The Baseball Buffet for 7/4/2025

Issue #325

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 99th day of the season had a partial slate of Thursday games:

• MIN, 1, MIA 4 - Miami scored three runs in the first inning, including a 2-run HR by Agustín Ramírez. Eury Perez pitched very well (6 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 K) and Ronny Henriquez pitched a scoreless ninth for his 5th save.

• HOU 6, COL 7 - Each team had 13 hits in this one, but the only HR was from the Rockies’ Thairo Estrada who hit a 2-run HR in the first inning. Cam Smith was 3-5 with a double and 3 RBI for the Astros, and Estrada was 3-4 with 4 RBI on the day for Colorado.

• DET 7, WAS 11 - Spencer Torkelson hit a 3-run HR in the first inning, but those were the only runs Jake Irvin would allow over six innings (6 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 4 K). Meanwhile, 34-year old Dietrich Enns’ second start didn’t go nearly as well (4 IP, 8 H, 8 R, 7 ER, 2 BB, 3 K) as his recent major league debut, as he gave up homers to Paul DeJong and James Wood. The Nationals overall tallied 15 hits, with Wood going 5-5 and Alex Call going 3-5 with a double and 3 RBI.

• NYY 5, TOR 8 - The Blue Jays completed the four game sweep of the Yankees, and now have a one game lead over New York in the AL East. The Yankees actually out hit Toronto 12-11, but they were 2-14 with runners in scoring position and left 12 runners on base. Jasson Dominguez was 4-5 with a triple and a double, and Trent Grisham hit his 16th HR of the year. But the Jays had three HR, two from George Springer, and one from Addison Barger. Both of them had three hits on the day, as did Nathan Lukes who was 3-5 with two doubles. For the second day in a row, Jeff Hoffman came in and pitched the ninth, this time securing his 21st save.

• MIL 2, NYM 3 - Brandon Nimmo hit his 17th HR, and David Peterson pitched a good game (6.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K). Ryne Stanek struck out three, and then Edwin Díaz struck out two in the ninth for his 18th save.

• LAA 5, ATL 1 - Jurickson Profar clearly likes being back as he hit a HR in the ninth inning, his second in the two days since coming off suspension. But that was too-little, too-late for the Braves as the Angels had homers early in the game by Nolan Schanuel and Zach Neto. Jo Adell was 3-5 with a RBI, and LA starter José Soriano pitched well (7 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 7 K).

• CLE 0, CHC 1 - Five Cleveland pitchers held the Cubs to two hits, while Cade Horton (7 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K) and three Chicago relievers held the Guardians scoreless through nine as well. Chris Flexen, who has been outstanding this year (0.62 ERA over 29 IP in 16 appearances), kept Cleveland off the board in the top of the tenth. Emmanuel Clase had pitched the ninth and came back out for the bottom of the tenth, and with a runner on third and only one out, Matt Shaw hit a sacrifice fly to center to drive in the winning run.

• SFG 7, AZ 2 - Eugenio Suárez hit his 27th HR, and Ketel Marte hit his 19th HR. But those two of only three hits the Diamondbacks got in this one, as Robbie Ray pitched the second complete game of his career (9 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 K). Meanwhile the Giants tallied 12 hits, with Willy Adames going 3-4 with a walk, 2 doubles, and 3 runs scored, Mike Yastrzemski was 3-5, and Rafael Devers posted 3 RBI.

• KCR 3, SEA 2 - Jorge Polanco hit a HR in the fourth inning, but Seth Lugo otherwise pitched well (6.1 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K). Carlos Estévez struggled a bit, letting up three hits including a HR to Dominic Canzone, but with runners threatening on second and third, he struck out Julio Rodriguez and then got Cal Raleigh to ground out to secure his 24th save (tied for the MLB lead). Logan Evans did well after his recent call back up from the minors (5 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K), but the Royals scored their three runs in the seventh inning, with the decisive final one involving a sweet slide by Bobby Witt Jr. at home to avoid a tag.

• CHW 2, LAD 6 - Dustin May was perfect through five innings, and his pitching line (7 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 9 K) was only really marred by going back out in the eighth inning and surrendering a 2-run HR to White Sox CF Brooks Baldwin. Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates each struck out two in their innings of relief, and the Dodgers had HR from Michael Conforto and Mookie Betts, with Freddie Freeman going 2-4 with two doubles and 3 RBI.

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.

Today’s Trivia Question

As I noted recently, Jorge Soler hit his 200th career HR. In doing so he became the seventh player born in Cuba to reach that HR plateau. How many of the other six can you name?

