Troy Melton strikes out nine in win over A’s

Adell and the Angels took it to the Rangers in this one. He homered in consecutive at-bats off starter MacKenzie Gore to help break this game open. Before Adell’s first tank, this game was 1-0. After his second – a 433 foot, 110 mph, three-run shot – it was 7-0 and the rout was on. These were his first home runs in nearly two weeks as he tries to get his season on track.

For the good news, Ureña gave up just one hit, zero runs, and practically no hard contact in this start. The bad news, he walked five batters and just could not figure out how to put hitters away. Strike one was hard to come by, but he often fought back to get ahead in the count before failing to execute with two strikes. It was a strange outing to say the least and disappointing to not hang on long enough for a win when his team won by 12 runs. It’s also worth mentioning that his velocity was down two ticks across the board. Hopefully some rest during the All-Star break can help him get back on track. He’ll close the first half with a 2.88 ERA, 78 strikeouts, and 46 walks across 81 1/3 innings.

In one of the funniest moments of the first half, Higashioka pinch-hit for Joc Pederson in the eighth inning just before coming in to pitch the last inning of this blowout. He smacked an otherwise meaningless solo homer in an eventual 13-1 loss to the Angels, but that shot was met with raucous cheers by the multiple sections of shirtless men participating in the ‘tarps-off’ trend that’s sweeping the league. The Rangers also shot off fireworks to add to the hilarity of the moment. Then, he let up two innings in relief that featured a hit batsman and a double play. It’s useful to find senseless joy during the 162-game grind.

This was a classic outing from Gore. His stuff looked electric and he forced 14 swings-and-misses. Yet, he struggled to locate all of his pitches and way too many of them sat in the middle of the plate. In turn, the Angels blew him up. Gore’s fifth and final inning was especially disastrous with a double, walk, single, and three-run home run by Jo Adell before an out was recorded. It’s all sadly just more of the same for Gore who heads into the All-Star break with a 4.72 ERA, 111 strikeouts, and 40 walks over 101 innings.

Roden stepped to the plate with two outs in the ninth inning of a tie game and delivered the winning knock. Otherwise, the Twins really had to grind to put him in position for that clutch hit with two infield hits and a walk to finish off this comeback win. Funny enough, they tied this game a few innings before with five walks out of six batters. Hey, a win is still a win. Roden also chipped in another run-scoring hit early on and could siphon off some playing time in this outfield.

Prielipp retired nine of the first 10 batters he faced before back-to-back home runs in the fourth accounted for all three runs on his ledger. Both pitches that left the yard were poorly executed as well. First, a belt high changeup that Brayan Rocchio sent into the upper deck and then a hanging slider that Rhys Hoskins tattooed. Nevertheless, he did well to limit the damage otherwise and will head into the All-Star break with a 5.00 ERA, 71 strikeouts, and 25 walks across 66 2/3 innings.

Rocchio and Rhys Hoskins went back-to-back in the fourth inning as the only runs Twins’ starter Connor Prielipp would allow in this one. Rocchio’s was especially impressive soaring into the upper deck at Target Field. As a switch-hitter, he has much more power from the right side and it was great to see a changeup in a bad spot from Prielipp. Rocchio’s been a breakout player so far this season with seven home runs, 15 stolen bases, and a .272 batting average with 301 at-bats under his belt.

Cecconi cruised through the first three innings allowing just two base runners and was only at 46 pitches entering the third. Then, he allowed singles to the first three batters he faced in the fourth, walked in a run with the bases loaded, and let two more runs score via a sacrifice fly and another single. He was pulled after that two-out hit and it felt like the right decision given how much hard contact he allowed that inning. This wound up as a poor result when it felt like he was turning the corner and he’ll head into the All-Star break with a 4.55 ERA, 77 strikeouts, and 31 walks through 99 innings.

Stewart took this game over. First, with a two-run shot in the second inning that tied this game up after the Phillies jumped out to a quick leads. It was an impressive piece of hitting too as Stewart smacked a low-and-away fastball from Alan Rangel for an opposite field homer. Then, he was in the middle of the Reds’ back-to-back-to-back home runs in the fourth . Those two blasts gave him 19 on the season, which broke Frank Robinson’s 70 year old record for the most home runs by a Reds rookie before the All-Star break. That is one heck of an accomplishment for the first time All-Star who looks like a budding star.

A rare difficult outing for Burns, he didn’t get through a single inning cleanly and felt like he was battling himself all night. His fastball was extremely erratic with just a 44% zone rate and far too many of them wound up at the eyes of the Phillies’ hitters. That issue got worse as the game went on and he wound up being fortunate to get out of this start with just the three runs on his ledger. That’s the mark of a great pitcher though: giving your team a chance to win when you don’t have your best stuff. He’ll head into the All-Star break after an excellent first half with 11 wins, a 2.54 ERA, 118 strikeouts, and 37 walks through 102 2/3 innings.