In baseball, there are splits, and then there are SPLITS. It should not really come as news to anyone that Coors Field in Colorado regularly enhances the offensive statistics of just about any player that goes to work in the hitter’s haven. However, the extent to which it has done so for Trevor Story so far this season is astounding. The Rockies shortstop went 3-for-3 with two homers and a double in Saturday night’s 4-0 win over the Brewers in Denver, bringing his slash line to a ridiculous .339/.451/.946 across 71 plate appearances at home this year. It has been an entirely different Story on the road so far in 2018, as the reading is .174/.245/.279 over 94 plate appearances away from Coors.
In Case You Missed It
Story was but one of four players to drive two baseballs out of the yard Saturday. Not only did Francisco Lindor launch a couple of solo bombs in Cleveland’ 6-2 triumph over the Royals on Saturday, but he added two doubles and touched home plate four times. No one in the game is as hot as the switch-hitting shortstop right now. Lindor will ride a 13-game hitting streak into play Sunday, and over the last 10 of those contests, he has gone 21-of-45 (.467) with eight home runs and six doubles.
Atlanta slugger Freddie Freeman popped a pair of roundtrippers that helped the Braves to a 10-5 victory in Miami and the club’s ninth win in its last 10 road games. The All-Star first baseman now has 13 multi-homer performances in his MLB career, but both of Saturday night’s shots came off Jarlin Garcia , marking the first time Freeman has gone deep twice off of a lefty in a single game.
After a so-so effort in Arizona back on May 5, Charlie Morton went into Saturday’s meeting with the Rangers in search of a bounce back. Suffice it to say, the veteran righty bounced back. Morton punched out a career-high 14 batters across seven stellar innings, surrendering only one run on four hits and no walks. He is now 5-0 with a 2.03 ERA, 0.97 WHIP and 11.5 K/9 through his first eight starts of the campaign.
Sunday on the Hill
Dallas Keuchel will draw the task of following up on Morton’s performance for the Astros. Keuchel was fairly mediocre throughout the first month of the season, but he has been quite solid in his first two May outings. Across his last 15.0 innings, the 2015 A.L. Cy Young winner has allowed just four earned runs on 11 hits and two walks while striking out nine. He will battle the Rangers for the second time this year Sunday afternoon. In the first matchup, which came on March 30, Keuchel gave up three runs on seven hits with four strikeouts over 6.0 innings.
Can 23-year-old Fernando Romero keep his scoreless streak going Sunday? The Angels will oppose the Twins’ rookie with the league’s sixth-best scoring offense (5.13 R/G). Over his first two MLB appearances, Romero has turned in a combined 11.2 shutout innings, allowing seven hits while putting up a 14-to-6 K/BB ratio.
Another promising righty looking to prove himself at the highest level Sunday afternoon is Freddy Peralta . The 21-year-old hurler is ranked as the Brewers No. 9 prospect (MLB.com) and will make his big-league debut in arguably the least ideal venue possible; the aforementioned Coors Field.
You can follow Nate Miller on Twitter @Miller_RotoDad or hear him every Monday & Thursday hosting the Fantasy Alarm Fantasy Baseball Podcast along with Colby Conway.