The Baseball Buffet for 9/7/2025

Issue #390

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 164th day of the season featured a full slate of Saturday games:

• TOR 1, NYY 3 - Chris Bassitt pitched fairly well (5 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 3 K), but so did Luis Gil (6 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 4 BB, 1 K). Each team only managed five hits, but the Yankees were able to score two early and tack on another in the sixth. Three New York relievers kept the Jays off the board, including David Bednar who struck out three in securing his 21st save.

• WAS 2, CHC 1 - Brad Lord struck out seven (5.2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 4 BB, 7 K) and four Nationals’ relievers kept the Cubs from scoring, with Cole Henry recording his 2nd save of the year. Matthew Boyd did fairly well (7 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K), but the two runs he allowed, including a HR by Daylen Lile, was all it took.

• PHI 4, MIA 2 - Jesús Luzardo did well (6 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 4 BB, 8 K) and three Phillies’ relievers pitched scoreless innings with Jhoan Duran locking down his 27th save. Bryce Harper hit a 2-run HR in the first inning, his 24th of the year, and Brandon Marsh was 2-4 with 2 doubles and a run.

• CHW 0, DET 6 - Tarik Skubal was excellent per usual (7 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K), and Tommy Kahnle and Rafael Montero combined for the 3-hit shutout. Gleyber Torres went 2-3 with a walk and a 3-run HR, and Jahmai Jones was 1-2 with a HR, a walk, and 2 runs.

• MIL 4, PIT 1 - Brandon Woodruff baffled Pirates hitters for six innings (6 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 8 K), and Aaron Ashby let up a run in the bottom of the ninth but still notched the save, his 3rd of the year. Jake Bauers hit his 6th HR of the season, but Mitch Keller otherwise pitched fairly well (6.1 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K). Jackson Chourio also hit a 2-run HR, giving the Brewers some added insurance in the eighth.

• NYM 3, CIN 6 - The Mets outhit the Reds 9-6, but were only 2-9 with runners in scoring position, and left 10 guys on base overall. Francisco Lindor was 3-4 with two doubles, and Jared Young hit a pinch-hit HR in the seventh, but New York dug themselves a hole as rookie Jonah Tong gave up three HR to Sal Stewart (his first MLB homer), Matt McLain, and Austin Hays. Reds starter Brady Singer did well (6 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 4 BB, 5 K), extending his record to 13-9 on the year.

• LAD 3, BAL 4 - Yoshinobu Yamamoto was outstanding, throwing a no-hitter until the final out in the bottom of the ninth… when Jackson Holliday instead hit a HR to spoil it. Even worse, since he had thrown 112 pitches, Yamamoto came out, Blake Treinen and Tanner Scott came in, and together allowed two walks, two hits, and three more runs. Emmanuel Rivera hit the walk-off single with the bases loaded for the comeback Orioles’ victory.

• CLE 3, TBR 2 - Both starting pitchers did fairly well, each allowing two runs: Tanner Bibee (6.2 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K) and Shane Baz (5 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 8 K). The difference came in the ninth, as the Rays’ Pete Fairbanks allowed a walk, two hits, and the go-ahead run, while the Guardians’ Cade Smith struck out two in the bottom of the frame for his 10th save of the year.

• SFG 2, STL 3 - Justin Verlander continued to prove he still has it, pitching six strong innings (6 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 6 K). Down 2-0 in the bottom of the ninth and facing Ryan Walker, the Cardinals loaded the bases and Thomas Saggese singled to center to drive in Nolan Gorman. Jordan Walker, who was suffering with an 0-25 slump, then hit a walk-off double to left to drive in Masyn Winn and Garrett Hampson.

• HOU 11, TEX 0 - Hunter Brown was great (6 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 8 K), and three Houston relievers pitched scoreless innings to combine for the four-hit shutout. Jacob deGrom struck out 8 in 5.1 innings (5.1 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 8 K), but also allowed HR to Christian Walker and Yordan Alvarez. The Astros scored eight more runs in the final two innings, with Yainer Diaz going 2-5 with a double and 3 RBI.

