Cardinals slam their way to another win
Dexter Fowler’s grand slam in the seventh inning gave the Cardinals a lead they never relinquished in their win over the Royals on Thursday night. Fowler’s big blow came one game after Yadier Molina’s grand slam in the sixth inning gave the Cardinals a lead they never relinquished in a win over the Royals. The Cardinals became the first team since 2004 to win back-to-back games in which the winning runs scored on a grand slam in the sixth inning or later. The Expos had back-to-back victories like this in 2004 with Terrmel Sledge and Tony Batista hitting the slams.
This is the first time in Cardinals history that they have won back-to-back games in which a grand slam in any inning accounted for the winning run in each game.
Darvish matches Spooner
Yu Darvish struck out ten Diamondbacks in five innings in his second start for the Dodgers’ in their win on Thursday night becoming only the second pitcher in Dodgers history to strike out ten or more batters in each of his first two career starts with the team. Karl Spooner struck out 15 Giants in his major-league debut and then struck out 12 Pirates in his second start, his only two starts of the 1954 season. Those were the only two games of Spooner’s brief major league career in which he struck out at least 10 batters.
Moncada ties it and wins it
Yoan Moncada hit a game-tying home run in the ninth inning then had the game-winning hit in the eleventh inning in the White Sox stunning win over the Astros. The last White Sox rookie to hit a game-tying home run in the ninth inning or later and then get the game winning RBI in extra innings was Joe Crede on August 27, 2002 against the Blue Jays. Crede hit a two-run home run of Kelvin Escobar in the ninth inning to send the game to extra innings and then won the game with a grand slam off Felix Heredia in the tenth inning to win it.
No runs for Mr. Gray
Marco Estrada ended a 12-start winless streak by blanking the Yankees for seven innings, in Toronto’s 4-0 win over the Yankees. The Yankees have scored only one run in the two starts made by Sonny Gray this season, a 5-1 loss in Cleveland on August 3 and Thursday night’s 4-0 loss to the Blue Jays. The one run scored by the Yankees in Gray’s two starts with the team matches the lowest run support for any pitcher in his first two starts with the Yankees. Four other pitchers also received one run of support in their first two Yankees starts: Clark Griffith in 1903, Al Schulz in 1912-1913, Harry Byrd in 1954, and Pete Mikkelsen in 1965.
Votto gets on base
Joey Votto extended his hitting streak to 15 games with a home run in the eighth inning and walked three times in the Reds’ win over the Padres on Thursday afternoon. Votto’s .625 on-base percentage during his hitting streak is the highest for any batter in the major leagues over any 15-game stretch this season. The last better with an on-base percentage that high over any 15-game span was Votto himself last season (.647 from July 16 to August 2).
DeGrom always beats the Phillies and stops losing streaks
Jacob deGrom improved to 6-0 with a 2.10 ERA in ten career starts against the Phillies with another stellar performance against them on Thursday night. Three other active pitchers went unbeaten in their first 10 or more starts against one team: Clayton Kershaw is 8-0 in 12 career regular season starts against the Mets, Justin Verlander went 7-0 in his first 12 career starts against the Orioles and Max Scherzer is 7-0 in 11 career starts against the Phillies.
Not only is deGrom a Phillies beater, he is a losing streak stopper. DeGrom is 10-3 with a 3.42 ERA in 16 starts this season that followed a Mets loss. The ten wins ties him with the Marlins’ Jose Urena (10-5 in 17 starts) for the most wins following a team loss for any starting pitcher this season.
Stanton keeps mashing
Giancarlo Stanton hit a two-run home run in the Marlins’ loss to the Nationals on Thursday night, his 18th home run over his last 30 games. That’s the most home runs over any 30-game span among active players. The last player to hit 18 homers over a 30-game span was Josh Hamilton for the Rangers in 2012.
Dickerson three-run HR wins it for Rays
Corey Dickerson’s three-run home off Nick Goody in the eighth inning gave the Rays’ a win over the Indians on Thursday night. It was the second go-ahead home run in the eighth inning or later of Dickerson’s career with the other coming exactly three years earlier. Dickerson, while playing for the Rockies, hit a solo home run in the tenth inning off Arizona’s Oliver Perez in a 5-3 Colorado win.
Three-hit game for Mauer
Joe Mauer rapped out three hits in the Twins’ win over the Brewers. It was the 162nd three-hit game of Mauer’s career, third most for any Twins player since the franchise moved to Minnesota from Washington in 1961, behind Hall of Famers Rod Carew (214 three-hit games for the Twins) and Kirby Puckett (208).