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

• TEX LF Wyatt Langford

• CIN SP Carson Spiers

• AZ RF Corbin Carroll

🤕 Placed on the IL

• LAD 3B Max Muncy - 10-day IL (knee bone bruise)

• LAA 2B Christian Moore - 10-day IL (left thumb sprain)

• NYM SP Paul Blackburn - 15-day IL (right shoulder impingement)

📝 Signed as Free Agent

• KCR RP Michael Fulmer

MLB Debut Yesterday

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

• LAA INF Chad Stewart - The 26-year old played 2B in place of the injured Christian Moore, batted ninth, and went 0-4 with one strikeout. Before being called up Stewart was doing well at AAA Salt Lake City, with 14 HR, 9 SB, and a .307/.383/.542 slash line in 72 games.

League Leaders

I recently highlighted Shohei Ohtani’s high Runs total in a trivia question, noting he could be the first to score 150 runs since Jeff Bagwell’s 152 in 2000. He has kept scoring since then, and now has an impressive 19-run lead in the NL. And Aaron Judge similarly has an 18-run lead in the AL:

• 86 - LAD Shohei Ohtani

• 78 - NYY Aaron Judge

• 67 - CIN Elly De La Cruz

• 63 - CHC Kyle Tucker

• 62 - NYM Juan Soto

• 60 - CHC Pete Crow-Armstrong

• 60 - SEA Cal Raleigh

• 60 - PHI Kyle Schwarber

• 60 - SDP Fernando Tatis Jr.

• 59 - PHI Trea Turner

• 58 - WAS James Wood

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 July 4…

• 1912: George Mullin throws a no-hitter on his birthday. As described at baseball-reference.com, “Three weeks after the Tigers ask waivers on George Mullin, he pitches himself a 32nd birthday present at Detroit, a 7-0 no-hitter over the Browns. Mullin helps his victory with three hits and two RBIs.”

• 1934: Satchel Paige throws a no-hitter. As described at baseball-reference.com, “In a Negro National League game, Satchel Paige pitches a 4-0 no-hitter for the Pittsburgh Crawfords against the Homestead Grays in Pittsburgh, with only a walk and an error spoiling a perfect game. He strikes out 17. Josh Gibson is his catcher.”

• 1939: Lou Gehrig says he’s the luckiest man on the face of the earth. As described at baseball-reference.com, “It's Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day at Yankee Stadium and the ‘Iron Horse’'s uniform number 4 will be the first ever to be retired. After emcee Sid Mercer informs the sell-out crowd the man of the hour is too moved to speak, Gehrig changes his mind when Skipper Joe McCarthy encourages him, and delivers the keynote address describing himself as ‘the luckiest man on the face of the earth’”

• 1983: Dave Righetti throws a no-hitter. As described at baseball-reference.com, “Dave Righetti pitches the Yankees' first no-hitter since Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 World Series, handcuffing the Red Sox, 4-0, before a holiday crowd of 41,077 at Yankee Stadium. It's the first no-hitter by a Yankee lefty since George Mogridge in 1917.”

• 1985: The Mets and Braves play seemingly forever. As described at baseball-reference.com, “In a marathon game that borders on the surreal, the Mets endure two rain delays and 6:10 of playing time to beat the Braves, 16-13, in 19 innings on Fireworks Night in Atlanta. The Mets take a 10-8 lead in the top of the 13th inning, only to watch the Braves tie it up. The Mets score again in the 18th, but relief hurler Rick Camp (a .060 hitter who is batting because Atlanta has no more position players available to pinch-hit) ties the score with his first major league home run on a two-out, two-strike pitch in the bottom of the inning. No pitcher had ever homered that late in a game before. Finally, the Mets erupt for five runs in the 19th off Camp and Atlanta can respond only with 2. Keith Hernandez hits for the cycle for the Mets, and the game ends at 3:55 A.M. on July 5th, the latest finish in major league history. At 4:01 A.M., the post-game fireworks display begins, causing local residents to think the city is under attack.”

• 1987: The Niekro brothers pass the Perry brothers. As described at baseball-reference.com, “With the Indians' and Phil Niekro's 9-6 win over the Tigers, the Niekro brothers pass the Perrys (Gaylord and Jim) with 530 combined victories.”

🎂 Today’s Birthday Boys🎉

• Mickey Welch (1859) is a Hall of Famer who pitched in the majors for 13 years from 1880-1892, spending the majority of his time with the New York Giants of the National League. He posted 25+ wins seven times, with highs of a 39-21 record in 1884 and 44-11 in 1885. He was a bit wild, leading the NL in walks three times, but overall was quite effective with a career 307-210 (.594) record, 2.71 ERA, and 113 ERA+. Interestingly, on his birthday in 1881, while playing for the Troy Trojans of the National League, Welch threw two complete game victories to sweep a doubleheader from the Buffalo Bisons 8-3 and 12-0.

