Jack Flaherty had the most dominating performance of his young career Sunday as the righty tossed 7.2 innings of one-run ball and gave up just two hits; pretty good right? To make it even better, the 22-year-old struck out a career high 13. His impressive outing helped the Cardinals take down Aaron Nola and the Phillies 5-1. It was his first win of the season. He led all players in scoring on FanDuel and DraftKings with 69.0 and 43.5 points respectively. Tyler O’Neill provided a lot of the Cardinals offense as he finished 3-for-4 with a home run and two runs scored. The home run gave him a big fly in back-to-back games. Matt Carpenter also had a three-hit effort and he added a run of his own. Odubel Herrera had his on-base streak ended at 45 as he finished 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. Maybe I jinxed him by bringing up the streak for the first time in yesterday’s Closing Bell. Flaherty’s next scheduled start is six days from now in Pittsburgh as he will take on the Pirates.
Rays Go Unconventional... Again
As you probably already know, the Rays had Sergio Romo start for the first time in his career yesterday. He pitched one inning and struck out three. It did not end there. The Rays once again today had Romo start the game for them. It was the first time in 38 years that a pitcher started back-to-back games after pitching at least one inning in the first game. Today Romo got the job done once again as he pitched 1.1 innings and did not give up a run. He struck out three and he did not give up a hit. This is not something you will see the Rays do on days when Chris Archer or Blake Snell are scheduled to pitch, but other than that, it’s anybody’s guess what Kevin Cash will do with his ball club. As long as it keeps working, there isn’t really a reason for Cash to shy away from continuing to roll with it.
That Just Happened
Thor dropped the hammer today on the Diamondbacks. Noah Syndergaard tossed seven innings and gave up just one run. He struck out seven and picked up the win thanks to a late rally by the Mets. Amed Rosario , who hadn’t homered in over 200 at-bats, went deep in back-to-back at-bats in the sixth and seventh innings to help the Mets take down the Dbacks 4-1.
Rosario wasn’t the only player to go deep twice today; J.D. Martínez , Tyler Austin , and Miguel Rojas also joined him with multi-homer days. Rojas led the group of four and all hitters today in FanDuel points (50.6 points) as he finished 3-for-3 with the two home runs, four RBI, and three runs scored. The shortstop’s previous career-high in home runs before this season was one, yes one, the two today were his sixth and seventh of the year. The two for Martinez gave have him a league-leading 15.
It took just three games for Austin Meadows to hit his first career home run as he took Jordan Lyles deep in the sixth inning to put the Pirates within one of the Padres. He finished the game 3-for-4 with the home run, two RBI, and a run scored. He will be locked into a near everyday role while Starling Marte is out and he should be owned in just about all formats.
Sonny Gray shut down the Royals today as he gave up just one run over eight innings pitched. He surrendered just four hits and struck out five. For Gray owners, hopefully this will be the start that gets him back on track as it has been a very rough start to the 2018 campaign for Gray. Despite the great outing today, his ERA still stands at 5.48.
The Cubs took down the Reds behind Yu Darvish , Kyle Schwarber , and Javier Báez . Darvish pitched six strong innings giving up just one run and striking out seven. He picked up his first win of the year. Schwarber finished 2-for-4 and hit his eighth home run of the year. Baez collected three hits and swatted his eleventh home run.
Francisco Liriano continued to look good for the Tigers has he hurled a gem today. He didn’t give up his first (and only) hit until the seventh inning. His final line was eight innings, one hit, three walks, zero runs, and five strikeouts. Unfortunately for Liriano, Shane Greene blew a 2-0 lead in ninth and kept Liriano from picking up his fourth win; his record remains a solid 3-1 despite playing for the under .500 Tigers (20-26 record). He has given up more than three runs just one time so far this season. However, his poor strikeout rates keep him from being anything more than just deep league relevant.
Burning Questions
Lance McCullers and Carlos Carrasco will do battle tonight in Houston for Sunday Night Baseball, who comes out on top?
After being released today, have we seen the last of José Bautista ?
Alex Wood walked off with a trainer; will he miss his next start?
After converting a save today, is Blake Parker the guy for the Angels going forward?
Stay tuned.