The Baseball Buffet for 6/29/2025

Issue #320

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 94th day of the season had a full slate of Saturday games:

• ATH 7, NYY 0 - Former Yankees pitcher JP Sears did very well (5.2 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 4 K) and Jack Perkins came in for the remaining 3+ innings to combine for the 3-hit shutout. The Athletics offense included a solo HR by Brent Rooker, his 17th on the year, and a 3-run HR by rookie Nick Kurtz, his 12th.

• MIN 5, DET 10 - Byron Buxton hit his 19th HR of the year, but Casey Mize otherwise pitched well (6.2 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K). Carlos Correa also added a late HR for the Twins, but that wasn’t nearly enough as the Tigers hit four HR off Bailey Ober (5.2 IP, 11 H, 7 ER, 1 BB, 5 K), including Kerry Carpenter, Gleyber Torres, Riley Greene, and Zach McKinstry.

• TBR 11, BAL 3 - Orioles catcher Chadwick Tromp hit his first HR of the year, but Rays starter Zack Littell otherwise pitched a good game (7 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K). Meanwhile the Rays had five hits and four runs off Zach Eflin in the first inning, and then scored another four runs in the fourth inning. This included a 2-run HR by Jonathan Aranda and a 3-run HR by Yandy Díaz. The Rays overall tallied 14 hits, with Diaz and four others having multi-hit games (Josh Lowe, Junior Caminero, Jake Mangum, and Chandler Simpson).

• NYM 2, PIT 9 - The Mets had nine hits early off Pirates pitchers Bailey Falter and Braxton Ashcraft, but they could only plate two runs and overall stranded 10 runners in this game. The Pirates made good use of there 12 hits, 11 of which were singles, by going 6-12 with runners in scoring position and scoring in bunches with 3 runs in the second inning and six runs in the eighth. Andrew McCutchen, Nick Gonzalez, Joey Bart, and Ke’Bryan Hayes had two hits apiece, and three Pirates pitched 4+ innings of shutout ball.

• SEA 2, TEX 3 - Dominic Canzone hit a solo HR for Seattle in the third inning, but Corey Seager immediately responded with a 2-run HR for Texas in the bottom of the frame. Bryan Woo otherwise had a good game for the Mariners (6 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 9 K), as did Kumar Rocker for the Rangers (6 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K). Seattle scored another run in sixth, and the game remained tied 2-2 through nine. Shawn Armstrong struck out two and kept the Mariners off the board in the top of the tenth, and then in the bottom of the frame, closer Andrés Muñoz was a bit wild in hitting Josh Smith and then throwing a wild pitch that advanced runners to second and third. After walking Corey Seager to load the bases, but also setup force outs everywhere, Marcus Semien singled to right to drive in the winning run.

• LAD 5, KCR 9 - Seth Lugo was a little wild but didn’t allow any runs (5.2 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 5 BB, 8 K). Freddie Freeman was 3-3 with two walks and a solo HR in the 7th, and then the Dodgers added four more runs in the ninth. But all of that wasn’t nearly enough as the Royals had already scored nine runs off two relievers who came in after Shohei Ohtani’s solid initial two innings (2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K). The big offensive producers were Jonathan India and Bobby Witt Jr. who were both 4-5 with a double and 3 runs each, and Vinnie Pasquantino who went 2-4 with a HR, a double, and 5 RBI. The loss ended the Dodgers 5-game win streak, and the win snapped the Royals 6-game losing streak.

• SDP 6, CIN 4 - Luis Arraez hit a HR, but that was the only run that Andrew Abbott allowed (5 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K). The Reds hit Randy Vasquez pretty solidly (4.1 IP, 9 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 3 K), but then four Padres relievers shut things down the rest of the way, with Robert Suarez pitching the ninth for his 23rd save of the year. Jake Cronenworth had a 2-run HR in the 6th inning, and Gavin Sheets hit a 3-run HR in the seventh.

