also of note, CIN TJ Friedl is 2-5 with 2 HR vs. CHC Ben Brown, and DET Andy Ibanez is 3-4 with 2 HR vs. CLE Logan Allen.

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:

• KCR Bobby Witt Jr., 11-22 with a HR, 2 triples, and a double vs. MIN Bailey Ober

• CLE Jose Ramirez, 9-25 with a triple and 3 doubles vs. DET Tarik Skubal

• MIN Ty France, 8-11 with 3 doubles vs. KCR Kris Bubic

• CHW Austin Slater, 7-18 with a HR and a double vs. TEX Patrick Corbin

• WAS Amed Rosario, 5-12 with 3 doubles vs. SFG Robbie Ray

• CHC Ian Happ, 5-14 with a HR and 2 doubles vs. CIN Nick Lodolo

Also of note, though NYM Kodai Senga has been great this year, LAD Mookie Betts is 4-4 with a HR and a double off him.

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:

• 16 - CLE Jose Ramirez

• 12 - CIN Spencer Steer

• 11 - MIA Kyle Stowers

• 11 - CHW Chase Meidroth

• 11 - ATH Miguel Andujar

• 10 - BAL Jackson Holliday

• 10 - ATL Ozzie Albies

• 10 - LAA Taylor Ward

• 9 - HOU Jake Meyers

• 9 - KCR Maikel Garcia

• 9 - TBR Chandler Simpson

• 8 - DET KCR Vinnie Pasquantino

• 8 - LAA Nolan Schanuel

• 7 - DET Dillon Dingler

• 7 - MIA Connor Norby

• 7 - AZ Ketel Marte

• 7 - WAS Amed Rosario

• 7 - ATH Lawrence Butler

• 7 - PIT Isiah Kiner-Falefa

• 7 - NYM Tyrone Taylor

• 7 - BOS Abraham Toro

• 7 - BAL Ramon Urias

• 7 - TBR Brandon Lowe

This is the longest the list of active 7+ streaks has been all year!

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 Victor Caratini, 2-19 with 8 K vs. SEA Luis Castillo

• HOU Christian Walker, 1-12 with 4 K vs. SEA Luis Castillo

• WAS Nathaniel Lowe, 2-15 with 8 K vs. SFG Robbie Ray

• TBR Josh Lowe, 1-12 with 5 K vs. TOR Chris Bassitt

⚾ Enjoy the games today!⚾

Today’s Trivia Answer

Max Fried of the Yankees is currently leading the AL (and all of MLB) with a 1.29 ERA. The last Yankee pitcher to lead the AL in ERA was Gerrit Cole with a 2.63 mark in 2023. Prior to that, we have to go back to 1980 when Rudy May paced the AL with a 2.46 ERA. May was a mixed starter and reliever that year, going 15-5 with 17 starts, 24 relief appearances, and 175.1 total innings pitched. Ron Guidry of the Yankees had led the AL in ERA the previous two seasons, with a 2.78 in 1979, and his 1.74 ERA in 1978 when he also led the league in wins with a 25-3 record.

Good Reads

Here I am providing one or more links to baseball articles I’ve enjoyed recently, whether by writers at MLB.com or elsewhere.

• These 7 stars are on pace for ridiculous statistics, by MLB.com writers, 5/25/205

• Detroit Tigers: 5 Thoughts on a Tremendous Start, by Joe Underhill at Here's the Pitch: the IBWAA Newsletter, 5/23/2025

See recent issues of The Baseball Buffet for more recent good reads!

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