NOTE: MLB Daily and cumulative statististics (Daily Cumulative figures are copied out every day from BR 2024 MLB summary page.
NOTE: For all MLB.com "free game of the day" full game videos, you will need to download the MLB app if you are reading this on a mobile phone. Then simply open the app to the day of the game and find the MLB "game wrap, which will link directly to the game.
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SPECIAL FROM MLB.COM
TOP 25 PLAYS OF MARCH-APRIL 2024 (MLB Youtube--14:47)
Game 44: 5/11/24 CLE at CHW
Free registration required
Full Game Link (click on "watch archive"). If game is blacked out in your area, wait a couple of hours. It will then be made available on demand for an indefinite amount of time.
Complete game, pitch by pitch video (MLB Film Room)
"Condensed Game" (MLB Youtube--8:57)
Short highlights of all games played 5/11/24 (MLB Youtube--9:57). For those who like to watch HRs (although they are down considerably so far this season).
Score:
CHW (12-28 5TH ALC) 3
CLE (24-16 1ST ALC) 1
Link to Box Score, video highlights, ball by ball description, pitch description and graphic for each at bat, home and visitor game stories
Baseball Savant
Home Plate Umpire: Scott Barry (123 pitches called, 8 incorrect) (Umpire Scorecard)
Statistics:
Time of the Game (Minutes): 136 (2:16)
Time it Took to Watch the Game: 96 (1:36)
Pitches: 245
Balls in Play: 49
% BIP of all Pitches: 20.0
Pitches per BIP: 5.00
Walks: 4
Strikeouts: 15
Home Runs: 1
Hit by Pitch: 0
Catcher Interference: 0
Plate Appearances: 66
True Outcomes (W+SO+HR+HBP+CI) / PA:
T. O.% of PA: 30.3
Strikeout as % of All Outs (15/51): 29.4
Players with 2 or more Strike outs: 3
Sacrifice Bunts: 0
Stolen Bases: 1
Stolen Base attempts: 1
**** Defensive Plays: Note: Many of these plays can be found within the highlight or "condensed games" at MLB.com.
However, I will also link directly to them via the MLB Film Room. These were excellent plays, in my judgement. You may find more, or disagree.
CHW: Bryan Ramos(3B) makes a great stop and Andrew Vaughn (1B) makes a great sprawling stretch and pick of the throw to retire Gabriel Arias for the 2nd out in the 8th inning.
CHW: Nicky Lopez (2B) ranges far to his right to get a ground ball off the bat of Bo Naylor, then throws off balance to get the 3rd out in the 7th inning.
Not so excellent plays: None
A milestone, and a soft shoe tap dance.
MLB reached a milestone on 5/11. Strike outs passed the 10,000 mark. In 595 games. Slightly less than 17 strike outs per game. It means one team is striking out 9 times and the other 8. It means an average of a little less than 3 full innings PER GAME of strike outs. Three full innings of the bat not putting the ball into fair play. Three full innings where the fielders could sit down in an easy chair and doom scroll. MLB doesn't seem to have a problem with this.
It was difficult for me to keep concentrating on this game. Mike Clevenger, White Sox pitcher, has the wierdest motion this side of Luis Tiant (SABR biography--there are many videos of Tiant available on the Internet. Almost all of them are bootleg copyright violations. You should be able to find them easily enough). Clevenger incorporates an approximately 8 step soft shoe toe dance before delivering each pitch. Steve Stone, the White Sox TV commentator, said that it didn't distract the batters because they were not looking at his feet. I found it interesting at first, and then an annoying waste of time. But it is pretty unique.
MLB: 5/11/24 / Cumulative (per game)
Batting:
Games: 15/595; PA:1127/44716; At Bats: 1005/39912; Runs: 142/5172; Hits: 251/9565; 2b: 48/1855; 3b: 4/170; HR: 37/1213; RBI: 138/4895 SB: 24/878; CS: 7/238; W: 90/3853 SO: 249/10032; Total Bases: 418/15399; Hit by Pitch: 19/496; Sac-b 6/105; Left on Base: 200/8017
Cumulative True Outcomes % of all PA: 34.9%
Cumulative SO % of all outs: 31.7%
Cumulative Avg. HR: 2.04
Stolen Base success %: 78.7
Pitching:
Games: 15/595; Innings: 263.0/10559.0; Complete games: 0/7; Team Shutouts: 1/76; Shutouts: 0/4, No-Hitters: 0/1; Saves: 5/309; Runs conceded: 142/5172; Earned Runs: 138/4665; Balks: 3/59; Wild Pitches: 11/386
Cumulative Avg. Strike Outs per game: 16.9
Cumulative Avg. Walks per game: 6.48
Fielding: Cumulative only:
Games: 595: Chances: 42645; Put Outs: 31677; Assists: 10319; Errors: 649; All DPs 927
Avg errors per game: 1.09
Avg. DPs per game: 1.56
Avg. Unearned Runs per game: 0.9
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Game 43: 5/10/24 LAD at SD
ESPN+ App or Website (Note: ESPN+ requires a paid subscription). Full game replays are usually available for about 1 month.
