Here are the scores. Here are the highlights:
Padres 4, Mets 0: Over the weekend Padres starter Chris Paddack said he was “coming for” Pete Alonso, who Paddack sees as his rookie rival. It was not so much trash talk in my view as it was confident talk, but however you want to characterize it, Paddack backed it up. Paddack pitched shutout ball into the eighth, struck out 11 Mets batters and Alonso went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts, two coming with Paddack on the mound. Paddack threw his three fastest pitches of the season -- 97.9, 97.9 and 97.2 m.p.h. -- last night. All three were to Alonso.
Paddack outdueled Jacob deGrom too who, after the game, downplayed it. From the AP gamer:
Uh-huh. For his part, Alonso sounded like he wasn’t all that thrilled with Paddack’s pre-game talk either. while he admitted he didn’t “answer the bell” and that he failed in a couple of spots with runners on base, he also didn’t really tip his cap to Paddack so much as sniff at him:
Which, fine. It’s OK to say the guy was cocky and you don’t care for it, but let’s not pretend he didn’t back it the hell up. The only regret here is that the Mets and Padres don’t play in the same division and thus there’s a fair chance they won’t match up with Paddack in the limited number of games they have left.
Reds 12, Giants 4: What a mess of a game. There were bees at the beginning. Then Giants pitchers plunked four Reds batters in a single inning, which had not been done in 126 years. There was a fifth plunking too, when Pablo Sandoval was pitching in mop-up duty in the eighth. At least he was fairly effective on the mound, tossing a shutout frame. He also homered. The exit velocity on his homer was 108. he threw a curveball in the game that only went 68. He also stole a base which is something he had not previously done since 2012. Not a bad showing for the Panda. Of course the actual story of this game was the Reds pounding San Francisco, led by rookie Nick Senzel who homered twice in just his fourth game as a major leaguer. Senzel went 4-for-17 in the series with three solo homers.
White Sox 9, Indians 1: Before yesterday’s game Trevor Bauer jokingly tweeted at White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson to take it easy on him:
Hey @TimAnderson7 I’m all in on the bat flips man but if you could skip a day today that would be great. Even the lord took a day of rest. 🙏🏻🙏🏻 thanks my dude
— Trevor Bauer (トレバー・バウアー) (@BauerOutage) May 6, 2019
It didn’t work. Anderson went 2-for-4 and drove in two, with his second hit being the two-run single that ended up chasing Bauer in the sixth. Yoan Moncada wasn’t heeding any calls to take it easy on Bauer either, homering and driving in four. James McCann went deep as well as the White Sox put a hurting on Bauer, touching him for eight runs -- seven earned -- on five hits. It put an end to that streak we mentioned last time out in which Bauer had not allowed more than four runs in 60 starts. Indeed, it was his worst outing ever. His counterpart, Ivan Nova, went seven innings, allowing one run and scattered eight hits.
Yankees 7, Mariners 3: Yankees batters got to Félix Hernández early with homers from Luke Voit, Brett Gardner and Thairo Estrada putting the Yankees up 5-0 early. That lead would be extended to 7-0 by the third with a couple of RBI singles. CC Sabathia wasn’t aces or anything but he gutted out five innings to qualify for the win. The Yankees win their 12th in their last 16 games.
Orioles 4, Red Sox 1: Jonathan Villar hit a grand slam off of Boston starter Josh Smith in the second inning and that was basically that thanks to O’s starter John Means’ seven innings of three-hit, one-run ball. Not bad for a rookie who was facing a team that had just scored 30 runs in its previous three games.
Twins 8, Blue Jays 0: Martín Pérez didn’t have any trouble with the Jays, allowing only two hits in seven shutout innings while punching out nine. Last time out he tossed eight shutout innings against Houston. I’d say he’s on a roll. Jason Castro homered and had three RBI and Eddie Rosario hit his 12th homer on the year, which has him tied for the league lead. The Twins have won seven of ten and have a three-game lead over the Tribe in the AL Central.
Rays 12, Diamondbacks 1: There were lots of great starting pitching performances last night, including this one from Blake Snell, who one-hit the Dbacks for six innings while striking out nine and not walking a batter. Tommy Pham hit a grand slam and Avisail García hit a two-run shot and drove in a third run on an RBI single as the Rays routed Arizona.
Brewers 5, Nationals 3: We chronicled the Nats’ travel issues yesterday. Turns out they didn’t get to Milwaukee until noon. The show must go on, but the Nats sure did look sloppy, committing four errors and blew two leads as the Brewers take their fourth straight.
Cardinals 6, Phillies 0: Add Miles Mikolas to the pile of dominant outings last night. He blanked the Phillies for seven innings, surrendering just three hits along the way. Yadier Molina, Matt Carpenter and Paul DeJong all went deep for the Redbirds. Mikolas, when asked if he wanted to stay in the game to pitch the shutout:
Mike Schlidt was right to take him out. Mixed metaphors is a tell-tale sign of fatigue. You can lead a horse to water but you can’t go the well too many times, ya know?
Marlins 6, Cubs 5: The Cubs’ bullpen melted down in the ninth. Trying to protect a one-run lead, Pedro Strop walked three batters and then his replacement, Kyle Ryan, allowed another run on a comebacker when he sorta looked the runner on third back for a second but the runner, Neil Walker, didn’t really stop heading home and Ryan threw to first some reason instead of being dead to rights in a play at the plate. Oh well. The Marlins’ rally was too much for the Cubs to come back from even with a ninth inning homer from Kris Bryant. And even though, as a team, they drew six walks. The Cubs recalled Carl Edwards Jr. from the minors before the game. If they hadn’t, my guess is that, thanks to Strop’s struggles, they’d have recalled him after.
Astros 6, Royals 4: George Springer, Carlos Correa and Robinson Chirinos each homered and Correa had three hits in all on the night to extend his hitting streak to 16 games. Hunter Dozier and Adalberto Mondesí each hit two-run homers for the Royals but those four runs were all they’d get.
Dodgers 5, Braves 3: Kevin Gausman probably should’ve just accepted the suspension he got yesterday rather than appeal it and make this start because the Dodgers hit him up for five runs -- three earned -- in four and a third. By the time Freddie Freeman and Nick Markakis homered for Atlanta it was too late. Walker Buehler got the win, going seven and allowing three on those two dingers.