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Daily Clips
August 26, 2018
LOCAL
Filly twirls gem, gets plenty of support vs. Tribe
August 25, 2018 By Jeffrey Flanagan/
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Rookie Heath Fillmyer outduels Indians ace Corey Kluber in Royals’ 7-1 win
August 25, 2018 By Pete Grathoff/KC Star
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Salvy Splash goes to a Special Olympian
August 25, 2018 By Tammy Ljungblad/KC Star
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MINORS
Q&A: Royals assistant GM J.J. Picollo on Brady Singer’s future and the terrific start from lefty Daniel Lynch
August 26, 2018 By Rustin Dodd/The Athletic
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Nicky Lopez's tie-breaking two-run homer leads Storm Chasers against Iowa Cubs
August 25, 2018 By Tony Boone/Omaha World-Herald
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Wilmington's Offense Does it Again in Win Against Salem
Blue Rocks Score Five of Their Eight Runs with Two Outs
August 25, 2018 By Wilmington Blue Rock
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Pratto Breaks Up No Hitter with 2-Run Homer to Lead Legends to Victory
August 25, 2018 By Lexington Legends
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Royals Clinch Series with win in Kingsport
Offense comes up big in 11-2 victory
August 25, 2018 By Burlington Royals
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Missed Opportunities Costs Chukars in Series Opener
August 26, 2018 By Tyson Whiting/Idaho Falls Chukars
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NATIONAL
Posey surgery Monday with 6-8 mos. recovery
Giants star may miss some of Spring Training 2019
August 25, 2018 By Chris Haft/
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Useless Info Dept., Straight A’s Edition
August 24, 2018 By Jayson Stark/The Athletic
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MLB TRANSACTIONS
August 26, 2018 •.
LOCAL
Filly twirls gem, gets plenty of support vs. Tribe
August 25, 2018 By Jeffrey Flanagan/
Hours before Saturday's game, Royals manager Ned Yost said he would be curious how rookie right-hander Heath Fillmyer (Filly) would respond after a discouraging start last Sunday, when Fillmyer surrendered a 6-0 lead by giving up six runs in one inning.
Yost got his answer as Fillmyer turned in one of his best starts of the season, holding the Indians to three hits and one run over six innings in the Royals' 7-1 victory over the Indians at Kauffman Stadium. He walked two and struck out three.
"[The key is] staying ahead in the count and attacking," Yost said. "He's got really good stuff. But when he's behind in the count and walking three or four guys a game, you're going to get in trouble at the big league level."
Said Fillmyer, "I think it's important for everyone to have a bounce-back game after a loss. ... It felt good. Get the first innings under my belt and get comfortable again and just execute pitches and get great results."
The Royals clinched their first series win since late July/early August over the White Sox.
The dangerous 1-2-3 hitters in the Indians' lineup -- Francisco Lindor, Michael Brantley, Jose Ramirez -- went a combined 0-for-11.
"That's a really difficult job for any pitcher to contain those top three," Yost said. "They've got a really good lineup up and down. It's deep. But Lindor-Brantley-Ramirez are as good a 1-2-3 punch [as you find] in the American League. To be able to contain them and keep them off balance so they can't do any damage. It was important."
"The first three are just as dangerous as anybody," Fillmyer added. "With Boston's lineup between Mookie [Betts] and J.D. [Martinez] and [Andrew] Benintendi, they're just as good, if not better. You want to make sure you limit the damage and limit them to singles if they do get on."
Fillmyer threw a career-high 105 pitches, 60 for strikes. The only run against him came in the second inning on a walk, a double and a balk.
The Royals answered that tally in the third. Adalberto Mondesi (La Guinea) drove a Corey Kluber fastball into the right-field corner, though he strangely rounded first, stopped and retreated to the bag, thinking he had missed the bag. No matter, Mondesi stole second and then scored on Whit Merrifield's (Whitley) single to right.
"I missed [the bag], but on replay I saw I got it a little bit, but I thought that I missed it a little bit," Mondesi said. "So I just [went back] and got ready for the next pitch, steal the base and then Whit with the big hit."
Added Yost, "He did the smart thing -- don't get an appeal, don't get called out. And boom, stole second. Made up for it anyway."
In the fourth, rookie Ryan O'Hearn (Brohearn), whose home run tied the score in the ninth Friday night, belted a two-run double. O'Hearn also drove in a run in the eighth.
"[Kluber] is another guy I've never faced before who's got great stuff," O'Hearn said. "I watched a lot of -- a lot of cutters in to lefties, sinkers. With a guy like that, you just try to see something about thigh-high and hit it to the biggest part of the field. And just compete. Obviously he's a really good pitcher.
"I feel good [right now], same as I always have. Balls are starting to drop in and that builds confidence."
Lucas Duda (Dude) homered, his 12th, off Kluber in the sixth. And later in the inning, Hunter Dozier (Doz) delivered an RBI single.
SOUND SMART
With his steal in the third inning, Mondesi has 12 since the All-Star break -- that's the most in MLB.
UP NEXT
Right-hander Jorge Lopez (0-3, 3.99 ERA) takes the mound for the Royals to wrap up the series against the Indians on Sunday at 1:15 p.m. CT at Kauffman Stadium. Right-hander Shane "Not Justin" Bieber (7-2, 4.36 ERA) will pitch for the Tribe. Lopez will be making his third start as a Royal. He gave up one run and five hits over five innings Monday against Tampa Bay.
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Rookie Heath Fillmyer outduels Indians ace Corey Kluber in Royals’ 7-1 win
August 25, 2018 By Pete Grathoff/KC Star
The number under the Royals’ loss column is what fans will use to measure the success of the 2018 season.
But as manager Ned Yost shepherds a young batch of players into regular major-league roles in the early stages of the Royals’ rebuilding project, he judges by a different scale, too. The wins and losses matter, of course, but Yost looks for personal growth and how players build on what they’ve learned.
That’s why Yost was happy with Royals rookie right-hander Heath Fillmyer, who outdueled two-time Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber in a 7-1 win over the Indians on Saturday night at Kauffman Stadium.
It was a bounce-back performance for Fillmyer, who failed to hold a six-run lead against the White Sox last Sunday. In fact, he had allowed 10 runs in his previous eight innings after tossing seven scoreless frames against the Cubs.
But on Saturday, the Indians pushed just a single run across the plate in Fillmyers’ six innings.
“It’s the difference between staying ahead in the count and attacking,” Yost said. “He’s got really good stuff. But when he’s behind in the count and walking three or four guys a game, you’re going to get in trouble at the big-league level.
“Like the Cubs game, he changed speeds extremely well, he worked inside-out ... but for the most part he was ahead in the count and he was on the attack.”
The Indians had just three hits and two walks against Fillmyer. Their lone run scored when Fillmyer balked in the second inning with runners on second and third and one out. Yonder Alonso trotted home with the game’s first run, and former Royal Melky Cabrera took third.
“That’s just one of those things, you’re going through your signs and you get your pitch and I was already ready to come set before I had it, and I flinched a little bit and they called it,” Fillmyer said. “It was unfortunate.”
