Issue #659
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! ⚾
We had a full slate (15) of Wednesday games yesterday. Here are the results (link to all game box scores):
PIT 9, HOU 11 - PIT SP Paul Skenes had 7 K in 4.2 IP, but also allowed 7 H, 1 BB, and 3 ER. Meanwhile, the Pirates put a dent in the fine season of HOU SP Spencer Arrighetti (4 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 3 K), with catcher Henry Davis hitting a grand slam in the fourth to give the Bucs a 4-2 lead. Pittsburgh kept hitting the Astros bullpen also, including a 2-run HR by Nick Gonzales in the seventh. They were ahead 9-5 heading into the bottom of the eighth, and brought in Mason Montgomery. He struck out the first two batters he faced, but then wheels came off as he allowed two doubles and a walk. Gregory Soto relieved him, but he gave up two singles, a walk, and a triple by Cam Smith. When the dust settled, the Astros had scored six to take an 11-9 lead, and then Josh Hader made his 2026 debut and pitched a scoreless ninth for his first save of the year.
LAD 7, ARI 0 - LAD SP Shohei Ohtani pitched six shutout innings (6 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K), lowering his ERA to 0.74 on the year. Two Dodgers relievers combined with him for a 2-hit shutout, while Ohtani also did well on offense going 3-4 with 2 walks and a run. ARI SP Zac Gallen struggled (5 IP, 9 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 1 K), while Kyle Tucker went 3-5 with a 2-run HR, Alex Freeland went 3-4 with a walk and 2 RBI, and Freddie Freeman and Max Muncy had two hits apiece.
NYM 7, SEA 1 - On the day before his birthday, NYM SP Freddy Peralta pitched a good game (6 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K), only giving up a solo HR to J.P. Crawford to lead off the bottom of the first. Three Mets relievers pitched scoreless innings, Bo Bichette went 4-4 with 3 RBI, A.J. Ewing was 3-5, and Jared Young and Luis Torrens had two hits apiece. The loss for Seattle marked the end of their MLB-leading eight-game winning streak.
SDP 2, PHI 3 - PHI SP Cristopher Sánchez had another strong performance (7 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K), though his scoreless innings streak finally came to an end at 50.2 IP in the seventh inning. SDP SP Walker Buehler pitched well (6 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K), but then with the game tied 1-1, Padres reliever Jason Adam gave up solo HRs to J.T. Realmuto and Kyle Schwarber (his MLB-leading 23rd of the year). San Diego came back with one run in the eighth, but then Phillies closer Jhoan Duran struck out two in the ninth to lock down his 14th save.
MIA 4, WSH 1
DET 7, TBR 2
CWS 8, MIN 0
BAL 1, BOS 8
CLE 5, NYY 4
KCR 5, CIN 2
TOR 3, ATL 7
SFG 1, MIL 0
TEX 3, STL 5
ATH 5, CHC 4 (10)
COL 4, LAA 11
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
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!
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Today’s Trivia Question
One of today’s Birthday Boys (see below) is Darin Erstad. In his 2000 season he led all of MLB with 240 hits, which is tied for the third most hits in a season during the expansion era (1961 to present). Which player is he tied with, and which one player, since 1961, had over 240 hits in a season twice?
(Trivia answers are provided for paid All-Star subscribers of the Baseball Buffet.)
🎂 Today’s Birthday Boys 🎉
Row 1: Darin Erstad, Tony Peña, Terry Kennedy
Row 2: Aaron Nola, Freddy Peralta
In addition to Aaron Nola and Freddy Peralta, currently active major leaguers born on June 4 include WSH Brady House and STL Kyle Leahy.
Today’s Matchups
Today is a typical Thursday as we have a short slate of games (9), with many teams either traveling or otherwise having the day off. Here are a couple of matchups of note:
SDP Lucas Giolito vs. PHI Zack Wheeler - the Phillies have beaten the Padres 3-2 in both games of this series, can they sweep today with Wheeler on the mound?
ATH J.T. Ginn vs. CHC Shota Imanaga - can Imanaga keep the Cubs from being swept in this series?
Other starters climbing the hill today include NYY Carlos Rodón, ATL Chris Sale, KCR Seth Lugo, and LAD Justin Wrobleski.
Baseball Quote of the Day
One of today's Birthday Boys (see above) is Tony Peña, so here is a quote from him on his role as a catcher:
"I don’t think I can take much credit. They (the pitchers) threw the ball and made the pitches. They had the success. My job is to help the pitcher as much as I can. If something goes wrong, my job is to fix it. I keep full concentration on the game."
⚾ 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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