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00:00a four-game sweep at stake yesterday in Kansas City, part of an 11-game slate on a Thursday
00:10around Major League Baseball. Often, as we shared yesterday, Thursday slates in MLB,
00:15not all that awesome because there's not all that many games. So yesterday, rather robust
00:22with 11, including that finale inside Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City trying to get a win over
00:29the New York Yankees at home. And it seemed as though they were going to be swept in four games.
00:34Clay Holmes on the bump for New York in the home half of the ninth, looking for a save. That's
00:40always a recipe for success for the Pinstripes. Mikel Garcia had other ideas for the Royals. A
00:48two-RBI double to walk it off inside Kauffman as KC avoids the sweep. They win four to three.
00:55That's win number 40 for Kansas City on June the 13th. It took them until August the 18th
01:03a season ago to reach the 40-win benchmark. Yeah, but the pass watch in there too, getting that big
01:08base hit here with two RBIs certainly helping that problem. And then Garcia, the two RBIs as well.
01:12The one guy you can always count on. That didn't get an RBI yesterday. Bobby Witt again on base
01:16three times, two for three at the plate, now hitting 330 on the season. He's been nothing
01:21short of sensational. But also I got to admit this, watching this game in the afternoon,
01:25I was somewhat surprised, obviously, that the New York Yankees weren't able to get to Marsh.
01:29But also when I watched that eighth inning and saw the Yankees take that three to two lead,
01:33I figured the game was over. I actually didn't find that that final score until a little bit
01:36later on watching the Phillies game. I'm like, wow, how about that? Kansas City came back because
01:39it's one of those things where, ah, three to two, good bullpen comes in for the Yanks. This game is
01:43a wrap. So good fighting effort for Kansas City to avoid that four-game sweep and get their 40th
01:48win of the season. But also take a look at the New York Yankees. We know they're going to hit.
01:52Yesterday was the perfect scenario, though. I'm talking mid-80s, wind blowing out against a
01:56pitcher that you should be able to dominate. They weren't able to do so, but also on the opposite
01:59side, Nestor Cortez with a pretty good pitching performance for the New York Yankees, seven
02:03innings pitched and two earned runs, lowering his ERA to around 3.5. That's pretty solid for him.
02:08So good win for the Kansas City Royals, but still some things you could take away from that pitching
02:13stand for the Yanks. Yesterday, the total was 10 and a half in Kansas City because of the wind
02:18and warm weather, and it does stay under. The Yanks snapped their four-game winning streak.
02:24The Royals snapped their four-game losing skid. KC got off to a great start this year, 34-19
02:31near the end of May. They entered yesterday 5-11 over their previous 16 games. So a win the Royals
02:38needed to get to 40. The Yankees have still won 12 of their last 14 games, and the Yankees are still
02:44the best team in baseball, 49-22, the most wins in the majors, the best record in MLB as well.
02:53So the Yankees still atop the charts, minus 4.30 to win the American League East, the short
02:58favorites to win the pennant in the AL as well. Yeah, and by the way, you have to take a look at
03:03this because the Yankees are playing for home field advantage, which of course is going to
03:06be important come playoff time. But look at their road splits here, 27-12 on the road this year
03:11for the Yanks, so obviously doing a lot of damage away from the Bronx here. That can only help you
03:16throughout the summer months. Again, you're going to lose games. The key to the ingredients here, if
03:21you're a quality baseball team, again, that's 27-12 is impressive, but if you can just pick up road
03:25victories and series victories on the road, that really helps you. So looking at the Yankees here,
03:29they're no fluke at this point. They're getting great pitching, and also we keep saying this,
03:33sooner than later, Garrett Cole is going to come back to that rotation. We'll see what he has,
03:36and if he's phenomenal, like we probably expect, that's going to be a fun rest of the summer to
03:40watch for the New York Yankees. The Yanks, a very heavy favorite, as you saw in the AL East,
03:47minus 4.30, but only a two and a half game lead that actually could have been shortened
03:52had Baltimore taken care of business yesterday at home against the Atlanta Braves. Instead,
03:58the Braves snap a win streak for Baltimore, ending it for the O's at six wins in a row,
04:05snap their own five-game skid with a 6-3 victory as an underdog. Atlanta, an underdog yesterday,
04:11ever so slightly, even money, plus 100 on the money line for just the fifth time in this MLB
04:17season. They entered yesterday 0-4, 0-4 as an underdog. They get their first win and got on
04:24top early. Marcelo Zuna, a two-run double in the first inning, 57 ribbies for Ozuna this year,
04:31and the Braves never look back. And by the way, the nine and a half total in this game, rightfully
04:35so, because he had pitchers on the mound that you could possibly say could get hit. Now, they scored
04:39nine runs in this game, but take a look at this. Three of 16 runners in scoring position for the
04:44Braves, one of nine for the Baltimore Orioles. You just get an average performance there. You're
04:48cruising well over 10 runs in this game. That's why baseball sometimes can be so frustrating,
04:53but I'll tell you one thing. If I'm an opposing manager right now, I don't understand what's
04:57going on with Reynaldo Lopez right now, who improved to 4-2 on the season, six innings pitch,
05:01no earned runs. How about an ERA of 1.69 right now for this kid? It's amazing. And I shouldn't
05:07say kid him. He's a veteran in Major League Baseball. I didn't expect this, but if you
05:11are looking to hang around in baseball and make the playoffs after injuries, you got a couple
05:15pitchers there for the Braves that are dealing Cy Young Award-winning deals every single game
05:20on the mound. That's phenomenal. I didn't see it coming out of Lopez. He's been tremendous for the
05:24Braves. Max Freed wasn't great this week in Baltimore, but he has been steady this year.
