Issue #706
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 an overflowing slate of games yesterday, with 17 in all due to two doubleheaders. Here are the results (link to all game box scores):
BAL 3, BOS 6 (Gm1) - The Red Sox scored four runs in the bottom of the first inning, and then added another in the third, and then a solo HR by Ceddanne Rafaela in the fourth, all off BAL SP Dean Kremer (6 IP, 8 H, 6 ER, 1 BB, 5 K). Meanwhile, BOS SP Jake Bennett gave up a lot of hits but only three runs crossed (5.2 IP, 9 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 4 K), including a solo HR by Christian Encarnacion-Strand in the fourth inning. Three Boston relievers pitched scoreless innings, including Aroldis Chapman who earned his 23rd save. Rafaela, Willson Contreras, and Caleb Durbin had two hits each for the Red Sox, while Encarnacion-Strand was 3-4 and Pete Alonso and Jackson Holliday had two hits apiece in the Orioles' loss.
BAL 5, BOS 1 (Gm2) - Boston opener Eduardo Rivera couldn't get out of the first inning, allowing four runs before long man Brayan Bello came in and did well over the next 5.1 innings (5.1 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K). That was the difference in the game, as BAL SP Kyle Bradish pitched effectively (6 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K), and three Orioles relievers threw scoreless frames. Dylan Beavers went 2-4 with 2 RBI, and Jonathan Rodríguez was 2-4 with a double. The loss ended Boston's impressive winning streak at 15 games.
PIT 5, NYY 3 (Gm1) - NYY SP Gerrit Cole had 11 K over 7 innings (4 H, 3 ER, 0 BB), but also gave up a 2-run HR by Jacob Gonzalez in the fifth inning, and a solo HR to Nick Gonzales in the seventh. PIT SP Mitch Keller threw five scoreless frames (5 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 6 K), but reliever Carmen Mlodzinski gave up a game-tying 3-run HR to Ben Rice in the seventh, his 30th HR of the year. The contest went into extras, and the Yankees turned to Fernando Cruz for the top of the tenth. He gave up a walk, two singles, and another walk before giving way to Kervin Castro who struck out two with the Bucs having gone ahead by two. The Pirates brought in Gregory Soto, and he struck out Cody Bellinger but then threw a wild pitch that allowed the automatic runner to advance to third. Soto was able to get two infield pop-outs to finish the game and earn his 13th save.
PIT 0, NYY 2 (Gm2) - NYY SP Max Fried was outstanding in his return from the IL (5 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 K), but PIT SP Bubba Chandler did essentially just as well (6.1 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K). The Yankees finally broke through with two runs in the bottom of the seventh off Pirates reliever Brandon Eisert, with a double by Jasson Domínguez and a single by Anthony Volpe being the key at-bats. Meanwhile, four Yankees relievers picked up where Fried left off and combined for a 3-hit shutout, including Tim Hill who recorded the final out for his first save of the year.
MIA 2, HOU 5 - The Astros went up 2-0 after Jeremy Peña hit a solo HR in the third inning. The Marlins tied the game with two in the fourth off HOU SP Peter Lambert (6 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K). MIA SP Sandy Alcantara had gotten three straight outs in the seventh, so went back out for the eighth but immediately ran into trouble in giving up a single to Peña, and then consecutive HRs to Yordan Alvarez and Isaac Paredes. The Astros brought in Bryan Abreu and he pitched a scoreless ninth to earn his 6th save. For Alvarez, the long ball was his MLB-leading 34th of the year.
SFG 4, KCR 5
NYM 3, MIL 4
WSH 8, COL 0
ATH 5, ARI 15
CIN 5, SEA 3
STL 1, LAA 0
LAD 9, PHI 5
MIN 10, CLE 6
SDP 6, ATL 7
TBR 4, TOR 2
DET 5, CHC 1
CWS 4, TEX 2
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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?
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Today’s Trivia Question
One of today's Birthday Boys (see below) is Hall of Famer Don Drysdale. He pitched his entire career with the Dodgers and amassed 2,486 strikeouts, which ranks third on their franchise leaderboard. Who are the other three pitchers who had 2,000+ strikeouts for the Dodgers?
(Trivia answers are provided for paid All-Star subscribers of the Baseball Buffet.)
🎂 Today’s Birthday Boys 🎉
Don Drysdale, Pee Wee Reese, Nomar Garciaparra, Ginger Beaumont
A currently active player who was born on July 23 is CWS Chase Meidroth.
Today’s Matchups
Today we have a very short slate of only five games, as most teams are either traveling or otherwise have the day off. Here are today's matchups (and here is a link to the full schedule):
SDP Griffin Canning vs. ATL Chris Sale
MIN Taj Bradley vs. CLE Gavin Williams
TBR Ian Seymour vs. TOR Shane Bieber
ARI Brandon Pfaadt vs. STL Michael McGreevy
KCR Randy Dobnak vs. DET Troy Melton
Baseball Quote of the Day
One of today's Birthday Boys (see above) is Hall of Famer Pee Wee Reese, so here are a few quotes from him (curated from the collection at The Baseball Almanac):
"Being Captain of the Dodgers meant representing an organization committed to winning and trying to keep it going. We could have won every year if the breaks had gone right."
"Brooklyn was the most wonderful city a man could play in, and the fans there were the most loyal there were."
"If I had my career to play over, one thing I'd do differently is swing more. Those 1,200 walks I got, nobody remembers them."
"If you rush in and out of the clubhouse, you rush in and out of baseball."
"I had only played five games in my senior year in high school. I was not large enough. Hell, when I graduated, I was about five foot four and weighed 120 pounds. I didn't go with the Dodgers until spring training of 1940 and I weighed all of 155 pounds soaking wet. Looking like I was sixteen, I guess. When I got there, I didn't know any of the fellas on the team, and I was scared to death. Wherever they went, they took me with them. Why did they do it? Beats the hell out of me. I was just a scared kid from Kentucky, and these guys had been up in the majors for a while. I guess it was because I was just such a helluva nice kid - if you'll accept that."
"Thinking about the things that happened, I don't know any other ball player would could have done what he (Jackie Robinson) did. To be able to hit with everybody yelling at him. He had to block all that out, block out everything but this ball that is coming in at a hundred miles an hour and he's got a split second to make up his mind if it's in or out or down or coming at his head, a split second to swing. To do what he did has got to be the most tremendous thing I've ever seen in sports."
⚾ 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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