For Full Game Video
Schedule
Replay
Baseball
ESPN+
AND
Free registration required
Full Game Link (click on "watch archive"). If game is blacked out in your area, wait a couple of hours. It will then be made available on demand for an indefinite amount of time.
Complete game, pitch by pitch video (MLB Film Room)
"Condensed Game" (MLB Youtube--8:01)
Short highlights of all games played 5/10/24 (MLB Youtube--9:52). For those who like to watch HRs (although they are down considerably so far this season).
Score:
SD (21-20 2ND NLW) 2
LAD (26-14 1ST NLW) 1
Link to Box Score, video highlights, ball by ball description, pitch description and graphic for each at bat, home and visitor game stories
Baseball Savant
Home Plate Umpire: Mike Estabrook (121 pitches called, 9 incorrect) (Umpire Scorecard)
Statistics:
Time of the Game (Minutes): 132 (2:12)
Time it Took to Watch the Game: 66 (1:06)
Pitches: 250
Balls in Play: 33
% BIP of all Pitches: 13.2
Pitches per BIP: 7.58
Walks: 6
Strikeouts: 24
Home Runs: 1
Hit by Pitch: 0
Catcher Interference: 0
Plate Appearances: 63
True Outcomes (W+SO+HR+HBP+CI) / PA:
T. O.% of PA: 49.2
Strikeout as % of All Outs (24/52): 46.2
Players with 2 or more Strike outs: 9
Sacrifice Bunts: 0
Stolen Bases: 0
Stolen Base attempts: 0
**** Defensive Plays: Note: Many of these plays can be found within the highlight or "condensed games" at MLB.com.
However, I will also link directly to them via the MLB Film Room. These were excellent plays, in my judgement. You may find more, or disagree.
SD: Ha-Seong Kim (SS) makes a great play on a 6-3 double play off the bat of Max Muncy to end the 8th inning to keep the score tied at 1.
SD: Xander Bogarts (2B) makes a fine play on a ground ball by James Outman and then amazingly shovels the ball to Ha-Seong Kim (SS) for a force play to end the 6th inning.
Not so excellent plays: There were none in this game. The pitching was dominant and when there were plays to be made, the defenses made them.
ADDENDUM ON THE WILLSON CONTRERAS BROKEN ARM, PITCH FRAMING, AND CATCHERS INTERFERENCE.
The San Diego commentators spent the entire top half of the 3rd inning discussing the ramifications of the play on which STL catcher Willson Contreras broke his arm earlier in the week (see below--SPECIAL, before Game 41 for more). It was an in depth discussion that dealt with all aspects, pitch framing, the risks that are taken to improve pitch framing, how catchers are being trained differently so they can get the ball earlier in order to better frame the pitch, how this is manifested by catcher's setting up closer to the swing path, the profusion of Catcher's Interference calls, and a discussion of whether it is worth a serious injury in order to influence a call. The role of analytics in this whole issue is also discussed. A surprising candid discussion that talks about everything but the lack of baseball ethics involved in all this. And no one advocates a mechanical umpire in order to stop this. The discussion goes from 41:39--49:39 on the MLB.com Wrap version of the game and is well worth viewing.
And here were the numbers produced:
Catcher's Interference in MLB:
2021: 62
2022: 74
2023: 96
2024: 34 through May 9, 2024. This projects to 146 for an entire season.
MLB: 5/10/24 / Cumulative (per game)
Batting:
Games: 15/580; PA:1092/43590; At Bats: 999/38907; Runs: 100/5030; Hits: 227/9314; 2b: 53/1807; 3b: 3/166; HR: 25/1176; RBI: 93/4757 SB: 21/854; CS: 5/231; W: 84/3763 SO: 249/9783; Total Bases: 361/14981; Hit by Pitch: 6/477; Sac-b 1/99; Left on Base: 199/7817
Cumulative True Outcomes % of all PA: 34.9%
Cumulative SO % of all outs: 31.7%
Cumulative Avg. HR: 2.03
Stolen Base success %: 78.7
Pitching:
Games: 15/580; Innings: 264.1/10296.0; Complete games: 0/7; Team Shutouts: 1/75; Shutouts: 0/4, No-Hitters: 0/1; Saves: 10/304; Runs conceded: 100/5030; Earned Runs: 87/4527; Balks: 0/56; Wild Pitches: 2/375
Cumulative Avg. Strike Outs per game: 16.9
Cumulative Avg. Walks per game: 6.49
Fielding: Cumulative only:
Games: 580: Chances: 41612; Put Outs: 30888; Assists: 10085; Errors: 639; All DPs 889
Avg errors per game: 1.10
Avg. DPs per game: 1.58
Avg. Unearned Runs per game: 0.9
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Game 42: 5/9/24 AZ at CIN
Free registration required
Full Game Link (click on "watch archive"). If game is blacked out in your area, wait a couple of hours. It will then be made available on demand for an indefinite amount of time.
