Slade Cecconi unravels in fourth inning vs. Twins

Betts also walked and scored a run in the first. He was back in the lineup tonight after going 0-for-8 between Sunday and Monday and getting Tuesday off.

Sasaki surrendered solo homers to Kyle Karros and Edouard Julien in the second and then another run on a walk, a wild pitch, a groundout and a sac fly in the third. That turned out to be the only walk he issued, and he allowed only two hits besides the homers. He struck out five. Considering that he came in with a 10.06 ERA and a 15/11 K/BB in his previous four starts, this is a decent way to end the half. He might eventually get pushed out of the Dodgers rotation if everybody gets healthy at once, but that hardly ever seems to happen.

Scott blew a three-run lead in the ninth inning on Monday. but things went smoothly tonight, as he threw just 11 pitches in getting a flyout and then two K’s.

Hughes gave up three runs in the first, but that was it. Helping the cause was that Alex Call foolishly used up both of the Dodgers’ challenges on back-to-back pitches in the second. Hughes ended up striking out seven and walking two. He’ll have a case for staying in Colorado’s rotation after the break.

With his dad awkwardly weighing in from the Dodgers broadcast booth, Karros went 3-for-11 with eight total bases and three walks the last three days. He’s escaped the bottom third of the Rockies order in recent days, and his OPS cracked .800 tonight for the first time all season. He’s still probably not going to offer much value in shallow leagues in the second half, but his stock as a potential long-term third baseman for the Rockies has increased with his performance to date.

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.