2020 MLB Season: Simulating NL games, May 4-7
By Bill Felber
As we enter week… we lost count… of the lockdown, CttP continues to simulate games for the 2020 MLB season. Here’s what happened in the NL from May 4-7.
One month into the simulated 2020 season, San Francisco Giants fans are already living on memories of what once was.
In this, the 10th anniversary of the first of three Giants World series winners in a five-season span, San Francisco tumbled deeper into the depths of the NL West cellar with a trio of one-sided losses to the AL Central-leading Minnesota Twins in Minnesota.
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Here’s how bad it was: The Giants were out-scored 29-5, out-hit 30-21, issued a dozen more bases on balls than they received, and allowed an inning of four or more runs in all three games. The Giants never led after the fifth inning of any of the games.
Twins pitchers had one guy to blame for any of their woes, Twins outfielder Max Kepler. In the first inning of Monday’s series opener, Kepler’s three-run home run off Drew Smyly gave them a four-run leg up on an eventual 9-1 win.
On Tuesday Kepler homered twice and drove in four runs during a 10-1 rout behind Homer Bailey, who won for the first time this season. Then on Wednesday, Minnesota rolled to a 10-3 win behind Jose Berrios. Kepler and Miguel Sano both homered twice, Kepler accounting for three RBIs and Sano five. For the series, Kepler had seven hits in 11 at-bats with five home runs and 10 RBIs.
In other NL outcomes, the Atlanta Braves took two of three from Philadelphia to narrow the gap between those teams in the NL East.
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In the Central, St. Louis lost two of three to the visiting San Diego Padres, but the Reds benefitted only minimally, splitting four games with the Mets at Citi Field.
And in the West, the Los Angeles Dodgers pummeled the visiting Chicago Cubs three times to make life difficult for the aspiring Arizona Diamondbacks, who won two of three in Washington.
Milwaukee took three of four from the Miami Marlins. In the inter-league play, Colorado lost two of three in Detroit and Pittsburgh lost twice at Yankee Stadium.