Complete game, pitch by pitch video (MLB Film room)
"Condensed Game" (MLB Youtube--9:54)
Short highlights of all games played 5/9/24 (MLB Youtube--9:43). For those who like to watch HRs (although they are down considerably so far this season).
Score:
AZ (18-20 3RD NLW) 5
CIN (16-21 4TH NLC) 4
Link to Box Score, video highlights, ball by ball description, pitch description and graphic for each at bat, home and visitor game stories
Baseball Savant
Home Plate Umpire: Edwin Moscoso (161 pitches called, 5 incorrect) (Umpire Scorecard)
Statistics:
Time of the Game (Minutes): 171 (2:51)
Time it Took to Watch the Game: 124 (2:04)
Pitches: 305
Balls in Play: 52
% BIP of all Pitches: 17.0
Pitches per BIP: 5.87
Walks: 11
Strikeouts: 16
Home Runs: 2
Hit by Pitch: 1
Catcher Interference: 0
Plate Appearances: 79
True Outcomes (W+SO+HR+HBP+CI) / PA:
T. O.% of PA: 38.0
Strikeout as % of All Outs (16/54): 29.6
Players with 2 or more Strike outs: 4
Sacrifice Bunts: 0
Stolen Bases: 3
Stolen Base attempts: 5
**** Defensive Plays: Note: Many of these plays can be found within the highlight or "condensed games" at MLB.com.
However, I will also link directly to them via the MLB Film Room. These were excellent plays, in my judgement. You may find more, or disagree.
AZ: Kevin Newman (SS), who came in as a defensive replacement in the 8th inning, made by far the best play of the game, without ever touching the ball. AZ had just scored in the top of the inning to take a 5-4 lead after CIN scored 2 in the 7th to tie the score. With one out Mike Ford singled and was replaced by pinch runner Stuart Fairchild. With Jeimer Candelario batting Fairchild tried to steal 2nd. Candelario swung at the pitch and hit a routine fly to Corbin Carroll (CF). Fairchild did not peek in to see if the ball was hit. Newman gave an Oscar winning performance as the shortstop who took the catcher's throw and actually faked the diving Fairchild into diving into 2nd base. Fairchild finally realized what was going on and he got up and raced back to 1st base. He was out by about 10 feet on the throw from Carroll to Christian Walker. The video clip is quite educational in that such a perfect deke was caught on camera. I suspect that few who attended the game saw it. Newman's brilliant acting helped to end the inning. The Reds then went down meekly in the 9th to lose their 7th straight game, 5-4.
AZ: Ketel Marte (2B) makes a fine sliding stop on a hard hit ball by Mike Ford and throws him out for the 3rd out in the 2nd inning.
AZ: Tucker Barnhart (C) makes an exellent catch on a foul hit by Jeimer Candelario for the 1st out in the 3rd inning.
AZ: Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (LF) makes a fine running catch of a line drive by Tyler Stephenson for the 2nd out in the 7th inning.
CIN: Nick Martinez (P) makes a very good play on a ground ball by Lourdes Gurriel Jr. to end the 6th inning.
CIN: Spencer Steer (1B) saves Jonathan India (2B) from an error when he leaps to catch a poor throw on a ground ball by Corbin Carroll for the 3rd out in the 7th inning.
CIN: Jake Fraley (RF) robs Christian Walker of a possible extra base hit for the 1st out in the AZ 9th. Had the ball gotten by him, the runner on 1st (Joc Pederson) might have scored a valuable insurance run.
Not so excellent plays:
CIN: Elly de la Cruz. de la Cruz led off the 6th inning (3-1 AZ) with a walk and immediately stole 2nd.It was his 22nd steal of the season, by far the most in MLB so far this season. Then, inexplicably, he tried to steal 3rd and was easily caught when Slade Cecconi (P) wheeled and threw to 2nd. de la Cruz was caught in a 1(P)-5(3B Eugenio Suarez)-4(2B Ketel Marte run down. A walk and single followed, which would have scored de la Cruz from 2nd. The Reds failed to score in the inning.
CIN: TJ Friedl (CF) misplays a line drive by Ketel Marte in the 7th inning, and it ticks off his glove. Alert backing up by Will Benson (LF) prevented a possible inside the park Home Run. Marte was credited with a triple. Had the ball been caught, AZ would not have scored their 4th run later in the inning.
Poor base running helps lead to a 7th straight loss.
