Sunday brought us an action-packed day of baseball and there weren't even any postponements. Rejoice! Let's run down what we saw in those 15 games.
Sunday's scores
- Red Sox 4, Rays 3 (box score)
- Orioles 5, Tigers 3 (box score)
- Blue Jays 7, Rangers 2 (box score)
- Mariners 10, Indians 4 (box score)
- Marlins 3, Rockies 0 (box score)
- Braves 10, Phillies 1 (box score)
- Pirates 5, Cardinals 0 (box score)
- Nationals 3, Diamondbacks 1 (box score)
- Astros 8, Athletics 4 (box score)
- Reds 8, Twins 2(box score)
- Royals 5, White Sox 4 (box score)
- Cubs 2, Brewers 0 (box score)
- Mets 14, Padres 2 (box score)
- Giants 4, Dodgers, 2 (box score)
- Yankees 2, Angels 1 (box score)
Yankees win ninth straight
Remember how the Yankees were supposedly going to be this juggernaut team entering the season, but then they started 6-7 and a bunch of people misguidedly overreacted? I know, it's hard to believe that people would overreact. Anyway, that's in the rear-view mirror now. With a win in Anaheim on Sunday night, the Yankees have now run their record to 18-9 with nine straight wins.
This one was rather efficient. CC Sabathia continued his impressive start to the season, working seven innings and allowed only one run on five hits. His ERA is now 1.71 for the first month. All CC would need is this two-run shot from Gary Sanchez:
Sanchez is hitting only .211 with a .272 on-base percentage this season, but he does have seven homers and 24 RBI. The rate stats will come up, too.
After digging that deep hole, the Yankees only trail the Red Sox by two games in the AL East and have the third-best record in the AL. The winning streak has come against the over-.500 Blue Jays, a 2017 playoff team in the Twins and over an Angels team that was 16-9 and coming off a series win over the Astros. This is a big-boy winning streak.
Now the Yankees head to Houston for one of the most intriguing series we've seen this season.
Pujols creeping up on 3,000
Albert Pujols grabbed a single on Sunday night, moving his career hit total to 2,996. At some point, likely in the next few days, Pujols will become the 32nd player in MLB history to reach the milestone of 3,000 hits.
Kingham debuts, takes perfect game deep
The National League Central is already shaping up to be a wild race, with four teams entering Sunday within a half game of first place. The sole owner of first so far? The Pirates, of all teams. Pittsburgh matched up with the Cardinals on Sunday, with the winner ensured a share of the catbird seat.
The starting pitcher responsible for keeping the Pirates on the overachieving track was Nick Kingham, who, by the way, was making his big-league debut. Kingham, 26, used to be a regarded as a top-100 prospect. He's since undergone Tommy John surgery and has settled into what scouts expect will be a No. 4 starter type thanks to an arsenal of largely average pitches. Nevertheless, he went out there and took a perfect game into the seventh inning.
You can read more about Kingham's efforts by clicking here.
Rays' winning streak ends at eight
The Yankees weren't the only American League East team with a lengthy winning streak on the line Sunday. The Rays -- yes, the Rays, long forgotten after starting the year 4-13 -- had won eight in a row, and could have polished off a sweep of the Red Sox.
Alas, it wasn't meant to be for the Rays, who fell 4-3. Starter Matt Andriese delivered 3 1/3 innings of shutout baseball, and Jonny Venters followed that up with a clean frame of his own. But Andrew Kittredge permitted the Red Sox to score three times across two-thirds of an inning, and closer Alex Colome later allowed a run on two hits and a walk. That run proved to be decisive.
On the bright side, the Rays continued to get surprisingly good hitting from Joey Wendle, Daniel Robertson, and Mallex Smith. The trio combined for six hits on the afternoon.
Cubs own Brewers
The Brewers came into this season with aspirations of dethroning the Cubs from atop the NL Central. They came into Wrigley Field Thursday riding an eight-game winning streak, too. It was a chance to send the Cubs a message.
Instead, the Cubs sent one of their own. In a four-game sweep, Cubs' pitching allowed only two runs, both on Friday -- so Sunday was the third shutout in a four-game sweep.
The Sunday damage came mostly at the hands of Tyler Chatwood. He worked seven strong, allowing only two hits and three walks. It was Chatwood's second win of the week, as he allowed just one run in six innings in Cleveland on Tuesday. He's lowered his ERA from 4.60 to 2.83 in two outings.
Bigger picture here was the four-game sweep. Remember, the Cubs won three of four in Milwaukee earlier this season, making them 7-1 against the Brewers this year.
The Cubs, meantime, are really starting to look like the team many thought they'd be. After a 7-8 start, manager Joe Maddon decided to change things up and go with Albert Almora and Javier Baez as his 1-2 atop the order. Since then, the Cubs have gone 8-2. The 15-10 record is a pace of 97 wins. They've also only had both Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo in the lineup together 14 of their 25 games.
