There was a full slate of baseball on Sunday as the weekend came to a close. Here is everything you need to know about the day in MLB.
Sunday's scores
- Marlins 7, Mets 0 (box score)
- Blue Jays 2, Rays 1 (box score)
- Orioles 4, White Sox 0 (box score)
- Brewers 6, Pirates 2 (box score)
- Cardinals 6, Braves 4 in 14 (box score)
- Red Sox 17, Twins 6 (box score)
- Indians 1,Royals 0 (box score)
- Phillies 6, Nationals 5 in 10 (box score)
- Rockies 5, Diamondbacks 2 (box score)
- Astros 5, Angels 3 (box score)
- Athletics 8, Tigers 6 (box score)
- Reds 4, Giants 0 (box score)
- Mariners 4, Rangers 3 (box score)
- Yankees 5, Cubs 4 in 18 (box score)
- Dodgers at Padres rained out (will be made up as part of Sept. 2 doubleheader)
Severino dominates Cubs as Yankees sweep
There was much anticipation to see the upstart Yankees facing the defending World Series champion Cubs in Wrigley Field this weekend and it all ended with a Yankees sweep.
On Sunday, the main takeaway from the game was that it lasted 18 innings. Still, much of the victory was due to starting pitcher Luis Severino.
The youngster worked seven strong innings, allowing only four hits and one run (a solo home run off the bat of Javier Baez). He struck out nine while walking just one.
Severino's slider was working pretty well for much of the outing, but the thing that makes the eyes pop here is the fastball velocity. He was still hovering around triple digits up into the seventh inning:
Offensively, the Yankees got an Aaron Judge triple to take the lead in the seventh -- bringing around Starlin Castro to score after he reached on an error -- and then Jacoby Ellsbury hit a two-run homer down the right field line to put the game into a pretty comfortable place in the top of the eighth.
The Cubs would rally to tie the game in the ninth against Aroldis Chapman and then things were in doubt until the 18th.
The series was a pretty nice statement for the Yankees. You could say they stole the game Friday, but they still had to execute. Then they obliterated the Cubs on Saturday and the win on Sunday was a great all-around team effort, especially facing off against a very good Jon Lester and then later having to extend the bullpen.
The Yankees move to 20-9, which is the best record in baseball. Meanwhile, the Cubs fall out of first place and sit 16-15.
Mets suspend Harvey
Sunday morning Mets general manager Sandy Alderson announced the team has suspended Matt Harvey three days without pay for an undisclosed violation of team rules. Harvey was scheduled to start Sunday's game. He was replaced by left-hander Adam Wilk, who was called up from Triple-A.
Jon Heyman of Fan Rag Sports reports Harvey was suspended after not showing up to the ballpark Saturday. He played golf in the morning -- that is not uncommon for starting pitchers on the days between starts -- and developed a headache in the afternoon. From Heyman:
Harvey didn't go to the ballpark Saturday, and apparently that is behind the suspension, though the Mets aren't saying the reason for the absence or the ban. Harvey sees it as a miscommunication, according to sources, as people close to him say he played golf early Saturday, got a headache when he returned home around 1 p.m., and advised the Mets of this issue.
Heyman says Harvey and agent Scott Boras will file a grievance because they believe the suspension is unfair. Harvey will lose salary and possibly service time during the three-game ban.
Regardless of what happens with Harvey and his appeal, the suspension came back to hurt the Mets on the field right away. Wilk served up a long three-run home run to Giancarlo Stanton in the first inning Sunday. Here's the video:
Stanton crushed another home run off Wilk a few innings later. That homer traveled 468 feet -- it is the longest home run hit at Citi Field since Statcast was implemented in 2015 -- and hit the windows of the Acela Club down the left field line. Here's the second home run:
Wilk finished the spot start having allowed six runs on eight hits and one walk in 3 2/3 innings as the Marlins crushed the Mets 7-0.
Giants hit rock bottom?
Just when it looked like the 2017 Giants might have a sliver of hope -- taking two of three from the Dodgers in L.A. last week -- they went to Cincinnati and totally bottomed out.
It wasn't so much that the Giants were swept by the Reds, it was how it went down. Sure, the Reds aren't terrible, and it looks like the Giants are, but the Reds outscored the Giants 27-5 on Friday and Saturday combined.