• MIN 2, KCR 11 - The Royals scored five off Joe Ryan (2 IP, 4 H, 5 ER, 4 BB, 2 K) in the bottom of the first, then kept scoring against the Twins bullpen. Salvador Perez was 2-4 with a 3-run HR; Vinnie Pasquantino was 2-4 with a double and 2 RBI; Nick Loftin was 3-5 with 2 doubles and 2 RBI; and Jac Caglianone was 2-5 with 2 runs. Stephen Kolek pitched well (7 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K) and two KC relievers pitched scoreless innings.

• SEA 10, ATL 2 - Braves’ rookie starter Hurston Waldrep was a bit wild (5 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 5 BB, 5 K), issuing five walks and allowing a HR to Julio Rodríguez. That was one of five homers for the Mariners in this one, as Rodríguez hit a second later in the game, Eugenio Suárez and Josh Naylor each had one, and Cal Raleigh hit his MLB-leading 52nd of the season.

• BOS 1, AZ 5 - Brandon Pfaadt was solid over six innings (6 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 7 K) and three Arizona relievers pitched scoreless innings the rest of the way. The D-Backs offense wasn’t flashy, but got the job done with James McCann going 3-4 with 2 runs, and Adrian Del Castillo going 2-3.

• SDP 10, COL 8 - Plenty of offense in Colorado in this one, with 30 hits and 18 runs in total. The Padres had a 10-2 lead through five, and while the Rockies came back with six more runs, it wasn’t enough. Top hitters for the Padres were Fernando Tatis Jr. 2-6 with a 3-run HR; Luis Arraez 3-6 with 2 RBI; Ryan O’Hearn 3-3 with double, a walk and 2 runs; and Freddy Fermin 2-5 with a double, 3 RBI, and 2 runs. For the Rockies, in the losing effort, Mickey Moniak was 2-5 with HR; Jordan Beck 3-5 with a 3-run HR; Ezequiel Tovar 3-3 with a walk; Warming Bernabel 3-4 with a double; and Hunter Goodman hit his 29th HR.

• ATH 17, LAA 4 - The Athletics jumped on Yusei Kikuchi early (2 IP, 6 H, 7 ER, 3 BB, 1 K), including a 3-run HR by Colby Thomas. Nick Kurtz added a solo HR in the fourth, and the A’s had a 9-1 run lead through seven. LA threw in the towel and brought in non-pitcher Scott Kingery to hurl the last two innings, and he created a little league boxscore by giving up 12 hits and 8 runs. Carlos Cortes took advantage and hit his first major league HR, and JJ Bleday had his 14th HR of the year. Matthew Lugo and Jo Adell hit homers late for the Angels, but it didn’t matter in the outcome.

Standings

I am providing current standings as part of The Baseball Buffet, with the image being a modified version of the text-based standings at Plain Text Sports. Here also is a link to the official standings at MLB.com.

Notes:

• The stunning Dodgers’ loss is even more meaningful because the Padres won, and are now just one game back again in the NL West.

• After today’s TOR/NYY game three, there will either be 2 games or 4 games separating them in the AL East.

• Current Wild Card Leaders: In the AL it is NYY/BOS/SEA; in the NL it is CHC/SDP/NYM.

Today’s Trivia Question

Juan Soto started out slowly this year, but has come on strong and now has 37 HR, 28 SB, and an MLB-leading 116 walks. Although not a traditional statistical “club”, can you name the three other players who are the only others to have 35+ HR, 25+ SB, and 115+ walks in a season? (Hint: one did it four times, and one did it twice.)

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 a Rehab Assignment

• MIL RP Grant Anderson

• SEA RP Gregory Santos

🤕 Placed on the IL

• LAD C Dalton Rushing - 10-day IL (right shin contusion)

• LAA RP Ryan Zeferjahn - 15-day IL (right knee tendinitis)

• TBR RP Brian Van Belle - 15-day IL (right elbow inflammation)

• MIA RP Freddy Tarnok - 15-day IL (left ankle sprain)

League Leaders

We are down to the final few weeks, so here is what the rather modest batting average leaderboard looks like (* leads respective league):

• .322 - NYY Aaron Judge*

• .318 - ATH Jacob Wilson

• .311 - TOR Bo Bichette

• .305 - PHI Trea Turner*

• .304 - HOU Jeremy Peña

• .301 - TOR George Springer

• .299 - TOR Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

• .299 - MIL Sal Frelick

• .299 - LAD Freddie Freeman

• .296 - TOR Alejandro Kirk

Interesting to see that 4 of these 10 are with Toronto.

