Issue #651
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 full slate (15) of games for a Tuesday. Here are the results (link to all game box scores):
CHC 1, PIT 12 - The Pirates scored five runs in the bottom of the first, including rookie Esmerlyn Valdez hitting a 2-run HR. They added three more runs in the fifth off CHC SP Jordan Wicks (4.1 IP, 9 H, 8 ER, 1 BB, 5 K), and then piled on more runs in each of the next three innings also. Spencer Horwitz went 2-3 with a HR and 2 RBI; Bryan Reynolds was 2-4 with 2 doubles, 2 runs, and 2 RBI; Nick Gonzales was 2-5 with a double and 2 runs; and Oneil Cruz was 3-3 with his 17th SB of the year. Meanwhile, PIT SP Braxton Ashcraft pitched well (6.1 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K), lowering his ERA to 2.75 over 11 starts. This trouncing marked the 10th straight loss for the Cubs.
NYY 15, KCR 1 - Cody Bellinger, Amed Rosario, and Anthony Volpe all hit HRs in the top of the first inning, and the Yankees scored nine runs in the first three frames, with KCR SP Bailey Falter giving up seven of them (2.1 IP, 9 H, 7 ER, 0 BB, 0 K). New York's offense kept going all game, ending up with 24 hits and 15 runs in total (with only the final 3 hits and 2 runs coming off position player Tyler Tolbert). Amed Rosario had a big day, going 4-6 with 2 HR, 3 runs, and 4 RBI; Anthony Volpe was 3-6 with a HR and a double; Trent Grisham was 3-7 with a HR; Jazz Chisholm Jr. went 2-5 with a HR; and Ben Rice and Austin Wells had 3 hits apiece. Meanwhile, NYY SP Cam Schlittler did well once again (6 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K), only giving up a solo HR to Bobby Witt Jr., his 9th of the year.
HOU 7, TEX 10 - After being no-hit by the Astros on Monday, the Rangers jumped on HOU SP Jason Alexander for eight runs in the bottom of the first inning, including a 3-run HR by Joc Pederson. At that point Houston elected to stick with Alexander anyway, and he did better through five more innings (6 IP, 6 H, 9 ER, 2 BB, 4 K), only allowing a solo HR to Evan Carter in the third. The Astros tried to climb out of the big hole they were in, and Yordan Alvarez led the way by going 2-5 with 2 HR and 4 RBI. Cam Smith and Jeremy Peña also added solo HRs, but in the end the Rangers held on with Jacob Latz recording his 6th save.
WSH 6, CLE 3
TBR 1, BAL 6
LAA 10, DET 6
ATL 7, BOS 6
STL 0, MIL 6
MIA 1, TOR 8
CIN 7, NYM 2
MIN 5, CWS 3 (11)
SEA 4, ATH 1
PHI 4, SDP 3
ARI 7, SFG 5
COL 6, LAD 15
Second Prize Winner for May!
One of the benefits for readers who are All Star Subscribers of The Baseball Buffet is the chance to win a monthly drawing for baseball memorabilia from their favorite team. This is new for 2026, and so far I have had 10 drawings of lucky winners.
For May, the second winner is Chris C. of Niagara Falls, New York. He is a Yankees fan, so as shown in the photo below, here is what he will be getting soon in the mail:
2007 Andy Pettitte McFarlane figure (unopened)
2000 Roger Clemens SLU figure
1993 Sports Illustrated with Joe DiMaggio on the cover
1972 Mel Stottlemyre 7-Eleven cup
Danny Tartabull wooden plaque
(7) 1984 Fun Foods Buttons
(15) different oversized cards
(8) different 1980s team stickers
1980s Mickey Mantle Donruss Puzzle
(53) different Don Mattingly cards
(33) different Dave Winfield cards
(36) different Jason Giambi cards
(25) different Ron Guidry cards
(23) different Tommy John cards
(14) different Graig Nettles cards
(9) different Bobby Murcer cards
... and a few other miscellaneous items!
Today’s Trivia Question
One of today's Birthday Boys (see below) is Hall of Famer Frank Thomas. He had many great seasons with the White Sox, but his high of 43 HR in 2000 only ranks third on their all-time single-season HR leaderboard. Which two players had more HR for the White Sox in a single season?
(Trivia answers are provided for paid All-Star subscribers of the Baseball Buffet.)
🎂 Today’s Birthday Boys 🎉
Row 1: Frank Thomas, Jeff Bagwell, Pinky Higgins, Terry Moore
Row 2: Gary Nolan, Todd Hundley, John Jaha
Currently active players who were born on May 27 include TOR José Berríos, LAA Yoán Moncada, PIT Nick Gonzales, and ARI Brandyn Garcia.
Today’s Matchups
Today is a typical Wednesday, in that we have a full slate of 15 games on the schedule. Here are a few interesting matchups (and here is the full schedule):
ATL Bryce Elder vs. BOS Connelly Early - Elder has a 1.97 ERA over 11 starts, while Early is doing fairly well in his first full season
NYY Gerrit Cole vs. KCR Noah Cameron - Cole did well in his first game back after not having pitched in the majors since 2024
COL Tomoyuki Sugano vs. LAD Shohei Ohtani - Ohtani has been doing great on the mound this year, and the Rockies aren't exactly a strong offense on the road
Other starters on the mound today include: TOR Kevin Gausman, CLE Gavin Williams, SEA Logan Gilbert, PHI Cristopher Sánchez, LAA José Soriano, CWS Davis Martin, and TEX Jacob deGrom.
Baseball Quote of the Day
One of today's Birthday Boys (see above) is Hall of Famer Jeff Bagwell, so here are a couple of quotes from him:
"I don't aspire to be anybody but who I've always been. If there are young guys looking at me now, I just want them to see a guy who works hard, who has great respect for the game, who has team goals that matter."
"The game is so much bigger than any one of us. You don't dream about this when you're a kid. You dream about hitting a home run to win the World Series."
⚾ Enjoy the games today!⚾
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.
This newsletter was produced with beehiiv.
New to Now Taking the Field? Become a subscriber and get each article in your email inbox so that you don’t miss anything!