The Baseball Buffet for 7/22/2025

Issue #343

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! Free subscribers get daily game summaries and the current standings—supporters get a wealth of additional daily features!

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The 116th day of the season featured a full slate of Monday games:

• BAL 5, CLE 10 - Ramón Laureano was 2-4 with a HR and 4 RBI, but the Orioles only managed six hits while the Guardians had 14, including a first-inning, 3-run HR by José Ramírez, his 20th on the year. Bo Naylor and Kyle Manzardo added solo homers in the 5th and 6th innings, respectively.

• DET 0, PIT 3 - Paul Skenes followed-up his good All-Star game start with six shutout innings against the team with the best record in baseball (6 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K). Jack Flaherty struck out six in three innings, but also allowed 3 walks, 6 hits, and all 3 Bucco runs. Spencer Horwitz was 3-4, and Bryan Reynolds had 2 RBI. Three Pirates relievers combined with Skenes for a 5-hit shutout, with David Bednar pitching the ninth for his 14th save.

• SDP 2, MIA 1 - The Marlins out hit the Padres 9-5, but they were 0-5 with runners in scoring position and their only run came from Kyle Stowers hitting his 22nd HR in the fourth inning. San Diego scored two runs early, and then both bullpens kept runs off the board from the fifth onward, with Robert Suarez securing his MLB-leading 29th save.

• CIN 8, WAS 10 - The Nats jumped on Brady Singer (2.1 IP, 5 H, 7 ER, 2 BB, 1 K), including Josh Bell hitting his 12th HR of the year. Down 7-0 already, the Reds scored five in the fourth inning, but were never able to catch up as Washington kept scoring too. 18 runs, 24 hits, and each team used 7 pitchers, so here’s hoping the starters can go a bit longer in tomorrow’s game (two rookies: Chase Burns vs. Brad Lord).

• BOS 2, PHI 3 - This one ended in a very bizarre way. But first… Jarren Duran led off the game with a HR against Zack Wheeler, but the Phillies ace returned to form and pitched well through six (6 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 10 K). Walker Buehler also did well (7 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K) and the game was tied 2-2 through nine. Max Lazar came in to pitch the ninth for Philadelphia, and he struck out two and kept Boston off the board. Having already used Aroldis Chapman and Garrett Whitlock for one inning each, Jordan Hicks entered for the bottom of the tenth having thrown one scoreless inning against the Cubs the day before. He walked one (and another intentionally) and threw a wild pitch, and the bases ended up loaded. Edmundo Sosa came up, and on a check swing the glove of Red Sox catcher Carlos Narváez hit his bat… or did Sosa’s bat hit the catcher’s glove? Either way, after review, it was called a catcher’s interference which meant Brandon Marsh scored from third for the walk-off win. A write-up by MLB noted that is the first time this has happened since August 1, 1971.

• NYY 1, TOR 4 - Giancarlo Stanton hit a HR off Kevin Gausman (7 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8 K) in the fourth inning, but that was all the Yankees could muster. The Jays had a series of hits to score four in the bottom of the fifth, and eventually Toronto closer Jeff Hoffman came on and struck out three in the ninth for his 24th save.

• LAA 5, NYM 7 - The Angels jumped out to a 4-0 lead through three, including a solo HR by Logan O’Hoppe, his 18th of the year. Down 5-2 in the bottom of the seventh, New York scored three to tie it, and then added another two in the bottom of the eighth. Francisco Alvarez, recently called back up from AAA where he was hitting well, went 1-2 with a double, two walks, and two runs scored. Mets closer Edwin Díaz locked down the ninth with three strikeouts to secure his 20th save on the year.

• SFG 5, ATL 9 - The Giants out hit the Braves 12-8, including Willy Adames having a big day going 4-5 with a HR and 2 doubles. But they left 10 runners on base, while Atlanta was efficiently 5-11 with runners in scoring position. Rookie Drake Baldwin was the key, as he went 3-5 with 2 doubles and 6 RBI.

• CHW 8, TBR 3 - The White Sox didn’t have much trouble with Rays starter Shane Baz (4 IP, 8 H, 8 ER, 2 BB, 4 K) in this one, including Brooks Baldwin hitting a 3-run HR and Miguel Vargas hitting a 2-run homer. Rookie Chase Meidroth also had a good day at the plate, going 4-5 with 3 doubles.

• KCR 12, CHC 4 - The Cubs scored four in the second inning from a solo HR by Carson Kelly and a 3-run HR by Matt Shaw. But after Ryan Brasier threw the first inning as an opener, recently recalled Ben Brown came in and struggled over four innings (4 IP, 7 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 0 BB, 4 K). Chris Flexen came in and didn’t do any better (3 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 0 K), as Salvador Perez had two HR, and Jac Caglianone and John Rave had one HR apiece.

• ATH 2, TEX 7 - Other than Nick Kurtz who went 2-3 with a HR, a double, a walk, and 2 runs, the Athletics offense didn’t do much in this one. Josh Jung, who was just called back up from AAA, hit a solo HR in the third inning. Then CF Michael Helman hit a 3-run HR in the fifth, the first of his major league career.

• STL 6, COL 2 - The Cardinals tallied 15 hits in Colorado, with Willson Contreras going 3-5 with a HR and a double, and Masyn Winn also going 3-5 with a double. Michael McGreevy was recently called back up and did well (7 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 1 K).

• HOU 6, AZ 3 - Eugenio Suárez hit yet another HR, his 36th of the year, and fifth in the past three days. But the hero of this one was Houston rookie 2B Brice Matthews, who hit his first major league HR, a 3-run dinger, off Zac Gallen in the second inning. Then he connected for a 2-run HR, again off Gallen, in the seventh inning. The Astros bullpen didn’t allow any runs over the final four innings, with Josh Hader collecting his 26th save.

• MIL 6, SEA 0 - Brandon Woodruff once again pitched well (6 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K), lowering his ERA to 1.65 over three starts since finally returning from the IL. Two Brewers combined for the five-hit shutout, while Brice Turang and Jackson Chourio were each 2-4 with a double.

• MIN 2, LAD 5 - Byron Buxton led off the game with a HR off Shohei Ohtani, his 23rd of the season. But Ohtani returned the favor by hitting his own 2-run HR in the bottom of the first, his 35th on the year. Will Smith went 2-4 with 2 HR, and Andy Pages had his 18th HR in the seventh inning. On the mound, Ohtani pitched three innings (3 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K), with Dustin May doing well in relief (4.2 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 4 K), and Kirby Yates getting the final two outs and 3rd save.

Standings

I am tinkering with how to provide current standings as part of The Baseball Buffet (full divisions most days, wild-card standings on some days, etc.) The image below is a modified version of the text-based standings at Plain Text Sports, and here also is a link to the official standings at MLB.com.

A few notes for today:

• The Brewers extended their winning streak to 11 games, which coupled with a Cubs loss, put them in first place in the NL Central. And for now they also have the best record in baseball.

• Detroit had a tough assignment yesterday going up against Paul Skenes, so they are now 3-7 in their last ten games. But with no one else in the AL Central over .500, they remain 10 games ahead of Cleveland.

Today’s Trivia Question

As noted above, Cleveland’s start 3B José Ramírez hit his 20th HR of the season. That makes 2025 his seventh season with both 20 HR and 20 SB. Which five other players have also had seven or more 20/20 HR/SB seasons?

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