On this day in baseball history…

Here is what stands out to me for this day in baseball history. Unless otherwise noted, the descriptions are from baseball-reference.com.

📅 On September 7…

• 1911: Passing the torch from one generation to the next. “24-year-old Grover Alexander, winning a rookie-record 28 games, pitches the Phils to a 1-0 win over Boston's 44-year-old Cy Young. Alexander gives up just one hit. Alexander's 31 complete games, 367 innings pitched, and 7 shutouts lead the National League.” (See also Dwight Gooden in 1984 below.)

• 1935: An unusual triple play ends the game. “Cleveland beats Boston thanks to an unusual triple play. With no outs and the bases loaded in the opener, and the Indians leading, 5 - 3, in the 9th, the Indians bring in Oral Hildebrand to pitch to Joe Cronin. Cronin lines his first pitch off the side of the head of Cleveland 3B Odell Hale. The ball caroms to SS Bill Knickerbocker, who throws to 2B Roy Hughes, who throws to 1B Hal Trosky to finish the triple play ending the game.”

• 1984: Dwight Gooden sets NL rookie strikeout record. “On his way to hurling a one-hitter, Doc Gooden fans Cub Ron Cey for his 228th strikeout, setting a National League rookie record. The Met phenom passes Grover Cleveland Alexander, who established the mark in 1911 with 227. The only hit is Keith Moreland's slow roller in the 5th inning, which 3B Ray Knight fields but can't get out of his glove. For Gooden, he will win another nine straight over the Chicago Cubs, lose, then win 12 straight.”

• 1993: Mark Whiten has a monster game. “Cardinals OF Mark Whiten ties the major-league record for RBIs in a game with 12 in St. Louis' 15-2 win over the Reds in the second game of a doubleheader. Whiten hits a record-tying four home runs, including a 1st-inning grand slam, in the contest. His only out is a pop out in the 4th. Todd Zeile, who scores three in the opener, scores ahead of Mark three times, while Gerald Perry is on base for each of the homers. With one RBI in the opener, a 14-13 loss, he also ties Nate Colbert's mark of 13 RBIs in a doubleheader. Prior to today, Whiten had not homered in four weeks. Bob Tewksbury (16-8) is the winner in the Whiten blowout.”

🎂 Today’s Birthday Boys 🎉

• Joe Rudi (1946) had a 16-year major league career, spanning from 1967-1982, and mostly spent with with A’s and Angels. He struggled in his first three partial seasons, failing to bat above .200 in any of them. But then in 1970 he hit .309 in 106 games, and became the A’s regular LF for several years thereafter. This involved three All-Star seasons in the early and mid-1970s, and being a valuable member of the Athletics World Series run from 1972-1974. In 1972 he led the AL with 181 hits and 9 triples, and then in 1974 he led the league with 39 doubles. He hit 15+ HR in five seasons, and was a good defensive OF, taking home three Gold Glove Awards. Overall, Rudi had 179 HR, a .264/.311/.427 slash line, and a 112 OPS+.

• Jason Isringhausen (1972) had a 16-year major league pitching career, spanning from 1995-2012. He began as a starting pitcher with the New York Mets, but transitioned to a relief role when he was traded during the 1999 season to the A’s. He became their closer and continued in that role when he signed as a free agent with the Cardinals. A two-time All-Star, Isringhausen had seven seasons with 30+ saves, and overall had 300 saves, a 3.64 ERA, and a 115 ERA+.

• Dave Foutz (1856) had a 13-year major league career, spanning from 1884-1896, playing for St. Louis and Brooklyn of the American Association, and then Brooklyn of the National League. He started out primarily as a pitcher, notching 25+ wins in three seasons including in 1886 when he led the AA in wins with a 41-16 record and in ERA with a 2.11 mark. He was a capable batsman, and when not pitching would often play 1B or RF. In August 1887 he was struck by a ball on his throwing hand, and after returning from that injury his pitching just wasn’t as effective. So he eventually switched to mostly playing 1B in the second half of his career, posting 100+ runs twice, 100+ RBI twice, and 10+ triples four times. Overall, Foutz had a 147-66 (.690) record, 2.84 ERA, and 124 ERA+ as a pitcher, and 280 SB, a .276/.323/.378 slash line, and 102 OPS+ as a hitter.