A big inning seemed possible, but Fillmyer escaped further damage by striking out Jason Kipnis and inducing a ground ball from Yan Gomes.
Over the next four innings, Fillmyer didn’t allow an Indians runner to reach second base. In his ninth big-league start, Fillmyer improved to 2-1 and saw his ERA inch down to 4.21.
The Royals tied the game 1-1 in the third inning. With one out, 23-year-old shortstop Adalberto Mondesi hit a 105.8 mph laser into the right-field corner for what would have been a double had he not retreated to first base after missing the bag.
It mattered little. Mondesi swiped second base (the first stolen base off Kluber this season) and scored on a single by center fielder Whit Merrifield.
An inning later, Royals rookie first baseman Ryan O’Hearn hit a two-run double that scored Salvador Perez and Lucas Duda for a 3-1 Royals lead. In the sixth inning, Duda lined a Kluber pitch into the Pepsi Porch with one out. Jorge Bonifacio then singled, O’Hearn walked and Hunter Dozier’s hit scored Bonifacio for a 5-1 lead, and Kluber’s night ended.
“He’s another guy I’ve never faced before who’s got great stuff,” O’Hearn said. “I watched a lot of video — a lot of cutters in to lefties, sinkers. With a guy like that you just try to see something about thigh-high and hit it to the biggest part of the field. And just compete.”
The Royals had nine hits off Kluber and 14 total on the night, adding single runs in the seventh and eighth innings.
Rookie pitchers Tim Hill and Jake Newberry, along with veteran Jason Hammel, combined on three scoreless innings to make for a stress-free finish.
The victory was just the Royals’ 40th of the season against 90 losses, but it secured a series win at Kauffman Stadium for the first time since a three-game sweep of the Twins on July 20-22.
“It makes it fun to watch those kids go out and play and have some success,” Yost said. “It was a fun game tonight. For me, this was a fun game. Watching Fillmyer pitch, watching the young guys with their at-bats, taking a lead, then tacking on runs, then the bullpen coming in and doing their job. It was a fun game.”
The young players who had a big part in Friday’s emotional walk-off win came back the next day and knocked around one of the American League’s best pitchers in beating the Central leaders.
“This is the tip of the iceberg,” Yost said. “The bigger part of the iceberg is still in the minor leagues right now. That’s what makes it that much more exciting.”
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Salvy Splash goes to a Special Olympian
August 25, 2018 By Tammy Ljungblad/KC Star
About 200 fans lined up Saturday to get a photo taken with Royals catcher Salvador Perez during an autograph signing event at Special Olympics Kansas headquarters in Mission.
One special fan, Lisa Elsener, received an autograph and a Salvy Splash. Her mother, Cres Elsener, had won the splash and surprised her daughter, a huge fan of Perez.
See for yourself in the video.
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MINORS
Q&A: Royals assistant GM J.J. Picollo on Brady Singer’s future and the terrific start from lefty Daniel Lynch
August 26, 2018 By Rustin Dodd/The Athletic
When the Royals drafted pitcher Brady Singer with the No. 18 overall selection in June, club officials expected an unhurried start to his professional career. Singer, a 6-foot-5 right-hander, battled through a mild hamstring strain during his final collegiate starts at Florida, and the team wanted to offer plenty of time to recover. Yet in the weeks after Singer signed with the Royals in early July, he was still a busy man.
He headed to Arizona for rehab. He spent a week at Low-A Lexington working out and meeting pitching coaches. He traveled to Idaho Falls, where he spent time with pitching coach Jeff Suppan, the former Royals starter.
“He just went through film, watching things, talking about pitching,” said J.J. Picollo, the Royals assistant general manager. “Just sort of a Baseball 101 session. And he started to throw again.”
After missing all of July and August, Singer is scheduled to return to the mound in September during instructional league in Arizona, Picollo said Saturday. The workouts begin on Sept. 16, and the first game is scheduled for Sept. 24. Singer will join a collection of prospects and recent draft picks.
Singer is already ranked as the Royals’ top prospect, according to Baseball America. He was the first of five college pitchers selected by the club in the first 60 picks in June’s draft. The group included Jackson Kowar, who was teammates with Singer at Florida, and Daniel Lynch, a lefty from Virginia.
Singer was actually cleared for workouts earlier this month, Picollo said. But the Royals opted to be cautious with his timeline, declining to rush him back into action in the minor leagues. He will throw innings in instructional league. He will have a full offseason. He will enter spring training next year before officially beginning his professional career.
“We were being just very cautious,” Picollo said. “It was a minor hamstring strain. Two or three weeks after treating it, he was cleared to do whatever he needed to do.”
While the Royals are preparing for September and evaluating a collection of young players at the major-league level, minor-league seasons are wrapping up across baseball, which means it’s time for another extended conversation with Picollo, the Royals assistant general manager who oversees player development in the club’s minor-league system.
The previous interviews on the farm system are here, here and here.
The latest conversation focused on the dominating start from left-hander Daniel Lynch, the No. 34 overall pick in June; a pleasant surprise from pitcher Marcelo Martinez; and the rise of right-hander Arnaldo Hernandez. The interview has been lightly edited for clarity:
Daniel Lynch, one of your compensation picks in this year’s draft, has pitched really well at Burlington and Lexington. He entered Saturday with a 1.49 ERA and 55 strikeouts in 48 1/3 innings across 11 starts. Did he make any tweaks or adjustments as he started in the system? Or did he just hit the ground running from his time at Virginia?
I think what happened was: He’s really smart, he understands his delivery really well. He’s got some freedoms in professional baseball that maybe weren’t necessarily there in college baseball for obvious reasons. They have to win games. They used him the way they needed to use him. We’ve pretty much just let him pitch. The only emphasis we’ve made to him is that we want to see him throw his changeup a fair amount. Because that’s a pitch we think can be good. In college, he was primarily fastball-curveball. So we thought the development of changeup was important. He’s used that well.
He’s still using his breaking ball. But the biggest difference right now is his velocity just keeps climbing and climbing. We’d see him pitch in college (and he’d be) 91 to 93 mph. He’s had nights (in pro ball) where he’s been 95 to 97 (mph), just dominating type of stuff. I think he’s a very intelligent, advanced thinker. He understands what he does well and what he doesn’t do well. But we haven’t made any changes. We’ve just let him pitch.
He’s kind of in that lanky-lefty mold. Does he have some deception, too? Not all left-handers need to be compared to Chris Sale. But is their similar deception in the delivery?
No, he’s not like Chris Sale at all. I would say it’s more like a Cliff Lee. It’s not deception in his delivery. It’s not that. It’s more just his front side, he doesn’t give you a clean look at the ball out of the glove. He doesn’t give you that look. But it’s not a “different look” kind of deception. It’s more traditional. But he just repeats it really well. And he’s got a really good angle. He’s 6-foot-5, 6-foot-6. And I think that creates a lot of deception as well.
