Issue #668
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 we had a full slate of Friday games (15). Here are the results (link to all game box scores):
PHI 0, MIL 6 - Kyle Schwarber hit a single in the fourth inning, but that would be the only hit that the Phillies would get against a completely dominant Jacob Misiorowski who threw a 15-strikeout, complete game shutout. Meanwhile, Philadelphia's Tanner Banks allowed one run in the first as the opener, and then rookie Andrew Painter struggled again (5 IP, 5 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 3 K). Jake Bauers hit a 3-run HR, his 13th of the season, and Joey Ortiz went 2-4 with a double.
HOU 10, KCR 8 - The Astros came out hitting, and shelled KCR SP Luisinder Avila (0.2 IP, 5 H, 8 ER, 3 BB, 0 K), and Mason Black who relieved him, scoring nine runs with two HRs by Yordan Alvarez and one by Christian Walker. The second by Alvarez was a grand slam, and also tied him with Kyle Schwarber with 24 HR for the major league lead. Not giving up, the Royals managed to score five runs of their own in the bottom of the first, as HOU SP Tatsuya Imai (0.2 IP, 4 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 1 K) could not finish the frame. The Astros' bullpen then held the Royals scoreless for several innings, until they scored three in the bottom of the eighth to make the score 9-8. Kansas City brought in Matt Strahm for the ninth, but pinch hitter Brice Matthews hit a solo HR to give the Astros an insurance run. Josh Hader then entered and pitched a scoreless bottom of the ninth, earning his second save of the year. In the Royals' losing effort, Salvador Perez went 3-5 with 2 runs, and Maikel Garcia, Michael Massey, and Kameron Misner had two hits apiece.
STL 8, MIN 9 - Alec Burleson hit a HR in the first inning, and the Cardinals added two more runs in the second, but then MIN SP Joe Ryan settled in and pitched well over six frames (6 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 8 K). St. Louis found themselves down 4-3 at that point, but then in the seventh they scored four runs, including a bases-loaded 3-RBI double by Jordan Walker. The Twins came right back after the stretch, with a 3-run HR by Kody Clemens tying the game 7-7. A series of Cardinals singles gave them a one-run lead, but then with the bases loaded and one out, they weren't able to plate any more as Iván Herrera popped out and Burleson flew out. Insurance runs would have been helpful, as Royce Lewis hit a solo HR to tie the game in the bottom of the eighth, and then Brooks Lee hit a solo HR to give the Twins a slim lead. Andrew Morris pitched a scoreless ninth and earned his second save. Of note, Cards infielder Blaze Jordan made his major league debut, going 2-4 with an RBI in the losing effort.
DET 2, CLE 3
MIA 8, PIT 3
SDP 3, BAL 7
TEX 1, BOS 10
NYY 5, TOR 8
LAD 2, CWS 8
ARI 5, CIN 2
ATL 5, NYM 7
SEA 10, WSH 2
TBR 3, LAA 4
COL 4, ATH 6
CHC 5, SFG 1
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Game summaries for every game
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Current hitting streaks of seven or more games
On this day in baseball history…
Career summaries for each of The Birthday Boys
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Today’s Trivia Question
One of today's Birthday Boys (see below) is Jonathan Lucroy. In 2014 he had 53 doubles, which set a new single-season record for the most doubles by a player who was primarily a catcher (over 50% of their games played at catcher). The previous record was only 47... whose record did he break?
(Trivia answers are provided for paid All-Star subscribers of the Baseball Buffet.)
🎂 Today’s Birthday Boys 🎉
Mel Parnell, Ernie Whitt, Jonathan Lucroy
Currently active players who were born on June 13 include ARI James McCann, DET Tyler Holton, WSH Andrew Alvarez, and BOS Eduardo Rivera.
Today’s Matchups
Today features another full slate of games (15), with the following being some of the more interesting matchups (and here is a link to the full schedule):
NYY Cam Schlittler vs. TOR Kevin Gausman - This AL East contest features two excellent pitchers, including Schlittler who is an early AL Cy Young Award candidate with a 7-3 record and 1.87 ERA.
DET Tarik Skubal vs. CLE Joey Cantillo - Skubal has made a faster-than-expected recovery from surgery.
TEX Jacob deGrom vs. BOS Ranger Suarez - Two generally good pitchers with identical ERAs of 3.18 so far this year.
Other starters on the bump today include LAD Yoshinobu Yamamoto, KCR Noah Cameron, CHC Ben Brown, and LAA José Soriano.
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Baseball Quote of the Day
One of today's Birthday Boys is Mel Parnell, so here are a few quotes from him:
"I was known as a Yankee killer. My best year against them was 1953. I beat them five times and shut them out four times. You just played a little harder against them."
"They kept telling me my ball was pretty much alive, and that encouraged me more and more into pitching."
On pitching at Fenway Park: "Lefthanders have to pitch inside here. Pitching inside, you keep the hitter's elbows close to his body."
On his nickname "Dusty": "I was strictly a lowball pitcher. I threw a lot down in the dirt, so he [coach Al Kreider] gave me that name 'Dusty' and it stuck with me."
⚾ 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.
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