The Baseball Buffet for 8/10/2025

Issue #362

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! ⚾

The 136th day of the season featured a full slate of Saturday games:

• MIA 1, ATL 7 (Gm 1) - 23-year old Hurston Waldrep did well (6 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K), and three Atlanta relievers threw scoreless innings the rest of the way. Michael Harris II went 2-4 with a HR, a double, and 3 RBI, and Drake Baldwin was 2-4 with 2 RBI. History was made in this game as Jen Pawol became the first female umpire in a regular season MLB game.

• MIA 6, ATL 8 (Gm 2) - Sandy Alcantara struggled once again (5 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 4 BB, 4 K), allowing two HR to Marcell Ozuna, first a solo HR in the 4th, and then a 3-run HR in the fifth. Rookie Drake Baldwin hit well again in this one, going 2-5 with 3 RBI, while Raisel Iglesias pitched a scoreless ninth for this 16th save.

• HOU 4, NYY 5 - Jeremy Peña led off the game with a HR, but then Luis Gil settled in and did well overall (5.1 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 K). Framber Valdez wasn’t his usually self, giving up 8 hits and 4 walks (5.2 IP, 8 H, 4 ER, 4 BB, 1 K), and the Yankees had a 4-2 lead going into the top of the eighth. Luke Weaver had pitched the seventh, so they turned to Camilo Doval and their recent bullpen woes struck again as Jose Altuve singled to drive in a run, and then Doval loaded the bases. New York brought in David Bednar, and he walked Christian Walker which drove in Jesús Sánchez. He got out of the inning by striking out Yainer Diaz and Taylor Trammell, but the game was now tied 4-4. Trent Grisham hit a solo HR in the bottom of the eighth to put the Yankees up. Bednar went back out for the top of the ninth, and was able to keep Houston from scoring for the New York victory.

• CIN 2, PIT 1 - Nick Martinez pitched a good game (7 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K), and two relievers held the Pirate scoreless, with Emilio Pagán earning his 25th save. Noelvi Marte went 3-4 with 3 doubles, a run, and an RBI.

• WAS 4, SFG 2 - Rafael Devers hit a HR in the sixth inning, his 22nd of the year. But Brad Lord otherwise pitched well (6 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K), and the Nats had three homers of their own from James Wood, Paul DeJong, and Josh Bell.

• LAA 7, DET 4 - Charlie Morton was fooling some hitters, with 10 K in only 4.1 innings. But he also allowed 7 hits and 6 earned runs, including homers by Jo Adell and Taylor Ward. Luis Rengifo added a solo HR in the eighth, and Kenley Jansen struck out two in the ninth in recording his 21st save.

• ATH 11, BAL 3 - Shea Langeliers hit a 2-run HR in the top of the first inning, but Gunnar Henderson came back with a 3-run HR in the bottom of the frame. That is all the Orioles would score, as Jack Perkins (6 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 5 K) and two A’s relievers pitched shutout ball the rest of the way. Langeliers went 3-4 with 3 RBI on the day, and Brent Rooker was 2-5, with a HR, a double, and 4 RBI.

• KCR 2, MIN 0 - Bailey Ober did fairly well (6 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K), but the Twins could not get anything going on offense as Noah Cameron (5.2 IP, 6 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K) and four Royals relievers combined for a shutout. Maikel Garcia went 2-4 with a double to raise his average to nearly .300 on the season (.299), and Carlos Estévez struck out two in the ninth in locking down his 29th save.

• CLE 3, CHW 1 - Rookie C.J. Kayfus hit his first major league HR, a solo shot in the 6th inning. Guardians starter Joey Cantillo pitched pretty well (5.2 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K), and four Cleveland relievers kept the White Sox off the board, including Cade Smith who struck out two in the ninth for his 5th save.