You drafted him high at No. 34. But there was some thought after the draft that with so many high picks, you selected him a little higher than where he was ranked heading into it. [Editor’s note: Baseball America ranked Lynch as the No. 111 prospect heading into the draft. He signed for $1.697 million, nearly $370,000 less than the slot value for the pick.] But it seems like he’s performed in a way that proves that notion wrong a little bit.
I don’t know that to be the case. I know that we had lot of people in to see him his last game of the year. So I know our scouting department really liked him. I don’t think it was a guy that we would consider an “over-draft.” We just liked when we got him. We actually thought at one point that he might be a guy we’d have to talk about at No. 18. And as the year went on, we were hoping he’d be more of a sandwich pick. The way he’s performing right now, I’ve had multiple scouts from other clubs tell me that if he was throwing this way in May, he would have never gotten to the 18th pick. There’s a significant difference to what he’s doing now compared to what he was doing in the spring.
What’s the story behind Marcelo Martinez? He’s 22 and was signed out of the Mexican League in March. And he’s got a 2.53 ERA in 57 innings with Idaho Falls and Burlington. How did he end up in the system?
Our scout (in Mexico) Manuel Samaniego recommended him just after the new year, and we ended up signing him. We had to go through all the red tape to get him to the United States, so he missed spring training. He’s been a pleasant surprise, but pretty much exactly what Manuel said he would be. He tops out at 92 (mph); he pitches at 89. He’s got a really good changeup; he’s got a feel for his curveball. I wouldn’t put him the category of soft-tosser — he’s got an average fastball. But I think it’s just more his ability to use his off-speed pitches that has gotten everybody’s attention. It’s why his strikeout rates are so high. (75 strikeouts and 12 walks in 57 innings.)
Arnaldo Hernandez is a guy that’s come on as of late. He started at Wilmington and has made it all the way to Omaha. [Editor’s note: He now has a 3.23 ERA in 47 1/3 innings at Omaha, including seven starts.] What’s been the key to his progress?
He’s always thrown strikes. If you go back and look at his walk rate, it’s always been extremely low. He’s got a curveball that is very usable. He throws it for strikes. He’s learning how to add and subtract off of it. His changeup is really good. And he locates his fastball. He’s always been really efficient with his pitches.
I know our Wilmington coaching staff told me: “We need to get him to a higher level. He’s bored here. He’s underachieving because he’s bored.”
Last year, he went up to Omaha for a game and pitched. That was more of a circumstance thing. We just needed a starter. He throws strikes and you can send a guy like that. But with our rotation at Double A, we couldn’t get him to Double-A to start out. And as the year went on, we got him to Double A and now Triple A, and he’s just pitched really well. He hasn’t changed how he pitches. He works fast. He’s efficient. His games are over in 2 hours, or 2 hours and 15 minutes. Just a really good feel for pitching.
Khalil Lee had a minor back issue at Double-A Northwest Arkansas. What’s his status right now?
When it came up a couple weeks ago, it was a three-week rest period. And then you need a couple weeks of buildup. Well, by that time, the regular season would have passed. So we just sent him to Arizona. We want to send him to the [Arizona Fall League, a finishing school for top prospects]. But we got to get him healthy before we can confirm that he’s going to go. It’s nothing structural. Just tightness and we just have to give it time.
Seuly Matias has been out, too. What’s his timeline?
Seuly cut his finger throwing a bag on the bus. His thumb caught the edge of the cargo door, and it cut his thumb bad. It nicked a little tendon. So because of that, his tendon had to get stitched. And it’s like a five-week deal. That’s why he hasn’t played. But he’ll be fine. He’ll play in instructional league. But it’s too bad he’s missing this part of the season.
Center fielder Kyle Isbel, your third-round pick, has also had a really strong start at Idaho Falls and Lexington. Is the plan to keep him in center field as long as he can handle that position? Or do you want to move him around a little bit?
He played infield in high school. So we’re doing some early-work stuff with him. We’ll decide if we want to put him in the infield at all in instructional league. For now, we just want to see where it’s at. But as he starts to move through the minor leagues, if we think it’s something that’s going to help him get to the next level, we’ll push him a little harder. But for now, it’s just a feeling-out process.
How does he grade out as a runner?
He’s above average. He’s about a 60-runner. And he really plays above that in center field. He can really go get balls. His jumps are good. We have to do some work with him as far as knowledge of stealing bases. He can steal a base. But we got to take it to another level. But the speed alone right now allows him to steal some bases.
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Nicky Lopez's tie-breaking two-run homer leads Storm Chasers against Iowa Cubs
August 25, 2018 By Tony Boone/Omaha World-Herald
Nicky Lopez hit two home runs in 517 at-bats over two minor league levels last season.
The Kansas City infield prospect tallied three in a week for Omaha.
The latest for the former Creighton star was a tiebreaking two-run homer at Werner Park Saturday that carried the Storm Chasers to a 3-2 win over Iowa that kept them mathematically alive for the playoffs.
Omaha’s elimination number was two entering the night. It remained there after Lopez’s seventh Triple-A blast. He’s amassed nine in all this summer, one more than he’d had in his first two professional years.
“It’s just having the confidence and putting in the work every single day with the teammates,” he said. “I’m just seeing it well — trying to get on the fastball, eliminate all the other pitches and take the best swing you can.”
Lopez’s drive beyond the right-field wall capped a three-run sixth inning that made a winner out of Jonathan Dziedzic (7-9), who bounced back from a rough outing in Colorado Springs with a stellar night. Dziedzic was tagged for a career-high 10 runs in four innings Sunday in a 17-5 road loss to the Sky Sox.
On the 46th anniversary of the first no-hitter in Omaha’s franchise history, tossed by Royals right-hander Tom Murphy against Indianapolis at Rosenblatt Stadium in 1972, the lefty took his own bid to the sixth. Stephen Bruno broke it up with a one-out bloop single to center. It dropped in front of Brian Goodwin.
“You can’t go out and pitch to prevent that,” Dziedzic said. “The biggest thing is trying to stay in the game. You’ve got to go right at guys. The defense was playing great. They made a lot of good plays.”
One play Omaha didn’t make put the team behind in the third. Dziedzic walked former Chasers teammate Terrance Gore, then picked him off with a move to first as the speedy Gore raced toward second base.
First baseman Humberto Arteaga’s throw to second beat Gore to the bag. But shortstop Jack Lopez didn’t catch it, and it rolled into the outfield. Gore ended up at third, then scored on a sacrifice fly.
It remained 1-0 Cubs until Goodwin doubled in a run in the sixth. One out later, Nicky Lopez went deep.
As he gains more pro experience, the 23-year-old from suburban Chicago gets a better feel for what he can and can’t do, Chasers manager Brian Poldberg said.
“There’s times where you’re going to try to get a little extra, and there’s times when you’re not,” Poldberg said. “I think he’s just learning himself.”
Lopez started hot at the plate after his promotion from Double-A Northwest Arkansas in late June, then struggled for a while. His home run Saturday extended his current hitting streak to 11 games.
