The Baseball Buffet for 8/6/2025

Issue #358

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 132nd day of the season featured a full slate of Tuesday games:

• SFG 8, PIT 1 - Pirates rookie starter Mike Burrows struggled in this one (4.2 IP, 5 H, 6 ER, 3 BB, 3 K), giving up three HR to Christian Koss, Jerar Encarnacion, and Willy Adames. The Giants tallied 11 hits, with all nine batters having at least one. Meanwhile, Logan Webb threw a good game (6 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 10 K), and two San Fran relievers kept the Pirates off the board.

• MIN 6, DET 3 - Zebby Matthews pitched well (5 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K) and the Twins got homers from Trevor Larnach, his 16th of the season, and 22-year old rookie Luke Keaschall, the first of his major league career. Ryan Jeffers went 2-5 with 2 doubles, and Kody Clemens was 3-4 with 2 doubles.

• HOU 7, MIA 3 - The Marlins had homers from Jakob Marsee and Eric Wagaman, but couldn’t get much else going. Meanwhile, Houston pounded Cal Quantrill (4.1 IP, 9 H, 7 ER, 3 BB, 2 K), including HR by Jose Altuve in the first inning and Yainer Diaz in the fifth. Josh Hader closed out the game with two strikeouts in the ninth.

• ATH 16, WAS 7 - The Athletics crushed MacKenzie Gore (3 IP, 12 H, 8 ER, 1 BB, 0 K) including HR by Shea Langeliers and Darell Hernaiz. Langeliers went on to hit two more dingers, and was 5-6 with a double as well. The A’s tallied 25 hits, with other standouts being Nick Kurtz 3-4 with a double, two walks, and 4 runs; Brent Rooker 4-6 with 2 doubles, 3 runs, 3 RBI; and JJ Bleday 4-6 with a HR, a double, and 6 RBI.

• BAL 0, PHI 5 - Taijuan Walker pitched well (6 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K) and three Phillies relievers combined for a 5-hit shutout. Brandon Marsh and Max Kepler had identical hitting lines, each going 2-4 with a HR, a double, 2 runs, and 2 RBI.

• KCR 2, BOS 6 - Garrett Crochet once against pitched a good game (7 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 8 K), and two Boston relievers kept the Royals off the board. Jarren Duran and Wilyer Abreu were both 2-4 with a double, and Trevor Story was 2-4 with 3 RBI.

• CLE 3, NYM 2 - The Mets scored a run in both the first and second innings, but then couldn’t get anything else going. The game was tied 2-2 through six, and then in the top of the seventh, with runners on first and second, Steven Kwan singled to center to drive in C.J. Kayfus for what would be the decisive run. Cade Smith pitched the ninth for his 4th save.

• MIL 7, ATL 2 - The Braves and Brewers each had eight hits in this one, but Atlanta struggled going 1-10 with runners in scoring position and left 14 runners on base. Eli White went 2-4 with a HR and a double, and drove in both of their runs. Freddy Peralta pitched well (5 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 7 K) and Isaac Collins went 2-4 with a triple and 2 RBI.

• CIN 5, CHC 1 - Matt Shaw hit a solo HR in the fifth inning, but otherwise Zack Littell pitched great in his debut with the Reds (7 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8 K). Shota Imanaga also did well (6.1 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 7 K), but then Andrew Kittredge allowed 4 hits and 4 runs in the seventh, including a 3-run HR by Spencer Steer.

• NYY 0, TEX 2 - The return of Aaron Judge to the lineup (as a DH) didn’t spark anything for the Yankees, as Nathan Eovaldi did great through eight (8 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 6 K), and Phil Maton pitched the ninth to finish the shutout. Will Warren did well through five (5 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 5 K) and the game was tied 0-0 through seven. The Yankees, having already used Camilo Doval and Luke Weaver, brought in Devin Williams for the eighth, and he again struggled giving up two walks, two hits, and two runs.

• TOR 10, COL 4 - More often a reliever, Anthony Molina struggled in his second career start (5 IP, 9 H, 7 ER, 1 BB, 2 K) giving up five HR, including two by Daulton Varsho, and one apiece by Nathan Lukes, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and Addison Barger.

