In Mike Trout’s fantastic young career, he had somehow never hit a walk off home run. That all changed on Thursday night, when he smashed a Brad Boxberger pitch over the Angels bullpen to hand Anaheim a 6-5 win over the Rays. It’s pretty wild that Mike Trout, best player in all the land, had never hit a walk off dinger in the majors before, but that’s all in the past now. Maybe this is what Trout needed to get out of his slump and start hitting again.
Game of the Day: Twins 4, Red Sox 3 (ten innings). The poor Twins were trying to make this 3-1 hold all game. Phil Hughes put together an excellent start for Minnesota, and the table was set for dominant closer Glen Perkins in the ninth. But Perkins couldn’t get the job done. He allowed a lead off single to David Ortiz, and followed that up with a strikeout of Mike Napoli. Jonny Gomes and Mike Carp followed up with singles, but a strikeout of David Ross put Boston one out away from a loss. A slumping Will Middlebrooks smashed a two-run single to tie the game and hand Perkins his second blown save of the year. The game moved into extras, and in the bottom of the tenth, Kurt Suzuki doubled with one out to give the Twins a chance. After Chris Parmalee struck out, Aaron Hicks singled Suzuki home to give Minnesota a series win against the defending champs.
Pitching Lines of the Day: Johnny Cueto continued his incredible start to the season, pitching the Reds to a 5-0 win in game one of their doubleheader with the Padres. Cueto threw a complete game, three-hit shutout, walking two and striking out eight. In game two, the Padres won 6-1 behind Tyson Ross, who allowed one run on three hits over seven innings, striking out eight and walking five. In his first major league start, Jacob deGrom pitched admirably for the Mets in their 1-0 loss to the Yankees, allowing one run on four hits in seven innings, walking a pair and punching out six. The aforementioned Phil Hughes finished his day in Minnesota by allowing one run on five hits in six innings, punching out eight without a walk.
Hitting Lines of the Day: Edwin Encarnacion helped the Blue Jays double up the Indians 4-2, going 3/4 with a double, two homers, and three RBI. Michael Morse pushed the Giants to a 6-4 win over the Marlins, going 3/4 with a homer and three RBI. Starlin Castro had a nice night for the Cubs in their 5-3 loss to the Cardinals, going 3/4 with a homer and two RBI. In Milwaukee’s 4-3 win over Pittsburgh, Rickie Weeks went 3/4 with a double and a solo homer. Brandon Phillips went 2/5 with a double, a homer, and three RBI in game one of the Padres-Reds doubleheader, but was 0/4 in game two.
Other Games: The Orioles edged the Royals 2-1.
What You Missed: The week’s best defense. Could Josh Reddick be starting a walk up music revolution?
Today’s Games: Kyle Lohse and Jeff Samardzija will duel in Chicago. Sonny Gray starts for the A’s in Cleveland against Zach McAllister. Max Scherzer and Jon Lester will duel in Boston. Jon Niese starts for the Mets in Washington against Tanner Roark. Alfredo Simon starts for the Reds in Philly. Yu Darvish and the Rangers host the Blue Jays. Ervin Santana and Lance Lynn will tango in St. Louis. Chris Tillman gets the nod for the Orioles in Kansas City. Jose Quintana and the White Sox take on the Astros in Houston. Zack Greinke starts for the Dodgers in Arizona. Chris Archer and Jered Weaver will battle in Anaheim.
National TV: Pirates-Yankees (7 PM, MLB Network), Tigers-Red Sox (7 PM, MLB Network)
MLB.tv Free Game: Mets-Nationals (7 PM)
Enjoy your day of baseball, everyone.