• NYM 4, MIL 7 - Pete Alonso hit his 26th HR of the year in the second inning, and this was the 252nd HR of his career which ties him with Darryl Strawberry for the all-time Mets record. Starling Marte and Juan Soto also had homers in this one, but the Brewers had two of their own by Brice Turang and William Contreras. The Milwaukee bullpen pitched four scoreless innings, including Trevor Megill striking out two in the ninth for his 28th save.

• CHC 9, STL 1 - The Cubs jumped on Andre Pallante early (1.2 IP, 7 H, 6 ER, 1 BB, 0 K), including Michael Busch with a 3-run HR. Matt Shaw added a solo HR later, and Cubs starter Colin Rea did well (6 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K).

• PHI 3, TEX 2 - Jacob deGrom struck out eight, but also allowed three runs (6.2 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 8 K). That is all it would take as Jesús Luzardo had a good game (6 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K) and Jhoan Duran eventually came in for his 19th save.

• COL 5, AZ 6 - The Rockies went up 3-1 in the second inning, with Brenton Doyle hitting a 2-run HR off Eduardo Rodriguez (5.1 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 5 BB, 2 K). The D-Backs battled back, including Corbin Carroll hitting his 25th HR and his third in as many games. The score was tied 5-5, when in the bottom of the ninth Geraldo Perdomo hit a double, and then Lourdes Gurriel Jr. doubled to drive him in for the win.

• BOS 4, SDP 5 - Michael King made his first start since May, but only lasted two innings (2 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 1 K). Boston starter Lucas Giolito was a bit wild in this one (4.2 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 6 BB, 1 K), and gave up a HR to Xander Bogaerts, his 10th of the year. The lead went back and forth, and the usually reliable Robert Suarez allowed a run in the top of the ninth when Roman Anthony hit a ground-rule double that drove in Ceddanne Rafaela for a 4-4 tie. The Red Sox couldn’t score in the top of the tenth, and then in the bottom of the inning Ramon Laureno hit a single to left to drive in Bogaerts.

• TOR 1, LAD 9 - Blake Snell was great (5 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 10 K) and the Dodgers got HR from Max Muncy, his 16th of the year, and Shohei Ohtani, his 40th.

• TBR 4, SEA 7 - Brandon Lowe hit his 22nd HR in the first inning, and Junior Caminero hit his 32nd in the 6th—a three-run shot and his third in as many games. But Seattle hit three HR off Joe Boyle (3.1 IP, 4 H, 6 ER, 5 BB, 5 K), two by Julio Rodríguez, and one by Cal Raleigh, his MLB-leading 44th of the season. Andrés Muñoz struck out two in the ninth and notched his 27th save.

Standings

I am providing current standings as part of The Baseball Buffet (regular standings by division most days, wild-card standings on Wednesdays.) 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.

Notes:

• Cleveland is on a 5-game winning streak, and has won 9 of their last 10. They are only five behind Detroit at this point.

• Similarly, Seattle is on a 6-game winning streak, and the Mariners have taken 8 of 10. With an Astros loss, only a half-game separates them.

• The separation in the NL East between the Phillies and Mets grew further and is now at 4.5 games.

• The Brewers winning streak continued, and is now at 8 games.

• Current Wild Card Leaders: BOS/SEA/NYY and CHC/SDP/NYM

Today’s Trivia Question

On Friday, Cincinnati rookie pitcher Chase Burns struck out 10 batters for the fourth time in his first career starts. Who are the only other two pitchers who did that, struck out 10 or more batters in four of their first eight starts?

