Senzatela, Bats, Gloves All Pitch in in 10-0 Win For Rockies
In the Rockies 10-0 win vs. the Cardinals, Antonio Senzatela, 22 years old, threw 8 scoreless innings in which he allowed 5 hits and no walks to improve to 7-1 in 10 major-league starts. Five other pitchers to debut in the last 50 seasons (since 1968) had at least 7 wins with 1-or-fewer losses in their first 10 major league starts, all before the age of 23: Mark Fidrych in 1976 (9-1), Marty Bystrom in 1980-1981 (7-1), Fernando Valenzuela in 1981 (8-1), Livan Hernandez in 1997 (7-0), and Dontrelle Willis in 2003 (8-1).
Rockies rookie starters are now 11-2 this month, the most wins by rookie starting pitchers for a team in a month since A’s rookies went 11–5 in September, 2009.
The Rockies not only had good pitching and hitting but also good fielding, committing no errors and turning four double plays in the win. They are the first team since 2011 to have a shutout win with at least 10 runs, no errors and 4 double plays. The last team to do it was the Angels in Boston in an 11-0 win on May 5, 2011, in which they turned four double plays.
Alex Wood Extends Streak as Dodgers Best Cubs 4-0
Alex Wood improved to 6-0 and extended his streak of scoreless innings to 25⅓ in the Dodgers’ 4-0 win vs. the Cubs. Wood is 5-0 in starts and 1-0 out of the bullpen. He is the third Dodgers pitcher in the last 30 seasons (since 1988) to win his first six decisions out of the gate, with at least half of them coming in starts: Orel Hershiser started 1988 6-0 en route to the Cy Young Award that season and Kazuhisa Ishii started 2002 6-0, both pitchers earning all their wins in starts.
Since Orel Hershiser’s major-league record of 59 scoreless innings in 1988, Wood’s streak is the fourth longest for a Dodgers pitcher in a single season, behind Zack Greinke in 2015 (45⅔), Clayton Kershaw in 2014 (41), and Kershaw in 2015 (37).
AGON Ends Homerless Drought
Adrian Gonzalez blasted a homer off Jake Arietta, his first home run of the season and the 309th of his career in his 121st at bat of the 2017 campaign. The 120 at bat drought to start the season without a home run was the longest for a player with at least 300 homers entering a season since Greg Vaughn started 2002 with 132 homerless at bats. Vaughn entered the 2002 campaign with 344 homers and finished his career with 355.
Garcia Has a Night to Remember
What a game for Jaime Garcia! He pitched 6⅔ scoreless innings in a 2-0 victory in San Francisco, and drove in the game-winning run with a single in the seventh inning. The last starting pitcher to win a game, not allow a run, and drive in the game-winning run in the seventh-inning or later was Clayton Kershaw on April 1, 2013, also vs. the Giants, on opening day of that season. Kershaw pitched a complete game shutout and hit a solo homer to lead off the bottom of the 8th inning off George Kontos.
Harper Slams 15th Homer
Bryce Harper hit his 15th home run of the season, in the Nationals’ 47th game, a Friday night victory over the Padres. In 2015, Harper reached 15 home runs in 40 team games. Bryce is the first player in franchise history to reach 15 home runs in 50-or-fewer games twice. Four other players did it once, two for the Expos and two for the Nationals. Henry Rodriguez in 1996 (36 games) and Vladimir Guerrero in 2000 (49 games) did it for the Expos, Alfonso Soriano in 2006 (43 games), Adam Dunn in 2009 (46 games) for the Nats.
Ryan Schimpf Only Hits Home Runs
Ryan Schimpf hit his 12th home run of the year for the Padres, connecting off Max Scherzer in the team’s 50th game. Schimpf has singled nine times. He’s the only player in major-league history with at least 10 home runs and 9-or-fewer singles in his team’s first 50 games of a season. But Joey Gallo could join Schimpf this weekend: Gallo has 14 home runs and 9 singles through his team’s first 49 games.
Iannetta is a Hero in Milwaukee and Lamb Continues to Send Them Baaack
Facing their final out in Milwaukee, Chris Iannetta hit a solo home run off of Corey Knebel to tie the game, which the Diamondbacks won 4-2 in 10 frames. The last Diamonbacks player to hit a lead-changing home run when facing their final out was Jake Lamb on April 18, 2016, in San Francisco. Lamb hit a solo shot off of Santiago Casilla to tie the game 7-7 in the 9th, which the D-Backs went on to win in 11 innings. It was Iannetta’s first lead-changing homer of his career when facing his team’s final out.
Lamb went 2-for-5 with his 14th home run and RBIs number 41 and 42 in the D-Back’s 50th game. His 42 RBIs through 50 games are the fifth most through 50 games in franchise history, below Matt Williams (51) in 1999, Steve Finley (51) in 2000, Luis Gonzalez (43) in 2001, and Paul Goldschmidt (43) in 2015.