During that stretch, Lopez has batted .371 to raise his Omaha average back up to .282. He’s driven in at least one run in seven of his last eight contests.
“I feel really comfortable here. I went on that hot streak to start, and then went on a cold streak that was pretty tough,” he said. “But I’m right back on track and trying to finish strong.”
The Chasers have 10 games remaining in their regular season. They’ll play the next six at home — two more against Iowa before Colorado Springs comes to town. They finish the season in New Orleans.
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Wilmington's Offense Does it Again in Win Against Salem
Blue Rocks Score Five of Their Eight Runs with Two Outs
August 25, 2018 By Wilmington Blue Rock
The Wilmington Blue Rocks (62-68 / 31-29) used another strong performance to take the second game of the series against the Salem Red Sox (60-68 / 28-32) with an 8-2 win Saturday night at Frawley Stadium. Gerson Garabito battled his way through five innings and allowed one run to earn the win while eight different Blue Rocks picked up a hit in the victory. With the win and a Lynchburg Hillcats loss, the Blue Rocks are five games out of first place with 10 to play as the Blue Crew continue their playoff push.
The Rocks erased a one-run deficit in the bottom of the fifth inning thanks to a two-out rally. Rudy Martin tied the game with an RBI triple before D.J. Burt singled home Martin to give Wilmington its first lead of the game, 2-1. Meibrys Viloria followed with an RBI double to cap the scoring and made it a 3-1 Wilmington lead. In the bottom of the sixth, the Blue Rocks were at it again. Travis Jones singled home Gabriel Cancel to make it a 4-1 contests before Martin delivered with his second RBI hit of the night and Jones scored on a wild pitch to put the Rocks up 6-1. Salem tacked on a run in the seventh on a double play ball to get within four runs, but that's all the Blue Rocks would surrender.
Wilmington tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the eighth inning thanks to an Angelo Castellano two-run single to pad the Rocks' lead, 8-2. After loading the bases through the first three batters of the game, Garabito was able to battle his way through five innings and allowed just the lone run to pick up his seventh win of the season.
The Blue Rocks will go for the series sweep on Sunday, August 26 with first pitch scheduled for 1:35 p.m. Wilmington will send left-hander Daniel Tillo (2-4, 4.45 ERA) Salem will have righty Jake Thompson (5-11, 4.91 ERA) on the mound. Fans can catch all the action with Matt Janus and Cory Nidoh on 89.7 WGLS-FM.
PEBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE
Through the first two games of the series, the starting pitching has been strong for Wilmington. Gerson Garabito allowed just one earned run in five innings of work to earn the win. In the series opener on Friday, Ofreidy Gomez set the tone and threw seven strong innings, allowed just one run to help the Blue Rocks snap their 10-game losing streak, which was the longest of the season. The two pitchers have combined to toss 12 innings, allow two runs (both earned) on 10 hits, five walks and have whiffed five batters.
Rudy Martin has turned it around at the plate over his last two games. Entering the series 2-for-his-last-32, Martin is 5-for-9 through the first two games of the series with two runs scored, a pair of doubles, a triple and has driven in four runs. Martin also stole his 26th base on Friday, matching a single-season, career-high which he set last season. Overall on the night, the Blue Rocks' offense has eight different hits collect a hit while five different players drove in a run.
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Pratto Breaks Up No Hitter with 2-Run Homer to Lead Legends to Victory
August 25, 2018 By Lexington Legends
The Lexington Legends were able to break up the Hagerstown Suns' no hitter in the bottom of the sixth inning, leading to a 2-1 victory. With the win, the Legends remain atop the Southern Division standings and are 37-23 in the second half of the season. The Greenville Drive are 3.0 games out of first place.
The Suns plated their only run of the game in the top of the fourth inning. Cole Freeman lined a leadoff single to centerfield then stole second base. Anderson Franco then doubled down the left field line scoring Freeman, and Hagerstown was on the board 1-0.
After six no hit innings, the Legends scored their two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning. After working the count full, MJ Melendez drew a leadoff walk. Nick Pratto then belted a two-run blast 405ft and the Legends led 2-1.
Janser Lara was awarded the victory for Lexington pitching 2.0 scoreless innings of relief allowing one walk and striking out two. Yefri Del Rosario started the game for the Legends pitching 6.0 innings allowing just one run on six hits while walking one and striking out six. Andrew Lee was given the loss after pitching 6.0 hitless innings. He finished the night tossing 6.2 innigns allowing two runs on one hit while walking three and striking out ten batters.
The Legends and Suns meet for the series finale tomorrow, August 26 at 2:05 p.m. The Legends will send RHP Charlie Neuweiler (2-2, 3.68 ERA) to face Hagerstown's RHP Tomas Alastre (0-1, 5.63 ERA).
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Royals Clinch Series with win in Kingsport
Offense comes up big in 11-2 victory
August 25, 2018 By Burlington Royals
The Burlington Royals (23-41) defeated the Kingsport Mets (32-32) by a score of 11-2 Saturday night. With the win, the Royals clinched a series win and have now made it consecutive series wins after taking two of three games from the Johnson City Cardinals earlier in the week.
Kingsport scored a run in the bottom of the first, but it was all Burlington after that. In the second, Rafael Romero, Isaiah Henry and Colby Schultz all drove in runs to give the Royals a 3-1 lead.
Jose Marquez brought in Henry with an RBI groundout in the fourth to extend the Burlington lead to 4-1.
The big inning was the sixth, when the B-Royals scored seven times to take a commanding advantage. Henry started the scoring with an RBI single, which was followed by a two-run triple from Marquez. Schultz drove in his second of the night on an RBI single, and then Michael Emodi hit his third home run of the season to make it 11-1. The Royals went on to win the game 11-2.
The third and final game of the series will be Sunday night in Kingsport. First pitch is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.
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Missed Opportunities Costs Chukars in Series Opener
August 26, 2018 By Tyson Whiting/Idaho Falls Chukars
The Idaho Falls Chukars went 1 for 12 with runners in scoring position and committed 4 errors in a 9-5 loss to the Grand Junction in game 1 of the big 4 game series at Suplizio Field.
Idaho Falls left 10 runners on base in the loss to fall to 3.5 games behind the Grand Junction Rockies for first place in the Pioneer League Southern division. They left 8 runners on base in the first 6 innings of play, including 2 in scoring position in the first inning.
Nate Eaton went 4 for 5 with 1 run scored. Eaton finished a home run short of the cycle. Eaton is now hitting .360 for the season.
Grand Junction scored 1 run on a Javier Guevara double to right. Guevara went 3 for 4 with 3 RBI's and 2 doubles. Daniel Montano went 2 for 4 with 2 runs scored and 2 RBI's for the Rockies, who go to 17-10 in the 2nd half of the year.
The turning point in the game was the bottom of the 5th inning, where the Rockies scored 4 runs on 2 hits, 2 errors and 1 walk. Grand Junction took a 5-4 lead on a Kyle Kasser throwing error, which would have ended the inning. Montano and Gurvara followed up with back to back doubles to make it a 7-4 game.