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 Rehab Assignment

• KCR 2B Michael Massey

🤕 Placed on the IL

• ATH SP Luis Severino - 15-day IL (left oblique strain)

🚼 Placed on the Paternity List

• MIA RP Anthony Bender

• MIN 1B Matt Wallner

League Leaders

The NL now has three guys over .300, though Dodgers catcher Will Smith continues to be at risk of not having enough plate appearances to qualify:

• .339 - NYY Aaron Judge

• .320 - HOU Jeremy Peña

• .316 - TBR Jonathan Aranda

• .313 - LAD Will Smith

• .312 - ATH Jacob Wilson

• .305 - LAD Freddie Freeman

• .303 - MIA Xavier Edwards

• .299 - KCR Maikel Garcia

• .298 - TOR Alejandro Kirk

• .298 - TOR Bo Bichette

• .297 - SDP Manny Machado

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 August 10…

• 1969: Cesar Tovar breaks up a no-hitter… again. As described at baseball-reference.com, “Mike Cuellar's (15-9) string of 35 straight batters retired is ended by Cesar Tovar, who also spoils Cuellar's no-hit bid in a 2-0 win against the Twins. Tovar has the only hit in a game for the third time, and the second time this season.”

• 1971: The birth of SABR. As described at baseball-reference.com, “Sixteen baseball researchers at Cooperstown form the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), with founder Robert Davids as president.”

• 1980: Yet another long complete game by an A’s pitcher. As described at baseball-reference.com, “Steve McCatty becomes the fourth A's starter to pitch a 14-inning complete game this season, losing 2-1 to Seattle despite pitching a six-hitter. Teammates Matt Keough (on May 17th), Mike Norris (June 11th), and Rick Langford (July 20th) have also pitched 14-inning complete games for manager Billy Martin, who will later be widely criticized for ruining their arms through overwork.”

• 1998: Joining some elite company, Albert Belle has 30 HR / 100 RBI in a seventh consecutive season. As described at baseball-reference.com, “White Sox OF Albert Belle drives in his 100th run of the season in a 5-3 win over Oakland. He joins Jimmie Foxx, Lou Gehrig, and Babe Ruth as the only players to record at least 30 homers and 100 RBIs in seven consecutive seasons.”

🎂 Today’s Birthday Boys🎉

• Willie Wells (1904) is a Hall of Famer who had a 21-year major league career as a SS in the Negro Leagues, spanning from 1924 to 1948. According to the data available at baseball-reference.com, he led his league in runs five times, hits three times, doubles three times, HR three times, RBI twice, stole bases twice, and in 1930 in particular he dominated by leading in just about everything: .411 average, 17 HR, 114 RBI, 18 SB, 52 walks, 34 doubles, 138 hits, and 112 runs. Once the All-Star game got going in 1933, he was selected eight times, and overall had a .330/.407/.535 slash line, and a 152 OPS+.

• Rocky Colavito (1933) was a slugging RF/LF who played in the majors for 14 years from 195-1968, mostly with the Indians and Tigers. He led the AL with 42 HR in 1959, one of three seasons in which he had 40+ HR, and nine seasons in which he had 25+ HR. He had 100+ RBI six times, including in 1965 when he led the AL with 108. An All-Star in six seasons, overall Colavito had 374 HR, 1,159 RBI, a .266/.359/.489 slash line, and a 132 OPS+.

• Buddy Lewis (1916) had an 11-year major league career as a 3B and RF, spanning from 1935-1949 (missing three years due to military service), and spent entirely with the Washington Senators. A two-time All-Star, Lewis scored 100+ runs four times, including a career high 122 runs in 1938. He led the AL with 16 triples in 1939, and had five seasons with 10+ SB. Overall, he had a .297/.368/.420 slash line and a 111 OPS+.

• Larry Corcoran (1859) was an early 19th century pitching star, playing from 1880-1887, and mostly with the Chicago White Stockings of the National League. As a 20-year old rookie in 1880 he pitched 536.1 innings and had an impressive 43-14 record and 1.95 ERA. He then led the NL in wins with a 31-14 record in 1881, and led the NL with a 1.95 ERA in 1882. Overall, Corcoran had a career 177-89 (.665) record, a 2.36 ERA, and a 123 ERA+.

