The Baseball Buffet for 8/5/2025

Issue #357

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 131st day of the season featured a nearly full slate of Monday games:

• MIN 3, DET 6 - The Twins scored all three of their runs off solo HR by Ryan Jeffers, Trevor Larnach, and Matt Wallner. Those all came at the expense of Tigers starter Casey Mize, but he only allowed one other hit (6 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 4 K), and three Detroit relievers kept Minnesota off the board. The Tigers had three HR of their own, including 2-run homers by Wenceel Pérez and Kerry Carpenter, and a solo dinger by Dillon Dingler. Kyle Finnegan struck out two in the ninth for his 22nd save.

• SFG 4, PIT 5 - Justin Verlander pitched well (5 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K), but the Giants bullpen allowed four runs including a 2-run HR by Jack Suwinski in the seventh and then a come-from-behind 2-run bottom of the ninth that involved a walk, a HBP, a single, and ultimately a dribbler to first off the bat of Isaiah Kiner-Falefa with Jack Suwinksi beating the throw home for the game-winning run.

• HOU 8, MIA 2 - Jason Alexander pitched a good game, (6 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K), but then Bryan King came in and let up back-to-back HR to pinch hitters Victor Sanoja and Derek Hill. That was all the Marlins could muster, and it was yet another rough outing for their starter Sandy Alcantara (7 IP, 9 H, 6 ER, 1 BB, 5 K). Jeremy Peña went 2-4 with 2 doubles and a walk, and Yainer Diaz was 2-4 with a double and 2 RBI.

• BAL 3, PHI 13 - Jesús Luzardo struck out seven in six innings (6 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 7 K), but also gave up homers to Tyler O’Neill and Jordan Westburg. The three runs scored by Baltimore early is all they would get, while the Phillies slugged six homers, led by Kyle Schwarber who was 3-5 with 2 HR including a grand slam. The other HR came from Bryce Harper, Harrison Bader, Edmundo Sosa, and Weston Wilson.

• KCR 5, BOS 8 - Brayan Bello pitched well (6 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K), while Bailey Falter faltered in his first start since joining the Royals (4 IP, 8 H, 7 ER, 2 BB, 2 K), including giving up a 3-run HR to Jarren Duran, his 12th of the year. The Royals got four runs in the eighth, including solo HR by Vinnie Pasquantino and Maikel Garcia, but it wasn’t enough as Boston closer Aroldis Chapman shut them down in the ninth for his 21st save.

• CLE 7, NYM 6 - Both starters, Sean Manaea and Slade Cecconi, pitched five scoreless innings, but then allowed runs on the board in the sixth. Gabriel Arias hit a 3-run HR as a part of a five-run top of the sixth, and Pete Alonso hit a 3-run HR in the bottom of the frame New York added two more in the eighth to tie the game 5-5 and ultimately force extras. With Edwin Diaz already having pitched the ninth, the Mets brought in recently acquired Ryan Helsley to pitch the tenth. with runners on first and second, David Fry bunted toward third and Brett Baty’s throw to second went wide and into the outfield. That allowed Daniel Schneemann to score, while also leaving runners on second and third. Another run crossed, and the Mets could only get one back in the bottom of the tenth.

• MIL 3, ATL 1 - The Braves lone run came from a leadoff HR by Jurickson Profar in the bottom of the first inning. The Brewers scored their three via a HR by Isaac Collins in the fourth. Both teams only had three hits in this one, as Quinn Priester did particularly well (7 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K) and Trevor Megill picked up his 25th save.

• CIN 3, CHC 2 - Dansby Swanson hit a 2-run HR in the third inning, his 17th on the year, to put the Cubs up 2-1. But after starter Nick Lodolo left early with a left index finger blister, five Reds pitchers combined with him in allowing only three hits, and Emilio Pagán struck out two in the ninth to record his 24th save.

