On the second Monday of the baseball season, the New York Yankees celebrated their home opener while the Cubs raised their 2016 World Series championship banner and the Royals honored the late Yordano Ventura. Here are the rest of the notable happenings.
Scores and box scores
Yankees 8, Rays 1 (box score)
Tigers 2, Red Sox 1 (box score)
Athletics 2, Royals 0 (box score)
Giants 4, Diamondbacks 1 (box score)
Mariners 6, Astros 0 (box score)
Mets 4, Phillies 3 (box score)
Reds 7, Pirates 1 (box score)
Nationals 14, Cardinals 6 (box score)
Padres 5, Rockies 3 (box score)
Cubs 3, Dodgers 2 (box score)
Cubs follow ceremony with victory
The scene when the weather delay was finally over looked a little something like this in Wrigley Field:
Then the Cubs needed to get down to business, and they did. Jon Lester would work six inning, giving up only one run on four hits while striking out seven. He was spotted an early lead after Kris Bryant doubled home Kyle Schwarber and then Lester himself picked up an RBI fielder’s choice.
Things got sticky for the Cubs in the top of the seventh, when Carl Edwards Jr. walked two and Willson Contreras was nailed for a catcher’s interference. Justin Grimm was summoned from the bullpen with the bases loaded and no out. He escaped. Joc Pederson popped out while pinch hitter Andrew Toles hit into a double play.
Fast-forward to the 10th inning and Anthony Rizzo came through with the walk-off job. Just how the champs drew it up, right?
The Cubs are 5-2 and their two losses were by one run. That sound you heard is the rest of the NL saying “uh oh.â€
Big Mike’s big game
Michael Pineda is one of the most frustrating pitchers in baseball. Over the last few years, he’s become a prime example of how some pitchers are just destined to underperform their FIP. Yet Pineda brought it on Monday, taking a perfect game into the seventh inning against the Tampa Bay Rays:
Pineda was seven outs from perfection when an Evan Longoria double broke up the bid. The Rays would go on to score a run, but Pineda finished his day with an impressive line all the same: 7 2/3 innings, two hits, one run (on a Logan Morrison home run), zero walks, and 11 strikeouts. Pineda also tallied 15 swinging strikes on the day, including 10 on his cutter-slash-slider -- of which he threw 36 times. One thing worth watching for: an increased emphasis on his changeup. Pineda threw 11 on Monday, according to Baseball Savant. He threw three in his first game against the Rays.
Will that pitch-usage tweak stick? Who can say. You never know what the next start is going to hold for Pineda, but Monday’s reminded us that, hey, there’s a talented pitcher there. Maybe Pineda can remind us of that more often heading forward.
The Royal Blues
This is a pivotal season for the Royals, as much of their nucleus hits free agency after the season. If they fall out of the race by July, we could see a firesale from general manager Dayton Moore.
So far, so ... not good at all.
The Royals were shutout by the A’s on Monday, 2-0. They are now 2-5 on the young season.
Almost everything has been bad so far, really. The Royals entered the game ranking 11th in the AL in runs, 13th in average, 14th in on-base percentage and 10th in slugging. That was before getting three hits -- all singles -- and drawing four walks while scoring zero runs in their nine innings on Monday.
Meantime, the pitching hasn’t been very good either. The ERA was over 5.00 before Monday.
It’s only seven games and the Royals could easily get very hot here in the coming days, but this group isn’t accustomed to this type of start these days. They were 8-2 through 10 games last year and started 7-0 in 2015.
Jay Bruce is packing the punch
For much of the offseason, the rumors were swirling that the Mets were trying to trade Jay Bruce to help alleviate their outfield logjam, but a deal never came to fruition. The way things are going this season, Bruce is going to go from being a trade rumor to a hero in Queens.
On Monday, Bruce homered twice, driving home three runs in the Mets’ 4-3 victory over the Phillies, pushing the Mets’ record to 4-3 on the season. Not only that, but he broke the 2-2 tie with this shot in the eighth:
Obviously it’s a small sample (do we really have to keep giving these caveats throughout April?), but Bruce is hitting .304/.448/.870 with four homers and six RBI so far this year. He’s had a penchant to carry on hot streaks through his career, too. Maybe not so much the average and OBP these days, but he had 25 homers and 80 RBI through 97 games last year with the Reds before the trade sent him to New York. If he does something like that with the Mets this year, the Mets will be sitting pretty.
