Tuesday's slate of MLB action featured 16 total games, including three outside the continental United States. That might be a single-day record! Here is everything you need to know from the world of baseball Tuesday.
Tuesday's scores
- Blue Jays 11, Royals 3 (box score)
- Blue Jays 5, Royals 4 (box score)
- Marlins 9, Yankees 1 (box score)
- Tigers 4, Orioles 2 (box score)
- Rockies 2, Pirates 0 (box score)
- Indians 6, Twins 1 (box score)
- Rangers 7, Rays 2 (box score)
- Nationals 5, Mets 2 (box score)
- Phillies 5, Braves 1 (box score)
- Brewers 2, Reds 0 (box score)
- Cardinals 5, Cubs 3 (box score)
- Diamondbacks 1, Giants 0 (box score)
- Athletics 10, White Sox 2 (box score)
- Red Sox 10, Angels 1 (box score)
- Astros 4, Mariners 1 (box score)
- Dodgers 7, Padres 3 (box score)
Corbin loses no-hitter in worst possible way
Diamondbacks starter Patrick Corbin threw a one-hit shutout against the Giants on Tuesday. The one hit came from Brandon Belt. The box score doesn't tell you just how jarring it likely was, though ...
Ouch. Full story from R.J. Anderson here.
Indians, Twins begin Puerto Rico Series
This week, the Indians and Twins are participating in the 2018 Puerto Rico Series, a two-game set at historic Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan. MLB has plans to play games abroad in the coming years -- the Yankees and Red Sox might play in London next year -- to help globalize the game, and the Puerto Rico Series is part of the initiative.
The Twins and Indians each have two Puerto Rican players on the roster: Jose Berrios and Eddie Rosario for Minnesota and Francisco Lindor and Roberto Perez for the Tribe. (Berrios is slated to start the Wednesday game.) On Monday, Lindor hosted a baseball clinic for approximately 250 students at the grammar school he attended.
Future Hall of Famer and Puerto Rico native Carlos Beltran threw out the ceremonial first pitch Tuesday night, and before the game, MLB honored eight first responders who risked their lives during Hurricane Maria. Here's what Beltran told MLB.com's Jesse Sanchez about baseball returning to Puerto Rico after the devastation of Hurricanes Irma and Maria:
"Being in Puerto Rico and understanding the situation and what the island has gone through in the last seven or eight months, it's good to see baseball back on the island," said Beltran, who is in the process of building 200 homes in Puerto Rico through his foundation. "I'm happy MLB is trying to make the most of the two games by helping people and letting them know they care and are not forgotten."
Throughout the week, MLB has events scheduled to help the community, as well as events to promote the game of baseball.
And how fun is this? Lindor hit a home run:
Good for Lindor and for the great people for Puerto Rico. That's the feel-good moment of the night.
The Indians would cruise to a 6-1 victory behind Lindor and 6 2/3 strong Corey Kluber innings, and they also got home runs from Jose Ramirez, Michael Brantley and Yonder Alonso.
Dodgers have a closer problem
The Kenley Jansen woes are not in the rearview mirror for the Dodgers, it would appear. The winner of the past two Trevor Hoffman NL Reliever Awards has already blown two saves. He blew only one all last season in 42 tries. It probably should have been uglier than it was, too.
Eric Hosmer led off the inning with a home run to dead center, cutting the Dodgers' lead to 3-2. Jansen would get a strikeout before Christian Villanueva appeared to hit a game-tying home run. The ball would kind of die when it reached the outfield and Dodgers center fielder Chris Taylor would rob a home run. Still, this was concerning for sure.
Jansen would then walk Franchy Cordero, who stole second and reached third on a balk, before Chase Headley tied the game with a double to right field.
Through 6 2/3 innings so far this season, Jansen has an 8.10 ERA, 1.65 WHIP, 4.05 BB/9, decreased velocity and three home runs allowed.
This is worth further examination here in the very near future, but for now, consider this a serious problem for the Dodgers. Yes, they won, but this is a big deal. Jansen being automatic the past few years was one of their biggest selling points. If that's gone, where to go from here?
Ohtani struggles, has blister
After two solid starts, Japanese phenom Shohei Ohtani struggled for the first time Tuesday night against the Red Sox. He didn't really have his good stuff, notably his splitter. He couldn't find the zone with it. He would strand some runners, but there was too much traffic (four hits and two walks in two innings). All told, Ohtani gave up three earned runs in two innings.
Yes, two innings. As it turns out, Ohtani had developed a blister in his pitching hand and was forced from the game early. We'll find out more in the coming days if this will affect him moving forward, possibly including a hiatus from pitching until the blister is gone.
Speaking of this game ...
Betts goes deep thrice
Red Sox right fielder Mookie Betts led off the game with a bomb against Ohtani. Betts would go deep twice more in the game for this third career three-homer game. Thanks to two walks, Betts had only three official at-bats and all were home runs. Since all three at-bats were solo home runs, Betts had quite the fun line score of 3-3-3-3. Also, this is something worth mention:
Rockies stay hot behind Bettis
The Pirates entered the week as one of the best stories of the young baseball season, but a visit from the Rockies hasn't gone over too well in Pittsburgh through two games. The Rockies won 6-2 on Monday and stifled the Pirates 2-0 on Tuesday. Chad Bettis worked 7 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing five hits and two walks. He's on fire to start the year; he is now 3-0 with a 1.44 ERA and 1.08 WHIP.