Cleveland's Tomlin again roughed up
Josh Tomlin has had a miserable April. He entered Sunday having allowed eight home runs across 12 2/3 innings (that was in four appearances, three of them starts), For those unwilling to do the math, that projected out to, oh, 95 home runs in 150 innings. Yikes.
For one reason or another, Tomlin isn't going to hit that mark. The question is whether he can get back on track in time to save his spot in the rotation. Tomlin had a chance to take a positive step on Sunday against the Mariners, but, well, he didn't. Rather, Tomlin allowed 10 hits and six runs in six innings. And yes, he gave up a home run -- a pair of them.
That means Tomlin now has a seasonal ERA of 9.16, and that he hasn't made a homer-free start since Sept. 14 of last year. By the way? Tomlin is now on pace to give up just 80 home runs over 150 innings. At least he has that going for him?
Mariners rolling
The Mariners just finished a 10-game road trip at 7-3, winning give of their last six, including getting three of four from the Indians in Cleveland. The team with the longest playoff drought in MLB finishes April at 16-11. So far, so good.
Dodgers conclude terrible week
Just about one week ago, it looked like things were starting to turn around for the Dodgers after a rough start. Through last Monday, they had won seven of their last eight and had moved over .500 (11-10) for the first time all season.
After that, though, they came tumbling back down. They lost two straight to the hapless Marlins and Sunday lost to their rivals, the Giants, meaning they dropped three of four in San Francisco.
The Dodgers have now lost five of six, all their momentum and head to Arizona for a four-game series with a 12-15 record. Yuck.
To make matters worse, Cody Bellinger was benched for not hustling and he seems to disagree with that notion.
Toronto's Happ continues missing bats
Blue Jays starter J.A. Happ came into this season with a career 7.85 K/9. Heading into Sunday, Happ had really ramped up his strikeout ability on the young season. He had struck out 41 hitters against only seven walks in 29 innings.
Sunday, it was more of the same. The veteran right-hander allowed just two runs in seven innings with nine strikeouts, grabbing the win and moving his record to 4-1. He didn't walk anyone. That gives Happ 50 strikeouts and seven walks in 36 innings this season, good for 12.5 K/9. His previous career best mark in K/BB rate was 3.36 in 2015. So far this year, it's 7.14. Keep an eye on Happ moving forward. He looks outstanding.
Arizona's Ray leaves with injury
The Diamondbacks may have lost another starter on Sunday. Robbie Ray, the talented southpaw who made the All-Star Game last year, departed in the second inning after straining his oblique. Click here to read more about it.
Nationals avoid sweep
Thanks in part to Ray's injury, the Nationals were able to salvage Sunday's win and avoid a sweep at the hands of the Diamondbacks. Still, the Nats have lost six of their last eight and are just 12-16.
Braves 4-1 since Acuna called up; Albies still hot
The big-time prospect, Ronald Acuna, was 2 for 3 with two doubles, two walks and an RBI in Sunday's blowout win. He's now hitting .421/.500/.789 through five games, with the Braves having won four of those five. Obviously, Sunday wasn't just about Acuna. The Braves pounded out 10 runs on 11 hits with six doubles, a triple and two homers. One of those home runs belonged to Ozzie Albies and it was to lead off the game.
It's still only April 29, but the diminutive Albies leads the NL in runs, hits (he's tied with Scooter Gennett), doubles, home runs (tied with Charlie Blackmon) and is second to Javier Baez in slugging. What a start.
Twins aren't fixed
The Twins snapped their eight-game losing streak with a win Saturday night over the Reds. The success was short lived, as the Reds ended up taking Sunday's series finale in blowout fashion. What's worse, the Twins had their ace, Jose Berrios, on the hill and he was roughed up for four runs on five hits in three innings. He walked three and didn't strike anyone out.
The Twins are now 9-14. They were swept by the Rays last week and just lost two of three to the Reds -- who came into the series 5-20 -- at home.
Marlins had a good week!
The Marlins will likely end up this season with the worst record in baseball, or at least one of the worst two or three. It's a bad roster and they'll likely trade any valuable veterans (like J.T. Realmuto) before the end of the July.
Still, they'll always have this week. The Marlins won two of three in Dodger Stadium from the defending NL champs and then took two of three at home from a 2017 Wild Card, the Rockies. That's a 4-2 week against two playoff teams from last season. We call that a success.
Quick hits
- The Dodgers placed OF Yasiel Puig on the disabled list with a bruised hip.
- Padres OF Wil Myers was placed on the DL with a strained oblique.
- White Sox SS Tim Anderson was involved in a spat with the Royals over cursing.
- Which teams have gained and lost the most ground in the playoff races?
- Blue Jays optioned 2B Devon Travis to Triple-A.
- Phillies placed SS J.P. Crawford on the disabled list because of a strained forearm.
- Giants second baseman Joe Panik might need to undergo surgery on his left thumb. If so, he'll miss six to eight weeks (Alex Pavlovic)
- Mets slugger Yoenis Cespedes left Sunday's game with a sore thumb. X-rays were negative and he's expected to miss a few games, but not hit the DL.
- The Braves have released outfielder Peter Bourjos.