The Rockies added 2 more to the scoreboard on a Hunter Stovall 2 run home run off Chukars reliever Domingo Pena, who struck out 7 in 3.1 innings.
The Chukars scored 1 run in the 7th inning as Angel Medina drove home Nick Hutchins on a groundout to make it a 9-5 Rockies lead, which was the final score.
Idaho Falls looks to bounce back on Sunday as LHP Rito Lugo takes the ball for the Chukars. He will be opposed by RHP Ryan Feltner for Grand Junction. 5:00 pm first pitch at Suplizio Field.
Chukars Notes: Kyle Kasser went 3 for 5 at the plate. He is now hitting .344 on the year. The Chukars outhit the Rockies 12 to 6. Idaho Falls had 5 extra base hits. Andres Martin hit his first double of the season in his 38th game of the 2018 campaign. Jose Caraballo hit a 5th inning solo home run, his 5th of the season. Jonathan Heasley was not helped out by his defense. He allowed 7 runs but only 2 were earned. There was a controversial earned run in the 2nd inning, where Javier Guevara was credited with a double on a ball that clanked off Caraballo's glove in right. There were 4 errors made behind Heasley and a good case could be made for a 5th in the 2nd inning on that Guevara hit. Heasley walked 2 and struck out 4 in his outing. Domingo Pena struck out 7 batters in 3.1 innings. That's the most strikeouts by Pena this year. His previous high was 4 (4 times). The 1-3 hitters in the Chukars lineup combined for 9 of the 12 hits in the game. Tyler James missed his 8th straight game due to injury. He is currently listed as day to day. Time of game: 2:52. Attendance was 2,148.
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NATIONAL
Posey surgery Monday with 6-8 mos. recovery
Giants star may miss some of Spring Training 2019
August 25, 2018 By Chris Haft/
Giants catcher Buster Posey announced Friday that he will undergo season-ending hip surgery on Monday that he hopes will help him regain his full range of skilll as a hitter.
The procedure could delay the start of Posey's participation in the 2019 season. Posey said that Dave Groeschner, the Giants' senior director of athletic training, told him that he could be sidelined for six to eight months.
"So if things go smoothly with no hiccups, I'll be ready to go next Opening Day," said Posey, 31.
The Giants are scheduled to open next season at San Diego on March 28 -- approximately seven months from now. If Posey could rehabilitate himself into playing shape in six months, he would be ready for Spring Training by the end of February, two weeks after pitchers and catchers report for workouts.
History favors Posey. He recovered smoothly from multiple left leg injuries which he sustained in a home-plate collision in 2011. One year later, he won the National League Most Valuable Player award and earned the first of six All-Star recognitions.
Posey will undergo the procedure in Vail, Colo., and it will be performed by Dr. Mark J. Philippon, a renowned hip surgeon. Posey acknowledged that he'll undergo labral repair and the removal of a bone spur in his right hip. He attributed his ailments to the cumulative wear and tear of catching, not to any particular incident.
The goal of having surgery, said Posey, will be to "get you back to getting that range in your hip that's pretty vital for hitting."
Posey has recorded a .284/.359/.382 slash line, significantly below the .306/.374/.465 averages he recorded in 1,143 games entering this year. He has accumulated five home runs and 41 RBIs, also far from his usual pace.
Posey said that he was prepared to play the rest of the season had the Giants remained in contention for a postseason spot. That's no longer realistic, given the team's 63-67 record, though the Giants have not yet been mathematically eliminated.
"You don't want to say you're out of it until you're out of it," Posey said. "But unfortunately, where we are, I think it makes the most sense to get this taken care of."
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Useless Info Dept., Straight A’s Edition
August 24, 2018 By Jayson Stark/The Athletic
It was one of those weeks, all right. A guy hit into a triple play without even making an out himself… An outfielder went to the mound and gave up more runs in a half-hour than Max Scherzer has allowed since the all-star break… And down in the wilds of the minor leagues, a hitter somehow got three hits on one day – except it took him three days to do it. (More on this later.)
But before we move along to the wackiness of the week, one of the least likely comeback stories of all time has been unfolding right before our eyes. And we kick off this week’s edition of the Useless Information Department with a look at precisely how unlikely it is.
MIRACLE MEN OF THE WEEK
Roll back the clock with us now to June 18. And please consult your AL West standings.
Houston Astros 49-25. Run differential: Plus-158
Oakland A’s: 36-36. Run differential: Minus-6. Games behind: 12.0
So suppose we had told you then that you would look up, a mere nine weeks later, and see these two teams tied for first place? Yeah. Sure. That would have made sense.
Even crazier, suppose we had told you then that the hottest team in baseball after that date would be a team whose rotation included Edwin Jackson, Trevor Cahill, Brett Anderson and Mike Fiers? What would you have told us?
“I probably would have taken you around to some facility to get drug-tested,” said the always entertaining Dallas Braden, one-time A’s left-handed funkballer, present-day A’s broadcast-philosopher king for NBC Sports Bay Area. “I would have had to make sure your blood-alcohol level hadn’t spiked, because clearly, you’d have been high.”
Right. Clearly. No sane, rational, thoughtful human would ever have seen this coming. But it’s happened. So it’s time to put in perspective what Braden calls “undoubtedly one of the craziest comebacks in history.”
Here’s the first thing you need to file away: You know how many teams, in the history of baseball, have ever found themselves 12 games out (or more) on June 18 or later and roared back to finish first?
That would be exactly eight. In 142 seasons. Only three of those have come in the last four decades. And none of these teams, by the way, was chasing the defending World Series champions, which happens to be Oakland’s assignment. Now here’s the group, verified by the Elias Sports Bureau:
1914 “Miracle” Braves (15 games)
1978 “Bucky Dent” Yankees (14 games)
1951 “Bobby Thomson” Giants (13 games)
1995 “Griffey and Edgar” Mariners (13 games)
2012 “Yoenis Cespedes” A’s (13 games)
1973 “Ya Gotta Believe” Mets (12.5 games)
2006 “Johan Never Loses” Twins (12 games*)
1930 “Frankie Frisch” Cardinals (12 games)
(*-Twins’ biggest deficit was 12.5 games, but biggest after June 18 was 12)
That is quite a list, ladies and gentlemen. It’s a list that includes some of the most storied teams – and Cinderellas – in sports. So what the heck is this team doing on that list?
Well, part of it is just that, hey, they’re the A’s. Playing in the House That Al Davis Built and Sewage Overflowed. Spinning their roster through the revolving door year after year. Perennially working with a revenue stream that allows them to pay their entire team about what the starting rotation alone makes across the bay at AT&T Park.
“So it’s almost a given that in their position, these guys are playing the game with house money,” Braden told Useless Info. “There’s just a sense of: ‘We don’t have the payroll that other teams do. And we don’t have the cool stadium with a lot of cool stuff going on. And we haven’t been able to keep our players…But we’re given the opportunity to just be the A’s, so nobody cares.’”