CIN is known to be a swashbuckling, aggressive, running team. They are great fun to watch, But sometimes it goes too far. When you are trailing by 2 runs in the middle innings, walk to lead off the inning, and then steal 2nd, there is no earthly reason to try and steal 3rd. Yet this is what Elly de la Cruz did. It took his team out of the inning. Later, Stuart Fairchild, a player of some experience, was deked (admittedly a great deke) by Kevin Newman, another player of some experience. Both plays showed a lack of presence of mind, not having your head in the game, and they quite possibly lost CIN a ball game.
It is always jarring when I watch plays like this. These things are simply not supposed to happen in a MLB game. But they do. More times than you might expect (as I found out last year when I was watching highlights of all MLB regular season games). But there is always tomorrow in baseball. And CIN will go into tomorrow with the albatross of a 7 game losing streak weighing heavily.
MLB: 5/9/24 / Cumulative (per game)
Batting:
Games: 7/565; PA:527/42497; At Bats: 468/37908; Runs: 65/4930; Hits: 124/9087 2b: 25/1754; 3b: 4/163; HR: 18/1151; RBI: 64/4664; SB: 13/833; CS: 4/226; W: 46/3679; SO: 128/9534; Total Bases: 211/14620 Hit by Pitch: 7/471; Sac-b 0/98; Left on Base: 96/7618
Cumulative True Outcomes % of all PA: 34.9%
Cumulative SO % of all outs: 31.7%
Cumulative Avg. HR: 2.04
Stolen Base success %: 78.7
Pitching:
Games: 7/565; Innings: 122.0/10031.2; Complete games: 0/7; Team Shutouts: 0/74; Shutouts: 0/4, No-Hitters: 0/1; Saves: 3/294; Runs conceded: 65/4930; Earned Runs: 63/4440; Balks: 0/56; Wild Pitches: 5/373
Cumulative Avg. Strike Outs per game: 16.9
Cumulative Avg. Walks per game: 6.51
Fielding: Cumulative only:
Games: 565: Chances: 40521; Put Outs: 30095; Assists: 9809; Errors: 617; All DPs 889
Avg errors per game: 1.09
Avg. DPs per game: 1.57
Avg. Unearned Runs per game: 0.9
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Game 42: 5/8/24 MIL at KC
Free registration required
Full Game Link (click on "watch archive"). If game is blacked out in your area, wait a couple of hours. It will then be made available on demand for an indefinite amount of time.
Complete game, pitch by pitch video (MLB Film room)
"Condensed Game" (MLB Youtube--10:28)
Short highlights of all games played 5/8/24 (MLB Youtube--9:16). For those who like to watch HRs (although they are down considerably so far this season).
Score:
KC (22-16 3RD ALC) 6
MIL (21-15 1ST NLC) 4
Link to Box Score, video highlights, ball by ball description, pitch description and graphic for each at bat, home and visitor game stories
Baseball Savant
Home Plate Umpire: Todd Tichenor (153 pitches called, 5 incorrect) (Umpire Scorecard)
Statistics:
Time of the Game (Minutes): 158 (2:38)
Time it Took to Watch the Game: 119 (1:59)
Pitches: 279
Balls in Play: 66
% BIP of all Pitches: 20.1
Pitches per BIP: 4.98
Walks: 10
Strikeouts: 10
Home Runs: 2
Hit by Pitch: 0
Catcher Interference: 0
Plate Appearances: 76
True Outcomes (W+SO+HR+HBP+CI) / PA:
T. O.% of PA: 28.9
Strikeout as % of All Outs (10/51): 19.6
Players with 2 or more Strike outs: 1
Sacrifice Bunts: 0
Stolen Bases: 1
Stolen Base attempts: 1
**** Defensive Plays: Note: Many of these plays can be found within the highlight or "condensed games" at MLB.com.
However, I will also link directly to them via the MLB Film Room. These were excellent plays, in my judgement. You may find more, or disagree.
MIL: Gary Sanchez (1B), starting his first ever game at that position, makes a great diving stop behind 1st base on a Kyle Isbel hard grounder that was headed into to right field corner, for what the KC commentators were sure would be a triple that would have scored Freddy Fermin, who had doubled earlier in the inning. The play kept the score at 2-1 KC and was the 2nd out of the 5th inning. Fermin never did score.
KC: Kyle Isbel (CF) makes an excellent catch of a long drive by Blake Perkins for the 1st out in the MIL 5th inning. (See more below)
KC: MJ Melendez (LF) combines with Freddy Fermin (C) to throw out Oliver Dunn trying to score from 2nd on a base hit double by Brice Turang. A Gary Sanchez Home Run began the 7th inning and cut KC's lead to 3-2. This was the 2nd out of the inning. Melendez made an excellent pickup and throw, while Fermin took the one hop throw slightly in front of the place and then reached back to tag Dunn before he could score.
Not so excellent plays.
