The Baseball Buffet for 6/21/2025

Issue #312

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… I can be reached at [email protected].

⚾ Welcome! ⚾

The 86th day of the season had a full slate of Friday games:

• SEA 9, CHC 4 - Ian Happ led off the bottom of the first with a HR as the Cubs jumped ahead 3-1 early. Reese McGuire added a HR in the fifth, and Matthew Boyd pitched well (5 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K), but then the Cubs bullpen let up 11 hits and 7 runs over the last four innings. Cal Raleigh continued his amazing season by hitting two more HR, giving him 29 on the year. Another catcher on the Mariners, Mitch Garver, was the DH in this one and also hit two HR with 5 RBI, and Randy Arozarena went 3-5 with two doubles.

• TEX 6, PIT 2 - Jacob deGrom pitched well again (6 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 K), and three Rangers relievers held the Pirates scoreless the rest of the way. Adolis Garcia went 3-4 with a HR and a double, and Corey Seager had a solo HR.

• BAL 5, NYY 3 - Aaron Judge snapped out of a 4-31 cold spell by going 3-4 with his 27th HR of the year. While the Yankees had 10 hits and walked five times, they also left 10 runners on base. Max Fried struck out 7 in 6 innings, but also let up three runs, while Luke Weaver, in his first game back from the IL, let up two runs, including a HR to Ramón Urías. Jackson Holliday went 3-5 in this one, and Felix Bautista struck out two in the ninth for his 16th save.

• CHW 7, TOR 1 - The White Sox jumped out to a 7-0 lead after three innings, including homers from Andrew Benintendi and Luis Robert Jr. Austin Slater reached base four times, going 2-2 with a double and two walks, scoring twice.

• ATL 2, MIA 6 - The Marlins spoiled Atlanta rookie Didier Fuentes’ major league debut (5 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 3 K), including a 3-run HR by Agustín Ramírez. Ronald Acuña Jr. continued his hot hitting going 2-4 to raise his average to .382 in 89 at-bats, and Austin Riley hit his 12th HR late in the game. But the Marlins Janson Junk pitched well (5 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K) to slow the Braves’ resurgence.

• CIN 1, STL 6 - Brady Singer pitched well (6 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K), but so did Andre Pallante (6 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K). The Cardinals finally got things going and pulled away by scoring five runs in the bottom of the seventh.

• NYM 2, PHI 10 - Zack Wheeler was once again excellent (5 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 8 K) and the Phillies tallied 13 hits, with Nick Castellanos leading the way by going 3-5 with a HR, 3 runs, and 3 RBI. The Mets had back-to-back HR from Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil in the top of the sixth, but couldn’t get much else going in this one.

• DET 8, TBR 14 - Riley Greene went 3-3 with 2 HR, and Colt Keith added a 2-run HR late in the ninth inning. But that wouldn’t be nearly enough as the Rays jumped on Jack Flaherty early (2.1 IP, 6 H, 8 ER, 3 BB, 3 K) and had 16 hits overall on the day. Leadoff hitter Yandy Diaz led the way going 3-5 with 2 HR, catcher Matt Thaiss went 3-4 with a double and 4 RBI, and Curtis Mead went 2-2 with 3 walks and 3 runs scored.

• MIL 17, MIN 6 - Rookie Jacob Misiorowski (6 IP, 1 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K) was again the story, as he had a perfect game going through six innings in only his second major league start (after not allowing any hits through five innings in his debut). The Brewers scored five runs in a very long top of the seventh, so perhaps that extended break took the edge off a bit as Misiorowski let up a walk and then a HR to Matt Wallner in the bottom of the seventh. While five of the Brewers runs came in the top of the ninth against position player and now semi-regular mop-up man Jonah Bride (1 IP, 5 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 1K), the Brewers clearly dominated this game with 19 hits including including Jackson Chourio going 2-3 with 2 doubles and 3 walks, and Christian Yelich going 4-6 with 2 doubles and an impressive 8 RBI.

• AZ 14, COL 8 - There were 33 total hits in this game, including two HR by the Rockies in the 4th inning from Ryan McMahon and Mickey Moniak. While Colorado scored six of their eight runs in that one inning, the D-Backs spread their 14 runs across seven different innings. They certainly hammered starter Austin Gomber (4.2 IP, 12 H, 9 ER, 1 BB, 0 K), including HR by Ketel Marte, Eugenio Suárez, and Ildemaro Vargas, with Suárez hitting another later in the sixth as well. Every Arizona hitter had at least one hit, and seven guys had two or more.

