Friday's MLB slate saw the Cubs receive another strong start and Christian Yelich hit another home run. Additionally, the Marlins won their fifth game of the year -- hey, don't laugh, Miami entered with the majors' worst record -- and the Astros teed off against the Rangers.
It's worth noting that two games were postponed due to inclement weather: The Orioles and Twins will make up their contest as part of a doubleheader on April 20, while the Indians and Braves will play two Saturday in Cleveland, beginning at 4:10 p.m. ET.
Select games can be streamed regionally via fuboTV (Try for free). For more on what channel each game is on, click here.
Baseball schedule/scores for Friday
- FINAL - Cubs 5, Diamondbacks, 1 (box score)
- FINAL - Pirates 4, Giants 1 (box score)
- FINAL - Yankees 6, Royals 2 (box score)
- FINAL - White Sox 7, Tigers 3 (box score)
- FINAL - Marlins 3, Nationals 2 (box score)
- FINAL - Red Sox 6, Rays 4 (box score)
- FINAL - Astros 7, Rangers 2 (box score)
- FINAL - Dodgers 5, Brewers 3 (box score)
- FINAL - Mets 5, Cardinals 4 (box score)
- FINAL - Rockies 4, Phillies 3 in 12 (box score)
- FINAL - Blue Jays 5, Athletics 1 (box score)
- FINAL - Mariners 5, Angels 3 (box score)
- FINAL - Reds 3, Padres 2 in 11 (box score)
Red Sox start pivotal stretch with win over Rays
The Rays are off to a tremendous start; the Red Sox are off to a horrendous start. Based on that, you would think Tampa Bay would've walked all over Boston on Friday night, in the first of a three-game set. That's not what happened though, because that's not how baseball works.
Rather the Red Sox pulled out a 6-4 victory behind home runs from Mookie Betts, Mitch Moreland (those two going back-to-back with their shots) and Christian Vazquez. The win pulled Boston to 7-13, or seven games back of the Rays, who are now 14-6.
As silly as it sounds for mid-April, Friday was the start of a pivotal stretch for the Red Sox. They'll play two more against the Rays in St. Petersburg, then head home for four against the Tigers. After that, they'll play host to the Rays for three more. In other words, if Boston wins both series against the Rays -- and that's a tall ask given how the respective teams are playing -- they could gain two full games over the course of the next week.
The opposite is possible -- and, again, perhaps more likely based on the season to date -- and Boston could find itself almost 10 games back as the calendar flips to May.
Fireworks cap night
Once most of the action was done for the night, the die-hard baseball fans were left with just three games. At one point, all three were tied in late (or extra) innings. There were fireworks, too. Let's run through the games in Denver, Anaheim and San Diego.
Trout ties the game: Mariners starter Marco Gonzales was working on a gem when David Fletcher reached on an infield single, bringing Mike Trout to the plate as the tying run. This wasn't all too surprising ...
Mariners still power up: In the top of the ninth, Tim Beckham would break the tie with a solo shot and Omar Narvaez would go back-to-back for some insurance. The Mariners would hold on to win. The other two games, well ...
Around the same time, the Phillies and Rockies had been playing into extra innings for a bit. It was actually dragging until Bryce Harper broke the tie with a double in the top of the 12th.
Meantime, the Reds and Padres were also knotted up. You, die-hard baseball fan, have never wanted three TVs side-by-side-by-side so badly, we're telling you. In the bottom of the 10th, Padres second baseman Ian Kinsler led off with a double. All seemed well until he tried to steal on the pitcher. He was easily caught at third base and the Padres would do nothing. The Reds in the top of the 11th got a Derek Dietrich -- what a season he's having, by the way -- two-run bomb to take the lead.
You thought we were done in Colorado? C'mon. It's Coors Field. Crazy is the norm. Charlie Blackmon, it's your turn.
Back in San Diego, the Padres actually got one back on the Reds in the bottom of the 11th and forced a pitching change. It was Michael Lorenzen on to face Manny Machado, who represented the tying run. Machado singled, bringing Wil Myers to the plate as the winning run. Lorenzen would strike him out. Reds win 3-2.
To reiterate, all three games were going through their final sequences at pretty much the same time. What a conclusion to the MLB night.
Yelich hits majors-leading 11th home run
Brewers outfielder and reigning NL MVP Christian Yelich has been hot for ... well, as long as we can remember. During Friday's game against the Dodgers, he hit his 11th home run, the most in the majors. We wrote more about Yelich's season-to-date, including the record he's trying to break.
Stroman fuels Jays victory
For as bad as the Blue Jays were to begin the season -- consistently being no-hit deep into games and fielding atrocious lineups -- to their credit they've gone on a little tear as of late. On Friday, they knocked off the Athletics, giving them their fourth win in five tries.
Marcus Stroman was the key to the Jays' latest victory. He threw eight innings, allowing one run, walking two and striking out six on 109 pitches. Stroman generated nearly twice as many grounders (13) as fly balls (seven) and generated 11 swinging strikes (eight on his slider), per Statcast.
Stroman has quietly put together a strong April. In his first four starts, he averaged nearly six innings a pop while recording a 1.99 ERA and 2.30 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He still hasn't allowed a home run this year.
Stat of the day: Hendricks helps Cubs pull rare feat
The Cubs defeated the Diamondbacks in a Friday matinee and along the way Kyle Hendricks helped pull off a feat the franchise hadn't seen in nearly five decades.
Hendricks threw seven scoreless frames, striking out 11 and permitting three hits and two walks. By virtue of that, he became the third consecutive Cubs starter to toss at least seven shutout innings -- the first time Chicago had seen that happen since 1971, when it was accomplished by Bill Hands, Milt Pappas and Juan Pizarro:
Consider the streak and Hendricks' performance welcome sights to the Cubs' sore eyes. Hendricks entered the game with a 5.40 ERA in his first three starts on the season.
Highlight of the night: Hernandez homers off Hader
Josh Hader entered Friday night having allowed one home run in his first 10 innings. Predictably, based on the bold print above, he gave up his second to the Dodgers.
With the Brewers and Dodgers tied 2-2 in the eighth inning, Enrique Hernandez launched a three-run shot off Hader to give L.A. the lead. The Dodgers wouldn't relinquish it, either.
As such, the Dodgers have now taken the first half of their four-game set with the Brewers. It's a rematch of last fall's NLCS, and it looks like Los Angeles has a good chance of again coming out on top as the victors.
Hernandez, by the way, entered the night with four home runs and a 134 OPS+ in his first 19 games this season. He has taken to starting everyday with aplomb.
Quick hits
- Matt Snyder wrote about Pirates OF Gregory Polanco's attempted return to the majors from shoulder surgery.
- Snyder also covered how the Pirates rotation is the key to their hot start.
- Dayn Perry published his latest edition of the MLB Star Power Index.
- Mets ace Jacob deGrom, the reigning NL Cy Young winner, is on the injured list and heading to New York for an MRI on his sore elbow.
- Major League Baseball handed down suspensions pertaining to the White Sox-Royals dust-up.
- The Yankees, facing a slew of injuries, signed 1B/DH Logan Morrison.
- Gio Gonzalez fired agent Scott Boras. It's worth noting Gonzalez had to settle for a minor-league deal with the Yankees late in spring. Gonzalez is reportedly expected to opt out of that deal.
- The Diamondbacks acquired C Blake Swihart and international bonus pool money from the Red Sox in exchange for OF Marcus Wilson.
- Pirates OF Starling Marte was carted off following a collision with SS Erik Gonzalez.