Now that the month of May has started, MLB has opened fan voting for the 2017 All-Star Game starters. The ballot is right here. The All-Star Game itself will be played July 11 in Miami. Now here is a recap of the day that was around baseball.
Monday's scores
- Blue Jays 7, Yankees 1 (box score)
- Reds 4, Pirates 3 in 10 innings (box score)
- Tigers 7, Indians 1 (box score)
- Orioles 5, Red Sox 2 (box score)
- Rays 4, Marlins 2 (box score)
- Mets 7, Braves 5 (box score)
- Phillies 10, Cubs 2 (box score)
- Astros 6, Rangers 2 (box score)
- Brewers 7, Cardinals 5 in 10 innings (box score)
- Royals 6, White Sox 1 (box score)
- Giants 4, Dodgers 3 (box score)
Tempers flare between Astros, Rangers
For the first time this season, the Rangers and Astros met on Monday night. They opened a four-game series at Minute Maid Park. The calendar just flipped to May, so it is still very early in the season, but this already feels like an important series. The Rangers sure are taking it seriously. Astros infielder Alex Bregman has given them some bulletin board material:
I'm guessing the #BTSOOTR hashtag stands for "Beat the (expletive) out of the Rangers." Either way, Jake Kaplan of the Houston Chronicle says the Rangers pinned that tweet on the bulletin board in the clubhouse, so yes, it's literally bulletin board material.
And, sure enough, things got heated right away Monday night. The benches cleared after Lance McCullers Jr. threw a pitch behind Mike Napoli in the sixth inning. Here's the video:
Previous events would lead you to believe McCullers did throw behind Napoli intentionally. First of all, Napoli hit a monster home run off McCullers earlier in the game. And secondly, Rangers starter Andrew Cashner plunked both Jose Altuve and Yuli Gurriel, though neither appeared to be intentional. Either way, McCullers didn't like it.
Last season the Rangers, who eventually won the AL West, thoroughly manhandled the Astros during the regular season. They won 15 of their 19 head-to-head games (!) and outscored Houston 92-70 in the process. Total domination. The in-state rivalry was very one-sided in 2016.
The Astros went into this series in first place in the division with a 16-9 record and a plus-23 run differential. Only the Yankees and Orioles (both 15-8) had better winning percentages in the AL prior to Monday's action. The Rangers, meanwhile, are five games back of Houston at 11-14.
These two clubs will play 19 times this season, so in the grand scheme of things one game doesn't have a huge impact on the standings. You can be sure the Astros have revenge on their mind though. They don't like the way the season series played out a year ago, and now that they're bona fide World Series contender, you can be sure they want to rub it in the face of the Rangers.
Oh, and for what it's worth, Bregman apologized for his tweet taunting the Rangers following Monday's game:
Rookie mistake, huh? Sure.
Red Sox, O's meet for first time since Machado incident
Eight days ago Red Sox reliever Matt Barnes threw behind the head of Orioles franchise player Manny Machado, apparently in retaliation for Machado spiking Dustin Pedroia in the calf during a slide into second base earlier in the series. Barnes was suspended four games for his actions, a suspension he served last week. Here's the video of the incident:
Monday night the Red Sox and Orioles met for the first time since Barnes threw at Machado -- this is already be the third head-to-head series between these two teams this year -- and MLB told the umpiring crew to be on high alert. From Evan Drellich is CSNNE.com:
As standard operating procedure, umpiring crews no longer start series with warnings to either team. So when the Orioles and Red Sox kick off a four-game set at Fenway Park on Monday, technically, no official warning will be in place for the other side.
But the closest thing to a warning likely will be implemented. Umpires are expected to be made specifically aware of the recent history with Manny Machado, Dustin Pedroia and Matt Barnes, a baseball source told CSNNE — a sort of "heads up" that should create very little tolerance for any further drama.
Both Red Sox manager John Farrell and Orioles manager Buck Showalter told reporters Monday they do not expect any more fireworks this series, and there were none Monday night. Dylan Bundy did hit Mookie Betts in the hip with a pitch, though it didn't seem intentional.
Machado did, however, get revenge against the Red Sox by sending a ball over the Green Monster for a home run. Here's the video:
That ball exploded off his bat. Mercy.
Do the players consider the matter settled? Monday's game would leave you to believe yes, but remember, Barnes did not throw at Machado until two days after Machado spiked Pedroia. This remains a situation worth watching.
Blue Jays righting the ship?
Thanks to a big night from Ryan Goins of all people, the Blue Jays won their third straight game Monday night. They won consecutive games for the first time Saturday and Sunday, so, obviously, this is their first three-game winning streak of 2017.
Goins hit a two-run home run off Luis Severino to give the Blue Jays a quick 2-0 lead in the second inning. Later in the game, he hit a rare two-run sac fly. Jacoby Ellsbury's crashed into the wall and a poor flip to Aaron Judge helped out. Here's the play:
To be fair, replays during the broadcast showed Devon Travis was running hard from second base the whole way. He was already rounding third by time Ellsbury flipped the ball to Judge, so I'm pretty sure he would have scored from second on the sac fly even with a clean flip in the outfield.