• TBR 7, LAA 3 - Joe Adell hit a 2-run HR in the fifth inning, his 23rd of the year. Ryan Pepiot otherwise pitched pretty well (5.2 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K), and four Rays relievers kept the Angels grounded the rest of the way. Eight different Tampa batters had a hit, including Brandon Lowe connecting for a 2-run HR in the fourth inning, his 20th this year.

• SDP 10, AZ 5 - Lourdes Gurriel Jr. provided most of the D-Backs offense, going 2-5 with two, 2-run HR. Xander Bogaerts hit a solo HR in the second inning, and the Padres pulled together four more runs such that the game was tied 5-5 through nine. Neither team scored in the 10th, and then in the top of the 11th, Arizona had Jake Woodford pitch a second inning of relief, and it didn’t go well (2 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 0 BB, 0 K). With both Mason Miller and Robert Suarez already used, David Morgan closed it out with a scoreless bottom of the 11th.

• CHW 3, SEA 8 - Lenyn Sosa hit a solo HR in the first inning, and Luis Robert Jr. and Colson Montgomery hit back-to back solo homers in the ninth inning. But that was all the scoring the White Sox would do, as Bryan Woo pitched well (7 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 9 K) and Chicago only had five hits in all. Meanwhile, the Mariners had three HR of their own, a solo shot by Dominic Canzone, and 2-run HRs by recent Arizona acquisitions Eugenio Suárez and Josh Naylor.

• STL 6, LAD 12 - Nolan Gorman hit a 2-run HR in the second inning, but Emmet Sheehan otherwise did well (5 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K). The Dodgers banged out 17 hits, with Max Muncy going 4-5 with 2 HR and 4 RBI; Teoscar Hernandez 3-5 with 2 HR, a double, and 4 RBI Shohei Ohtani 2-4 with a double, a walk, and 3 runs; and Mookie Betts 3-4 with a double, a walk, and 3 runs.

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:

• Boston won again, so their streak is now up to seven. Meanwhile, the Yankees lost their fifth in a row with another bullpen breakdown.

• With another Phillies win and Mets loss, Philadelphia has built a 2.5 game lead in the NL East.

• Now on a 5-game winning streak, the Brewers have the best record in baseball and are one game away from being the first to reach 70 wins.

Today’s Trivia Question

Braves 1B Matt Olson has played 732 consecutive games, dating back to May 2, 2021. There have been only seven other streaks of at least 600 that begin in the divisional era (1969), per Elias Sports Bureau. How many of these players can you name?

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

• MIL RP Shelby Miller

• BAL SP Tyler Wells

• KCR SP Michael Lorenzen

• TEX 1B Jake Burger

• TOR 2B Andrés Giménez

🤕 Placed on the IL

• CIN SP Nick Lodolo - 15-day IL (left finger blister)

• NYY LF Austin Slater - 10-day IL (left hamstring strain)

• ATH C Austin Wynns - 10-day IL (abdominal strain)

• CHC SP Michael Soroka - 15-day IL (right shoulder strain)

MLB Debut

• PIT RP Cam Sanders - The 28-year old made his major league debut for the Pirates last night, pitching the two final innings of their 8-1 loss to the Giants, giving up one hit and one walk, but striking out two and not allowing any runs. Before the call-up he had been doing very well at AAA/AA, with a 1.91 ERA, 51 K and only 21 hits allowed in 42.1 IP. (Learn more at Pirates’ MLB writer Alex Stumpf’s article here.)

• WAS RP PJ Poulin - The 29-year old pitched one inning in the Nats crazy 16-7 loss to the Athletics, but he wasn’t part of the problem as he allowed two hits but no runs in his one inning of work. Before the call-up he had a 4.22 ERA and 62 K in 42.2 IP at AAA Toledo.

League Leaders

Paul Skenes’ ERA has risen above 2.00, but still leads all of MLB. However, Nathan Eovaldi has a tidy 1.38 ERA in 19 starts and 111 IP. His Rangers have played 115 games, so he is just four innings short of qualifying for the ERA leaderboard. He should catch up and reach that minimum after 2-3 more good starts.