• STL 9, CLE 6 - The Guardians got to Miles Mikolas in the fourth inning, scoring six runs including a solo HR by Kyle Manzardo and 2-run HR by Gabriel Arias. But the Cardinals quickly came back, scoring seven runs in the next two innings. Overall St. Louis had 14 hits, with Brendan Donovan going 1-2 with two walks and a HR, Willson Contreras was 2-4 with a HR and a double, and Masyn Winn was 3-5 with a double. Four Cardinals relievers pitched five shutout innings, including Ryan Helsley who secured his 16th save.

• TOR 1, BOS 15 - The Red Sox pounded away at Chris Bassitt early (2 IP, 8 H, 9 R, 8 ER, 4 BB, 3 K) and continued to collect hits and runs against the Jays bullpen as well. Eight different Boston hitters had multiple hits, including Wilyer Abreu who was 2-6 with a HR, a double, and 4 RBI, Romy Gonzalez who was 3-5 with a HR and a double, and Ceddanne Rafaela who was 2-5 with a HR. Meanwhile, Lucas Giolito did very well (7 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K) and Chris Murphy struck out two and didn’t allow any runs to close out the game.

• SFG 0, CHW 1 - This one was a good pitchers duel with Robbie Ray (6 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K) not allowing a run until Andrew Benintendi hit a solo HR in the sixth inning. That was all it took as Adrian Houser continued his strong start to 2025 (7 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K) and Grant Taylor struck out two in two innings to combine for the 4-hit shutout.

• MIA 8, AZ 7 - The Diamondbacks had 10 hits off Sandy Alcantara (6 IP, 10 H, 7 ER, 0 BB, 4 K), including a 3-run HR by Ketel Marte. Trailing 7-3, the Marlins came back to tie the game in the eighth and ninth innings, including a 2-run HR by Otto Lopez. In the top of the tenth, Agustín Ramírez singled to right to drive in Lopez, who was on second as the ghost-running Manfred Man. Anthony Bender, who had pitched a scoreless ninth, came back out and did the same in the bottom of the tenth to secure the win.

• COL 0, MIL 5 - Quinn Priester was outstanding in this one (7 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 11 K), and two Brewers relievers combined for the one-hit shutout. Meanwhile Brice Turang went 3-4 with 2 doubles and 2 RBI, and Joey Ortiz hit a 2-run HR to power Milwaukee.

• CHC 12, HOU 3 - Rookie Cam Smith hit his 7th HR of the year, but Colin Rea otherwise pitched fairly well (5 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 2 K). The Cubs offense came up big with 15 hits and 12 runs, including Kyle Tucker going 4-5 with a HR, a double, and 3 RBI, Seiya Suzuki going 2-5 with a HR and a triple, and Michael Busch and Nico Hoerner also each hitting a homer.

• PHI 1, ATL 6 - Spencer Schwellenbach was superb, striking out 12 and only walking one in 7 innings (7 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 12 K). The Braves scored two runs early, but then the big hit was a grand slam in the seventh inning by catcher Sean Murphy.

• WAS 2, LAA 8 - Both teams had 9 hits, but other than a solo HR by CJ Abrams the Nationals struggled to put runs on the board with Kyle Hendricks doing pretty well (5 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K). Michael Soroka matched him (6 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K), but then the National bullpen let up homers to Mike Trout, Kevin Newman, and Gustavo Campero.

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.

RIP, Dave Parker

Yesterday we learned the sad news that Dave Parker passed away, at age 74, after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. Parker was a fixture of my baseball fandom in the late 1970s and 1980s. I am glad he was finally elected into the Hall of Fame—sad that he couldn’t enjoy the induction ceremony coming up later this summer, but at least he was still alive to learn he was being included. See my profile of Dave Parker from earlier this year: Dave Parker: Best, Worst, Outliers, and Oddities.

