August MLB game thread

jon abbey

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Sam Dyson, in his first day as a Twin, came in to close a 4-1 game against the Marlins. All four batters he faced reached, three of them scored, and the Twins ended up losing 5-4 in 12.
 

jon abbey

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Josh Hader is pitching for the 3rd straight day for the first time in his career, in to protect a 3-2 lead in the 8th in OAK. First two batters, walk, HR blasted to dead center by Chapman, 4-3 OAK.
 

Sad Sam Jones

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Danny Salazar has had various arm problems since mid-2016 and hadn't pitched in a major league game since 2017 due to shoulder surgery. He had a successful minor league rehab, although his old mid-90s fastball was low-90s. In his 18-pitch first inning against the Astros, he topped out at 87 mph. He got a double-play to limit the damage to a George Springer lead-off homer, but this might not be pretty.

Puig hit a knuckling line drive to center in his first Cleveland at-bat, but it was right at Springer.

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Sad Sam Jones

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Franmil Reyes singles in his Tribe debut but then gets thrown out at the plate. He got a really bad read on a Kipnis double, but it was also a great relay to the plate and he was out by several feet. Little trivia on that trade: Reyes' wife is from Cleveland. They met in 2015 when he was playing in the Midwest League for Fort Wayne against Cleveland's A-ball team in Lake County (a 20 minute drive from Progressive Field). Her mother is from the same Dominican town as Franmil.

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Sad Sam Jones

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And now Puig - as the potential tying run - gets thrown out at the plate by several feet on a weak flyball by Franmil to right field.

Salazar's fastball topped out twice at 88 mph. He actually threw a 7-pitch third inning with 6 changeups and a curveball. It's nice that he's finally pitching without pain, but he looks like toast.

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jon abbey

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Will Smith is freaking ridiculous, 6 HRs and 19 RBIs in his first 40 MLB ABs for the Dodgers, just hit a go-ahead grand slam in the sixth.

Also it's always amusing when a guy blasts a HR to center but it is so high off the bat that the pitcher points up, like it's a pop-up. Um, no.
 

Sad Sam Jones

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Jose Leclerc narrowly escapes a blown save (left the tying and winning runs in scoring position after allowing two runs). After recording the final putout himself on a grounder to the first baseman, Leclerc fired the ball into the rightfield bleachers. The Reds will now petition MLB to see if they can still trade for him.

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Sad Sam Jones

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Sam Dyson allowed another 3 runs tonight, but on the bright side, he finally recorded his first two outs as a Twin and he had a 5 run lead to work with. His ERA for his new team is now 81.00.

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DanoooME

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Dustin May - the Gingergaard

And Velazquez threw 5 innings 2 nights ago, so that's why he's not pitching.
 

DanoooME

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Velazquez almost did it again in the 15th, just missed nailing another guy at the plate by inches.

And then makes a diving catch on a sinking liner to end the inning at 4-3 White Sox.
 

DeadlySplitter

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as fun as this game is, the Phillies need every win they can get and they ran out of players by the 14th. that's bad managing.
 

jon abbey

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Velazquez almost did it again in the 15th, just missed nailing another guy at the plate by inches.

And then makes a diving catch on a sinking liner to end the inning at 4-3 White Sox.
"Vince Velasquez's diving play in LF -- which had a 15% catch probability, per Statcast -- is the first 5-star catch by a Phillies outfielder this season."
 

jon abbey

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Dustin May - the Gingergaard

And Velazquez threw 5 innings 2 nights ago, so that's why he's not pitching.
The Phillies piece in The Athletic today explained it, so much dumber. Neris started serving his suspension this game, so they were a pitcher down to start. They have three recently converted SPs in the bullpen who have yet to throw back to back days, but even given all this, they let Velazquez have his normally scheduled throw day before the game.
 

jon abbey

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Shane Greene is not endearing himself to Braves fans, blown save in his first game, 3 runs allowed in the 10th in a tie game in his second game.
 

jon abbey

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The Mets are blowing out Miami and will be back at .500 with a win. 3 games back of a WC spot.
Their schedule does get a lot tougher after this series, although they have a lot of home games still. That being said, they've been playing great and I think they have the best 1-5 rotation in baseball so who knows.
 

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The Mets are blowing out Miami and will be back at .500 with a win. 3 games back of a WC spot.
The game did contain one cool moment for the Marlins. One of their top prospects, Isan Diaz, made his debut today. In his third AB, the Marlins broadcast decided to interview his family in the stands. On the first pitch, he took DeGrom deep, so his family got to react live on air. Impressed that they had enough self control to not curse. I don't know if I would in that moment.

https://mlb.nbcsports.com/2019/08/05/video-during-parents-tv-interview-isan-diaz-hits-first-major-league-homer/
 

jon abbey

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Diaz closed a 4 run game in game 1 and then Seth Lugo got six outs to close a 1 run game in game 2, he is their closer now. I am fine with the Stroman deal for them in a vacuum but it’s pretty funny how much better they’d be off now without pretty much every move Brodie made before that.
 