While Melendez and Isbel made terrific plays, the game was marred by 3 bad plays in the outfield, 2 by MIL and one by KC.
MIL: Blake Perkins (CF) makes takes a bad angle on a fly ball by Bobby Witt Jr. in the KC 1st inning. When he tries to correct the angle, he slips and falls and the ball drops. It is picked up by Sal Frelick (RF) who was backing up, and is ruled a double. The KC announcers noted that the fall was caused by the attemped correction after the original mistake. Witt Jr. eventually scored in the KC 2 run first, a lead that they held for the entire game.
MIL: Perkins, in the 8th, misses a ball he should have caught, had it in his glove, but was not charged with an error (KC commentator Rex Hudler, a 13 year MLB veteran who played every position but pitcher and catcher, thought an error should be charged). The miss cost MIL a run in the 3 run KC 8th inning which iced the game.
KC: Hunter Renfroe (RF) takes the wrong angle chasing a shot by Brice Turang in the MIL 9th inning. What should have been the 2nd out of the inning,instead cost a run. The other run in the inning came on a ground ball that would have ended the game. Renfroe was not charged with an error, because he didn't touch the ball, but the blunder ended up as a pivotal part of a MIL comeback that closed the score to 6-4.
Great Center Fielders; a slow start for Christian Yelich.
The Royals, have been blessed with fabulous center fielders to cover the vast expanses of Kauffman Stadium. Amos Otis (SABR Biography), Willie Wilson, (SABR Biography), and Lorenzo Cain (Wikipedia) immediately come to mind.
Kyle Isbel is their present center fielder and he made a catch in today's game that looked easy, but was not. (By the way, one of his catches (MLB Wrap for April 25, 2024) made MLB's top 25 plays of March-April).
The ability to turn, take your eyes of the ball, and race back to where it is going to be, is one of the hallmarks of a great outfielder. Isbel effortlessly made today's linked catch precisely because he knows how to take his eyes off the ball and then pick it up again. Few do it better. The KC commentators noted that Isbel not only practices this constantly, but he also deliberately takes his eyes off the ball when going to his right or left in practice to hone the skill. The catch he made, especially when you look at the outfield plays that were not made in this game, shows why Isbel is on the way to etching his name next to the great KC center fielders of the past.
Christian Yelich returned to the MIL lineup last week after missing time with a recurring back injury. He started slowly, going 0-5 with a strike out, but if he can stay healthy, he will be a welcome addition to the MIL offense.
MLB: 5/8/24 / Cumulative (per game)
Batting:
Games: 15/558; PA:1142/41970; At Bats: 1038/37440; Runs: 145/4865; Hits: 265/8963; 2b: 60/1729; 3b: 5/159; HR: 33/1133; RBI: 139/4600; SB: 12/820; CS: 3/222; W: 81/3633; SO: 250/9406; Total Bases: 434/14409 Hit by Pitch: 9/464; Sac-b 3/98; Left on Base: 191/7522
Cumulative True Outcomes % of all PA: 34.9%
Cumulative SO % of all outs: 31.6%
Cumulative Avg. HR: 2.03
Stolen Base success %: 78.7
Pitching:
Games: 15/558; Innings: 271.1/9909.2; Complete games: 0/7; Team Shutouts: 2/74; Shutouts: 0/4, No-Hitters: 0/1; Saves: 10/291; Runs conceded: 145/4865; Earned Runs: 133/4377; Balks: 2/56; Wild Pitches: 8/368
Cumulative Avg. Strike Outs per game: 16.9
Cumulative Avg. Walks per game: 6.51
Fielding: Cumulative only:
Games: 558: Chances: 40042; Put Outs: 29729; Assists: 9703; Errors: 610; All DPs 873
Avg errors per game: 1.09
Avg. DPs per game: 1.56
Avg. Unearned Runs per game: 0.9
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SPECIAL:
In the top of the 2nd inning of the New York Mets at St.Louis Cardinals game on 5/7/24, J.D. Martinez swung at a Miles Mikolas pitch. Willson Contreras' arm was in the direct path of Martinez' swing. It was the most egregious catchers interference call I have ever seen. And it cost Contreras a fractured arm. Why? Because Contreras was trying to frame the pitch to fool the umpire into calling a ball a strike, WHILE Martinez was swinging at the pitch.
This brings up the problem that MLB has with what it euphemistically calls "pitch framing" (Baseball Savant even has a statistic on it). What it really is, no more, no less, is cheating, influence pedaling at the most basic granule of the game, balls and strikes. In a sport that has never been noted for its ethics, anything goes if it gives you an edge. And when the umpire is fooled, fans rail on about the need for a "robot umpire." Better perhaps to have a more honest game. If you watch games without a rooting interest, you will see this pitch framing on an amazing number of pitches. Contreras' catching stance has changed so that he can better influence umpires to call strikes on pitches that are balls. But he is not alone. Catchers interference has increased exponentially in recent times (although finding actual statistics on it is very difficult). This is because catchers more and more interfere with the path of a batter's swing, in order to influence the umpire. It is no fun to watch an umpire being made a fool of. It is also no fun watching a catcher get his arm fractured in the pursuit of a better count. Unfortunately, I don't believe we have seen the end of this, not by a long shot. But seeing Contreras writhing in pain may perhaps give pause.