• HOU 3, LAA 2 - The Angels had two solo HR, including Jo Adell hitting his 16th on the year, and rookie Christian Moore hitting the first of his career. Yusei Kikuchi pitched well (7 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 9 K) but gave up two solo HR also, with Jeremy Peña hitting his 10th and Isaac Paredes hitting his 16th. Neither team scored in the 8th or 9th innings, but then in the top of tenth a passed ball allowed Houston to score the winning run from third.

• KCR 6, SDP 5 - Bobby Witt Jr. hit a HR in the first inning, and Jonathan India had a 3-run HR in the fifth. The game was close, with Manny Machado hitting a HR in the bottom of the ninth, but it wasn’t enough as Carlos Estévez finished off the inning and the game for his now MLB-leading 22nd save.

• CLE 1, ATH 5 - Jeffrey Springs pitched well (7.1 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K), finally surrendering a run in the 8th inning from a HR by Angel Martinez. Tanner Bibee struck out 10 in a complete game effort (8 IP, 11 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 0 BB, 10 K), but Nick Kurtz had a HR for his third game in a row, Lawrence Butler was 3-4, and Tyler Soderstrom was 2-4 with two runs scored.

• WAS 5, LAD 6 - The Nationals had three HR in this one from Amed Rosario, Riley Adams, and CJ Abrams, but MacKenzie Gore struggled against the strong Dodgers lineup (5.2 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 4 BB, 4 K). Kiké Hernández was 2-3 with two doubles, a walk, and two runs, and Miguel Rojas was 2-3 with a HR and a double.

• BOS 7, SFG 5 - Rafael Devers came up short (0-5, 1 K) in his debut against his old teammates, and after scoring five runs to keep pace with the Giants 5-5 after five innings, the Red Sox bullpen shut things down from there. David Hamilton and Ceddanne Rafaela each had a HR for Boston, and Aroldis Chapman struck out two in the ninth for his 14th save.

I plan to start including the current standings in some form here, but until then… here is a link to the official standings at MLB.com. After yesterday’s games, here are the longest W/L streaks at present:

• L7 - Mets… another loss so they are now one behind the Phillies in the NL East, with two more games against them today and tomorrow.

• W4 - Cardinals… with the Cubs losing their past two, the Cardinals are now 4.5 back (tied with the Brewers) in the NL Central.

• W4 - Royals… nice little run that brings them to an even .500

Today’s Trivia Question

Circling back to my series covering each position: who played the most games at 3B in major league history? Bonus points for each of the rest of the top five that you can name.

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

• CIN 3B Noelvi Marte

• TBR SS Ha-Seong Kim

• CHC SP Shota Imanaga

• NYM SP Sean Manaea

🤕 Placed on the IL

• CHW RP Cam Booser - 15-day IL (left shoulder strain)

• CHW SP Davis Martin - 15-day IL (right forearm strain)

• LAA OF Jorge Soler - 10-day IL (low back inflammation)

• STL C Ivan Herrera - 10-day IL (left hamstring strain)

• CIN SP Wade Miley - 15-day IL (left flexor strain)

🚼 Placed on Paternity List

• SFG SP Justin Verlander

MLB Debut Yesterday

Here I’ll try to keep up with players who just made their MLB debut the day before!

• ATL SP Didier Fuentes - As noted in yesterday’s newsletter, Fuentes is just a few days past his 20th birthday. He was tagged with the loss yesterday against the Marlins (5 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 3 K). Before that he had climbed up through A+, AA, and AAA this year, with a combined 4.81 ERA in nine starts, with 48 K in 39.1 IP.

• CHW RP Wikelman Gonzalez - the 23-year old pitched two relief innings in the White Sox 7-1 win over Toronto. He struck out two, but allowed two walks, a hit, and an earned run. One of the players acquired in the Garrett Crochet trade, before his call-up he had a 3.50 ERA as a mixed starter and reliever across AA and AAA, with 39 K in 36 IP.

• MIA RP Robinson Piña - the 26-year old pitched one relief inning in the Marlins 6-2 win over Atlanta, allowing a HR to Austin Riley. Before the call-up he was mostly a starter at AAA, with a 4.11 ERA and 54 K in 57 IP.