• NYY 5, TEX 8 - Paul Goldschmidt led off the game with a HR against Patrick Corbin, and Giancarlo Stanton hit a 2-run HR in the fourth off Jon Gray. Meanwhile, Max Fried struck out 7 in 5 innings, but also allowed 8 hits and 4 runs. The Yankees were up 5-4 with relievers Luke Weaver, Camilo Doval, and David Bednar each having pitched scoreless innings. But Devin Williams in the bottom of the ninth allowed a HR to pinch hitter Joc Pederson, which led to extra innings. Danny Coulombe, who has been great for Texas this year (1.06 ERA in 34 IP), kept the Yankees from scoring in the top of the tenth. New York brought in recently acquired reliever Jake Bird for the bottom of the tenth, and he began by striking out Marcus Semien. Then with two outs the Yankees decided to intentionally walk Wyatt Langford to get to Josh Jung and have out possibilities at three bases. But Jung had other ideas, and hit a walk-off, three-run HR.

• TOR 15, COL 1 - Eric Lauer pitched well in Colorado (6 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K), while his teammates took advantage of the confines and erupted for 25 hits and 15 runs. Bo Bichette led the way by going 3-6 with 2 HR and 6 RBI, Ernie Clement was 5-6 with a triple and a double, Daulton Varsho was 2-5 with a HR and 4 RBI, and Nathan Lukes was 3-4 with 2 doubles, 2 walks, and 3 runs.

• TBR 1, LAA 5 - Yusei Kikuchi did well (6 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K) and three Angels relievers pitched scoreless innings. Adrian Houser was roughed up in his first start for Tampa (5.2 IP, 11 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 3 K), including a 2-run HR by Jo Adell in the second. Taylor Ward was 3-4 with 2 RBI, and Bryce Teodosio went 3-3 out of the ninth spot in the lineup.

• SDP 2, AZ 6 - JP Sears struggled in his first start for San Diego, giving up runs in each of the first four innings (5 IP, 10 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 4 K). Tyler Locklear and Alek Thomas each hit solo homers, and rookie Kyle Backhus pitched the final two innings to record his first MLB save.

• STL 3, LAD 2 - Masyn Winn hit a solo HR in the second inning, but Tyler Glasnow otherwise pitched well through seven (7 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K). Sonny Gray only allowed on hit through seven (7 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K), a HR by Freddie Freeman in the fourth inning. Iván Herrera hit a solo HR in the top of the eighth to give the Redbirds the lead, but then the Dodgers tied it back up again. Brock Stewart came in for LA in the top of the ninth, but gave up a series of singles with Yohel Pozo driving in Garrett Hampson for what would end up being the winning run. The strong performance by Sonny Gray was quite a change from his last three starts in which he’d given up 30 hits and 17 ER in 13.1 IP.

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:

• Longest current winning streak is Boston with 6. The longest losing streak? The Yankees… so good thing that Aaron Judge is apparently coming back today, at least as a DH.

• Phillies are now up 1.5 games in the NL East, as they won and the Mets.

• Similarly, the fourth win in a row by the Brewers, couple with the Cubs loss, puts Milwaukee now three games ahead in the NL Central.

Today’s Trivia Question

Yesterday’s trivia question was about Julio Rodríguez hitting his 100th HR. It was also his 20th of the year, which makes him the first player ever to start his career with four 20/20 HR/SB seasons. Which two players had the most 20/20 HR/SB seasons in their careers with 10 each? (Bonus points for each of the four other players who went 20/20 at least seven times in their careers.)

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).

🤕 Placed on the IL

• AZ RP Kevin Ginkel - 15-day IL (right shoulder sprain)

• MIN SP Simeon Woods Richardson - 15-day IL (illness)

• ATL 3B Austin Riley - 10-day IL (strained lower abdominal muscle)

• LAD 2B Tommy Edman - 10-day IL (sprained ankle)

📝 Free Agent Signing

• NYY SP/RP Kenta Maeda

League Leaders

As noted above, Kyle Schwarber had a big game yesterday, including 6 RBI. That vaults him to the top of the overall RBI leaderboard:

• 94 - PHI Kyle Schwarber

• 90 - NYM Pete Alonso

• 88 - SEA Cal Raleigh

• 87 - SEA Eugenio Suárez

• 85 - NYY Aaron Judge

• 84 - DET Riley Greene

• 84 - LAA Taylor Ward

• 82 - CHC Seiya Suzuki

• 78 - CHC Pete Crow-Armstrong

• 77 - SFG Rafael Devers

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 5…

• 1921: First radio broadcast of a MLB game. As described at baseball-reference.com, “KDKA radio station provides its listeners with the first-ever broadcast of a major league game. Harold Arlin becomes baseball's first play-by-play announcer as he details the action as the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Phillies at Forbes Field, 8-5.”