05:30Reynaldo Lopez has been a revelation after losing Spencer Schreider and Spencer Schwellenbach.
05:35Pretty good performance just a few days ago on the bump as well. So the Baltimore Orioles have
05:42still won 16 of their last 21 games, giving chase to the Yankees in the AL East, 49 wins for New
05:50York, 45 for Baltimore. The Yanks, four more wins than the O's, three more wins than the Phillies
05:56for the most in Major League Baseball because the Phillies lose the rubber match yesterday in Fenway
06:02in the final two games of the midweek set against the Red Sox. I said this yesterday and I eat some
06:07crow here on this Friday morning. Arenola, as only a slight road favorite for the Phillies,
06:14got roughed up. Eight earned runs, 11 hits allowed. The Red Sox score four in the second,
06:21four more in the fourth. They knocked off the Phillies yesterday, nine to three.
06:26Yeah, I mean, you're going around with the Philadelphia Phillies. And again,
06:28this was a little bit of my worry. And I'm not saying, excuse me, that it's messing with them
06:33coming back with the jet lag from London. They lose this series to Boston, which they're a better
06:36baseball team and had a couple of really good pitchers on the mound. But you look at the lineup
06:40now with injuries, Kyle Schwartz in 249, which is actually great for him. Nick Castellanos 215.
06:46Bryson Stott was in the cleanup role here. David Dahl, Whit Merrifield, Garrett Stubbs and Rojas
06:51in the rest of that lineup. It's not a good looking lineup at the plate. Now, granted,
06:55Marsh looks like he's probably coming back later in the week, as well as Trey Turner.
06:58Those reinforcements will help. JT Ramuto is going to be a couple weeks, at least out at this point.
07:03The Phillies now take on the Baltimore Orioles. This is a tough road stretch here for them that
07:07they certainly need their pitchers to rescue them. And they didn't get that last night from
07:10Aaron Nole at all. Going to be a great weekend inside Camden Yards, the second and third best
07:16records in Major League Baseball, Philadelphia and Baltimore facing off. More around Major
07:21League Baseball next. More around Major League Baseball on this Friday morning, recapping what
07:26we saw on Thursday, setting the stage for the weekend in the bigs. Pretty soon, DRS, if the
07:32finals in both sports in the NBA with Game 4 tonight, in Game 4 tomorrow in Edmonton,
07:39seem to follow the track of pretty short series. Soon, this is going to be just a baseball show
07:45on the early line. Now, we go to L.A., the third and final game of a midweek set between the Rangers
07:52and the Dodgers to round out the Rubbermax. The Dodgers victorious in Game 1, plating 15 runs.
07:59Corey Seager and the Rangers respond in Game 2. And in Game 3, the Southern California kid,
08:06Michael Lorenzen, absolutely deals for Texas. They knock off L.A. and win the finale,
08:123-1 as a pretty hefty underdog. L.A. was booked as a minus-190 Moneyline favorite.