Today’s Trivia Question

Dave Parker’s 1978 NL MVP Season was arguably his best as he led the NL in batting average for the second consecutive season with a .334 mark, and had 30 HR, 117 RBI, 12 triples, 102 runs, and 20 SB in 148 games played. He led the NL with 340 total bases that year, which is now tied with Brian Giles’ 340 total bases in 2001 for sixth place on the all-time Pirates franchise single-season leaderboard. Can you name the player who has the record for most total bases in a season by a Pirates player?

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

• NYM RP Brooks Raley

• STL RF Jordan Walker

🤕 Placed on the IL

• BOS RP Luis Guerrero - 15-day IL (right elbow strain)

MLB Debut Yesterday

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

• TBR RP Joe Rock - The 24-year old entered and pitched two innings in relief of Zack Littell in Tampa’s 11-3 win over Baltimore. He struck out four, but also allowed four hits and 2 earned runs. Before his call-up, Rock has been primarily a starter in the minors, including this season posting a 4.81 ERA with 63 K in 73 IP. Rock was the second round draft pick of the Rockies in 2021.

League Leaders

By getting two more RBI in the Cubs 12-3 win yesterday, Seiya Suzuki is now alone in leading the NL in RBI and is tied with Cal Raleigh for the overall MLB lead:

• 69 - SEA Cal Raleigh

• 69 - CHC Seiya Suzuki

• 67 - AZ Eugenio Suárez

• 65 - NYM Pete Alonso

• 64 - WAS James Wood

• 63 - BOS Rafael Devers

• 63 - NYY Aaron Judge

• 63 - CHC Pete Crow-Armstrong

• 62 - DET Riley Greene

• 59 - MIL Christian Yelich

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 29…

• 1905: Moonlight Graham plays in right field. As described at baseball-reference.com, “At Brooklyn, the Giants tally seven runs in the first three innings off Mal Eason to coast to an 11-1 victory. Christy Mathewson leaves after five innings of shutout ball. Dan McGann paces the offense with a triple and homer, while Moonlight Graham, in his only game in the majors, takes over in right field as a late-inning replacement. Graham will have no at-bats, but he will be immortalized by W.P. Kinsella's book Shoeless Joe and the movie based on the book, Field of Dreams.”

• 1968: Jim Northrup hits his third grand slam in a week. As described at baseball-reference.com, “Jim Northrup's third grand slam ties the major-league record for slams in a month (Rudy York, May 1938), and sets a major-league record for slams in a week. The Tigers win, 5-2 over Chicago, as Denny McLain tallies his 14th victory.”

• 1986: Sparky Anderson is the first to win 600 in each league. As described at baseball-reference.com, “Detroit beats Milwaukee, 9-5, in the first game of a doubleheader split, making Tigers manager Sparky Anderson the first manager ever to win 600 games in each league. The Brewers win the second game, 3-1.”

• 1990: Two no-hitters are thrown, one by Dave Stewart and one by Fernando Valenzuela. As described at baseball-reference.com, “Oakland's Dave Stewart and the Dodgers' Fernando Valenzuela both throw no-hitters today, the first time this has happened since Hippo Vaughn and Fred Toney's double no-hitter in 1917. Stewart blanks the Blue Jays, 5-0, and a few hours later Valenzuela beats the Cardinals, 6-0. The only threat to Stewart is a fly ball by Fred McGriff that Dave Henderson catches with his back pinned to the wall. Fernando almost loses his no-hitter with one out in the 9th when Pedro Guerrero hits a grounder up the middle with a runner on. Valenzuela, a former Gold Glover deflects the ball towards second base where SS Alfredo Griffin starts a game-ending double play.”