• 2.02 - PIT Paul Skenes

• 2.18 - DET Tarik Skubal

• 2.24 - BOS Garrett Crochet

• 2.34 - CHC Matthew Boyd

• 2.40 - PHI Cristopher Sánchez

• 2.47 - HOU Hunter Brown

• 2.51 - LAD Yoshinobu Yamamoto

• 2.55 - KCR Kris Bubic

• 2.64 - PHI Zack Wheeler

• 2.73 - SDP Nick Pivetta

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 6…

• 1917: Eddie Plank duels Walter Johnson in his final game. As described at baseball-reference.com, “Veteran Eddie Plank, 41, hooks up with Washington's Walter Johnson in a brilliant 11-inning duel, won 1-0 by Johnson. For Plank, this is the last game of his outstanding career, and he will announce his retirement in a week, citing stomach problems as the reason. Pitching for the hapless Browns doesn't help as Plank's 1.79 ERA this season results in just a 5-6 record.”

• 1953: Ted Williams returns from Korea. As described at baseball-reference.com, “Ted Williams is back in a Red Sox uniform after military duty in Korea. He will finish his abbreviated season with 13 homers and a .407 mark.”

• 1979: Bobby Murcer delivers a eulogy and then delivers five RBI. As described at baseball-reference.com, “After delivering a eulogy at Thurman Munson's funeral in Ohio, Bobby Murcer, a teammate and close friend of the deceased Yankee catcher, drives in all the runs in the Yankee 5-4 comeback victory over the Orioles at Yankee Stadium. The New York outfielder hits a three-run home run and wins the game with two-run single in 9th inning.”

• 1986: Three grand slams in a single game. As described at baseball-reference.com, “Rangers infielder Toby Harrah hits a 2nd-inning grand slam and Larry Sheets and Jim Dwyer both go deep for grand slams in the Orioles' nine-run 4th as Texas beats Baltimore, 13-11, establishing a new record for homers with the bases full in one game.”

🎂 Today’s Birthday Boys🎉

• Sherry Magee (1884) was an early 20th century star LF who played 16 years in the majors, mostly with the Phillies. He led the NL in RBI three times, though given the era, he did so with modest HR totals in each case: 85 RBI with 4 HR in 1907, 123 RBI with 6 HR in 1910, and then 103 RBI with 15 HR in 1914. He also led the league that year with 39 doubles and 171 hits. He hit 10+ triples in nine seasons, and also stole plenty of bases with 30+ SB in seven seasons. Overall, Magee had 166 triples, 441 SB, a 291/364/.427 slash line, and an impressive 137 OPS+.

• Andy Messersmith (1945) was the first-round pick (12th overall) of the Angels in 1966, and went on to have a 12-year major league career mostly with them and the Dodgers. He won 20 games twice, including leading the NL in wins with a 20-6 record in 1974 to go along with a 2.59 ERA. He then went 19-14 with a 2.29 ERA and a league-leading 19 complete games and 7 shutouts in 1975. A four-time All-Star, Messersmith had a 130-99 (.568) record, a 2.86 ERA, and a 121 ERA+. Messersmith also played an import role in the development of free agency in the mid-1970s due to his unwillingness to sign a contract that didn’t have a no-trade clause, and then being one of two players (with Dave McNally) to play the 1975 season on a one-year reserve clause before winning their case before an arbitrator (Wikipedia).

• Bob Horner (1957) was the first overall draft pick by the Atlanta Braves in 1978 out of Arizona State University. He bypassed the minors and jumped right to the Majors in his age-20 season, hitting 23 HR in 89 games to earn the NL Rookie of the Year award. That was his first of seven seasons with 20+ HR, even though he was frequently injured and only twice played more than 130 games in his 10-year career. Playing mostly 3B early on and then shifting to 1B, Horner became the 11th player in Major League Baseball history to hit four home runs in one game on July 6, 1986. Overall, he had 218 HR, a .277/.340/.499 slash line, and a 127 OPS+.

Currently active players who were born on August 6 include CIN Hunter Greene, SFG Wilmer Flores, 2B Matt McLain, and TBR Manuel Rodríguez.