Currently active players who were born on September 7 include MIA Sandy Alcantara, SFG Heliot Ramos, and HOU Jacob Melton.

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:

• SEA vs. ATL has two interesting starters in Luis Castillo (3.94 ERA, 138 K in 155.1 IP) who has struggled in his last three outings, and Spencer Strider (4.97 ERA, 106 K in 101.1 IP), who has been inconsistent this year but better recently.

• TOR vs. NYY is game three of this important AL East series, which is so far split 1-1. Today we have Max Scherzer (4.11 ERA, 62 K in 70 IP) up against Max Fried (2.98 ERA, 159 K In 169 IP).

• NYM vs. CIN is interesting as it features 24-year old prospect Brandon Sproat making his major league debut for the Mets, and the Reds countering with flamethrower Hunter Greene (2.70 ERA, 101 K in 83.1 IP).

• HOU vs. TEX concludes this important AL West series, with Luis Garcia making his second start of the year and the Rangers going with Patrick Corbin (4.48 ERA, 114 K in 136.2 IP).

• MIL vs. PIT features two rookie pitchers in Jacob Misiorowski (4.50 ERA, 69 K in 48 IP) and Bubba Chandler, who is making his first major league start after three initial relief appearances.

Also on the mound today are TBR Drew Rasmussen, LAD Clayton Kershaw, STL Sonny Gray, and SDP Dylan Cease.

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, 7-29 with 4 HR vs. TOR Max Scherzer

• NYY Jazz Chisholm Jr., 3-9 with 2 HR and a triple vs. TOR Max Scherzer

• NYM Pete Alonso, is only 2-9 but with 2 HR vs. CIN Hunter Greene

• KCR Salvador Perez, 8-28 with 2 HR and 2 doubles vs. MIN Bailey Ober

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:

• KCR Bobby Witt Jr., 12-28 with a HR, 2 triples, and 2 doubles vs. MIN Bailey Ober

• ATL Ronald Acuña Jr., 7-16 with 2 doubles vs. SEA Luis Castillo

• KCR Kyle Isbel, 6-14 with a HR vs. MIN Bailey Ober

• HOU Christian Walker, 5-10 vs. TEX Patrick Corbin

• NYM Brandon Nimmo, 5-9 with a HR vs. CIN Hunter Greene

Who is streaking?

Active hit streaks

• 9 - COL Mickey Moniak

• 9 - BOS Romy Gonzalez

• 9 - CIN Matt McLain

• 9 - PIT Nick Gonzalez

• 8 - NYM Juan Soto - he is batting .500 (14-28) with 5 HR during this streak

• 8 - PHI Bryson Stott

• 7 - SDP Ramón Laureano

• 7 - SFG Dominic Smith

• 7 - NYM Jeff McNeil

• 7 - SDP Luis Arraez

• 7 - DET Wenceel Pérez

• 7 - BAL Emmanuel Rivera

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:

• KCR Maikel Garcia, 2-15 with 4 K though the hits were a HR and a double vs. MIN Bailey Ober

• HOU Jose Altuve, 3-18 with 5 K vs. TEX Patrick Corbin

• COL Brenton Doyle, small sample but is 1-8 with 6 K vs. SDP Dylan Cease

• TOR Ty France, small sample but is 0-8 with 5 K vs. NYY Max Fried

• NYM Starling Marte, small sample but is 0-9 with 2 K vs. CIN Hunter Greene

⚾ Enjoy the games today!⚾
 

Today’s Trivia Answer

Here are the players in the 35+ HR, 25+ SB, 115+ walks club:

• Barry Bonds (1993, 1996-1998)

• Jeff Bagwell (1997, 1999)

• Chipper Jones (1999)

• Juan Soto (2025)

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.

• Pitchers who've lost no-hitters on the final out, by MLB writers, 9/6/2025

• Davey Johnson, 1986 Mets manager and 4-time All-Star, passes away at 82, by Joe Trezza at MLB, 9/6/2025

• The top 10 offseason additions leading their teams toward October, by Thomas Harrigan at MLB, 9/6/2025

• Breaking down the late-season playoff race comeback candidates, by Brent Maguire at MLB, 9/6/2025

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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