Welcome everybody, to the first episode of the Top of the Order show, where I recap every MLB game from the previous day. I’m hoping to do this every day of the summer, obviously I’ll miss some, but that’s going to be the plan for it going forward.
Cubs @ Brewers
Cody Bellinger wasted no time getting the scoring started for the Cubs, he homered in the first inning, but in just the next inning, the Brewers opened their scoring, Gary Sanchez had a sac fly, and Joey Ortiz and Blake Perkins had a couple of sacrifice hits. Now, I’m going to fast forward to the seventh inning, where the Cubs put a man on for Seiya Suzuki, and that proved to be a poor decision, he blasted that one to tie it up, and that’s got to be nice to see for Cubs fans, because he has not been very good this year, you can see some of his stats below.
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This game was kind of back and forth after that though, because Brice Turang beat out an infield single, that one tied the game, but Christopher Morel also homered in the top of the 8th to tie it right back up. That was all the scoring for the Cubs though, and when Owen Miller grounded into a double play it seemed like all was lost for the Brewers’ 8th inning, but Christian Yelich got on and Gary Sanchez! With an absolute blast to center field! That got him up to 3 RBIs on the day, and that was enough to put the Brewers past the Cubs, Elvis Peguero got the save, and the Brewers win, 6-4.
Royals @ Twins Just like the last game, someone homered in the top of the first, but for Vinnie Pasquantino and the Royals, this one was a two-run shot, and the Royals just kept scoring, a few innings laster Bobby Witt Jr. drove in one on a RBI double, plus MJ Melendez blasted a solo shot to make the score 4-0. The thing is though, don’t make the Twins angry. Ryan Jeffers had a two run homer, this game was certainly a slugfest early, the Twins then proceeded to load the bases, but Daniel Lynch masterfully escaped that without any further damage.
That was, of course, until Jeffers homered AGAIN, yes you heard me right, this time a solo shot, he escaped the 5th inning but that was all that Lynch was going to be allowed. Max Kepler drove in a run on a single once Chris Stratton entered the game, and the Twins once again loaded the bases, Christian Vazquez once again struck out to leave the bases loaded with two outs, but Carlos Correa said nope, he cleared the bases with a triple, and that seemed to put ice on it at 7-4, but the Royals made things interesting in the 9th off of Jhoan Duran, he’s been incredibly shaky this year, and he showed it again by allowing two men on and then a 2 RBI single off the bat of Bobby Witt Jr. He finished the job after that and the Twins barely hang on to win it, 7-6.
Astros @ Mariners Logan Gilbert was going strong for the Mariners in this one, that was of course right up until he had to face Alex Bregman, Bregman left the yard for 2 runs on this ball, Victor Caritini homered the next inning and Bregman drove in another one on a triple in the inning after that, and that was all she wrote for this one. Spencer Arrighetti, for all the struggles he’s had as a starter this year actually turned in an incredible performance here, 6 2-hit shutout innings pairing with 8 Ks is very impressive.
Tigers @ Red Sox We all know that Boston’s starting rotation has exceeded all expectations this season, and while Nick Pivetta has been sub-par recently, he got off to an incredible start, striking out 8 batters in a row, and retiring the first 13 after allowing a leadoff walk. That’s all the praise I have though, as Akil Baddoo blasted off for his first homer of the season. It really started to unravel in the 6th, when he allowed a leadoff triple to Carson Kelly, intentionally walked Riley Greene, and allowed Mark Canha to single in a run.
That was all for Pivetta, and Weissert came in and was able to induce a double play to save Pivetta’s ERA from further damage. Now, it might seem like I’m focusing quite a lot on the Tigers hitting and Red Sox pitching, and that’s because Jack Flaherty was tough as nails, he brought a no-hitter into the seventh, and it was nice to see him finally getting some run support here. Riley Greene eventually homered in the eighth which also drove in Matt Vierling, and Gio Urshela followed that up with a solo shot. That made it 5-0, and that ends up being the final, since Boston couldn’t muster anything, a very quiet night with the bats for them.
Diamondbacks @ Mets In the bottom of the first inning here, six pitches in, Zac Gallen left with a hamstring strain, I still don’t know how serious it is, so fingers crossed for him, he’s been his nasty self for most of the year hear, Ketel Marte got the scoring started in this one, and it was a 2 RBI triple, it seemed like there were quite a lot of triples yesterday. That didn’t sit right with Francisco Lindor I guess, because he replied with a mammoth 430 foot solo home run. The Mets couldn’t string any more runs together until the seventh, when it was Lindor again with an RBI single. In the bottom of the 8th, with the game tied, J.D. Martinez hit another mammoth blast, and I use the same term because this, like Lindor's, was also exactly 430 feet. That was all for this one, Reed Garrett gets the save, and the Mets win.
Nationals @ Braves Joey Meneses started off the scoring here with a 2 RBI double for the Nats, and then Jesse Winker doubled in him. This was in the top of the 3rd, and in the bottom of the third, Michael Harris had a sac fly to drive in the Braves only run, and actually, that was all the scoring for the whole game. Trevor Williams was nasty again, and Finnegan closed the door, quick game, and the Nats won.
Yankees @ Angels Yankees fans had to stay up late to see this one on the west coast, but they were certainly rewarded for staying. It didn’t start great, Logan O’Hoppe homered early off of Carlos Rodon, but Aaron Judge, he drives in Juan Soto on his 18th homer of the year, and I put together another graphic here, look at this below.
Aaron Judge is literally having a legendary month of May. .479 OBP!??!? That’s actually wild. And the thing is, that’s still a very impressive month of April. Anyways, Rodon was 0s after that home run, and come the 7th inning the Yankees were ready for more. And apparently so was Adam Cimber, since he loaded the bases and then walked Oswaldo Cabrera to bring in a run. Anthony Volpe then walked, another run comes in, and then Juan Soto said screw it, I’m done with this, he clears the bases on another triple.
Now, in the bottom of the 7th, with Rodon out of the game, the Angels tacked on a couple more runs via a Kevin Pillar double and Willie Calhoun single, but that was it for them, the Yankees got one more in the top of the 8th, and Michael Tonkin nailed it down in the 9th and the Yankees win,
Athletics @ Rays Are you ready for a wild game? This is going to be our game of the day for Thursday. So Isaac Paredes homered in the bottom of the first to make it 2-0 since Randy was already on base, Jose Siri homered in the next inning, just a solo shot though. The Athletics, for once, weren’t going to go down without a fight, and Brent Rooker and Miguel Andujar both had RBI hits, and then Shea Langeliers had a huge 2-run homer that gave Oakland the lead, he hasn’t been having the best season average wise but he does have 12 homers after that swing.
Tampa was mostly silent after that, that is, until the ninth inning, when the Athletics stupid lady commentator jinxed them into oblivion by saying that Siri didn’t have what it took to start a rally, and before she really finished her statement Siri deleted that baseball from existence, absolutely hype moment there. Also, that was Mason Miller’s first blown save in his whole career.
So we ended up going to extra innings in this one, and both teams traded single runs to send it to the 11th, which was silent to send us to the 12th, where Richie Palacios was able to drive in a run to win the game for the Rays.