08:19That's why we couldn't figure out the pitching matchup yesterday for the Dodgers,
08:22because it looks like Grove opened up, then Yarborough, then Ramirez. We thought maybe
08:26Ramirez would open, hand it off to Grove, and didn't even know Yarborough was getting a start
08:30early in the day or any extended relief at this point. But that's a good win for the Rangers,
08:333-1, because we talked about yesterday how crazy Corey Seager's statistics are. And you look in
08:39that lineup like, oh, well, Corey Seager didn't even play, and they still won in Los Angeles,
08:433-1. That's pretty good. Now, from an RBI perspective, I actually picked two guys out,
08:48Tasker Hernandez and also Will Smith. Will Smith didn't start, got my money back. Tasker Hernandez,
08:52though, 0-3 in the middle of that lineup. Shohei Otani, 0-4. Mookie Betts, 1-4. Freddie Freeman,
08:571-4. No damage done because of a very good pitching performance by Lorenzen here. That's
09:02a shocking upset to me, even though we technically didn't have a pedigree pitcher on the mound for
09:07the Los Angeles Dodgers, 42-28 for the Dodgers. And maybe, again, I don't know. It's just the
09:12same thing we talk about over and over, Ben, in the AOS. Somebody want to sort of play around and
09:17say, hey, Mariners, you just can't run away with this thing. Maybe it's the Rangers here,
09:20but they need that full gas lineup. Well, they'll take a victory on the road against the
09:23Dodgers, that's for sure. Yeah, they certainly will. Michael Lorenzen from my neck of the woods
09:28over in Anaheim, and he deals yesterday, only allowing one earned run to a very stout Dodgers
09:37lineup. Wyatt Langford, the rookie for the Rangers out of the University of Florida,
09:42two ribbies yesterday to propel Texas. The first win in a series for the Rangers in Los Angeles
09:50against the Dodgers since 1999, 25 years ago. They don't face off all that much in Los Angeles,
09:58but still notable to say the least. Wyatt Langford's Florida Gators, where he was last
10:03year in the championship series in Omaha, in action in the Omaha 8 at the CWS as well. Rubber
10:10match as well yesterday at the Trop in Tampa. The Cubbies actually a slight favorite on the road
10:16with Justin Steele getting the start. Both pitchers good, but a similar story for Chicago,
10:22Donnie. Up early in a game by the time you reach the final three innings, things go south for the
10:28Cubs. The Rays score all three runs that they did in the seventh inning to come from behind
10:34and win 3-2 and take the rubber match. Yeah, I thought Steele was the better pitcher on the
10:38mound heading into that game, and he was phenomenal. Six innings pitched on the road,
10:41three hits, zero earned runs, left that game with the lead. But now you take a look at Bradley,
10:45who I thought the Cubs would be able to get to. He was really good, Ben. Seven innings pitched,
10:49by the way, zero earned runs, but he did give up two total runs, but just not earned, and 11
10:54strikeouts in that game. So maybe that young fireballer start coming into his own, but that's
10:57a tough one. If you have the Cubs and you thought you had the better pitcher, sometimes those leads
11:01are going to be blown by the bullpen, and that's exactly what happened yesterday. Tough loss for
11:05the Cubs, but again, both of these teams, 33-36, not doing much damage either side here. No.
11:11DRS saw this stat yesterday, so now the Cubs 33-36, but entered yesterday 33-35. If Major League
11:19Baseball games were only seven innings as of yesterday, the Cubs would be 49-19. They just
11:27cannot hold a lead. Another team that cannot hold a lead, it seems, the New York Mets, but they can
11:33come from behind. The Mets playing better baseball. JD Martinez, they walk off two-run home run
11:38yesterday at City for the Amazons in the home half of the night, and a lot of runs scored
11:44yesterday in downtown Phoenix. 11 of them from the Arizona Diamondbacks, including two home runs to
11:50sort things off for Christian Walker and Arizona. Four ribbies in the game, 11-1 the victory for the
11:56Diamondbacks over the Angels. Yeah, how about the middle of that lineup? Jock Peterson and Christian
12:01Walker, nine combined RBIs and combining for three home runs. That's plenty enough here at that point,
12:06putting up an 11 spot. And also keep in mind, not a great offensive output for the Angels because
12:10they are struggling on the mound. I think they're going to struggle on the mound again tonight,
12:13maybe a total in perspective tonight when they go on the road and take on the Giants. So something
12:18to keep an eye on for later in the show. All three of those games we just recapped in this
12:23segment. Yesterday was the third and final game of their midweek set. All rubber matches. Texas
12:28wins this series. The Rays win this series. The Diamondbacks edge out the Angels in that set as well.