And guess what? It can be a beautiful thing that nobody cares. It means no expectations. It means no hype. It means no more visits from Brad Pitt. It just means: Let’s play baseball. Let’s have a blast. And let’s shock the world.
“Hey, as long as the scoreboard keeps lighting up the way it does,” Braden said, “these boys don’t give a damn.”
Now obviously, a team whose rotation stalwarts include Jackson, Cahill and Anderson can’t possibly give a damn what the world thinks. But here’s what the A’s have gotten out of them:
JACKSON – Signed in midseason. Has a 2.97 ERA in Oakland. Had a 5.57 ERA the previous two years in Miami, San Diego, Baltimore and Washington. The A’s have gone 8-3 in his starts. His teams, over the previous six seasons, had gone 41-74 in his starts.
CAHILL – Signed with a week left in spring training, for $1.5 million. Has a 3.44 ERA in Oakland, and the A’s have won 10 of his 16 starts. His four teams over the previous three years won nine games he started combined.
ANDERSON – Also signed in the last week of spring training, for $1.5 million. Has a 3.47 ERA in Oakland, with a 1.19 WHIP. Of course he does. Had a 7.29 ERA for the Dodgers, Cubs and Blue Jays over the previous two years, with a 1.85 WHIP.
THE LAST WEEK – So how good have these guys been? On Saturday, Cahill started against the Astros – and allowed one hit in seven innings… On Monday, Fiers (acquired in an August waiver deal with Detroit) started against the Rangers – and allowed one hit in seven innings…. On Tuesday, Anderson started against the Rangers – and also allowed one hit in seven innings.
So how rare is that? Glad you asked.
It’s just the second time in the entire DH era that any American League team has gotten at least seven innings of one-hit or no-hit baseball from its starting pitchers on back-to-back days. The other team to do it? The 1996 Rangers (Ken Hill-Roger Pavlik on May 3-4, 1996).
It’s only the fifth time in the last half-century that a team in either league has had two starters give up one hit or none, over seven or more innings, on back-to-back days. The others: Gio Gonzalez-Jordan Zimmermann for Washington on April 25-26, 2013, Nolan Ryan-Mike Scott for Houston on Sept. 24-25, 1986 and Jerry Reuss-Larry Dierker for Houston on June 18-19, 1972.
But now here’s the most astounding tidbit of all: Since the mound was set at its current distance in 1893, how many teams do you think have cranked out starts like that three times in four games? Six? Eight? Twenty? Nope. The answer, according to Elias, is none!The Maddux/Glavine/Smoltz Braves never did it. The Verlander/Scherzer/Price Tigers never did it. The Koufax/Drysdale/Osteen Dodgers never did it. Just the A’s – of Cahill, Fiers and Anderson – have ever done it. Right. Of course they have.
For a team that has lost five starting pitchers to Tommy John Surgery this year and has had to scrape through the bargain bin merely to roll out what Braden calls a “Rotation 2.0,” this just sums up the magic of the 2018 A’s.
They have rising stars in Matt Chapman and Matt Olson. They have a guy who hits a home run every single day, whether he needs to or not, in Khris Davis. They have tremendous veteran stabilizers in Jed Lowrie and Jonathan Lucroy. They have one of the game’s best bullpens.
But they also have the most unlikely collection of dominating starters ever assembled. And that, friends, is the most Oakland A’s thing ever. You know their story. You’ve heard it before. Weren’t supposed to be here. Weren’t supposed to do that. But here they are. Again.
“These guys hear the narrative, but they’re tired of that,” said Dallas Braden. “They’ve been tired of that. And now they’re at the brink of something big happening.”
WALK-OFF OF THE WEEK
Everybody ought to have a special niche in life. And as niches in baseball go, we’ll take Ryan Zimmerman’s niche over pretty much anybody’s. So why is that?
Because he’s Mr. Walk-off!
The Nationals’ trusty first baseman may have hit fewer career home runs (263) than Matt Stairs or Mark Reynolds. But if you send this man up there in the bottom of the ninth or the bottom of any extra inning, hey, drive home safely. He’s got this.
Zimmerman’s game-ending homer against the Phillies on Wednesday was his 11th career walk-off homer. And shockingly, we have some thoughts about why that’s so incredible:
THE WALKOFF PANTHEON – Check out the only players in history with more walk-off bombs than Ryan Zimmerman:
Jim Thome 13
Babe Ruth 12
Jimmie Foxx 12
Mickey Mantle 12
Stan Musial 12
Albert Pujols 12
Frank Robinson 12
The average home run total of those seven men? How about 584 homers. And Ryan Zimmerman doesn’t even half that many. It’s the greatest walk-off-per-trot ratio ever!
NATIONAL TREASURE – Of course, every one of those Zimmerman walk-offs has come for the Nationals, the only team he’s ever played for. And as our friends at Stats LLC report, that puts him in a group with three of the most iconic players who ever lived. How about the only four men in history with 11 walk-off homers (or more) for one team:
Mantle 12 (Yankees)
Musial 11 (Cardinals)
The Babe 11 (Yankees)
Zimmerman 11 (Nationals)
Wow. How cool is that club?
SPEAKING OF ICONS – Finally, here’s one more way to drive home the big point here, that 11 walk-off homers is not just another number.
Regular-season walk-offs by Ryan Zimmerman: 11
Regular-season walk-offs by Willie Mays, Ted Williams and Lou Gehrig combined: 10
We recognize that walk-off home runs are part fluky and part funky, and that they’re a product, in part, of being in the right place at the right time. But look at the names we dropped in this item. Then think of that name, Ryan Zimmerman. He’ll be a walking trivia answer for the rest of his life.
MYSTERY PITCHERS OF THE WEEK
We’re now up to 60 – count ‘em, 60 – trips to the mound by position players this season. As recently as the late, great 1980s, there were 58 in the entire decade. Is it us, or are these little outings getting wilder every week? For instance…
(DON’T) DO AS THE ROMANS DO – When Phillies manager Gabe Kapler decided last Thursday – in the midst of a 24-4 loss to the Mets – that his actual pitchers had done all they needed to do, he waved for rookie outfielder Roman Quinn. And Quinn unfurled a box-score classic for the position-player annals:
1 2/3 IP, 6 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 2 BB, 0 K, 1 HR (to the first hitter he faced) 1 HBP, 2 consecutive bases-loaded walks, 42 pitches, 20 strikes.
His first claim to fame: He was the first mystery pitcher to give up seven earned runs in 35 years – since Manny Castillo coughed up seven for the Mariners on June 26, 1983. And Quinn was the first true position player ever to allow that many earned runs in an outing of five outs or fewer – or, at least, the first since earned runs became an official stat in 1913, anyway.
His other claim to fame: He faced 14 hitters – the most by any true position player since José Oquendo’s legendary four-inning, 21-hitter relief appearance for the Cardinals on May 14, 1989. And ohbytheway, those 14 Mets hitters who faced Quinn that night? They had a 1.643 OPS against him!