🎂 Today’s Birthday Boys🎉

• Harmon Killebrew (1936) first came up to the majors as an 18-year old with the Senators in 1954, and played a little in the majors but more in the minors for the next several years. Finally in 1959 he was in the majors full-time, and in his age-23 season he led the AL with 42 HR. He went on to lead the AL in HR six times in all, led the league in RBI three times, and walks four times. He played a mix of 1B, 3B, and LF, playing all but his final season for the Senators/Twins franchise. An All-Star in 11 seasons, he was AL MVP in 1969 after leading the league with 49 HR, 140 RBI, and 145 walks, with a .276/.427/.584 slash line and 177 OPS+. He was in the top-five in the MVP vote in five other seasons, and retired with 573 HR, 1,584 RBI, a .256/.376/.509 slash line, and a 143 OPS+.

• Bobby Veach (1888) had a 14-year major league career, mostly as a LF with the Detroit Tigers. He led the AL in RBI three times, doubles twice, and triples once, and posted 10+ triples in 10 straight seasons. He had some speed on the bases too, with 20+ SB in five seasons, and was a high average hitter with a career high .355 mark in 1919. Overall, Veach had 2,063 hits, 147 triples, 1,174 RBI, 195 SB, a .310/.370/.442 slash line, and a 127 OPS+.

• Pedro Guerrero (1956) had a 15-year major league career with the Dodgers and Cardinals from 1978 to 1992. He wasn’t a regular until 1981, when he hit .300 with 12 HR in the strike-shortened season, and went on to win the World Series MVP award after hitting 2 HR with a .333/.417/762 slash line in six games. At that point his combination of high batting average, power, and some speed on the bases kept him the lineup even while the positions he played shifted over the years from OF to 3B to mostly 1B towards the end of his career. A five-time All-Star, he came in 3rd or 4th in the NL MVP vote four times, hit 25+ HR four times, and had 100+ RBI three times. Overall he had 215 HR, a .300/.370/.480 slash line, and a 137 OPS+.

• Dizzy Trout (1915) pitched in the majors for 15 seasons, mostly with the Detroit Tigers. In 1943 he led the AL in wins with a 20-12 record to go with a 2.48 ERA, and the following season he posted an impressive 27-14 record and led the league with a 2.12 ERA, coming in second in the AL MVP voting. Overall, Trout had a 170-161 (.514) record, 3.23 ERA, and a 124 ERA+.

• Rick Honeycutt (1954) had a 21-year pitching career in the majors spanning from 1977-1997. A two-time All-Star early on, he was a starter for the first half of his career with the Mariners, Rangers, and Dodgers, and then was a reliever during the second half with the Athletics, Rangers, Yankees, and Cardinals. Interestingly, he led the AL with a 2.42 ERA in 1983, even though he was traded to the NL (Dodgers) in mid-August of that year. After retiring as a player, Honeycutt became a pitching coach, most notably for the Dodgers from 2006-2019.

• Gunnar Henderson (2001) was drafted in the second round by the Orioles in 2019. He worked his way up and then won AL Rookie of the Year honors in 2023 after hitting 28 HR and scoring 100 runs. Last year he was an All-Star for the first time, and came in fourth in the AL MVP vote after hitting 37 HR with 92 RBI, 118 runs, 21 SB, and a .281 average. At around the mid-point of the 2025 campaign he has a .279 average, and both 9 HR and 9 SB.

In addition to Gunnar Henderson, other currently active players who were born on June 29 include MIN José Miranda, BAL Emmanuel Rivera, BOS Tanner Houck, and MIL Bobby Dalbec.

Today’s Matchups

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

• CHC vs. HOU is game three of this series, which is tied 1-1 and involves two first place teams that again have identical records at 49-34 each. The Cubs will go with Jameson Taillon (4.47 ERA, 70 K in 90.2 IP) who has struggled in his last two starts, while the Astros have Framber Valdez (2.88 ERA, 102 K in 103 IP) who has done well but with fewer strikeouts than usual in his most recent two outings.

• PHI vs. ATL features Ranger Suárez (2.08 ERA, 59 K in 65 IP) taking on Spencer Strider (4.07 ERA, 53 K in 42 IP).

Also on the hill today are KCR Kris Bubic, SFG Justin Verlander, SEA Luis Castillo, and DET Tarik Skubal.

