Rangers 12, @Tigers 2, Rangers 12, @Tigers 4 – Texas took the four game set 3-1 with these two weekend shellackings of Rick Porcello and Justin Verlander. It was the just the 9th time since at least 1914 that Detroit has surrendered 12+ runs to the same opponent in consecutive games at home. For Verlander, it was only the second start of his career surrendering 9 runs in under 6 innings. His 14 game score is a career low.
More after the jump.
The Rangers’ 20 year-old rookie Rougned Odor had two triples among 4 hits on Saturday, becoming the youngest player with two three-baggers in a game since Tommy Brown in 1945, and the youngest in an AL game since Jimmie Foxx in 1927. Rougned is the youngest with a 5-1-4-5 line and only the 3rd player with that line to bat 9th.
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Red Sox 5, @Rays 6 (15 inn), Red Sox 5, @Rays 8 – Tampa Bay completed the sweep to move 2 games ahead of the cellar-dwelling defending champs, as the Red Sox slide extended to 10 games. Saturday’s marathon was the Rays’ 3rd consecutive walk-off win. There was no scoring from the 6th through the 14th innings with neither team getting a man to third base in that stretch. The winning run came after a single and bunt single put the first two Rays aboard. Eschewing the sacrifice attempt with two strikes, Desmond Jennings hit a high hop comebacker that Andrew Miller snared. Possibly there was a play at second (it would have been close) but Miller’s errant throw into center-field sealed Boston’s fate.
This is Boston’s 11th streak of 10+ losses since 1914, but only the third since 1960. Their 4.69 ERA during this skid is their best mark of those 11 streaks.
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Athletics 2, @Blue Jays 5, Athletics 1, @Blue Jays 3 – In a battle of division leaders, Toronto completed the sweep to extend their winning streak to 6 games. Blue Jay pitchers cooled off the scorching As bats, holding Oakland to 5 runs and 19 hits over the three games. On Saturday, Oakland held Toronto’s most potent hitters off the bases as Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion were a combined 0 for 8. But shoddy defense and timely Toronto hitting led to 5 runs, more than enough for R.A. Dickey in his first 8+ IP start of the year. Joey Bats and Double-E returned to form on Sunday, driving in all of the Blue Jay runs as lefty J.A. Happ pitched 7 scoreless frames for his 4th win.
Encarnacion’s home run on Sunday was his 14th of the year, and 12th in the month of May. That ties him with Bautista’s 2010 mark for the Blue Jay record May total, with 6 games still to play, all of them in homer-friendly Rogers Centre. The Blue Jay home run record for any month is Bautista’s 14 in June 2012.
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Royals 7, @Angels 4 (13 inn), Royals 3, @Angels 4 – The Angels got the leadoff man aboard in eight innings on Saturday, including in the 10th, 11th and 12th frames, but scored that runner only twice (both via the home run). The Royals were more efficient, plating 3 of their 4 leadoff batters who reached base, including in the 13th inning for the win. On Sunday, the Royal bullpen coughed up a 3-0 lead as Kelvin Herrera retired just one of 6 batters in the 7th and Tim Collins surrendered a go-ahead solo shot by Chris Iannetta one inning later.
Mike Trout‘s current .221 BA for May will be his career low for any calendar month, forty points below his current worst month of April 2013. Part of the problem is Trout’s .241 BABIP, again projecting to a career monthly low, and his first mark below .300. Still, Trout has delivered 16 RBI with only 17 hits in the month, more than half for extra bases. His 2:1 SO to BB ratio would seem concerning, except that he had almost that ratio in his 10.8 WAR rookie season.
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Twins 1, @Giants 2, Twins 1, @Giants 8 – Owner of baseball’s best record, the Giants completed the sweep of Minnesota, holding the Twins to 4 runs and 12 hits over 3 games. It was the Giants’ first time since 1921 beating the same opponent 3 straight times while allowing 2 runs or less and 4 hits or less in each game. On the flip side, it was only the 3rd searchable 3-game stretch of such futility for the Twins, the last coming against the powerhouse pitching of the 1968 Indians, the first staff to record more strikeouts than hits allowed.