That's pretty good, no? It's not normal for a Rockies pitcher, either.
The Rockies are now through six games of what looked like a tough seven-game road trip (four at Washington, three at Pittsburgh). So far they are 5-1 and have won six of their past seven overall.
What's more: The Rockies have been doing this without a suspended Nolan Arenado for the past four games.
That's an incredibly impressive road trip, no matter what happens on Wednesday.
Nats have taken first two in Queens
The favorite to win the NL East heading into the season was the Washington Nationals. There wasn't really much disagreement here from anywhere, even most Mets fans. Through 2½ weeks, though, the Mets were one of the biggest stories in baseball at 12-2 and they had already built a six-game cushion on the struggling Nationals.
Through two games in Citi Field, the Nationals might just be flipping the script.
On Monday, the Nats scored six runs in the eighth inning to stun the Mets with a huge comeback victory. Tuesday, they never trailed in a 5-2 win. Trea Turner was the story here, going 3 for 4 with two doubles, a walk, two runs scored and a stolen base.
There's still one more game in this series and the Mets could win that and move their lead back to five games, but one can't help but wonder about a Nationals win already carving that deficit in half and what it would do for the morale of the Mets, who previously could do no wrong.
Blue Jays sweep Royals
Another team looking good right now is the Blue Jays. They lost their first two games of the season to the Yankees, but since then have played like one of the best teams in baseball.
They took two from hapless Royals on Tuesday, running the record to 11-5 on the season. Yes, the Jays have won 11 of their past 14 games. They're doing it right now with Josh Donaldson on the shelf, too. This team definitely has the strong feel of a contender.
Road Warrior Cardinals on winning streak
The Cardinals are fresh off a four-game sweep of the Reds and took one in Wrigley Field from the Cubs on Tuesday. That's a five-game winning streak, math majors.
Interestingly, the Cardinals are only 2-4 at home so far this season, but Tuesday they ran their road record to 8-3.
Realmuto return was real bad news for Yankees
The Marlins' best player, catcher J.T. Realmuto, made his 2018 debut Tuesday, and he was in midseason form. He would go 2 for 4 with a three-run home run that broke the game wide open. Perhaps a team in a different New York City borough was paying attention?
Regardless, the Marlins spanked the Yankees. Masahiro Tanaka was roughed up while Marlins starter Jarlin Garcia allowed only one hit in five scoreless innings (though he did walk five).
Giancarlo Stanton, by the way, went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts and left four runners on base. He's now hitting .197 with a .293 on-base percentage and 29 strikeouts in 66 at-bats. He's also being booed after nearly every out he makes.
Guerra off to great start for Brewers
Remember back in 2016, when 31-year-old Junior Guerra was one of the biggest surprises in the season? He had never previously made a big-league start, but in 20 starts that year for the Brewers, he posted a 2.81 ERA. He fell apart last season, though, pitching to a 5.12 ERA and losing his rotation spot.
Bounce-back season? So far, so good.
After allowing only one hit in 5 2/3 scoreless innings in a victory Tuesday, Guerra now owns a 0.82 ERA and 0.91 WHIP through two starts in 2018.
Also of note: Eric Thames' two-run home run was the difference in this 2-0 Brewers victory. He's off to another great April, with six home runs and a .633 slugging percentage.
Philly's big two-out rally
The Phillies and Braves went to the 10th inning on Tuesday tied at 1. The Phillies got runners on first and third in the top of the 10th, but then made two outs. Things went their way immediately thereafter, however, with Rhys Hoskins doubling home two runs. Aaron Altherr would draw a walk and then Maikel Franco would double home two more. The Phillies would win by four in extra innings and have now taken nine of their past 11 games after a 1-4 start.
Moore shuts down former team, the punchless Rays
The Tampa Bay Rays are now 4-13 and have scored two runs or fewer eight times on the season. They are bad offensively, which is probably an understatement.
Still! Former Rays starter Matt Moore worked seven innings and allowed only one unearned run for the Rangers.
Quick hits
- Top Nationals prospect OF Victor Robles does not need surgery on his injured left arm. Robles hyperextended his elbow making a diving catch in Triple-A last week. He did not suffer any structural damage but will be sidelined several weeks.
- Taijuan Walker has a UCL injury (full story here).
- The Cubs activated 1B Anthony Rizzo off the 10-day DL. He missed a little more than a week with a nagging back issue. UTIL Efren Navarro was sent to Triple-A in a corresponding move.
- The Brewers activated OF Christian Yelich off the 10-day DL, though he is not in Tuesday's starting lineup. Yelich had been out with an oblique injury. 1B Eric Thames (adductor) and OF Ryan Braun (back) are both in Tuesday's lineup.
- The Rays placed 3B Matt Duffy on the 10-day DL with a hamstring injury. UTIL Brandon Snyder was called up in a corresponding move. Duffy left yesterday's game with what the team believes is a minor hamstring issue.
- Mets LHP Jason Vargas struck out 12 batters in six innings during an intrasquad game Monday, according to MLB.com. Vargas is currently sidelined with a non-throwing hand injury and is at least 10 days away from returning.
- The A's have designated Trayce Thompson for assignment.