And then on Sunday, the Giants were shut out by Scott Feldman. He entered the game with a 4.83 ERA and 1.42 WHIP. In his career, before Sunday, Feldman had just four complete games and two shutouts in 101 starts. His last shutout came on Aug. 30, 2014 against a last-place team with Alex Rios hitting third, Ryan Rua fifth, Adam Rosales sixth and Tomas Telis seventh.
Sure, Feldman has had a few good outings this season, but his last time out the Pirates tagged him for seven runs on six hits in four innings. He bounced back to shut out the Giants. (Oh, and their team bus broke down on the way to the airport).
At 11-21, the Giants own the worst record in the NL and the only team in baseball with a worse record is the ...
Royals offense is offensive
The Royals were shut out on Sunday to drop to 10-20 overall, good for the worst record in baseball. The main concern here is the offense. The Royals are the worst team in baseball in more than a handful of important offensive categories. The most important is obviously runs and no team is even close to the Royals here. The Giants are the second-worst in runs with 105. The Royals have only scored 82 times. By contrast, the Nationals lead the majors with 194 runs scored to date.
How bad are things for the K.C. offense?
Ugh. There's more:
Hideous.
Bullpen continues to burn Nationals
At 21-10, the Nationals sport the best record in the NL and have an argument as the best team in baseball, but that doesn't mean we should ignore the obvious flaw here.
Heading into Sunday, Nationals relievers had combined for a 5.32 ERA (26th in the majors) with four blown saves. They've had a bit of a revolving door in the late innings and no one has really seemed to pitch consistently enough to be trusted in a high-leverage situation.
Well, except for Matt Albers. In 11 1/3 innings entering Sunday, Albers had a 0.00 ERA, 0.35 WHIP and nine strikeouts against zero walks. Beautiful line, right? So Albers got the ball with the Nationals leading the Phillies 5-2 in the eighth. There were two runners on and two outs with Aaron Altherr coming to the plate. Altherr would club a three-run homer off Albers to tie the game.
The Phillies would win in the 10th inning.
The good news for the Nats is that they likely have a while to fix this problem. It's only May 7 and they already have a 6.5 game lead in what seems an overall weak NL East.
Speaking of bullpen issues ...
K-Rod melts down, A's walk off again
On Saturday night, the Tigers had a one-run lead entering the ninth inning and gave the ball to closer Francisco Rodriguez. After getting two quick outs, K-Rod allowed a walk, double and walk-off, two RBI single to Adam Rosales.
Sunday, the Tigers had a one-run lead entering the ninth inning and gave the ball to closer Francisco Rodriguez.
Uh oh.
The A's didn't mess around much this time. Rajai Davis drew a walk. Jed Lowrie doubled Davis home to tie it. Khris Davis lined out, but it was absolutely scorched. It was pretty obvious K-Rod again had nothing. Then with a 1-0 count, Ryon Healy hit a towering blast to left-center for a walk-off home run.
Rodriguez has now blown four saves in 11 chances. He has given up runs in eight of his 13 outings, pitching to an 8.49 ERA and 2.06 WHIP.
On the A's side, Yonder Alonso tied a career high for home runs in a season already. Here's what's going on.
Tillman makes 2017 debut
Sunday afternoon the Orioles welcomed nominal ace Chris Tillman back from the disabled list. He made his season debut after being sidelined by a nagging shoulder issue that dates back to last season. Tillman missed spring training and recently completed a minor-league rehab assignment. He allowed 15 runs in 16 1/3 innings across four rehab starts.
Last season, Tillman's velocity gradually declined as he continued to pitch through the shoulder issue. From Brooks Baseball:
Tillman allowed three hits and three walks in five shutout innings Sunday, and his four-seam fastball averaged 90.0 mph. The fastest pitch he threw all afternoon was 91.4 mph. That's a tick below where he was last season based on the graph above. It's not uncommon for pitches to add velocity as the weather heats up, but, given the shoulder injury, Tillman's velocity is something worth keeping an eye on going forward.