LONG LIVE THE KINGERY – But for the Phillies’ mystery-pitching crew, the fun was just beginning that night. Out went Quinn, with two outs in the eighth, and in came shortstop Scott Kingery, to give up two more runs. So that made nine earned runs allowed by two position players in the same game. And if you’re thinking you don’t see that much, good thinking!
In the 105 years in which earned runs have been an official stat, no tag team of position players has ever traipsed into any game in relief and given up nine earned runs. But we’re breaking new, mystery-pitching ground pretty much daily nowadays.
And the only instance we could find of a true position player giving up nine earned runs all by himself came almost 90 years ago, in an end-of-season stunt in a meaningless game. Shortstop Mark Koenig started a game for the 1930 Tigers on the next-to-last day of the season – and actually gave up 10 earned runs to the White Sox. You’ll be happy to know he pitched three more times the following year in relief – and whittled that career ERA all the way down to a spiffy 8.44.
THE ROMINE EMPIRE – Then there was Mariners utility whiz Andrew Romine, a man so versatile, he has now played every position but catcher this season. So what was his big feat of last week? He pitched against the Dodgers last Friday. And that went so well (a hitless inning) that Scott Servais sent him back out there to face the Dodgers again Sunday.
In his encore, Romine served up a three-run homer to Justin Turner and plunked Manny Machado. But let’s overlook that part. The big news was, he actually pitched against the same team twice in the same series. And he isn’t even a pitcher! Here are the only three other true position players to do that in the expansion era:
Danny Worth (Tigers) knuckleballed his way through two sparkling outings against Texas on May 22-24, 2014.
Vic Davalillo (Cardinals) got to face the Mets twice on June 30 and July 3, 1969.
And Granny Hamner (A’s) actually pitched in both games of a doubleheader against Detroit back on Aug. 1, 1962.
Little did they know how far ahead of their time they actually were.
A DIXON MELODY – Oh, and one more: The Reds have used four different position players on the mound this season. Amazingly, they’ve combined to run up a better strikeout rate (four in 3 1/3 innings, or 10.80 per nine innings) than their actual pitchers! And as pitching debuts go, it was tough to beat Brandon Dixon’s shutout inning against the Indians last week.
Not only did he knock off a 1-2-3 inning on 10 pitches (all curveballs), he even struck out José Ramirez – swinging – on three pitches!
If you recall our note two weeks ago – after Matt Davidson whiffed Giancarlo Stanton – you’ll know that no position player in the expansion era has ever struck out a home-run champ, either in the season he led the league or the following year, when he was the reigning champ. So if that isn’t enough reason to root for Ramirez to lead the league, we don’t know what is.
USELESS INFO OF THE WEEK
CARD SHARKS – Thanks to loyal reader/tweeter Ben Cramer (@beneboi24) for posing this fun question: The Cardinals are 17-4 in August – and all four losses have been by one run. So how long has it been since any team went through a month without losing a game by more than one run?
The answer, according to Elias: To find the last team to lose four games or more in a calendar month, none of them by more than a run, you have to go back 86 years – to Chief Hogsett’s 1932 Tigers (who went 10-5 in April, with five one-run losses).
LEADING MAN – Behold the greatness of Ronald Acuña Jr.
Manny Machado led off 120 games for the Orioles over four seasons. He hit four leadoff home runs. Ronald Acuña Jr. has hit five in the last two weeks.
Kirby Puckett led off 417 games for the Twins over four seasons. He hit four leadoff homers. Ronald Acuña Jr. just did that in four games in a row.
And Rickey Henderson hit more home runs leading off the first inning (88) than anyone who ever lived. He never hit five in any calendar month. And Ronald Acuña Jr. has hit five in the last two weeks.
Just take a moment to appreciate what you’re watching. It might come along once in a generation. Ronald Acuña Jr. is that special. And oh yeah. He’s 20!
D.C. NINE-NINE – Thanks to our friend, Doug (Kernels) Kern for noticing this one. This was bound to happen, given the state of modern baseball thinking. But Tuesday in Washington, both No. 9 hitters homered in the same game – and neither of them was a pitcher.
Wilmer Difo went deep for the Nationals. Roman Quinn hit the first of his career for the Phillies. So guess how many games in history have been played by National League rules, saw both teams’ starting No. 9 hitters homer and yet neither was a pitcher?
You’ve got it. That would be zero – until this one.
GOPHER IT – You might have stopped paying attention to the Orioles the day they traded Manny Machado, but this just in: Dylan Bundy has given up 33 home runs this year. Which puts him on pace to allow 42!
We bring this to your attention because only eight pitchers in history have ever served up 42 gopherballs in one season – just five of them in the last 50 years. And of those five, just four of them had racked up more than 33 on this date. For entertainment purposes, here they are:
Bert Blyleven 1986 – 37 (gave up 50)
Jose Lima 2000 – 38 (gave up 48)
Bronson Arroyo 2011 – 34 (gave up 46)
Jamie Moyer 2004 – 34 (gave up 44)
No active pitcher has ever given up 42 (or more). No Orioles pitcher has ever given up 42. No AL East pitcher has ever given up 42. So who says there’s no September drama coming in Baltimore?
UREÑA-BALL – Has it been a weird week in the life of Marlins pitcher Jose Ureña or what?
His start Aug. 15: One pitch, one ejection (for drilling the aforementioned Ronald Acuña Jr.)
His next start Aug. 19: First career complete game.
Well, you don’t see two starts like that back-to-back real often! In the pitch-count era, which goes back three decades, he’s the first pitcher in recorded history to follow a one-pitch start with a complete game.
But in other news, he’s also the first pitcher in almost 30 years to follow a no-out start with a complete-game victory. Last man to do that, according to Elias: Houston’s Jim Clancy – who had a bizarre week of his own back in 1989.
Aug. 3 – 0 outs, 7 runs.
Aug. 8 – 9 innings, 3 runs.
Just another reminder that you can pull off goofy achievements like this even without getting ejected.
STRANGEST BUT TRUEST FEATS OF THE WEEK
SUSPENDED ANIMATION DEPT. – There’s nothing we love more, here on the Strange But True beat, than a good old suspended game, when time travel becomes a thing and the impossible becomes possible. So thanks to the Norfolk Tides for passing along this classic:
Ever heard of a guy who got hits on three different days – on the same day?
Well, meet Orioles prospect Mike Yastrzemski. On Aug. 1, he got himself mixed up in the strangest doubleheader of his life.
He got four hits in Game 1 in Charlotte. Then, when the suspended second game resumed – three weeks later in Norfolk – he got a hit at 11:45 p.m. Monday night. And he got a second hit an hour and a half later, at 1:15 Tuesday morning.
So do the math. That’s three hits. In one “day.” Which actually came on three different “days.” In two different cities. And how exactly is that possible?
Baseball!
SUSPENDED ANIMATION DEPT. 2.0 – But hang on. We’re not done with this suspended-game minor-league insanity quite yet – because our friends at the Pawtucket Red Sox passed along some madness of their own.
On July 5, they were playing a game in Rochester that got suspended by rain in the first inning. Red Sox outfield prospect Josh Ockimey missed all those rain drops – because he was busy getting three hits for the Portland Sea Dogs that day in Hartford.