Mike Morse led the Giant offense in Sunday’s rout, with 3 doubles and 4 ribbies, pushing his season slugging mark to .533. Returning to the NL this season, Morse has rediscovered the stellar offensive game that he showed in his time in Washington. For his career, Morse has a 132 OPS+ in the NL but only 96 OPS+ playing in the junior circuit.
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Dodgers 3, @Phillies 5, Dodgers 6, @Phillies 0 – As recounted here on HHS, Josh Beckett no-hit the Phillies on Sunday for the first no-no of the 2014 season and the first of Beckett’s career. It was Philadelphia 6th home shutout loss of the season, matching the 1941 Phillie team for the most in the team’s first 50 games of the season.
On Saturday, Ben Revere finally stroked his first double of season, in his 150th plate appearance. Twenty-three players (excluding pitchers) have had 150+ PA in a season with zero doubles, most recently Sam Fuld, with 200 PA in 2013. Revere’s current .281 BA is tied with Ivan Rodriguez (2007) and Charlie Carr (1903) for the highest BA in a qualifying season with OBP under .300.
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Cardinals 6, @Reds 3, Cardinals 4, @Reds 0 – The Cardinals took this series after dropping the opener on Friday. Adam Wainwright was dominating on Sunday, holding the Reds to just 5 hits, while striking out 12 and walking only one over 8 innings. Those 12 punchouts tied Wainwright’s career high, achieved 4 times previously. Wainwright’s 3 games of 12 strikeouts aged 30+ moved him to 3rd on the Cardinal all-time list behind Bob Gibson (19) and Sam Jones (5).
On Sunday, Kolten Wong scored none of the Cardinal runs despite two hits, two stolen bases and a sac bunt, only the 3rd such searchable game by a Redbird.
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Diamondbacks 3, @Mets 2, Diamondbacks 2, @Mets 1, Diamondbacks 2, @Mets 4 – The Mets salvaged the finale of this 3-game set that concluded with a Sunday double-header. New York’s 7 runs in the series came from singleton tallies in 7 different innings. In 11 games since their 12-run outburst in the Yankee series, the Mets have failed to score 4 runs in any inning, and have score 3 times in an inning only twice. Looking at their lineup in the Sunday opener, it’s not hard to see why – the game-starting batting averages for the number 4 thru 7 hitters were .220, .204, .230, .188. Thus, the top 3 hitters reached base 6 times but scored only once, when the first three batters of the game all singled (the Mets’ next hit came in the 8th inning).
Sunday’s first game was only the 13th searchable contest with a team (the Mets) grounding into 4 double plays and getting plunked 3 times. Three different players had the GDPs and three others got the HBPs, only the second time a Met team has done that, the first coming against Milwaukee on 8-3-99.
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Nationals 2, @Pirates 3, Nationals 5, @Pirates 2 – The Nats salvaged the finale after three one-run losses. Washington is 10-2 against the Mets and Marlins, 15-23 against everyone else. Stephen Strasburg passed the 500 IP career milestone in taking the loss in Saturday’s game; his 10.47 SO/9 ranks second only to Kerry Wood‘s 10.62 among pitchers with 500 IP over the first 5 seasons of a career.
Francisco Liriano took the loss on Sunday to go 0-5. Pittsburgh is the only team this season to have two starters lose their first 5 decisions.
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Rockies 3, @Braves 1, Rockies 0, @Braves 7 – Atlanta took the rubber match, scoring all of their runs via four round-trippers. Julio Teheran scattered four hits over 6 innings, and the bullpen retired the last 9 Rockies in order. Juan Nicasio stymied the Braves on Saturday with 6 shutout innings of 2 hit ball.
La Troy Hawkins collected his eleventh save on Saturday giving him 24 aged 40+, tied with Woodie Fryman for the 3rd highest total for pitchers aged 40-41 who had fewer than 100 saves through age 39. Hawkins will likely pass Ellis Kinder (27) and may possibly challenge Hoyt Wilhelm (48) at the top of that list.
Troy Tulowitzki‘s majors-leading 1.205 OPS has benefited greatly from a .374 BABIP, including .508 at home (*not* a misprint) compared to only .250 on the road. The home and road numbers will, of course, move closer together but there is quite a way to go before the difference between his home and overall BABIP approaches the biggest single season home edge of .092 by Jim Rice in 1985. The highest home differential by a Rockie is .082 by Eric Young in 1996.