• 1931: Jim Bottomley is 6-6… again. As described at baseball-reference.com, “For the second time in his career, Jim Bottomley has six hits in six at bats, as the Cards defeat Pittsburgh 16 - 2 on 23 hits. In the opener, Bottomley contributes four hits, but St. Louis loses to the Bucs, 5-4.”

• 1953: Pitcher Don Larsen has seven consecutive hits. As described at baseball-reference.com, “St. Louis Browns pitcher Don Larsen goes 3 for 3 and establishes a record for consecutive hits by a pitcher with seven. The rookie hurler will hit .284 in 81 at bats this season.”

• 1969: Pirates slugger Willie Stargell hits a HR completely out of Dodger Stadium. As described at baseball-reference.com, “Willie Stargell becomes the first player to hit a home run completely out of Dodger Stadium. The 512-foot, 7th-inning, bases-empty blast breaks a 3 - 3 tie, helping the Pirates defeat Los Angeles, 11-3. The 2,500th career hit of Roberto Clemente and a two-run homer from Bill Mazeroski figure prominently in Pittsburgh's seven-run 9th inning. Taking a no-decision in what will prove to be his final Major League appearance is Dodger starter Don Drysdale, pitching with a torn rotator cuff, which, despite assurances that it is "something I'm going to have to learn to pitch with," will lead to his retirement within less than a week.”

• 1973: Phil Niekro throws a no-hitter. As described at baseball-reference.com, “Braves knuckleballer Phil Niekro no-hits the Padres, 9-0, and improves his record to 11-4. He walks three and strikes out four in recording the first no-hitter by the franchise in Atlanta. Ralph Garr has three hits, three runs, and a steal, and Paul Casanova records an inside-the-park homer on a long fly ball missed by LF Gene Locklear.”

• 1984: Cliff Johnson sets new record for pinch-hit HR. As described at baseball-reference.com, “Blue Jay Cliff Johnson hits his 19th career pinch-hit home run, breaking a major league record shared with Jerry Lynch. His round-tripper gives Toronto a 4-3 victory over the Orioles.”

🎂 Today’s Birthday Boys🎉

• John Olerud (1968) was drafted in the third round in 1989 by the Blue Jays out of Washington State University. He bypassed the minors and went immediately to Toronto for a quick six-game stint in 1989, before becoming more of a regular in 1990. Olerud had a 17-year career, primarily with the Blue Jays, Mets, and Mariners, during which time he hit 15+ HR in nine seasons. He was better known as a high-average hitter, leading the AL with a .363 average and 54 doubles in 1993. That season he also had career highs of 24 HR, 107 RBI, 109 runs, 200 hits, and an impressive .473 OBP. A two-time All-Star, Olerud was also a good-fielding 1B, taking home three Gold Glove Awards while with the Mariners late in his career. Overall, he had 255 HR, 1,230 RBI, a .295/.398/.465 slash line, and a 129 OPS+.

• Carl Crawford (1981) was drafted in the second round in 1999 by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, and went on to play for them for over half of his 15-year major league career, with the rest spent with the Red Sox and Dodgers. Crawford was an elite base-stealing threat, leading the AL in SB four times and stealing 40+ bases in seven seasons. He also led the AL in triples four times, with a career high of 19 in 2004. A four-time All-Star, Crawford also took home an AL Gold Glove Award in the OF in 2010. Overall, he had 480 SB, 998 runs, a .290/.330/.435 slash line, and a 105 OPS+.

• Mark Mulder (1977) was the number two overall pick by the A’s in the 1998 draft. In the majors by 2000, he came in second in the AL Cy Young Award vote in 2001 after leading the league in wins with a 21-8 record to go with a 3.45 ERA. That was the first of five consecutive seasons with 15+ wins, four with the Athletics, and the last with the Cardinals. Unfortunately shoulder issues and multiple rotator cuff surgeries led to limited and poor performance the following three seasons, with 2008 being his last. A two-time All-Star, Mulder had a career 103-60 (.632) record, with a 4.18 ERA, and 106 ERA+.

Currently active players who were born on August 5 include CIN Nick Martinez, MIL Tobias Myers, MIA Braxton Garrett, and BOS Luis Guerrero.