Ultimately it doesn't matter. The Blue Jays won their third straight game and may be getting themselves back on track. They've dug themselves a big hole early in the season -- Monday's win improved their record to 9-17 -- so they couldn't afford to wait any longer to turn things around.
Conforto hits third leadoff home run
For the third time in the last 11 days, Michael Conforto started a game with a home run for the Mets. Conforto smacked his seventh home run of the season and third leadoff home run Monday night in the series opener against the Braves.
Conforto is playing everyday right now thanks to Yoenis Cespedes' latest hamstring injury. The Mets have four outfielders for three spots when everyone is healthy, and because Curtis Granderson and Jay Bruce are making big money, they've been getting starts over Conforto.
Whenever Cespedes gets healthy, the Mets will have no choice but to find a way to keep Conforto in the lineup. He's too good to glue to the bench.
Vargas continues to dominate for Royals
Not much is going right for the Royals so far this season. They went into Monday's game with the worst record in baseball at 7-16, and they were averaging only 2.74 runs per game. 2.74 runs per game! That is unfathomably terrible.
Kansas City did score six runs in Monday's win over the White Sox, though the story of the game was another strong outing by lefty Jason Vargas. He held Chicago to one run in six innings, meaning his is now 4-1 with a 1.42 ERA. Vargas missed most of 2015 and most of 2016 with Tommy John surgery, and he's come back as good as ever.
Royals general manager Dayton Moore has already said he will consider a fire sale at the trade deadline if the team does not turn things around. Vargas is one of several prominent impending free agents on Kansas City's roster, joining Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, Lorenzo Cain, and a few others. Some tough decisions lie ahead.
Vargas pitching well is a win-win for the Royals. It'll help them get back in the postseason race, and, if it comes to it, it'll increase his trade value as well. Starting pitching is always in demand and there will be a significant market for Vargas come July if he continues to pitch well.
Thompson's brutal slump continues
Down in Triple-A, Dodgers outfielder Trayce Thompson is currently mired in a brutal season-opening slump. The 26-year-old has one hit in 57 total at-bats in 2017. One hit!
Thompson is 0 for 8 with the Dodgers and 1 for 49 in Triple-A so far this year. The one hit was a single. Thompson's combined batting line this season sits at .018/.111/.018. Good gravy. There's basically no coming back from that. Best case scenario now is he gets to the Mendoza line by the end of the year.
Thompson is not actually this bad, of course. Just a year ago he hit .225/.302/.436 (98 OPS+) in 262 plate appearances as a part-time player with the Dodgers. Still, that is a miserable slump he's stuck in at the moment. I can't remember too many worse than that.
By the way, the most at-bats by a big-league player with no more than one hit this season? That would be White Sox center fielder Jacob May. He'll go into Monday's game with one hit in 32 at-bats in 2017.
Quick hits
- The Mets placed staff ace Noah Syndergaard on the 10-day DL with a partial lat tear. He is out indefinitely. Syndergaard left Sunday's start with the injury a few days after refusing an MRI on his achy biceps.
- Miguel Cabrera is "all good to go" and will be activated off the 10-day DL on Tuesday, manager Brad Ausmus told MLB.com. That is the first day the two-time AL MVP is eligible to activated. Cabrera is out with a groin issue.
- Orioles closer Zach Britton is likely to be activated off the disabled list Tuesday, reports the Baltimore Sun. He pitched in a minor league rehab game Sunday and feels good. Britton has been sidelined by a forearm issue.
- Blue Jays righty Aaron Sanchez has been placed on the 10-day DL with a split fingernail, the team announced. Sanchez came off the disabled list Sunday after missing two weeks with a blister. He threw one inning before the fingernail split.
- The Athletics have activated right-hander Sonny Gray off the 10-day DL, the club announced. Gray suffered a lat strain in spring training and has yet to pitch this year. Tuesday's start with be his 2017 debut.
- Rays right-hander Jake Odorizzi has been activated off the disabled list, the team announced. He missed a little more than two weeks with an oblique strain. Righty Ryan Garton was sent down to clear a roster spot.
- Tyler Skaggs will miss 10-12 weeks with a Grade 2 oblique strain, the Angels announced. The left-hander received a platelet-rich plasma injection. Skaggs exited Friday's start after five innings with pain in his ribs.
- Rangers infielder Jurickson Profar has been optioned to Triple-A, the team announced. The move clears a roster spot for Pete Kozma, who was claimed off waivers over the weekend. Profar is hitting only .135/.289/.135 in 2017.
- The Dodgers placed lefty Hyun-Jin Ryu on the 10-day DL with a hip contusion, the team announced. The hope is he will miss only one start.