Issue #663
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 once again had a full slate (15) of Sunday games yesterday. Here are the results (link to all game box scores):
CWS 5, PHI 9 - PHI SP Aaron Nola gave up plenty of baserunners and five runs (4.1 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 4 BB, 4 K), but then four of his bullpen mates kept the White Sox from scoring any further. Meanwhile, Philadelphia's hitters scored in five separate innings and against four different White Sox hurlers, with Rafael Marchán hitting a 2-run HR in the second and Brandon Marsh going 2-4 with a HR in the third. Trea Turner was 2-5 with a double; Bryce Harper was 2-4 with a walk, a double and 2 runs; and Alec Bohm went 2-3 with a walk, a double, and 2 RBI. Of note, the hot-hitting Brandon Marsh is leading all of MLB with a .338 average and has hit a HR in three consecutive games.
NYM 7, SDP 3 - SDP SP Randy Vasquez allowed a lot of baserunners over his four innings (4 IP, 8 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 3 K), with Marcus Semien hitting a HR in the second inning. Carson Benge had a big game, going 5-5 with a HR, a triple, 3 runs, and 2 RBI. Bo Bichette was 2-5 with a double, and MJ Melendez hit a HR. For the Padres, Freddy Fermin was 2-4 with a HR, a double, and 3 RBI in the losing effort.
LAA 13, LAD 5 - LAD SP Emmet Sheehan couldn't get out of the second inning (1.1 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 K), turning this one into a bullpen day for the Dodgers. They used seven different pitchers in all, and the Angels collected 15 hits and 13 runs in all. Jo Adell went 4-5 with a HR, 4 runs, and 2 RBI; Sebastián Rivero was 5-5 with a double and 6 RBI; Jose Siri was 3-3 with a walk, 2 runs, and 2 RBI; and Zach Neto hit a 3-run HR. Meanwhile, LAA SP José Soriano (6 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 2 K) did well until the sixth inning when he gave up a 3-run HR to Dalton Rushing immediately followed by a solo HR to Ryan Ward. Dalton Rushing went 4-4 on the day with a double in addition to the HR, while Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman had two hits apiece in the losing effort.
SEA 4, DET 5 - SEA SP Luis Castillo pitched well (5.2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K), giving up a solo HR to Kevin McGonigle in the fourth. DET SP Jack Flaherty struck out 7 over 5 innings (6 H, 3 ER, 1 BB), but left the game down 3-1. The Tigers were losing 4-3 in the bottom of the ninth and facing Seattle's closer Andrés Muñoz, when with two outs and runners on second and third, Kevin McGonigle hit a walk-off single that drove in both Zach McKinstry and Wenceel Pérez.
PIT 2, ATL 3
BAL 4, TOR 6
TBR 1, MIA 4
BOS 1, NYY 6
ATH 5, HOU 0
KCR 6, MIN 5
CIN 3, STL 5
CLE 0, TEX 10
MIL 12, COL 4
WSH 1, ARI 5
SFG 2, CHC 1
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
I noted yesterday that Houston's Yordan Alvarez is currently leading the AL in HR (22), RBI (48), and is second in the AL in batting average with a .316 mark, trailing behind Tampa Bay's Yandy Díaz who is hitting .325. Who were the last four players to win a league's offensive Triple Crown? (Hint: All four were in the AL.)
(Trivia answers are provided for paid All-Star subscribers of the Baseball Buffet.)
🎂 Today’s Birthday Boys 🎉
Van Mungo, Del Ennis, Mark Belanger
Currently active players who were born on June 8 include MIA Connor Norby, SFG Blade Tidwell, and ATL Víctor Mederos.
Today’s Matchups
As is typical for a Monday, we have a short slate (8) as many teams are either traveling or otherwise have the day off. Here are all eight matchups today (and here is a link to the full schedule):
SEA Emerson Hancock vs. BAL pitcher TBD
BOS Connelly Early vs. TBR Ian Seymour
NYY Will Warren vs. CLE Gavin Williams
PHI Cristopher Sánchez vs. TOR Patrick Corbin
HOU Spencer Arrighetti vs. LAA Grayson Rodriguez
CIN Andrew Abbott vs. SDP Walker Buehler
WSH Miles Mikolas vs. SFG Logan Webb
MIL Kyle Harrison vs. ATH Jeffrey Springs
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Baseball Quote of the Day
One of today's Birthday Boys is Mark Belanger, so here are some good quotes about him, focusing of course on his outstanding defense as a shortstop:
"Belanger was so good that it didn't matter what he hit. ... The ball hit to Brooks' left or Belanger's right never went through. You were saving a whole lot of pitches and a whole lot of runs." - Earl Weaver
"I never ever saw him blow a routine play. [He] had wonderful range to his left and he would venture out into center field and catch balls and throw you out." - Boog Powell
"He was the most sure-handed shortstop I ever saw. He was so good and made it look so easy, most of the fans probably never realized how good he was." - Ken Singleton
⚾ 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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