Giants avoid late drama, again
The Giants’ bullpen was a mess last season, especially late. Remember, they blew a lead in historic fashion to be eliminated from the NLDS by the eventual world champion. They then signed closer Mark Melancon in the offseason and that was supposed to help shore everything up.
Then he blew the save on opening day and the Giants opened the season with a terrible 1-5 record.
Well, maybe the worm has started to turn. After getting a win on Sunday in San Diego -- with a relatively drama-free ninth from Melancon -- the Giants pulled one off again on Monday. Though Melancon allowed a single, it was an infield single and he worked around that with three straight outs afterward.
So that’s two straight saves and the Giants are now only two games under .500 with 154 games left on the schedule. Breathe, San Fran. Just breathe.
Mariners show resolve
The Mariners took a 9-3 lead into the ninth inning on Sunday and ended up losing, 10-9, after a historic Angels comeback.
They then had to fly home with the worst record in baseball (1-6) and play an afternoon game, serving as their home opener for the 2017 season.
And the Mariners played easily their best game of the young season. The offense pounded out 11 hits, including four doubles, helping to drive home six runs. James Paxton allowed only four hits and two walks in seven innings while striking out eight en route to a 6-0 win.
Perhaps the best sign? The Astros threatened late and the Mariners didn’t fold. Reliever Dan Altavilla had to face star shortstop Carlos Correa with the bases loaded and one out in the eighth. It was a six-run lead, just like on Sunday. Altavilla hung in there to strike Correa out and then induced a Carlos Beltran pop out to end the threat. Even Scribner then came through with a 1-2-3 ninth inning.
One of the many great things about baseball is the ability teams have to go out and erase the memories from the previous day with a win the following day. To the Mariners’ credit, they got the job done.
Take note that the M’s are 2-6, just as they were through eight games last year. They won 86 games last year. That might be good enough to win a wild card this year, but there’s also a decent chance this team is good enough to win a few more. It’s folly to ever start counting out teams after one week, but some people do it. Don’t be that person with this team. They showed some strong mental toughness on Monday in front of their home fans.
The Reds’ bullpen was perfection
The Reds beat the Pirates and are now 5-2 on the year. In this one, promising young starter Brnadon Finnegan ran way too high a pitch count and needed to be pulled after recording only six outs.
No matter.
Michael Lorenzen worked three perfect innings before Cody Reed did the same. Wandy Peralto then went 1-2-3 in the ninth inning.
Coming off the disaster that was the Reds’ bullpen in 2016, this is mind-boggling. They were historically bad last year. On Monday, three relievers combined for the following line: 7 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 9 K. Raisel Iglesias and Blake Wood have also been great this year and weren’t even needed.
Again, only seven games, but things are looking up in Cincy.
Nationals offense is on fire
The only downside is the Nationals probably would like to be better than 4-3 right now, given how the offense has hit overall. Bryce Harper had a career-high four hits on Monday and is hitting .385/.500/.654. Adam Eaton has to hit leadoff with the Trea Turner injury, but that’s cool because his OBP is .485 right now. Daniel Murphy is hitting .419. Ryan Zimmerman, after an awful 2016 season, is hitting .400 with an .840 slugging. Jayson Werth’s line? .360/.429/.600. How about Matt Wieters? .400/.520/.550. Even Stephen Drew went 3 for 4 with four RBI and three runs on Monday.
Quick hits
- The Tigers demoted former closer of the future Bruce Rondon following consecutive bad performances. In Rondon’s place, the Tigers promoted Joe Jimenez -- a beefy right-hander with a hot fastball and late-inning aspirations.
- The Red Sox are battling the flu.
- Gary Sanchez, the Yankees catcher, will miss the next four weeks.
- Mariners shortstop Jean Segura left their game with a hamstring injury. Manager Scott Servais said after the game that it was “very mild.â€
- Giants catcher Buster Posey left after getting hit in the helmet with a pitch.
- Mets leadoff man Jose Reyes is 1 for 27 with nine strikeouts this year. Woof.
- Speaking of “woof,†the Cardinals’ bullpen ERA so far this season is 8.86 after giving up eight earned runs in four innings of work Monday in D.C.
- Wil Myers became the second Padres player to ever hit for the cycle. And while we’re here, give the Padres credit for a 4-4 start after I called them “awful†on opening day.