Though we could start seeing games in the near future, the 2020 MLB season is technically still on pause. Here are the results from simulating AL games.
Who had the better mid-week series, Josh Donaldson or Brendan McKay?
Under normal circumstances, Donaldson’s romp in Detroit would be hard to top. In four games against the Tigers at Comerica, Donaldson lashed out 14 hits in 18 official at-bats, homering twice and driving in seven runs to add to his league-leading total.
More from Call to the Pen
- Philadelphia Phillies, ready for a stretch run, bomb St. Louis Cardinals
- Philadelphia Phillies: The 4 players on the franchise’s Mount Rushmore
- Boston Red Sox fans should be upset over Mookie Betts’ comment
- Analyzing the Boston Red Sox trade for Dave Henderson and Spike Owen
- 2023 MLB postseason likely to have a strange look without Yankees, Red Sox, Cardinals
With that kind of production from their big stick, it’s no surprise that the Twins swept the Tigers, by scores of 8-1, 6-3, 11-0, and 7-1.
McKay, Tampa Bay’s young pitcher, didn’t get any hits … but he didn’t allow any either. Staring down the New York Yankees and their ace, Gerrit Cole at Tropicana, he fired the season’s second no-hitter, coming away with a pressure-packed 1-0 victory.
McKay, who is 3-3, allowed three base runners, on a pair of walks to Giancarlo Stanton and one to Luke Voit. But that was it; he fanned 11 and none of the 16 batted ball outs as much as threatened to fall in.
In defeat, Cole was almost as good. He allowed just two hits, one of them being Yandy Diaz’s second-inning home run that gave McKay all the support he would need. Diaz also singled in the fifth. Cole struck out nine and did not walk anybody.
Cincinnati’s Luis Castillo no-hit the Philadelphia Phillies 6-0 April 8, striking out eight and also walking three. Two days before that Cole was working on a no-hitter of his own against Baltimore, but that game was halted by rain after five innings with New York on top 7-0.
Minnesota’s scheduled opener against the Tigers was rained out and played Tuesday as part of a double-header. In the afternoon game, Donaldson went 4-for-5 against Matt Boyd and three relievers, driving in one run. In the regularly scheduled game, he smashed three more hits in four at-bats – one a home run – driving in three more runs. On Wednesday Donaldson’’s double and three singles counted for one more RBI as Kenta Maeda coasted to his fifth victory against just two losses.
There was no letup Thursday, Donaldson delivering three more hits in five at-bats, one of them leaving the yard. During the series, his batting average rose 49 points, from .336 to a league-leading .385.