Coming into Sunday the O's rotation ranked middle of the pack with a 4.22 ERA, which isn't too bad considering Opening Day starter Kevin Gausman has a 7.55 ERA in seven starts and 31 innings so far. Last season Tillman threw 172 innings with a 3.77 ERA.
Sale joins exclusive club, Red Sox offense explodes
For the sixth time in seven starts with the Red Sox, Chris Sale struck out double-digit batters Sunday. Sale struck out 10 Twins batters in six innings. He also allowed four runs on four hits and three walks, making Sunday's outing his worst with Boston.
The 10 strikeouts put Sale in a very exclusive club. He is now one of only four pitchers in history to strike out 10-plus batters in six straight starts multiple times in his career. It's Sale and three Hall of Famers:
Sale struck out double-digit batters in eight straight games while with the White Sox in 2015. That tied Pedro Martinez for the MLB record for consecutive starts with 10-plus strikeouts.
Later in the game, Sale's teammates distinguished themselves by scoring 10 runs in the ninth inning.
What an inning.
The Red Sox take the series and move to 17-14 on the season.
Biagini aces first career start
The Blue Jays, who are without Aaron Sanchez (fingernail) and J.A. Happ (elbow), are giving setup man Joe Biagini a chance to be a starting pitcher. He was a starter all through the minors before moving to the bullpen last season, after Toronto selected him in the Rule 5 Draft.
Biagini, 26, made his first MLB start Sunday afternoon and held the Rays to one unearned run on two hits and no walks in four innings. He struck out six and threw 52 total pitches while being held to a strict pitch count as he goes through the process of getting stretched out to start. Next time out they figure to shoot for 65-70 pitches or so.
Interestingly enough, Biagini's fastball averaged 94.1 mph during his start Sunday. He went into the start with a 95.4 mph average fastball velocity as a reliever. Like most pitchers, Biagini threw harder out of the bullpen, though he still had plenty on the fastball during the extended outing. That's encouraging going forward.
Developing into a Biagini into a viable big-league starter would be a huge coup for the Blue Jays. Starting pitching is always in demand. They will have to replace Biagini in the bullpen, however. Jason Grilli hasn't exactly been reliable ahead of closer Roberto Osuna so far this year.
Royals, Indians wear Negro League uniforms
The Royals and Indians both wore Negro League uniforms for Sunday afternoon's game at Kauffman Stadium. Here is Royals lefty Danny Duffy modeling the 1942 Kansas City Monarchs jersey:
And here is Indians righty Mike Clevinger wearing 1946 Cleveland Buckeyes jersey:
The first 15,000 fans through the gate received a replica of the '42 Monarchs jersey.
The game-used throwback uniforms from both teams will be auctioned off following Sunday's game, with the proceeds going to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City.
Rare rainout in San Diego
For only the third time since Petco Park opened in 2004, the Padres were rained out at home Sunday.
The only other rainouts at Petco Park happened on April 4, 2006 and July 19, 2015.
Quick hits
- Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun will pick up 10-and-5 no trade protection next Sunday, though he said that won't stand in the way of a potential trade. He already has a 24-team no-trade list at the moment anyway.
- Five teams watched free agent right-hander Doug Fister throw in California last week: Angels, Blue Jays, Diamondbacks, Giants, and Mets. It's unclear whether Fister is close to signing with any of those teams.
- Angels wunderkind Mike Trout is still dealing with tightness in his left hamstring and will sit out Sunday's game. He remains day-to-day as the club plays it safe with their franchise player.
- Both an MRI and an X-ray on Asdrubal Cabrera's thumb came back negative, the Mets announced. He hurt his thumb diving for a ball Saturday night. Cabrera is considered day-to-day.
- Blue Jays righty Aaron Sanchez threw a 33-pitch bullpen session Sunday and everything went well, reports Arash Madani of Sportsnet. Sanchez is out with a cracked finger nail. He'll make a minor-league rehab start Tuesday, then possibly rejoin the Blue Jays next weekend.
- The Mets have claimed left-hander Tommy Milone off waivers from the Brewers, the team announced. He'll help provide pitching depth to help cover for the injuries to Steven Matz, Noah Syndergaard, and Seth Lugo.
- The Marlins are set to sign Mike Aviles to a minor-league deal, per Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald.