Issue #672
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 (15) of Tuesday games. Here are the results (link to all game box scores):
PIT 6, ATH 5 - The Athletics scored four in the bottom of the first, as PIT SP Mitch Keller had some control issues with three walks in the inning. He did better after that (5.1 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 4 BB, 7 K), only allowing a HR to Zack Gelof in the sixth. The Pirates battled back during the middle innings, with Bryan Reynolds hitting a solo HR in the sixth, and then a 2-run HR in the seventh which tied the game at 5-5. Still tied in the top of the ninth, Athletics reliever Elvis Alvarado gave up a HR to Brandon Lowe, and then Gregory Soto pitched a scoreless bottom of the ninth to earn his 11th save. Reynolds was 4-5 with 3 runs and 3 RBI on the day, and Ryan O'Hearn went 3-5 with a double. Of note, Gelof went 3-3 with a walk, 2 runs, and 2 RBI, extending his MLB-leading hitting streak to 20 games.
CWS 2, NYY 12 - The White Sox scored early with a HR in the first inning by Andrew Benintendi, but then NYY SP Gerrit Cole settled in for his six innings of work (6 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K). Ryan Yarbrough kept Chicago from scoring further, earning his 2nd save of the year. CWS SP Davis Martin had been having a great season so far, but really struggled in this one (3.1 IP, 8 H, 9 ER, 3 BB, 4 K), and the Yankees continued to score against the White Sox bullpen also. Cody Bellinger went 3-4 with 2 runs and 2 RBI, and New York had HRs from Spencer Jones, Paul Goldschmidt, Ben Rice, and José Caballero.
TBR 0, LAD 1 - LAD SP Justin Wrobleski tossed six scoreless innings (6 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K), and three Dodgers relievers combined for a 3-hit shutout with Tanner Scott recording his 9th save. TBR SP Drew Rasmussen had another solid outing (7 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 7 K), but Shohei Ohtani's solo HR in the sixth inning was the difference.
MIA 2, PHI 8
KCR 4, WSH 6
TOR 6, BOS 1
NYM 3, CIN 5
CLE 1, MIL 2
SDP 2, STL 3
MIN 12, TEX 2
DET 2, HOU 4
COL 5, CHC 2
LAA 7, ARI 0
BAL 1, SEA 3
SFG vs. ATL - suspended in the bottom of the second inning, with the score already 3-2 in favor of the Giants. The game will resume at 2:05 ET today, and then they will play their regularly scheduled game this evening.
Get full access for less than 10 cents a day!
All-Star subscribers of The Baseball Buffet from Now Taking the Field 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!
… and during the offseason I still publish every day, covering trades, free-agent signings, and other hot-stove season news!
Become an All-Star subscriber to The Baseball Buffet today for $7 a month, or just $35 a year—that’s right, get 12 months for the price of only 5. That is less than 10 cents a day for more baseball goodness delivered to your inbox every morning!
Today’s Trivia Question
Nick Kurtz recently took over the RBI lead (57), for both the AL and all of MLB. Who was the most recent member of the Athletics to lead both the AL and all of MLB in RBI for a full season?
(Trivia answers are provided for paid All-Star subscribers of the Baseball Buffet.)
🎂 Today’s Birthday Boys 🎉
Pete Browning, Dave Concepción, Joe Charboneau
Currently active players who were born on June 17 include LAA Yusei Kikuchi, BAL Shane Baz, PIT Mason Montgomery, LAD Ryan Fitzgerald, ATL Didier Fuentes, TEX Blaine Crim, and Andrew Chafin (free agent).
Today’s Matchups
Today we have a nearly full slate of games (14), with only the Twins and Rangers having the day off (they conclude their 3-game series on Thursday). There is also the continuation of the SFG vs. ATL game which was suspended in the bottom of the second inning yesterday. Here are a couple of interesting matchups (and here is a link to the full schedule):
TBR Shane McClanahan vs. LAD Shohei Ohtani - The Dodgers are looking to sweep the Rays after winning the first two games by one run each
CLE Gavin Williams vs. MIL Brandon Sproat - Cleveland will look to Williams, who is 9-3 with a 3.32 ERA, to even up this series
Other starters who are climbing the hill today include NYM Nolan McLean, MIA Sandy Alcantara, DET Casey Mize, ARI Eduardo Rodriguez, NYY Carlos Rodón, SFG Robbie Ray, and SEA George Kirby.
Recently published baseball books!
Bill Dickey: A Baseball Life
by Lew Freedman
Format: Paperback
Publisher: McFarland
Publication date: April 23, 2026
Print length: 201 pages
The 1890 Louisville Cyclones: Major League Baseball's Original Worst-to-First Team
by Perry T. Cooper
Format: Paperback
Publisher: McFarland
Publication date: April 2, 2026
Print length: 247 pages
Baseball's Outcast: The Story of Ron LeFlore
by Adam Henig
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date: April 2, 2026
Print length: 320 pages
We Sacrifice Everything to Baseball: How the Czech Republic's Amateur Underdogs Became World Baseball Classic Heroes
by Michael Clair
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
Publication date: April 1, 2026
Print length: 224 pages
Ford Frick: Baseball's Third Commissioner and His Four Decades of Shaping the Game
by Dave Bohmer
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
Publication date: April 1, 2026
Print length: 416 pages
Baseball Quote of the Day
Dusty Baker, a good player and even better major league manager, was a recent Birthday Boy (June 15th), so here are some good quotes from him:
"When you have an opportunity to take the lead and you don't, most of the time something bad happens."
"I'm a strong man, and usually I get over hurts and it makes me stronger when I come back."
"The only people I ever felt intimidated by in my whole life were Bob Gibson and my Daddy."
"I love sharing my knowledge of hitting with others. Now coaches and players at all levels can learn my systematic approach to hitting a baseball with more consistency, mental strength and accuracy."
"So I let them be responsible for their particular areas. Then by the time it gets to me that means that there is a problem. I have my eyes open and I need to know something about every department but you don't want to micro manage any particular department."
"Everybody knows something, and nobody knows everything."
⚾ 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!