Contreras' arm fracture (MLB Wrap)
Associated Press related story. Note especially Miles Mikolas comments.
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Game 41: 5/7/24 TEX at OAK
ESPN+ App or Website (Note: ESPN+ requires a paid subscription). Full game replays are usually available for about 1 month.
For Full Game Video
Schedule
Replay
Baseball
ESPN+
Complete game, pitch by pitch video (MLB Film room)
"Condensed Game" (MLB Youtube--9:28)
Short highlights of all games played 5/7/24 (MLB Youtube--8:56). For those who like to watch HRs (although they are down considerably so far this season).
Score:
TEX (21-16 1ST ALW) 15
OAK (17-20 3RD ALW) 8
Link to Box Score, video highlights, ball by ball description, pitch description and graphic for each at bat, home and visitor game stories
Baseball Savant
Home Plate Umpire: Erich Bacchus (239* pitches called, 18* incorrect) (Umpire Scorecard) *=excluding 1 pitch that was missing location data (USC X (twitter), excluding 1-5 pitches that were missing location data (USC website)
Statistics:
Time of the Game (Minutes): 187 (3:07)
Time it Took to Watch the Game: 98 (1:38)
Pitches: 414
Balls in Play: 68
% BIP of all Pitches: 16.4
Pitches per BIP: 6.09
Walks: 15
Strikeouts: 17
Home Runs: 3
Hit by Pitch: 1
Catcher Interference: 0
Plate Appearances: 100
True Outcomes (W+SO+HR+HBP+CI) / PA:
T. O.% of PA: 36.0
Strikeout as % of All Outs (17/54): 31.5
Players with 2 or more Strike outs: 5
Sacrifice Bunts: 0
Stolen Bases: 0
Stolen Base attempts: 0
**** Defensive Plays: Note: Many of these plays can be found within the highlight or "condensed games" at MLB.com.
However, I will also link directly to them via the MLB Film Room. These were excellent plays, in my judgement. You may find more, or disagree.
OAK: Brett Harris (3B) makes an excellent bare hand pickup and quick throw to retire Leodi Taveras for the 2nd out in the TEX 5th inning.
TEX: Jose Urena (P) makes a leaping grab of a high bounding ground ball by Seth Brown to complete the 2nd out of the OAK 5th inning.
Not so excellent plays. There were too many to bother commenting on individually. However there was one that stood out in my mind. It had little to do with the outcome of the game, but brought into question the baseball IQ of some players.
TEX: Evan Carter (LF) has unlimited potential, and showed a bit of it in last year's post season. He is, however, 21 years old and showed his immaturity on this play. It has been well documented, since the opening of the Oakland Coliseum in 1968, that Left Field is a grave yard sun field during day games. Everybody who knows anything about baseball knows this. And so Evan Carter had sun glasses in the OAK 2nd inning, just after TEX had scored 10 runs in the top half of the inning. Kyle McCann, the A's first batter in the 2nd, hit a high fly to left field. Carter completely lost the ball in the sun and the ball dropped for a double. Fair enough. It has happened to much better players than he. However, if you look closely you will see that Carter has sunglasses, but he has them attached to the bill of his cap. This was amazing lack of baseball "presence" and he was lucky that he didn't get skulled. If you have sunglasses in a well known sun field, why on earth wouldn't you have them on? Well, Carter looked rather ridiculous, but since TEX was up 11-1 at the time, no big deal, or was it? In another situation, this could have cost a ball game. As it was it cost a run.
Carter loses ball in sun while not wearing the sunglasses he has on his hat. It doesn't show unless you look quite closely, but the play was replayed on the broadcast and the OAK commentators were unimpressed.
Carter made amends in the Oakland 4th inning when he caught an Abraham Toro fly ball for the 2nd out of the inning. This time the glasses were on his face rather than his hat. Again, the Oakland commentators mentioned the sunglasses, and that now Carter was wearing them.
An awful game.
414 pitches. 100 plate appearances. A home plate umpire whose only consistency was his inconsistency even with his own distorted strike zone. But he was consistently bad for both teams. A 10 run inning. 16 batters. The top and bottom of the 2nd inning consumed 42 minutes. TEX scored 5 runs with 2 outs, all of them unearned due to OAK bungling in the field. The game also featured 15 walks. If it sounds more like High School than MLB, it's because it was.
