Early Game Recaps

Justin Smoak smacked a walk-off home run to give the Blue Jays a 4-3 win over the Tigers: The home run was Smoak’s eleventh of the year and second career walk-off dinger. Sam Gaviglio fired seven strong innings; he gave up three earned runs and struck out five. For the Tigers, the most notable performance came from Nicholas Castellanos as he finished 2-for-4 with a two-run home run, his twelfth of the year.

The Cubs won a slugfest over the Twins 14-9: The teams combined for 31 hits, with 20 coming from the Cubs. Of course with so many hits and runs there were a lot of players to highlight in this one. Jason Heyward went 4-for-6 with two RBI and two runs. Albert Almora finished a perfect 3-for-3 with two RBI and a run scored. Ben Zobrist led the club in RBI’s today with three and also finished a perfect 2-for-2 with two walks. On the Twins side, Eddie Rosario left the game early but not before blasting his eighteenth home run of the year. Joe Mauer collected a pair of hits and drove in three.

 

Stats to Know

Hitters-

Mookie Betts is the only player in MLB with at least 15 home runs (20) and 15 steals (15).

Four hitters have struck out 100 or more times this season, Joey Gallo (116), Yoan Moncada (115), Giancarlo Stanton (107), and Aaron Judge (106).

Mike Trout , Mookie Betts , and J.D. Martínez are the only three players with an OPS over 1.000 (among qualified hitters).

José Altuve , Jean Segura , and Nick Markakis are the only three players with more than 100 hits.

Eduardo Escobar leads MLB in doubles with 33, six more than the next closest (José Abreu and Alex Bregman both have 27).

Mike Trout leads MLB in home runs on the road with 15.

Bryce Harper has eight home runs on the first pitch of an at-bat, the most in baseball.

Pitchers-

Jake Junis has given up 22 home runs this season, the most in baseball.

Of the eight pitchers with at least 10 wins J.A. Happ is the only one with an ERA above 2.54, his is over a full run higher than the rest at 3.62.

There are eighteen pitchers with at least 15 saves; Keone Kela is the only one without a blown save. Kela is a perfect 20-for-20.

Bartolo Colón has given up the most home runs (9) to opposing batters with two strikes on them.

 

That Just Happened

Is anyone hotter than Alex Bregman right now? The answer is no. He smacked a two-run home run, giving him five in the last six games. Not too shabby right? It was his eleventh home run in June; let me repeat that, his eleventh home run in June! He now has 16 home runs on the season.

Tyler Mahle struck out a career high 12 across 5.2 innings. He gave up three runs but only one was earned and he finished with a strong 50.0 points on FanDuel.

Edwin Jackson was good once again for the Athletics in his second start of the season. He gave up two runs across 6.2 innings pitched and struck out six. He only gave up two hits, but unfortunately for Jackson both left the yard. They came off the bats of Francisco Lindor (20) and José Ramírez (24). The A’s are currently leading 7-2 in the eighth inning and Jackson is in line for his first win of 2018.

Jacob deGrom had a rough day… at least by his standards. He pitched six innings and gave up three runs while striking out eight. He was cruising through five, but gave up all three runs in the sixth with two coming on a Brian Anderson dinger. He still put up a respectable 37.0 points on FanDuel, but given his price tag it was a pretty disappointing performance.

 

Burning Questions

Can Chris Sale keep the Yankees big bats in check in the Bronx?

Bartolo Colón has had a rough month of June (7.77 ERA), will his struggles continue or can he end the month on a high note?

Shelby Miller gave up five earned runs across 3.2 innings pitched in his first start of 2018; will he get on track tonight?

Joey Lucchesi tossed four innings of no-run, one-hit baseball his last time out; will his leash be longer this go around?

 

Stay tuned.