But a funny thing happened when that Pawtucket-Rochester game finally resumed this week: Josh Ockimey had been promoted to triple-A by then. Whereupon he went out and got three more hits for Pawtucket.
So again, let’s do the math. That’s six hits. In one “day.” For two different teams (Portland and Pawtucket). In two different cities, neither of which was Portland or Pawtucket. This wouldn’t seem to be humanly possible – except …
Baseball!
WHO KIDNAPPED THE CUBS – The Cubs had a stretch a few weeks ago in which they scored 46 runs in four games. Then somehow, they spent last week doing stuff no team has ever done – by which we mean breaking dramatic new ground in not scoring runs.
Five straight games in which they scored exactly one run – every one of them on a solo homer? Can’t possibly happen. Had never happened – to any team ever. And then it did – to the team that led the National League in runs scored before launching into that funk.
How Strange But True did it get? The Cubs went an entire week between hits with runners in scoring position – from an Anthony Rizzo RBI single Aug. 15 to an RBI single Wednesday by a guy who wasn’t even on the team when all this started, (Daniel Murphy).
In between Cubs hits with runners in scoring position … they played 55 innings… 226 Cubs hitters came to the plate… they left 52 runners on base… and they went 0-for-30 with men in scoring position.
How the heck did that happen? Oh, that’s right.
Baseball!
SAVE THAT BASEBALL/NEVER MIND – Has any player ever gotten his first career hit twice? Well, Braves pitcher Bryse Wilson is an excellent candidate.
In his big-league debut Monday in Pittsburgh, he lashed a line drive to right. (Exit velocity, according to our friends at Statcast: an impressive 97.5 MPH.)…He hustled down the line. (Statcast sprint speed, according to ’s Anthony Simon: an above-average 27.6 feet per second.)… And then…
A lot of good that did him – because Pirates rightfielder Gregory Polanco charged it and still threw him out at first. That wasn’t too hospitable, now was it?
So what’s the story when a guy’s first career hit is actually an out? Ah, yes:
Baseball!
TRIPLE TROUBLE – Finally, we’re excited to announce we have a candidate for the Strangest But Truest play of the year, thanks to the wacky triple play turned by the Rangers last week (Aug. 16).
Take a look. You’re guaranteed to enjoy it.
A couple of things make this epic.
First off, nobody had any idea what was happening, including the team turning this trifecta, the Rangers – because after they’d already recorded three outs, second baseman Rougned Odor was doing his darndest to record a fourth out. Odor told the Athletic’s Levi Weaver afterward that he knew all along. But his double-play partner, Elvis Andrus, didn’t seem to back him up on that.
“We’re like ‘Where are you going, where are you going?’” Andrus told the Athletic. “As he was going after the guy, (we were) like ‘That’s three already!”
Yep. Sure was. But that wasn’t even the best part. The best part was that the Rangers did something that’s almost impossible here. They turned a triple play without retiring the guy who hit the ball (David Fletcher). And no team had done that in (ready?) 106 years – since the Dodgers did it, by pulling the old 6-2-5-2-4 trick, against the Reds on June 3, 1912.
So now think about how hard it is – just mathematically – to get three outs on one play without the batter being one of them. After all, none of the outs came at the plate. And you’ve only got three other bases to choose from. So obviously, there’s only one real explanation:
Baseball![pic]
MLB TRANSACTIONS
August 26, 2018 •.
|TEAM |PLAYER |TRANSACTION |
| |Peter Moylan |Sent to Minors For Rehabilitation|
|[pic] | | |
|ATL | | |
| |Jimmy Yacabonis|Called Up from Minors (recalled |
|[pic] | |as 26th roster player) |
|BAL | | |
| |Jimmy Yacabonis|Return of 26th man |
|[pic] | | |
|BAL | | |
| |Scott Schebler |Recalled From Minors Rehab |
|[pic] | |Assignment |
|CIN | | |
| |Aristides |Sent to Minors |
|[pic] |Aquino | |
|CIN | | |
| | | |
|[pic] | | |
|CIN | | |
| |Scott Schebler |Removed From 10-Day DL (Sprained |
| | |AC joint, right shoulder) |
| |Cody Anderson |Sent to Minors For Rehabilitation|
|[pic] | | |
|CLE | | |
| |Ryan Carpenter |Sent to Minors |
|[pic] | | |
|DET | | |
| |Julio Urias |Sent to Minors |
|[pic] | | |
|LAD | | |
| |Julio Urias |Recalled From Minors Rehab |
|[pic] | |Assignment |
|LAD | | |
| |Josh Fields |Transferred to 60-Day DL (Right |
|[pic] | |shoulder inflammation) |
|LAD | | |
| |Julio Urias |Removed From 60-Day DL (Recovery |
|[pic] | |from left shoulder surgery) |
|LAD | | |
| |Brandon Nimmo |Sent to Minors For Rehabilitation|
|[pic] | | |
|NYM | | |
| |Gary Sanchez |Sent to Minors For Rehabilitation|
|[pic] | | |
|NYY | | |
| |Luis Cessa |Return of 26th man |
|[pic] | | |
|NYY | | |
| |Luis Cessa |Called Up from Minors (recalled |
|[pic] | |as 26th roster player) |
|NYY | | |
| |Emilio Pagan |Sent to Minors |
|[pic] | | |
|OAK | | |
| |Nick Kingham |Called Up from Minors |
|[pic] | | |
|PIT | | |
| |Clay Holmes |Sent to Minors |
|[pic] | | |
|PIT | | |
| |A.J. Schugel |Removed From 60-Day DL (Right |
|[pic] | |shoulder discomfort) |
|PIT | | |
| |A.J. Schugel |Recalled From Minors Rehab |
|[pic] | |Assignment |
|PIT | | |
| |A.J. Schugel |Outrighted to Minors |
|[pic] | | |
|PIT | | |
| |Luis Perdomo |Sent to Minors For Rehabilitation|
|[pic] | | |
|SD | | |
| |Mallex Smith |Placed on 10-Day DL (Viral |
|[pic] | |infection) |
|TB | | |
| |Andrew |Called Up from Minors |
|[pic] |Kittredge | |
|TB | | |
| |Hanser Alberto |Placed on 10-Day DL (Right |
|[pic] | |hamstring strain) |
|TEX | | |
| |Nick Gardewine |Placed on 60-Day DL (Right |
|[pic] | |forearm strain) |
|TEX | | |
| |Carlos Perez |Purchased From Minors |
|[pic] | | |
|TEX | | |
| |Nick Gardewine |Called Up from Minors |
|[pic] | | |
|TEX | | |
| |Jaime Garcia |Designated for Assignment |
|[pic] | | |
|TOR | | |
| |Aaron Sanchez |Removed From 60-Day DL (Right |
|[pic] | |index finger contusion) |
|TOR | | |
| |Aaron Sanchez |Recalled From Minors Rehab |
|[pic] | |Assignment |
|TOR | | |
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