League Leaders

It has been two weeks since I reported on the RBI leaderboard, and as of last night we have a new player at the top in Eugenio Suárez:

• 65 - AZ Eugenio Suárez

• 64 - NYM Pete Alonso

• 63 - SEA Cal Raleigh

• 61 - NYY Aaron Judge

• 61 - CHC Seiya Suzuki

• 60 - CHC Pete Crow-Armstrong

• 59 - SFG Rafael Devers

• 59 - DET Riley Greene

• 56 - WAS James Wood

• 54 - SFG Wilmer Flores

• 54 - PHI Kyle Schwarber

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 June 21…

• 1959: Hank Aaron hits three, 2-run HR in a game. As described at baseball-reference.com, “Milwaukee's Hank Aaron hits three two-run home runs at Seals Stadium to power the Braves to a 13-3 win over the Giants. It's the only three-homer game of Aaron's career.”

• 1964: Jim Bunning threw a perfect game. As described at baseball-reference.com, “On Father's Day at Shea Stadium, Jim Bunning fans ten, drives in two runs, and pitches the first perfect game (excluding Don Larsen's 1956 World Series effort and Harvey Haddix's 1959 extra-inning loss) since Charlie Robertson's on April 30, 1922. Philadelphia beats the Mets, 6-0. Bunning also becomes the first pitcher to win no-hitters in both leagues, and Gus Triandos becomes the first catcher to catch a no-hitter in each league.”

• 1967: Bob Uecker hit a grand slam - no joke. As described at baseball-reference.com, “Bob Uecker of the Atlanta Braves hits a grand slam for the only time in his career. It comes in the 3rd inning off Ron Herbel of the San Francisco Giants in a 9-2 Braves win at Candlestick Park.”

• 1970: Cesar Gutierrez goes 7-7 in a 12-inning game. As described at baseball-reference.com, “Detroit's Cesar Gutierrez goes seven-for-seven to tie a record set in 1892 in a 12-inning, 9-8 win over Cleveland. Mickey Stanley's home run wins it for the Tigers. Gutierrez will collect just seven hits in all of 1971, and 128 hits for his career.”

• 1986: Bo Jackson signs with the Royals. As described at baseball-reference.com, “Bo Jackson, college football's Heisman Trophy winner in 1985 and the first pick (by Tampa Bay) in the NFL draft, stuns observers nationwide by signing with the Kansas City Royals instead.”

• 1998: The Reds have arguably the scariest OF of all time. As described at baseball-reference.com, “The Cincinnati Reds start an outfield against the Houston Astros consisting of Dmitri Young, Mike Frank, and Chris Stynes. Yup, for you movie buffs, that would be Young, Frank and Stynes.” Ba-dum-tss!

🎂 Today’s Birthday Boys🎉

• Eddie Lopat (1918) had a 12-year major league career that started with the White Sox, but also included eight seasons with the Yankees. He went 18-8 in 1950 and then was an All-Star in 1951 posting a 21-9 record and 2.91 ERA. In 1953 he paced the AL with a 2.42 ERA to go with a 16-4 record. Lopat generally pitched well in five consecutive World Series with New York from 1949-1953, going 4-1 over seven starts with a 2.60 ERA. His career regular season totals were a 166-112 (.597) record, 3.21 ERA, and a 116 ERA+.

• Rick Sutcliffe (1956) was the first round (21st overall) pick of the Dodgers in 1974, and went on to have an 18-year major league career with the Dodgers, Indians, Cubs, Orioles, and Cardinals. He was NL Rookie of the Year in 1979 after going 17-10 with a 3.46 ERA, and then he led the AL with a 2.96 ERA in 1982. After faltering a bit early in 1984 he was famously traded by the Indians to the Cubs. He went 16-1 with a 2.69 ERA the rest of the season for Chicago, helping them reach the post-season and earning him the NL Cy Young Award. A three-time All-Star, Sutcliffe retired with a 171-139 (.552) record and a 4.08 ERA, and then went on to work as an ESPN analyst and broadcaster since 1998.

• Garrett Crochet (1999) was the first round (11th overall) pick by the White Sox in the 2020 draft. He pitched well as a reliever for Chicago in 2021, but then missed the 2022 season due to Tommy John surgery. He was an All-Star in 2024 posting a 3.58 ERA with 209 K in 146 innings. He was traded from the White Sox to the Red Sox during the offseason, and thus far in 2025 is doing very well with a 2.20 ERA and an MLB-leading 125 strikeouts.