Today’s Matchups

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

• CIN vs. CHC is a good NL Central battle, with the Reds fighting for a wildcard spot, and the Cubs fighting for the division lead (or failing that, a wildcard). Zack Littell (3.58 ERA, 89 K in 133.1 IP) is making his Reds debut, and the Cubs will counter with Shota Imanaga (3.25 ERA, 63 K in 83 IP).

• NYY vs. TEX is game two of this important series and the pitchers today are Will Warren (4.64 ERA, 128 K in 110.2 IP) and Nathan Eovaldi (1.49 ERA, 105 K in 103 IP). As noted earlier, it appears Aaron Judge will return today as a DH (though as noted below, Stanton hits Eovaldi well so you’d think they’ll want him playing too.)

Also on the bump today are SFG Logan Webb, WAS MacKenzie Gore, BOS Garrett Crochet, NYM Clay Holmes, MIL Freddy Peralta, SDP Yu Darvish, 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:

• NYY Giancarlo Stanton, 12-41 with 4 HR and 2 doubles vs. TEX Nathan Eovaldi

• LAD Freddie Freeman, 9-20 with 3 HR and a double vs. STL Miles Mikolas

• LAD Mookie Betts, 4-10 with 2 HR vs. STL Miles Mikolas

• AZ James McCann, 4-12 with 2 HR and a double vs. SDP Yu Darvish

• AZ Corbin Carroll, 8-15 with 2 HR and 2 doubles vs. SDP Yu Darvish

• AZ Ketel Marte, 11-38 with 2 HR, a triple, and a double vs. SDP Yu Darvish

• SDP Xander Bogaerts, 4-11 with 2 HR and a double vs. AZ Ryne Nelson

• HOU Christian Walker, 7-15 with 2 HR and 2 doubles vs. MIA Cal Quantrill

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:

• SDP Fernando Tatis Jr., 6-13 with 3 doubles vs. AZ Ryne Nelson

• SDP Jackson Merrill, small sample but is 4-9 with a HR and a double vs. AZ Ryne Nelson

• LAD Shohei Ohtani, small sample but is 4-8 with a double vs. STL Miles Mikolas

Who is streaking?

Active hit streaks

• 10 - TEX Josh Jung

• 10 - MIL Andrew Vaughn

• 10 - NYY Giancarlo Stanton

• 9 - SFG Dominic Smith

• 8 - BOS Roman Anthony

• 7 - CHW Lenyn Sosa

• 7 - LAD Freddie Freeman

• 7 - KCR Salvador Perez

• 7 - MIN Ryan Jeffers

Active HR Streaks

• 2 - MIA Javier Sanoja

• 2 - PHI Kyle Schwarber

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:

• AZ Geraldo Perdomo, 0-15 with 7 K vs. SDP Yu Darvish

• AZ Jake McCarthy, 1-10 with 2 K vs. SDP Yu Darvish

• NYY Anthony Volpe, 1-14 with 7 K vs. TEX Nathan Eovaldi

• PIT Bryan Reynolds, 1-11 with 7 K vs. SFG Logan Webb

• LAD Teoscar Hernandez, 1-11 with 4 K though the one hit was a HR vs. STL Miles Mikolas

• LAD Max Muncy, 2-13 with 3 K vs. STL Miles Mikolas

• ATL Ozzie Albies, 1-14 though only 2 K vs. MIL Freddy Peralta

• SDP Luis Arraez, 1-12 though 0 K (not surprisingly) vs. AZ Ryne Nelson

⚾ Enjoy the games today!⚾
 

Today’s Trivia Answer

Julio Rodríguez is off to a record-setting start with four seasons of 20+ HR and 20+ SB. The all-time leaderboard for 20/20 HR/SB seasons is:

• 10 - Barry Bonds

• 10 - Bobby Bonds

• 9 - Bobby Abreu

• 7 - José Ramírez

• 7 - Carlos Beltrán

• 7 - Eric Davis

Rounding out the top-10, with six seasons each, are Álex Rodríguez, Raúl Mondesi, Hank Aaron, and Willie Mays.

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.

• Monday MLB Round-Up, by Bill Chuck at Billy-Ball, 8/4/2025

• Which Deadline deals will have the biggest impact?, by Theo DeRosa at MLB, 8/4/2025

• 5 teams that could make surprise playoff runs, by Will Leitch at MLB, 8/4/2025

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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