But the pitch timer tamed this into a 3:05 fiasco instead of the 4 hour fiasco it surely would have been under the old rules. Painful to watch, and certainly painful to play, especially if you were wearing green and gold. But they did outscore TEX 6-0 after spotting them a 15-2 lead.
MLB: 5/7/24 / Cumulative (per game)
Note: MLB had its first 40 home run day today.
Batting:
Games: 15/543; PA:1156/40828; At Bats: 1032/36402; Runs: 156/4720; Hits: 262/8698; 2b: 39/1669; 3b: 5/154; HR: 40/1100; RBI: 149/4461; SB: 15/808; CS: 4/219; W: 107/3552; SO: 225/9156; Total Bases: 431/13975 Hit by Pitch: 11/455; Sac-b 0/95; Left on Base: 211/7331
Cumulative True Outcomes % of all PA: 34.9%
Cumulative SO % of all outs: 31.7%
Cumulative Avg. HR: 2.03
Stolen Base success %: 78.7
Pitching:
Games: 15/543; Innings: 263/9638.1; Complete games: 0/7; Team Shutouts: 3/72; Shutouts: 0/4, No-Hitters: 0/1; Saves: 4/281; Runs conceded: 156/4720; Earned Runs: 141/4244; Balks: 1/54; Wild Pitches: 9/360
Cumulative Avg. Strike Outs per game: 16.9
Cumulative Avg. Walks per game: 6.54
Fielding: Cumulative only:
Games: 543: Chances: 38961; Put Outs: 28915; Assists: 9447; Errors: 599; All DPs 847
Avg errors per game: 1.10
Avg. DPs per game: 1.56
Avg. Unearned Runs per game: 0.9
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Game 40: 5/6/24 TEX at OAK
Free registration required
Full Game Link (click on "watch archive"). If game is blacked out in your area, wait a couple of hours. It will then be made available on demand for an indefinite amount of time.
Complete game, pitch by pitch video (MLB Film room)
"Condensed Game" (MLB Youtube--8:34)
Short highlights of all games played 5/6/24 (MLB Youtube--8:34). For those who like to watch HRs (although they are down considerably so far this season).
Score:
TEX (20-16 1ST ALW) 4
OAK (17-19 3RD ALW) 2
Link to Box Score, video highlights, ball by ball description, pitch description and graphic for each at bat, home and visitor game stories
Baseball Savant
Home Plate Umpire: Mike Estabrook (159 pitches called, 8 incorrect) (Umpire Scorecard)
Statistics:
Time of the Game (Minutes): 146 (2:26)
Time it Took to Watch the Game: 124 (2:04)
Pitches: 296
Balls in Play: 54
% BIP of all Pitches: 18.2
Pitches per BIP: 5.48
Walks: 7
Strikeouts: 16
Home Runs: 1
Hit by Pitch: 0
Catcher Interference: 0
Plate Appearances: 74
True Outcomes (W+SO+HR+HBP+CI) / PA:
T. O.% of PA: 32.4
Strikeout as % of All Outs (16/54): 29.6
Players with 2 or more Strike outs: 3
Sacrifice Bunts: 0
Stolen Bases: 0
Stolen Base attempts: 0
**** Defensive Plays: Note: Many of these plays can be found within the highlight or "condensed games" at MLB.com.
However, I will also link directly to them via the MLB Film Room. These were excellent plays, in my judgement. You may find more, or disagree.
TEX: Ezequiel Duran (LF) makes a sliding catch of a sacrifice fly by Darrell Hernaiz for the 2nd out in the OAK 2nd inning. Duran then got up and fired a strike to the plate that may have completed a double play, but the ball hit runner J.D. Davis. That allowed Abraham Toro to advance to 2nd base. Tough error charged to Duran.
TEX: Nathaniel Lowe (1B) makes a nice one hop pick on the throw by Marcus Semien on a grounder by Shea Langeliers to end the OAK 4th. Had the ball gotten by Lowe, Abraham Toro, who had doubled previous to Laneliers, may have scored, given the spacious foul territory at the Oakland Coliseum.
OAK: Tyler Nevin (RF) makes an excellent catch on a on a line drive by Marcus Semien for the 1st out in the TEX 6th inning. The catch may not seem too much at first view, but Nevin completely lost the ball in the lights, and recovered. Another example of a catch that may not look very skillful, or even may look awkward, but is actually something very much else. At the time the score was 2-0 OAK. If he misses that ball, Semien has at least a triple.
OAK: Esteury Ruiz (LF) makes a fine catch on a line drive by Corey Seager on the next play, for the 2nd out in the TEX 6th inning.
Not so excellent plays:
The TEX outfield in the OAK 5th inning and after. The entire TEX outfield was woeful in defense, with the exception of the Ezequiel Duran (LF) catch linked to above.