In addition to Garrett Crochet, other currently active players who were born on June 21 include STL Chris Roycroft and MIL Grant Anderson.

Today’s Matchups

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

• KCR vs. SDP features rookie Noah Cameron (1.91 ERA, 32 K in 42.1 IP) who has been good in six of his seven major league starts, going against veteran Dylan Cease (4.69 ERA, 105 K in 80.2 IP) who has had mixed results this year but is still collecting plenty of strikeouts.

• NYM vs. PHI is game two of this important series, with the Mets going with Griffin Canning (3.80 ERA, 63 K in 68.2 IP) who has struggled his last two outings, up against Phillies rookie Mick Abel (2.21 ERA, 17 K in 20.1 IP) making his fifth major league start.

Also of note pitching today are STL Sonny Gray, AZ Merrill Kelly, and ATL Grant Holmes.

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:

• LAD Teoscar Hernandez, 3-10 with 2 HR and a double vs. WAS Jake Irvin

• CIN Spencer Steer, small sample but is 3-7 with 2 HR vs. STL Sonny Gray

• NYY Cody Bellinger, 5-16 with 2 HR vs. BAL Zach Eflin

• COL Ezequiel Tovar, 7-16 with 2 HR and 2 doubles vs. AZ Merrill Kelly

• STL Nolan Arenado, 7-14 with 2 HR, a triple, and 2 doubles vs. CIN Brent Suter

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:

• BAL Ryan O’Hearn, 5-12 with 3 doubles vs. NYY Clarke Schmidt

• TOR Vladimir Guerrero Jr., 4-10 with a HR vs. CHW Aaron Civale

• LAD Shohei Ohtani, small sample but is 4-8 with a double vs. WAS Jake Irvin

• CIN Gavin Lux, small sample but is 4-9 with a triple and 2 doubles vs. STL Sonny Gray

• CIN Elly De La Cruz, small sample but is 4-8 with a HR, a triple, and 2 doubles vs. STL Sonny Gray

• KCR Vinnie Pasquantino, small sample but is 4-8 with a HR and 2 doubles vs. SDP Dylan Cease

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:

• 19 - MIN Brooks Lee

• 14 - BAL Gunnar Henderson

• 12 - TEX Marcus Semien

• 11 - TBR Yandy Diaz

• 11 - ATL Matt Olson

• 11 - SDP Gavin Sheets

• 10 - MIL Jackson Chourio

• 10 - AZ Josh Naylor

• 9 - TBR Brandon Lowe

• 9 - TBR Jake Mangum

• 9 - WAS Luis Garcia Jr.

• 8 - TEX Josh Smith

• 8 - STL Alec Burleson

• 8 - HOU Jake Meyers

• 8 - CIN Matt McLain

• 8 - COL Tyler Freeman

• 7 - SDP Luis Arraez

• 7 - PIT Spencer Horwitz

Of note… everyone who had a streak of 7 or more games through yesterday got a hit to extend their streak… all 16 players, which is quite rare.

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:

• COL Brenton Doyle, 2-15 with 8 K vs. AZ Merrill Kelly

• NYY Jazz Chisholm Jr, 2-21 with 7 K vs. BAL Zach Eflin

• NYY Paul Goldschmidt, 2-16 with 5 K vs. BAL Zach Eflin

• NYY Giancarlo Stanton, 1-11 with 4 K though the one hit was a HR vs. BAL Zach Eflin

• BAL Adley Rutschman, 1-14 with 6 K vs. NYY Clarke Schmidt

• BAL Cedric Mullins, 0-11 with 4 K vs. NYY Clarke Schmidt

⚾ Enjoy the games today!⚾

Today’s Trivia Answer

The all-time major league leader in games played at 3B is Brooks Robinson. Here is the top five leaderboard:

• 2,870 - Brooks Robinson

• 2,759 - Adrian Beltré

• 2,412 - Graig Nettles

• 2,282 - Gary Gaetti

• 2,215 - Wade Boggs

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.

• 12 surprising names on the stat leaderboards, by Manny Randhawa at MLB, 6/21/2025

• The best first-half offensive performances in the ASG era, by Brent Maguire at MLB, 6/19/2025

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

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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