Gdiguy

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Their schedule does get a lot tougher after this series, although they have a lot of home games still. That being said, they've been playing great and I think they have the best 1-5 rotation in baseball so who knows.
The thing is that I think they have the best 1-5 potential-wise; the challenge has been that they haven’t really hit that level this year for the most part (DeGrom has been #1 quality but not as good as last year, Thor and Wheeler have had flashes of top level but both have ERAs at or above 4, etc)

If they’re pitching as well as they can (and I believe they threw a stat up today that they have the best post-asb era, not sure if that was starters or overall), then yeah

They also, sneakily, have somehow developed a pretty decent lineup - McNeil (who left the 2nd game today with supposedly a cramp, so we'll see if that lingers) is tied for the league lead in AVG, Alonso has obviously torn the cover off the ball, and Conforto has been hot as well (1.070 OPS over the last 15 games). Obviously there's some gaps there (the idea of a WC-contending team starting Todd Frazier is... not ideal), but there's a 'could get lucky' core there
 
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Rays hit 3 two-run homers in one inning to come back from 6-0 deficit before going on to walk off in 10th last night.
McKay getting start in afternoon game against Jays today....good timing to be stuck in a Toronto airport!
 

Sad Sam Jones

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Cleveland's pitching staff allowed 1 run over 18 innings today as they swept the Rangers in a traditional double-header. They gain 1½ games on the losing Twins. Minnesota's lead is back down to 2. They start a four game series against each other in Minnesota on Thursday.
 

Sad Sam Jones

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Indians up 4-0 on the Twins in the 4th inning and Nelson Cruz just left the game after a swing and miss with a sore left wrist... he missed a couple of weeks in May with an injury to it.
 

sean1562

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2 more tonight. So far.
i know it is bad to be like this, but i will always have problems believing that guy is not on something. in the 7 years before 2013 he accumulated 10 bWAR(as a power hitter in Texas in his 20s), then to blow up and accumulate 27 WAR in the 7 years after that? flying past his previous career high in HRs every single year?
 

jon abbey

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i know it is bad to be like this, but i will always have problems believing that guy is not on something. in the 7 years before 2013 he accumulated 10 bWAR(as a power hitter in Texas in his 20s), then to blow up and accumulate 27 WAR in the 7 years after that? flying past his previous career high in HRs every single year?
DHs/shitty outfielders never look good in WAR, and those 7 years were more like 4 years of ABs (2473). He's hit 370 HRs in the last 10 2/3 seasons, starting with 2009, with an .882 OPS and a 135 OPS+ in over 6000 ABs. Dude can hit.
 

Sad Sam Jones

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Dude can hit.
Not tonight he can't.

The Twins are trying to complete the comeback though. Adam Cimber didn't have it tonight and was charged with 3 runs. Nick Wittgren allowed the last one to score on a double -- the first inherited runner he's allowed to score all year. Brad Hand now in trying to get a 4-out save with a 6-5 lead and the tying run on 2nd base in the 8th.
 

jon abbey

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Not tonight he can't.

The Twins are trying to complete the comeback though. Adam Cimber didn't have it tonight and was charged with 3 runs. Nick Wittgren allowed the last one to score on a double -- the first inherited runner he's allowed to score all year. Brad Hand now in trying to get a 4-out save with a 6-5 lead and the tying run on 2nd base in the 8th.
Yeah, you liked having Cron in the middle of that inning instead of Cruz, I'm sure.
 

jon abbey

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Bo Bichette played his 11th big league game tonight. He doubled for the ninth straight game, which is an alltime MLB record, not just for rookies, for anyone. Also 9 straight games with an XBH is the longest streak for any rookie since Ted Williams in 1939.
 

Sad Sam Jones

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Whew, felt like the Indians dominated that game until the last 1½ innings... that could have been a deflating loss. Cleveland plays for first place on Friday -- a spot they haven't been in since April 26th. With 44 pitches thrown in the last two days, there's no way Hand will be available for one that though.
 

nattysez

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Late to this, but Baby Yaz absolutely crushed a HR to RF last night. Earlier in the game, he scalded a two-run double that hit halfway up the LF wall (and then got thrown out after too aggressively overrunning second). Power to all fields.
 

jon abbey

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What I’ve seen of Nats/Mets tonight has been awesome, Todd Frazier just cranked a 3 run HR off Doolittle to tie it at 6 in the bottom of the 9th, still no one out.
 

jon abbey

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Three more hits and the Mets walk it off, they own Doolittle this year (10 ERs!). Ya gotta believe...