| Cloyd got it done on the hill and in the batter's box Monday. (Getty Images) |
It's rare for Monday to provide us with a full slate of games, but it was Labor Day, so we got 15 of 'em ...
Full Labor Day scoreboard with recaps and box scores for every game
3 UP
Tyler Cloyd, Phillies: Cloyd and his 'mates went into Labor Day set to face off against one of baseball's best teams (if not the best team) and one of the frontrunners for the NL Cy Young award, in Reds' ace Johnny Cueto. Cloyd, a rookie making his second career start, went out and stole the show. Not only did he throw seven strong innings -- giving up only four hits and one run while striking out nine -- but he also collected his first major-league hit and run scored. It's worth noting that the Phillies are now just eight games out of a wild-card spot. Of course, they'd have to jump over five teams to win a spot. Just saying ... stranger things have happened.
Joe Saunders, Orioles: Saunders was lit up in his first start for the Orioles, but Monday he went out and stifled the Blue Jays. He was perfect through 17 hitters and ended up only giving up three hits in 6 1/3 shutout innings. And don't look now, but the win -- and the Rays' win over the Yankees -- means the Orioles are one game behind the Yankees in the AL East. Amazing.
Luis Cruz/Andre Ethier/A.J. Ellis, Dodgers: The Dodgers seem buried, but then Ethier hit a game-tying home run in the ninth to force extra innings. Then, in the 11th, Ethier singled to start the game-winning rally. Luis Cruz singled Ethier to third (Cruz was 4-for-5 on the game) and A.J. Ellis knocked in Ethier for a walkoff single. So L.A. was able to keep pace with the Giants in the NL West.
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Tigers: Coming off a three-game sweep of the White Sox to pull into a first-place tie, the Tigers went out and lost to the Indians, 3-2. The Indians entered the game having gone 6-29 in their last 35 games. It's only one game out of 162, but the Tigers needed to take care of business and get a sweep in this series.
Pirates: Uh oh. The Bucs are stuck 11 wins away from that elusive No. 81. They've lost four straight and have gone 7-17 since August 8. The worst thing about the loss Monday was that it came against the Astros in PNC Park. The Astros improved to 14-53 on the road with this win. Yikes.
Mike Fiers, Brewers: The Brewers are attempting to climb back into wild-card contention, but efforts like Fiers' start Monday won't help. He allowed six runs on six hits in just 3 1/3 innings. Two of Fiers' six allowed runs were unearned ... but those were due to two Mike Fiers throwing errors. So, yes, it was a rough day for the rookie. His ERA has moved from 1.80 to 3.11 within the past month, too.
Piling on: It's been a catastrophic past 12 months for the Red Sox, and it's getting worse. They've currently lost seven straight games, the longest current streak in the majors. They'll look to avoid an eighth straight loss Monday against a Mariners team that has been real good in the second half. It's Jon Lester (8-11, 5.01) against Blake Beaven (9-8, 4.95). 10:10 p.m. ET
A's-Angels, Take II: The Angels won Monday to open the series -- which amounts to a huge series for L.A. -- meaning they broke the A's nine-game winning streak and have won six of seven of their own. Tuesday, the Angels hope to keep things rolling as they sit 3.5 games back in the wild-card race. The A's would obviously love to help bury the Angels, and we also get a good pitching matchup. It's Zack Greinke (3-2, 4.82 with Angels) against Jarrod Parker (9-7, 3.72). 10:05 p.m. ET
Will Yankees lose lead? The Yankees have held sole possession of first place in the AL East since June 12, but if they lose to the Rays and the Orioles beat the Blue Jays Tuesday, it'll be all tied up with less than a month to play -- and the Rays would only be 1.5 games out, too. Freddy Garcia (7-5, 4.90) gets the ball for New York while Tampa Bay will start Alex Cobb (8-8, 4.39). 7:00 p.m. ET. Quite a bit further north, the Orioles are hoping Zach Britton (4-1, 4.80) can build off his strong last outing against Carlos Villanueva (7-4, 3.10), who has also been pitching well lately, and the Blue Jays. 7:07 p.m. ET.
Tuesday's probable pitchers
• Return of Oz: I really hope he does ...
• Human windmill: Brett Jackson has shown good power potential lately, but his overall rate stats aren't very good, mostly because he is an utter strikeout machine. In 100 plate appearances, Jackson has fanned 43 times. That's a much higher rate than Adam Dunn's. BaseballAnalytics.org breaks down Jackson's whiffing.
• BABIPROB? Batting average on balls in play is one way the sabermetric community judges which pitchers have been "lucky" or "unlucky." Beyond the Box Score goes a step further and checks out BABIP with runners on base, listing the top 15 highest since 2002. At the top, Luke Hochevar in 2009.
• Tweet of the day: This is pretty funny ...
• That would leave a mark ...
(Sorry for all the tweets, Labor Day was barren on the blogosphere -- I guess many leave their mothers' basements to go to cookouts? I will have to keep that in mind for next year and venture out myself, but at least Mom's meatloaf hit the spot).
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