2020 MLB Season: Simulating NL games, April 6-9
By Bill Felber
As baseball remains in hiatus due to the coronavirus, we continue simulating games for the 2020 MLB season. Here are the results for April 6-9.
Two weeks into the simulated 2020 MLB season, Luis Castillo is living up to the expectations held for him by Cincinnati Reds fans. Facing the NL East-leading Philadelphia Phillies Thursday at Great American Ballpark, Castillo exceeded even the wildest of those expectations.
Castillo pitched the first no-hitter of the simulated season, blanking the Phillies on just three walks, 6-0. The Reds also committed one error behind him.
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And that was hardly the only highlight of a spectacular week in the NL sim world. On Wednesday, the Arizona Diamondbacks and San Francisco Giants battled through 17 innings before an outcome could be reached. One day later, a D-Backs slugger produced a four-homer game.
The outcome in Cincinnati lowered Castillo’s ERA over his first three starts to 1.19 and – not coincidentally – lifted the Reds into first place in the NL Central.
Eugenio Suarez and Nick Senzel homered to support Castillo’s effort. He recorded eight strikeouts.
The no-hitter came in the opener of a four-game series between the division leaders in Cincinnati.
Until being blanked by Castillo, the Phillies offense had been humming along. The no-hitter blunted a nine-game Philadelphia winning streak in which the Phillies had averaged seven and one-half runs per game.
Thanks to a sweep of a two-game mid-week series with Toronto, the Phillies retained control of the NL East by four and one-half games over Atlanta. Cincinnati rode Monday and Tuesday rainouts against the Brewers along with a Wednesday victory into a virtual tie for first in the NL Central with the St. Louis Cardinals, who lost three of four to the visiting Dodgers.
In the NL West, Arizona rode the 17-inning decision and the four-homer game to victory in three of four contests with the Giants and retained a game and a half lead over San Diego, with Los Angeles another half-game back.