June 21, 2017

What You Need to Know

A Round Of Seagerbombs

by Colin Anderle

The Tuesday Takeaway

Cody Bellinger and Aaron Judge both added to their prolific home run totals Tuesday night, but the big story was not to be a rookie on this night.

Dodgers shortstop and reigning NL Rookie of the Year Corey Seager is just 23 years old, in case you forgot amidst all the Bellinger hoopla. And, of course, he plays the most valuable position in the infield. Tuesday night, Seager launched three home runs—his 10th, 11th, and 12th of the season—for the second time of his career.

Seager’s first bomb, a two-run job that only just cleared the center field wall following a Logan Forsythe base hit, cracked open the scoring in the bottom of the first against Robert Gsellman:

Three innings later, Gsellman gserved up another meatball and Seager went the other way, launching the ball just over the fence:

An inning later the Mets had mercifully ended Gsellman’s day after another seven innings, and there were two runners on base when Seager came up against southpaw Josh Edgin:

Seager would add a double to finish 4-for-5 with six RBI as the Dodgers piled on for a 12-0 win.

Quick Hits

On Monday, new Cubs leadoff hitter Anthony Rizzo scored on a play in which he probably should have been called out via the Posey Rule. There was some speculation from the talking heads demographic that the Padres might respond to this play by throwing at Rizzo on Tuesday. San Diego manager Andy Green quickly dispelled those rumors:

On @Mighty1090, Andy Green indicated that the Padres will not seek retaliation against Anthony Rizzo: pic.twitter.com/3bcOK4DioB

— Dennis Lin (@sdutdennislin) June 20, 2017

Hindsight being 20/20, maybe Green should’ve gone old-school with it, and told his starter to throw at Rizzo. A hit by pitch would certainly have been preferable to how Rizzo led the game off in reality:

Sometimes, the universe rewards you for being the bigger person and taking the high road. This was not one of those times. But on the bright side, Rizzo seemed to have a much easier time of touching home plate.

***

It’s incredibly rare to see “8-1 F/11,” or any lopsided score with the extra-inning modifier, but that was the final summary of Tuesday night’s Cardinals-Phillies game. Jedd Gyorko broke open the scoring with a solo homer in the top of the second:

Two innings later Maikel Franco singled home a run to tie the score, and it remained 1-1 going into the 10th, and then the 11th inning. Matt Carpenter and Dexter Fowler walked, and Stephen Piscotty plated both with a double:

The next batter was Yadier Molina:

Just two walks and two hits were enough to transform a deadlocked 1-1 game into a 5-1 formality to finish out—and Tommy Pham was coming with a two-run homer too, followed by an RBI double from Matt Carpenter.

Bad innings happen. Sometimes, they happen during extra innings and the final score looks way more lopsided than the game itself was.

***

The Rockies and Diamondbacks are squaring off, a series featuring two of the three NL West teams currently dominating the standings. Tuesday’s game, despite the notable handicap of occurring in June, had something of a playoff feel to it. The Rockies drew first blood on a wild pitch and throwing error that escorted Ian Desmond around the bases, and they stretched their lead to 2-0 in the bottom of the fourth when Carlos Gonzalez hit a home run. It was 2-1 Rockies in the eighth when David Peralta and Paul Goldschmidt went back-to-back:

The twin bombs gave the Diamondbacks a 3-2 lead, which would last until the bottom of the inning. Charlie Blackmon and DJ LeMahieu each delivered one-out singles, which brought up MVP candidate Nolan Arenado:

Arenado slammed one off the right field wall, nearly incapacitating Peralta on the bounce, and made it to third base with a two-run triple. Greg Holland nailed down the ninth to save the Rockies’ win.

***

It’s been a historic season for home runs, and Tuesday was no exception. In addition to the three-piece round of Seagerbombs, Cody Bellinger hit his 22nd of the season in the first inning:

Not to be outdone, Aaron Judge gave out a souvenir baseball of his own. The hulking Yankees outfielder cut a two-run Angels lead in half in the bottom of the fifth with an opposite-field blast:

George Springer, who was supplying power from the leadoff spot long before Rizzo ever moved into the role, hit his 21st home run of the year—including his eighth to lead off a game:

Edwin Encarnacion has been locked in as of late, and Tuesday marked his fourth upper-deck homer of the past week:

Down in Tampa Bay, Joey Votto was minted as the newest member of the 20-homer club in a 6-5 loss to the Rays:

And, last but not least, we have Kennys Vargas cold-bloodedly killing a baseball to give the Twins a 6-4 third-inning lead over the White Sox. This no-doubter was measured at 483 feet:

Defensive Play of the Day

Voters in certain congressional districts participated in a special election on Tuesday. In honor of this democratic exercise, we will have two similarly good, but aesthetically contrasting, defensive plays vying for the honor of Defensive Play of the Day. Vote for your favorite in the comments.

Representing the “Three If By Air Party,” we have Rockies outfielder Carlos Gonzalez. CarGo ended the top of the fifth by going full extension in right-center, turning a potential RBI double into an inning-ending out:

And the nominee of the “One If By Land Party,” piling up the style points, we have Jedd Gyorko with a nifty barehand play to nail Maikel Franco in the second inning of the extra-inning contest in Philadelphia:

Make your voice heard and vote for your favorite in the comments!

What to Watch on Wednesday

The Marlins have been a winning team in June, and they’re just seven games behind .500 overall. But today, they’ll be running into Max Scherzer. Scherzer is making his 15th start of the season, and it will be his first against the division rival Marlins. Scherzer has gone at least seven innings and given up two or fewer runs in every start he’s made over the past month.

Later on, it’ll be a West Coast showdown of aces in Seattle, as Justin Verlander and James Paxton toe the rubber at Safeco Field. Or, if you prefer rhyming pitching matchups to dominant pitching matchups, the Mets and Dodgers will be throwing Tyler Pill and Rich Hill, respectively. Sounds like a thrill.