Today’s Matchups

Today we have a full slate of Sunday games (15), so there are lots of possibilities. Some games and pitchers that jump out to me are:

• NYM vs. MIL is game three of this series between likely playoff teams, and features Sean Manaea (3.52 ERA, 25 K in 23 IP in 5 games) vs. Quinn Priester (3.15 ERA, 93 K in 114.1 IP). Milwaukee is on an 8-game winning streak.

• TOR vs. LAD is similarly game three of this potential World Series matchup, with Eric Lauer (2.59 ERA, 79 K in 80 IP) up against Yoshinobu Yamamoto (2.51 ERA, 139 K in 122 IP).

• CHC vs. STL features two usually solid starters in Shota Imanaga (3.12 ERA, 70 K in 89.1 IP) and Sonny Gray (4.21 ERA, 141 K in 128.1 IP).

Also on the hill today are NYY Max Fried, DET Casey Mize, PHI Zack Wheeler, SFG Justin Verlander, SDP Dylan Cease, and SEA Bryan Woo.

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:

• CHC Justin Turner, 7-13 with 2 HR and 2 doubles vs. STL Sonny Gray

• PHI J.T. Realmuto, 14-37 (.378) with 2 HR and 2 doubles vs. TEX Patrick Corbin

• PHI Kyle Schwarber, 6-21 with 2 HR vs. TEX Patrick Corbin

• LAD Max Muncy, 5-20 with 2 HR vs. TOR Eric Lauer

• ATL Jurickson Profar, 5-14 with 2 HR vs. MIA Cal Quantrill

• SEA Eugenio Suárez, 6-19 with 2 HR and a double vs. TBR Adrian Houser

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:

• HOU Jesús Sánchez, 5-11 with a HR vs. NYY Max Fried

• PHI Bryson Stott, 5-13 with a triple and a double vs. TEX Patrick Corbin

• MIL Brice Turang, small sample but is 5-5 with 2 doubles vs. NYM Sean Manaea

• COL Brenton Doyle, small sample but is 5-9 with a triple vs. AZ Brandon Pfaadt

• WAS Josh Bell, small sample but is 4-8 with 2 doubles vs. SFG Justin Verlander

• LAD Michael Conforto, small sample but is 4-6 with a HR vs. TOR Eric Lauer

Who is streaking?

Active hit streaks

• 13 - SFG Dominic Smith

• 11 - MIN Ryan Jeffers

• 10 - MIN Luke Keaschall

• 10 - ATH Tyler Soderstrom

• 8 - LAD Shohei Ohtani

• 8 - SFG Jung Hoo Lee

• 8 - LAA Mike Trout

• 7 - HOU Carlos Correa

• 7 - KCR Kyle Isbel

• 7 - MIL Brice Turang

• 7 - HOU Jose Altuve

• 7 - CHC Ian Happ

Active HR Streaks

• 3 - TBR Junior Caminero

• 3 - AZ Corbin Carroll

• 3 - NYM Juan Soto

• 2 - LAA Jo Adell

• 2 - SFG Rafael Devers

• 2 - TBR Brandon Lowe

• 2 - NYM Starling Marte

• 2 - SEA Cal Raleigh

• 2 - MIL Brice Turang

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:

• TEX Joc Pederson, 3-21 with 8 K though one hit was a HR vs. PHI Zack Wheeler

• LAD Will Smith, 1-10 with 2 K though the hit was a HR vs. TOR Eric Lauer

• COL Ezequiel Tovar, 1-9 with 3 K vs. AZ Brandon Pfaadt

• CHC Willi Castro, small sample but is 0-8 with 5 K vs. STL Sonny Gray

⚾ Enjoy the games today!⚾
 

Today’s Trivia Answer

Chase Burns now has 10 strikeouts in four of his first eight major league starts. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, since at least 1893 only two other pitchers have done that:

• Bob Feller (1936)

• Fernando Valenzuela (1981)

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.

• Every team’s biggest impending free agent for 2025-26, by Brent Maguire, Theo DeRosa, and Manny Randhawa at MLB, 8/9/2025

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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