4/03-4/04 MLB Updates

American League

East 

• Yankees (6-1): Aaron Judge hit his first homer of the year and also hit a double in extra innings to knock in the game-winning run. A few substitutions and an injury led the Dbacks to have to bat their pitcher in the bottom of the 11th with the bases loaded, and while Aaron Boone didn’t have to, he was willing to walk in a run to get the pitcher in the batter’s box.
  

• Red Sox (5-2): Nick Pivetta pitched five scoreless innings, leading the Red Sox to a 1-0 win in Oakland and their fourth straight win.
  

• Orioles (4-2): On Wednesday, they had their second walk-off win of the week, this time from James McCann on a two-run single. The Triple-A affiliate Norfolk Tides scored 26 runs, more than a third of which was courtesy of Herston Kjerstad’s bat, which delivered 10 RBIs. It turns out there’s a reason this farm system is ranked number 1.
  

• Rays (3-4): After losing the series to the defending World Series champions, this team heads to Colorado for the weekend in hopes of getting its offense going. The Rockies have an MLB-leading -34 run differential, so there might not be a better place to go.
  

• Blue Jays (3-4): After getting no hits on Monday, the Jays follow it up with just one hit on Wednesday, becoming the fourth team to do so in the same regular season series since 1920. 🫣

Central

• Tigers (5-1): After winning the first game of a doubleheader in extra innings and holding the Mets to a no-hitter through seven innings in the second game, Detroit let the Mets come back to win in the bottom of the ninth. Casey Mize returned to the mound for game one after being out for 721 days due to Tommy John surgery.
  

• Guardians (6-2): Tanner Bibee, last year's runner-up for AL Rookie of the Year, struck out nine batters over 5.1 IP on Thursday's win in Minnesota. 💨
  

• Twins (3-3): Striking out a season-high 15 times on Thursday and going 0-12 with RISP, the Twins did themselves little favors losing to the Guardians in their home opener.
  

• Royals (2-4): Nelson Velázquez belted the furthest ball hit on Thursday, 429ft. He’s now homered in 16 of his last 45 games, a 58-home run pace over 162 games.

• White Sox (1-4): After getting rained out on Wednesday, the White Sox lost 10-1 against the Royals. This team will also reunite with Mike Clevinger, signing him to a 1yr, $3M deal.

West

• Angels (4-2): After going just 1.2 IP in his first start, Patrick Sandoval went 5.2 IP, giving up just two runs, as the Halos completed the series sweep of the Marlins in a 10-2 rout on Wednesday.
  

• Rangers (4-2): Nathan Eovaldi went seven scoreless innings and sat down eight on strikes as he had a career-high and an MLB season-high, 23 swings and misses.

• Mariners (3-4): George Kirby pitched only 3.2 innings on Wednesday, giving up 8 runs to the Guardians on 10 hits. The defense didn’t help much, highlighted by this play when J.P. Crawford and Jorge Polanco collided at second base.

• Astros (2-5): Yordan Alvarez helped power this team to an 8-0 win on Wednesday night, going 4-5 with two homers. After winning two of three against the Jays, the Astros head to Arlington for a division matchup with the Rangers.

• Athletics (1-6): The club announced on Wednesday that they will play in West Sacramento next season through 2027. 😭

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National League 

East

• Braves (3-2): Due to inclement weather, Wednesday’s matchup against the White Sox was postponed until late June. Spencer Strider will be on the bump today for the home opener against the defending NL Champs.
  

• Phillies (2-4): After a long rain delay on Wednesday, the Phils could muster only one run, a solo shot from Kyle Schwarber, as they lost the series rubber match to the Reds.
  

• Nationals (2-4): Joey Gallo hit his first homer of the year in a Wednesday night win against the Pirates, but the Nats lost on Thursday, giving the series to Pittsburgh.

• Mets (1-5): The Mets lost the first game of a doubleheader on Thursday in extra innings but came back in the bottom of the 9th to walk off their first win of 2024. Only the Mets can have this happen to them, where umpire interference sent a runner stealing back to first base. 🤦‍♂️
  

• Marlins (0- 8): With a minus 30 run differential, the Marlins have lost eight straight to start the season, the first team to do so since 2016. Eury Pérez will have Tommy John surgery on Monday, which will keep him out until at least 2025.

Central

• Pirates (6-1): Pittsburgh started off hot, scoring four runs in the first inning as they continued to get contributions from everyone. This team is currently ranked fourth across MLB in runs and hits.
  

• Brewers (4-1): Jackson Chourio hit his first career homer, putting his name in company with the likes of Juan Soto, Gary Sheffield & Robin Yount. 🤩

• Cubs (4-2): On Wednesday, the Cubbies scored 26 runs over three games to complete the sweep over Colorado.
  

• Reds (4-2): Despite his 47.6% strikeout rate, the fourth highest in the league, Elly De La Cruz is on an 11-game hit streak dating back to last year.

• Cardinals (4-4): This team scored five runs in the seventh inning to come back from a 5-3 deficit and win their Thursday matchup against the Marlins. Iván Herrera hit the first homer of his career after being put into the lineup just 90 minutes before the game started due to a bruised Willson Contreras left hand.

West

• Dodgers (7-2): Shohei Ohtani clubed his first homer as a Dodger, and Mookie Betts leads the league in nearly every hitting statistic. The team completed a three-game sweep of the Giants on Wednesday. 🧹
  

• Diamondbacks (4-3): Blaze Alexander, who was all the rage in Spring Training, smoked his first career homer and might see more playing time as Geraldo Perdomo injured his right knee in extra innings on Wednesday.
  

• Padres (4-5): Since inning-specific data became available in 1974, no Padres catcher had thrown out two runners from behind the dish and hit a home run in the same inning, that is, until Kyle Higashioka did just that on Wednesday, as the Padres avoided a sweep against the Cardinals.
  

• Giants (2-5): Jorge Soler’s Wednesday long homer of 452ft wasn’t enough to help this club dodge a series sweep against the Dodgers.
  

• Rockies (1-6): Kris Bryant finally got a hit after starting the season with the longest hitless streak at the beginning of a season of his career. He was 0-18 with 10 strikeouts prior to his third at-bat on Wednesday night.

🥔 Today’s Tater

Pete Alonso's 500th RBI, the quickest a Met has hit this milestone, was a game-tying bottom of the ninth 403 ft tater. The pitch was barely a foot off the ground, the lowest homer hit in the pitch-tracking era (2008).

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