Walker Greets Former Team with 2 Blasts
Neil Walker hit two home runs against his former team at PNC Park, and reached 500 career RBIs. Walker debuted for the Pirates in 2009 and played 836 games with the team. The only other players who debuted with the Pirates, played at least 500 games with the team, and returned to have a multi-homer game in Pittsburgh against the Bucs were Bob Elliot (9/13/1947), Tony Pena (4/21/1988), Jeff King (6/14/1997), Aramis Ramirez (9/21/2003), and Barry Bonds (8/18/1993, 4/13/2007).
Brandon Moss Finally Puts an End to a Long Drought
The Royals came back from an early 4-0 deficit in Cleveland to win 6-4, and instrumental in the comeback was a three-run home run by Brandon Moss with two outs in the fourth inning, which narrowed the deficit to 4-3. The Moss homer snapped a hitless streak of 35 at bats with runners in scoring position for Kansas City, which was the longest drought in franchise history; the second longest were 0-for-28 droughts in 1974 and spanning 2010-2011.
Tanaka is Tough Luck Loser vs. A’s
Masahiro Tanaka was the losing pitcher in the Bronx as the Yankees fell 4-1 to the A’s, despite allowing only one run in 7⅓ innings in which he struck out 13 batters and did not walk even one. The only other pitcher in Yankees history who earned a loss in a game in which he struck out 13+ batters and did not issue a walk was Roger Clemens. He was the tough luck pitcher on May 28, 2000 versus the Red Sox, outdueled by Pedro Martinez, who threw a four-hit shutout. Trot Nixon hit a two-run homer off Clemens in the top of the ninth inning for the only runs of the game.
Rodriguez Extends Streak for Boston; Mariners’ Misery Continues
Eduardo Rodriguez threw six shutout innings against the Mariners in a 3-0 win at Fenway Park. Red Sox starters have now won their last five games, a streak which started with a win from Rodriguez last Sunday at Oakland and continued with wins from Rick Porcello, Chris Sale, and Drew Pomeranz in their sweep of the Rangers earlier this week. The streak of five wins from starters tied the longest streaks in the majors this season, joining the Yankees (April 13-17), Indians (April 17-22), Reds (May 3-7) and Astros (May 7-12).
The Mariners, meanwhile, have scored one-or-fewer runs in six of their last seven games. It is the first time in franchise history that they have endured a stretch of seven games during which they scored no more than one run in at least six of them.
Devon Travis is on Fire in May
Down 1-0 in the second, Devon Travis hit a grand slam and the Blue Jays never relinquished the lead in a 7-6 win vs. the Rangers. Travis’s grand slam came just two days after Ryan Goins drove in four with one swing vs. the Brewers. It was the first time that Toronto hit two grand slams in a span of 3-or-fewer days since Raul Mondesi and Brad Fullmer hit grand salamis on April 20 and 21, 2001, respectively.
Besides the grand slam, Travis also added a single and double in four at bats. Travis now has 18 extra-base hits in 21 games this month: 15 doubles and 3 home runs. Travis’s 18 extra-base hits in a month are the most for a Blue Jays player since August 2015, when Edwin Encarnacion had 22 and Josh Donaldson had 19. In April Travis batted .130 and slugged .195; in May he’s batted .372 with a .679 SLG.
Adleman Blanks Phillies
Tim Adleman, in his 20th big-league start, earned a victory in Philadelphia, pitching eight scoreless innings in which he allowed just one hit, a first-inning infield single by Andres Blanco. Adleman became the first Reds pitcher since 1999 to earn a win in which he went at least eight innings and allowed no more than one hit, within his first 20 major-league starts. Ron Villone had games like that in his fifth and ninth major-league starts in 1999.
Astros Win 2-0 on 2 Homers
The Astros beat the Orioles 2-0 at home with solo home runs from Jake Marisnick and Carlos Beltran, both off Kevin Gausman. The last time that the Astros had a shutout win with all runs scoring on homers was on August 21, 2015, vs. the Dodgers. Marisnick was also involved in that win: he hit a 2-run home run and Evan Gattis added a solo shot, while Mike Fiers threw a complete game shutout for the Astros.
Wild Bour hits 9th Homer in 14 Games
Justin Bour continued his tear in the Marlins 8-5 win vs. the Angels, hitting home run number 13, his 9th in his last 14th games. Bour is the third player this season to hit 9 homers over 14 games: Eric Thames and Aaron Judge both hit 10 over 14 games. Four other Marlins players have hit 9-or-more homers of 14 games in a season: Gary Sheffield in 1996, Charles Johnson in 2001, Dan Uggla in 2008, and Giancarlo Stanton in 2015 (10 HR in 14 games).
Archer is On Target
Chris Archer and the Rays defeated the Twins 5-2 at Target Field, and Archer improved to 4-0 to go along with a 1.38 ERA in four career starts at the Twins’ home stadium. Archer’s 1.38 ERA at Target Field is the lowest for any pitcher with at least four starts there, below Ubaldo Jimenez (1.81) and Mark Buehrle (1.85).