5/17-5/19 MLB Newsletter

American League

East

• Yankees (33-15, v. CWS): Winners of seven straight, they completed the sweep of both the Twins and White Sox back to back. Luis Gil set a Yankees rookie record, racking up 14 strikeouts on Saturday, while Juan Soto had his first multi-homer game as a Yankee. 🔥

• Orioles (29-15, v. SEA): Corbin Burnes improved his ERA to 2.56 by throwing six innings, allowing just one run and striking out 11. Baltimore won the series this weekend against Seattle, as Gunnar Henderson hit a homer in three consecutive games and is now the MLB co-leader in taters this season at 15.
  

• Rays (25-23, @ TOR): They couldn’t finish their fifth straight win on Sunday as they failed to complete the sweep over Toronto. Things were looking up for the Rays on Friday, as Tyler Alexander was just five batters short of throwing the first perfect game in Rays history, and are now 11-6 in May.

• Red Sox (23-24, @ STL):  Rafael Devers has now tied Bobby Dalbec for the franchise record after homering in his 5th straight game as the Red Sox continue to dominate on Sundays, moving to 7-0 on the season.

• Blue Jays (20-25, v. TB): Alek Manoah went seven innings and struck out seven while allowing just one hit and no runs in an impressive performance that earned him his first win since last August and ended their 3-game losing streak while avoiding their first sweep of the season.

Central

• Guardians (30-17, v. MIN): After it appeared the inning was over, a crew chief initiated a video review where the call on the field was overturned. Andrés Giménez was ruled safe at 2nd base after advancing on a 2-out wild pitch. This led to Will Brennan hitting a walk-off 3-run shot, securing the win and series sweep.
  

• Royals (29-19, v. OAK): They are now ten games over .500 for the first time since the end of the 2015 season, the year they won the World Series. Led by Brady Singer, who struck out nine through six innings while allowing just one run, they completed the sweep.

• Twins (24-22, @ CLE): Minnesota, who had won an MLB-leading 12 straight games this year, now find themselves on the other end of a streak as they dropped their sixth straight and have been swept in back-to-back series. 🫣

• Tigers (23-23, @ AZ): Tarik Skubal threw six shutout innings, earning a win in his first career start against the Diamondbacks on Friday. They won 13-0 and had 17 hits. They followed with another win on Saturday but fell on Sunday, unable to complete the series sweep.
  

• White Sox (14-33, @ NYY): Power hitter Eloy Jiménez got his first outfield start of 2024 after playing DH all season but will probably stay at DH with his career -18 DRS. It was a tough weekend for the White Sox as they could only score five runs against New York and were swept in the series.

West

• Mariners (25-22, @ BAL): Seattle was able to get a win Saturday but sandwiched between 2 losses as George Kirby struggled against the O’s firepower on Sunday, allowing a career-high ten balls hit 100+ mph, including two homers.

• Rangers (24-24, v. LAA): They continue to struggle against left-handed pitching this year with a .659 OPS, and teams are noting this, as they lost the series to the Angels. They should feel confident going into the series against Philly, who have not won against them since March 31, 2014.
  

• Astros (21-26, v. MIL): Winning seven of their last eight games, things are starting to look up for the Astros. They won the series over Milwaukee and have been led by a fantastic season from Kyle Tucker, who added two more homers and is now the co-leader with 15. 💪

• Athletics (19-30, @ KC): Since scoring 20 runs in a game against the Marlins, the A’s have lost 13 out of their last 15 games, including their last eight straight, which is their longest losing streak of the season, as they have been swept in back-to-back series.

• Angels (18-29, @ TEX): Kevin Pillar recorded his 1,000th career hit and 500th career run on Sunday in a series win over the Rangers as he continues to have a great year and fill in for the gap left by Mike Trout’s injury.

Source

National League 

East

• Phillies (34-14, v. SD): Kody Clemens, son of Roger, had two crucial hits to help lead this team to a three-game sweep over Washington. Alec Bohm hit a homer on Sunday to regain sole ownership of the RBI leader crown.
  

• Braves (26-16, v. CHC): They’ll play a doubleheader today after a rainout on Saturday, where the offense will need to get going as they’ve put just one run on the board in three consecutive games, losing all three.

• Mets🔼(21-25, @ MIA): Four runs in the first inning on Sunday was a large enough lead to help the Mets avoid the series sweep. Edwin Díaz will reportedly take a step back from his closer role after imploding on Saturday night, allowing four runs, which led to an extra innings loss. 😬

• Nationals🔽(20-25, @ PHI): Trevor Williams could only go 4.1 innings, his shortest outing of the season, on Sunday, as he allowed three runs while allowing five hits in the loss.
  

• Marlins (15-33, v. NYM): After posting their longest win streak of the year (4) after Saturday night’s win, Sixto Sánchez allowed four runs to open Sunday, which the offense couldn’t overcome.

Central

• Brewers (27-19, @ HOU): William Contreras, who is second in MLB in batting average, had a 13-pitch at-bat on Saturday that ended in a 428-foot tater, giving this team its only win of the three-game series.

• Cubs (26-22, v. PIT): Their lone win of the series came on the strength of Shota Imanaga, who pitched seven scoreless innings, lowering his ERA to 0.84 on the season. Shota has the lowest ERA in history through a pitcher’s first nine career starts. 🚀

• Pirates (22-26, @ CHC): Paul Skenes struck out the first seven batters he saw on Friday, the longest streak to open a game in Pirates history, and left after six innings without allowing a run in his second career start. The Bucs won three out of the four-game series.

• Cardinals🔼(20-26, v. BOS): They won the series' first two games by a combined nine runs but lost by eight on Sunday as each pitcher that came onto the field for them allowed 2+ ERs. This morning, the team released their City Connect jerseys.

• Reds🔽(19-28, @ LAD): A four-game series that opened with promise after a five-run win turned into Cincinnati dropping to last place in the division as they lost the next three games of the series. Their record is 3-14 in May with a -29 run differential.

West

• Dodgers (32-17, v. CIN): Shohei Ohtani, who still leads MLB in batting average by .012, got his first walk-off hit as a Dodger on Sunday to cap off a series win in the tenth inning.
  

• Padres (24-24, @ ATL): Today, they’ll play a doubleheader where they’ll look to finish the sweep against Atlanta after getting rained out on Saturday. On Sunday, Yu Darvish became the third pitcher since 1901 to throw four consecutive scoreless starts of 5+ innings while allowing three or fewer hits. 🤯
  

• Giants🔼(23-25, v. COL): No Jung Ho Lee? No problem. The Giants swept Colorado and moved to their longest win streak of the year (4) on the back of Luis Matos driving in 11 runs in the first two games of the series and Jordan Hicks going five innings of one-run ball to cap it off on Sunday.

• Diamondbacks🔽(22-25, v. DET): They lost the first two games of the series by a combined 18 runs but were able to avoid a sweep on Sunday thanks to a game-saving play at the plate as the Tigers tried to extend a triple into an inside of the park homer. Ketel Marte is tied with MLB’s longest hit streak on the season at 18.
  

• Rockies (15-31, @ SF): After winning seven straight, they were swept and outscored by 18 runs in this weekend’s series. Dakota Hudson took his NL-leading seventh loss of the year on Sunday as he went 4.2 innings while allowing three runs, two earned.

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