Issue #657
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 partial slate of Monday games (9). Here are the results (link to all game box scores):
DET 10, TBR 9 - The Tigers jumped out to a 6-0 lead through the first three innings, as TBR SP Griffin Jax (4 IP, 7 H, 6 ER, 1 BB, 5 K) allowed consecutive HRs to Dillon Dingler, Kerry Carpenter, and Riley Greene. Junior Caminero got the Rays on the board with a 2-run HR in the fourth inning, but then Dingler hit his second HR of the game in the fifth. Rookie Hao-Yu Lee hit his second major league HR in the sixth inning, and then Ryan Vilade hit a 3-run HR in the bottom of the frame, cutting Detroit's lead to 8-5 at that point. The Tigers scored two more in the eighth, but then the Rays made a comeback with four in the bottom of the inning. With the score 10-9, Rays reliever Garrett Cleavinger held Detroit scoreless in the ninth. But so did Tigers reliever Will Vest in the bottom of the ninth, earning his first save of the year.
NYM 2, SEA 3 (10) - Austin Warren pitched a scoreless first as the Mets’ opener, and then Sean Manaea did well over five innings as the long man (5 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K), only giving up a solo HR to Colt Emerson in the third. SEA SP Emerson Hancock only allowed two hits over six innings (6 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 7 K), though both were solo HRs to Jared Young and Marcus Semien. Down 2-1, the Mariners tied the game with a Josh Naylor HR in the seventh. Neither team scored further and the game went into extras, with Gabe Speier striking out two in a scoreless top of the tenth. The Mets brought in A.J. Minter, and he struck out Patrick Wisdom, but the automatic runner, Randy Arozarena, stole third base. Cole Young then hit a walk-off single to drive him in.
SFG 2, MIL 16 - Matt Chapman hit a 2-run HR in the top of the second off MIL SP Shane Drohan (4 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K). But that is all the hapless Giants would get, while the Brewers unloaded for 16 unanswered runs spread across five different innings. They started by answering Chapman's HR with seven runs in the bottom of the second, as SFG SP Landen Roupp struggled (4 IP, 8 H, 8 ER, 5 BB, 4 K). Brice Turang went 2-2 with 2 walks, a triple, and a double; Christian Yelich was 3-5 with a walk, 3 runs, and 2 RBI; Jackson Chourio was 2-4 with 2 walks, a double, 2 runs, and 3 RBI; David Hamilton was 3-5 with a double and 3 runs; and Andrew Vaughn, Sal Frelick, and Luis Rengifo had two hits apiece.
MIA 7, WSH 3
KCR 9, CIN 2
CWS 6, MIN 9
TEX 2, STL 1
COL 9, LAA 8
LAD 1, ARI 4
Start June with the 50%-off discount!
The Memorial Day weekend 50%-off sale pricing I had recently led many readers to upgrade to receive the full Baseball Buffet every day. So I thought I’d run it again to kickoff the new month!
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Game summaries for every game
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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!
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Today’s Trivia Question
One of today's Birthday Boys (see below) is pitcher Jim Maloney. In 1963 he had 265 strikeouts which set a new Reds franchise record. Can you name the only Reds pitcher to record more strikeouts in a season since then?
(Trivia answers are provided for paid All-Star subscribers of the Baseball Buffet.)
🎂 Today’s Birthday Boys 🎉
Row 1: Larry Jackson, Jim Maloney, Raúl Ibañez
Row 2: Mike Stanton, Bryan Harvey
Currently active major leaguers born on June 2 include MIA Liam Hicks, TEX Chris Martin, TEX Peyton Gray, and SFG Caleb Kilian.
Today’s Matchups
As usual for a Tuesday, today we have a full slate of games (15). Here are a couple of interesting matchups (and here is a link to the full schedule):
TOR Kevin Gausman vs. ATL Bryce Elder - Gausman is pretty solid, while Elder's outstanding season was finally marred by a poor performance in his last outing
CLE Joey Cantillo vs. NYY Cam Schlittler - start of an interesting series between two leading AL teams, with Schlittler having an outstanding season
Other notable starters on the hill today are BOS Connelly Early, CWS Davis Martin, MIL Kyle Harrison, TEX Nathan Eovaldi, and SEA Logan Gilbert.
Baseball Quote of the Day
One of today's Birthday Boys (see above) is pitcher Jim Maloney, so here are a few quotes from him:
"When I first came up, I wasn't ready. I just wasn't mature enough to pitch in the big leagues."
"When I started a game, I was going to throw a perfect game. 27 up, 27 own... Every game I pitched I felt I had the ability to throw a perfect game every time I went out."
On his no-hitter in 1969: "That game was nothing like the other games. I knew I had a no-hitter the whole way, but any time a team gets you a bunch of runs like that it's much easier to go. But you have to keep in the frame of mind that it's like a zero-zero game and just go through the motions like this is going to happen. You can get yourself in trouble. You have to stay in the game mentally and each hitter say, 'this is it.'"
⚾ 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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