• Vinny Castilla (1967) played in Mexico for a couple of seasons before coming up through the Braves minor league system. He was taken by the Colorado Rockies as part of their expansion draft after the 1992 season, and by 1995 was a full-time major leaguer and had his first of two All-Star seasons by hitting 32 HR with 90 RBI and a .309 average. That was his first of seven 25+ HR seasons, with career highs of 46 HR, 144 RBI, and a .319 average all coming in 1998. He played over half of his 16-year major league career with Colorado, and the other half spread between five different clubs, before retiring with 320 HR, 1,105 RBI, and a .276 average.

• George Mullin (1880) had a 14-year major league career from 1902-1915, mostly spent with the Detroit Tigers. He posted five 20+ win seasons, including an impressive 1909 campaign when he led the AL in wins with a 29-8 record to go along with a tidy 2.22 ERA. A bit wild early in his career, he led the AL in walks each year from 1903-1906. Overall he had a 228-196 (.538) record, 2.82 ERA, and 101 ERA+.

• Chuck Tanner (1928) had an 8-year major league playing career from 1955-1962, spending time with the Braves, Cubs, Indians, and Angels. Generally a reserve outfielder, he was frequently used a pinch hitter. Tanner is of course better known for his time as a manager, as he was skipper of the White Sox from 1970-75, the Athletics in 1976, the Pirates from 1977-85, and then the Braves from 1986-88. His best success came during the early years of his Pittsburgh tenure, with the highlight being leading the Pirates to the World Series championship in their famous “We Are Family” season of 1979.

Today’s Matchups

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

• CIN vs. PHI features two good pitchers in Andrew Abbott (1.79 ERA, 76 K in 80.1 IP) and Jesús Luzardo (4.06 ERA, 111 K in 95.1 IP).

• NYY vs. NYM is always fun, and this year the two teams are currently sitting in second place in their respective Eastern divisions, having slumped a bit lately and looking to rebound. The Yankees will go with Marcus Stroman who was strong recently against the Athletics in his first game back from the IL. As of this writing the Mets haven’t announced who their starter will be.

• HOU vs. LAD is a battle of the two Western division leaders, with the Astros going with Lance McCullers Jr. (6.6.1 IP, 40 K in 32.2 IP) who has struggled in his last two starts, and the Dodgers apparently relying on Ben Casparius (3.97 ERA, 54 K in 56.2 IP), either as the starter or the bulk innings guy today.

Also on the hill today are SEA Bryan Woo, ATL Spencer Strider, KCR Kris Bubic, and SFG Justin Verlander.

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:

• CIN Austin Hays, small sample but is 3-5 with 2 HR vs. PHI Jesús Luzardo

• CHC Pete Crow-Armstrong, small sample but is 3-4 with 2 HR and a double vs. STL Miles Mikolas

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:

• CHC Nico Hoerner, 13-33 (.394) with 3 doubles vs. STL Miles Mikolas

• CHW Josh Rojas, 8-20 with a HR and a double vs. COL Antonio Senzatela

• LAD Mookie Betts, 7-15 with 2 doubles vs. HOU Lance McCullers Jr.

• WAS Amed Rosario, 7-17 with a triple vs. BOS Lucas Giolito

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:

• 18 - TBR Brandon Lowe

• 14 - LAA Jo Adell

• 11 - PIT Ke’Bryan Hayes

• 10 - WAS Daylen Lile

• 10 - ATL Matt Olson

• 9 - NYY Cody Bellinger

• 8 - TEX Corey Seager

• 8 - TEX Marcus Semien

• 8 - MIL Caleb Durbin

• 7 - TEX Evan Carter

• 7 - KCR Bobby Witt Jr.

• 7 - TBR Chandler Simpson

• 7 - DET Spencer Torkelson

• 7 - PIT Andrew McCutchen

• 7 - TBR Jake Mangum

• 7 - AZ Jake McCarthy

• 7 - STL Yohel Pozo

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:

• ATH Gio Urshela, 1-14 with 2 K vs. SFG Justin Verlander

• CLE José Ramírez, 1-10 but with 0 K vs. DET Reese Olson

• STL Nolan Arenado, 1-10 but only 1 K vs. CHC Colin Rea

• COL Kyle Farmer, 2-15 with 2 K vs. CHW Adrian Houser

⚾ Enjoy the games today!⚾

Today’s Trivia Answer

Here are the seven players born in Cuba who have hit 200 or more HR:

• 569 - Rafael Palmeiro

• 462 - José Canseco

• 379 - Tony Pérez

• 263 - José Abreu

• 220 - Tony Oliva

• 213 - Kendrys Morales

• 200 - Jorge Soler

Yordan Alvarez might have done so this year as well if not for getting injured, as he has 167 career HR.

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.

• From Walter J to Clayton K, by Joe Posnanski at Joe Blogs, 7/2/2025

• 5 most interesting Trade Deadline bubble teams, by Brian Murphy at MLB, 7/3/2025

• Stats of the week: Gray's 89-pitch Maddux, Bucco dominance and more!, by Sarah Langs at MLB, 7/3/2025

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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