The Blue Jays offense pounded the Red Sox, the Phillies got an ace performance from their offseason signee, and more in today’s Relief Roundup!
At Call to the Pen, we want to ensure every MLB team is getting coverage, and that you’re well-informed as the reader! As part of that, we have brought back our daily piece into our collection with all of the night’s scores in the major leagues, the top performers in the minors, the minor league schedules, and a bit of history/birthdays at the very end.
Without further adieu, let’s begin!
Yesterday’s MLB Scores
Pittsburgh Pirates 7, Milwaukee Brewers 3 in Pittsburgh – The Pirates scored 3 in the bottom of the first and another pair of runs in the 3rd to get the home victory over the division-leading Brewers on Friday night.
Texas Rangers 5, Baltimore Orioles 4 in Baltimore – The Rangers used a 4-run 7th inning to gain themselves a road win after holding off a 3-run rally by the Orioles in the bottom half of the inning.
Cleveland Indians 6, New York Yankees 5 in Cleveland – The Indians jumped out on rookie Domingo German, and Cleveland rookie Shane Bieber tossed 7 strong innings as the Indians took a game in this matchup of potential playoff foes.
Philadelphia Phillies 2, Miami Marlins 0 in Miami – Jake Arrieta was strong Friday in a great pitching matchup with the Marlins’ Wei-Yin Chen, and the offense gave just enough to get the win.
Toronto Blue Jays 13, Boston Red Sox 7 in Boston – The Blue Jays offense responded to a 5-run Boston 2nd inning with 5 runs of their own and then tacked on 5 more runs in the 8th and 9th innings to secure the win Friday night.
New York Mets 4, Washington Nationals 2 in New York – The Mets jumped out to an early 4-0 lead after 2 innings, and that was more than enough for Noah Syndergaard, who shut down the Nationals offense on the night.
Arizona Diamondbacks 2, Atlanta Braves 1 in Atlanta – A rainy game allowed for some added break on some pitches for pitchers, but also for some difficulty controlling for others, and the Braves bullpen struggled with locating, leading to the game-winning run in the 7th inning.
Houston Astros 3, Detroit Tigers 0 in Houston – Dallas Keuchel was strong in his last start before the All-Star break, and the Astros put up a pair of runs early in the game and made them stand up.
Chicago White Sox 9, Kansas City Royals 6 in Chicago – In a game between two teams battling more for draft pick position than playoff position, the veteran starter showed the way as James Shields was steady on the mound for the White Sox, continuing to improve his stock as the deadline nears.
Minnesota Twins 11, Tampa Bay Rays 8 in Minnesota – Two teams that have been more known for their pitching this season exploded in an offensive battle, pounding out 13 combined extra-base hits!
Cincinnati Reds 9 St. Louis Cardinals 1 in St. Louis – Matt Harvey continued his strong run with the Reds as they used a 5-run 7th inning to put the game well out of reach on the road Friday night.
Colorado Rockies 10, Seattle Mariners 7 in Colorado – The Rockies and Mariners played an old-fashioned Colorado shoot-out on Friday, and the Rockies put up enough to come away with the home victory.
Chicago Cubs 5, San Diego Padres 4, 10 innings in San Diego – A nip-and-tuck game that saw 5 lead changes and two ties was finally decided in the 10th inning on a pair of errors that allowed Javy Baez to come around with the game-winning run.
Los Angeles Dodgers 3, Los Angeles Angels 2 in Los Angeles – In the battle of two very quality teams in Tinsel Town, the Dodgers scored first and last in a tight game to come away with the win Friday night.
San Francisco Giants 7, Oakland Athletics 1 in San Francisco – Madison Bumgarner was dominant as the Giants took the opener of the Bay Series on Friday night. The Giants offense was able to generate 8 hits and 5 walks on the night.
Top Pitcher
Coming into this season, the Phillies knew they were on the cusp of breaking out in their rebuild process, and while they had a number of quality arms in their system, they hadn’t quite developed that true front-line starter quite yet. While Aaron Nola has taken that step this season, whether he does it or not without the presence of Jake Arrieta, who the Phillies brought in to be their veteran presence in the rotation, is anyone’s guess. Arrieta did what a veteran frontline guy should do Friday night, shutting down the Marlins with no runs over 6 innings as the Phillies expanded their NL East lead.
Top Hitter
The Blue Jays were able to pound out a win in Boston on Friday night behind Justin Smoak‘s 2 home runs and 4 RBI. Smoak has continued his big breakout season of 2017, when he hit 38 home runs and had a 129 OPS+. This season he’s now hit 16 home runs and posted a 134 OPS+.
Today’s Game to Watch
While they have four All-Stars, one of the “snubs” that Atlanta Braves fans could claim would be lefty Sean Newcomb, who has had a very good first half overall. He takes the hill as the Braves host the Arizona Diamondbacks in a mid-afternoon game.
Next: AA/AAA