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:

• BOS Trevor Story, 8-22 with 3 HR and 2 doubles vs. TOR Eric Lauer

• ATL Ozzie Albies, 7-25 with 3 HR vs. PHI Ranger Suarez

• ATL Austin Riley, 9-28 with 2 HR and 3 doubles vs. PHI Ranger Suarez

• MIN Byron Buxton, only 2-12 but with 2 HR vs. DET Tarik Skubal

• AZ Lourdes Gurriel Jr., small sample but is 2-8 with 2 HR vs. MIA Cal Quantrill

• TBR Danny Jansen, small sample but is 2-5 with 2 HR vs. BAL Dean Kremer

• SEA Cal Raleigh, small sample but is 2-5 with 2 HR vs. TEX Jack Leiter

• SEA Julio Rodriguez, small sample but is 3-8 with 2 HR vs. TEX Jack Leiter

• PHI Brandon Marsh, 6-19 with 2 HR and a double vs. ATL Spencer Strider

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 Gunnar Henderson, 6-14 with a HR and a double vs. TBR Taj Bradley… plus as noted above it is Henderson’s birthday today!

• CHC Justin Turner, 5-11 with 2 doubles vs. HOU Framber Valdez

• TBR Brandon Lowe, 5-11 with a HR and a double vs. BAL Dean Kremer

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:

• 15 - TBR Brandon Lowe

• 13 - TBR Jonathan Aranda

• 12 - MIL Brice Turang

• 11 - MIL Christian Yelich

• 10 - LAA Jo Adell

• 9 - MIA Otto Lopez

• 8 - MIN Carlos Correa

• 7 - COL Hunter Goodman

• 7 - CIN Spencer Steer

• 7 - TOR George Springer

• 7 - CHC Nico Hoerner

• 7 - PIT Ke’Bryan Hayes

• 7 - WAS Daylen Lile

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:

• PHI J.T. Realmuto, 3-24 with 13 K vs. ATL Spencer Strider

• MIN Ryan Jeffers, 1-18 with 8 K though the one hit was a HR vs. DET Tarik Skubal

• CHW Andrew Benintendi, 4-30 with 8 K though two of the hits were a HR and a triple vs. SFG Justin Verlander

• PHI Johan Rojas, 1-11 with 5 K vs. ATL Spencer Strider

• MIN Carlos Correa, 1-10 with 4 K vs. DET Tarik Skubal

• ATL Michael Harris II, 3-23 with 4 K vs. PHI Ranger Suárez

• TBR Yandy Díaz, 1-17 with 3 K vs. BAL Dean Kremer

• PHI Trea Turner, 3-25 though with only 2 K and one hit was a HR vs. ATL Spencer Strider

⚾ Enjoy the games today!⚾

Today’s Trivia Answer

Dave Parker’s 1978 NL MVP Season including 340 total bases which is tied for Brian Giles’ 340 total bases in 2001 for sixth place on the all-time Pirates franchise single-season leaderboard. The franchise record holder is Hall of Famer Kiki Cuyler who had 369 total bases in 1925. That year he led the NL with 144 runs and an impressive 26 triples, to go along with 220 hits, 43 doubles, 18 HR, 102 RBI, 41 SB, and a .357 average. Here is the Pirates single-season total bases top-10 leaderboard:

• 369 - Kiki Cuyler (1925)

• 361 - Ralph Kiner (1947)

• 361 - Ralph Kiner (1949)

• 342 - Roberto Clemente (1966)

• 342 - Paul Waner (1927)

• 340 - Brian Giles (2001)

• 340 - Dave Parker (1978)

• 338 - Dave Parker (1977)

• 337 - Willie Stargell (1973)

• 335 - Jason Bay (2005)

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.

• Dave Parker, Hall of Famer and former MVP, passes away at 74, by Adam Berry at MLB, 6/28/2025

• If the postseason began today, these would be the matchups, by MLB writers, 6/28/2025

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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