Today’s Matchups

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

• NYY vs. TEX is the finale of this three-game series, and features Carlos Rodón (3.34 ERA, 156 K in 134.2 IP) against Jack Leiter (4.10 ERA, 90 K in 96.2 IP).

• CIN vs. CHC is also the finale of this important NL Central series, with Andrew Abbott (2.15 ERA, 96 K in 108.2 IP) who has been very effective this year going up against Cade Horton (3.42 ERA, 53 K In 73.2 IP).

Also toeing the rubber today are SFG Robbie Ray, PHI Ranger Suárez, NYM David Peterson, DET Jack Flaherty, LAD Shohei Ohtani, ATL Spencer Strider, and SEA George Kirby.

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:

• ATL Ozzie Albies, 8-16 with 3 HR and 2 doubles vs. MIL Jose Quintana

• SDP Fernando Tatis Jr., 5-18 with 2 HR and a double vs. AZ Anthony DeSclafani

• SDP Elias Díaz, 6-14 with 2 HR and 2 doubles vs. AZ Anthony DeSclafani

• PIT Andrew McCutchen, 7-21 with 2 HR vs. SFG Robbie Ray

• SFG Willie Adames, 7-18 with 2 HR vs. PIT Andrew Heaney

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:

• ATL Marcell Ozuna, 11-26 with a HR and 2 doubles vs. MIL Jose Quintana

• TBR Ha-Seong Kim, 7-18 with 2 doubles vs. LAA Tyler Anderson

• SFG Wilmer Flores, 7-16 with a HR and 2 doubles vs. PIT Andrew Heaney

• SDP Luis Arraez, small sample but is 5-6 with 2 doubles vs. AZ Anthony DeSclafani

• KCR Mike Yastrzemski, 5-11 with a double vs. BOS Dustin May

• PIT Tommy Pham, 5-12 with a double vs. SFG Robbie Ray

• PHI Edmundo Sosa, small sample but is 4-8 with a HR and a double vs. BAL Trevor Rogers

Who is streaking?

Active hit streaks

• 11 - MIL Andrew Vaughn

• 10 - TEX Josh Jung

• 10 - SFG Dominic Smith

• 8 - BOS Roman Anthony

• 8 - CHW Lenyn Sosa

• 8 - MIN Ryan Jeffers

• 7 - BOS Trevor Story

• 7 - PIT Spencer Horwitz

• 7 - CHW Luis Robert Jr.

• 7 - CIN T.J. Friedl

• 7 - MIN Luke Keaschall

Active HR Streaks

• 2 - LAA Jo Adell

• 2 - ATH JJ Bleday

• 2 - MIN Trevor Larnach

• 2 - CHW Colson Montgomery

• 2 - TOR Daulton Varsho

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:

• COL Mickey Moniak, 1-11 with 6 K vs. TOR Kevin Gausman

• DET Riley Greene, 0-12 with 5 K vs. MIN Simeon Woods Richardson

• AZ Lourdes Gurriel Jr., 1-14 with 5 K vs. SDP Nestor Cortes

• SDP Jake Cronenworth, 2-13 with 3 K vs. AZ Anthony DeSclafani

• CHC Ian Happ, 1-11 with 2 K vs. CIN Andrew Abbott

⚾ Enjoy the games today!⚾
 

Today’s Trivia Answer

These are the consecutive game streaks of 600 or more during the divisional era (1969), per Elias Sports:

• 1982-98 Cal Ripken Jr (2,632 consecutive games)

• 1975-83 Steve Garvey (1,207)

• 2000-07 Miguel Tejada (1,152)

• 1978-83 Pete Rose (745)

• 1981-86 Dale Murphy (740)

• 2021-25 (active) Matt Olson (732)

• 1973-78 Pete Rose (678)

• 1969-73 Sandy Alomar Sr. (661)

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.

• 20 players making a case to be franchise legends, by Jeffrey Lutz at MLB, 8/5/2025

• Cy Young poll: Skenes retakes NL lead; AL vote is unanimous, by Jared Greenspan at MLB, 8/5/2025

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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