1. In the OAK 5th, all three outfielders were involved in charitable contributions that gifted OAK its 2nd run, putting them ahead 2-0 at the time. With 1 out Duran dropped an easy fly ball by JJ Bleday to get things rolling. Brett Harris followed with a fly ball that Leody Taveras (CF) tracked all the way until he stopped to avoid Adolis Garcia (RF) who was really nowhere near the ball. This was a case of total lack of communication, as the OAK crowd of 2,895 were hardly making enough noise to confuse anyone. With runners now on 1st and 3rd, instead of the 1-2-3 inning that should have had the Rangers getting ready for their 6th inning at bats, Esteury Ruiz lofted a fly ball that Taveras, amazingly, caught, driving in Bleday with the run.
2. In the OAK 7th, Bleday led off with a long fly ball that Taveras got to but couldn't catch. It was a regulation catch and it appeared that Taveras slightly misjudged it and it tipped off his glove. Bleday was charitably credited with a double. After the play, excluded from the video, was starting pitcher Andrew Heaney's reactive body language (which he quickly stifled) to the miscue. It is not "cricket" in baseball for pitchers to respond that way to a bungled defensive play. However, Heaney had pitched his heart out for 6 innings, making 97 pitches and already victimized by an (admittedly accidental) unearned run (again, see the Duran play above). Taveras' blunder led to the end of Heaney's night. It looked like a loss on his ledger was imminent. However, Corey Seager later saved the day.
OAK: A painful attempt at a sacrifice bunt by Brett Harris. Brett Harris is a brand new call up to the A's who began his career on Friday, 5/3/24 against the Marlins. On Saturday, 5/4/24, Harris got his first two MLB hits, both home runs, in a 20-4 blowout. He is also known to be a very good glove man at the "hot corner." What he isn't very good at is bunting, a skill that every MLB player, without exception, should have in his toolbox. Mickey Mantle was a great bunter, so big time power hitters have been able to do it also. In the bottom of the 7th, with OAK up 2-0, directly after the above noted Taveras blunder, Harris was asked to sacrifice bunt Bleday to 3rd. Whatever you might think about that strategy, Mark Kotsay, OAK Manager, was playing for a run. With his two best relievers, Lucas 99mpher Erceg and Mason Miller (AL Reliever of the month for April and 92 100mph pitches so far), well rested Mason Miller, in line to pitch the 8th and 9th, a 3 run lead would be golden. If Harris could get Bleday to 3rd and the A's could get him in, the Rangers would be staring down the barrel of two 100MPH shotguns, with 6 outs to do something about it.
What happened next, was one of the poorest excuses for a sacrifice bunt I have seen since certain NL pitchers completely out of their depth used to attempt it. This involves telegraphing that you are going to bunt before the pitcher even begins his motion. This tells the pitcher and the opponents that you don't have a clue as to how to do this. Perhaps Kotsay should have sent someone else up to do the job. But he didn't, and Mr. Harris should have, somewhere along the line between high school and the big leagues, learned this skill.
Obviously, he never has, as the following links show.
Brett Harris complete at bat. Painful as it is to watch. Needless to say, Harris ended up striking out, and Bleday never got past 2nd. This became more important when Erceg melted down in the 8th inning (see below), and Mason 100Miller never got into the game.
The wisdom of Sandy Koufax.
It has been said that Sandy Koufax (SABR Biography) always said "never get beat with your second best pitch" (or thereabouts). Lucas Erceg and Shea Langeliers have obviously never read this bit of wisdom (as can also be said for Dennis Eckersley and Ron Hassey--just ask Kirk Gibson--but that is another story).
Lucas Erceg's go to pitch is a near 100MPH fastball, as you might expect from an 8th or 9th inning reliever. He is brought in to get 3 outs. He has a 91MPH change up to make it even harder on batters, but that is not his out pitch. He was bought into this game to face the 7-9 hitters in the Rangers' lineup in the 8th inning. OAK led 2-0. A clean inning would then bring wunderkind Mason Miller in to face the top of the order in the 9th.
Erceg walked the first batter (Josh Smith), a cardinal sin for a late inning reliever. He then struck out Travis Jankowski and gave up a base hit to Leody Taveras. He then disposed of Marcus Semien on one pitch. This set up the matchup of the game, the turning point.
All Star Corey Seager, off to a slow start this year, but always dangerous, stepped up to the plate. Remember the Koufax saying. Seager was 0-4 and had a season batting average of less than .230 going into the at bat. Surely Erceg, brimming with confidence, would show the struggling Seager the "heater", with perhaps one or at most 2 changeups. Almost unbelievably, the brain trust of Erceg-Langaliers threw 6 pitches to Seager, all 91-92 MPH changeups. 1-0, 1-1 (swinging strike), 2-1, 3-1, 3-2 (called strike). BOOM!!! Seager hit the ball 9 miles, a towering majestic shot that seemed like it would never come down, over the center field fence. E-L decided to fool Seager by not showing him the 99MPH heater at all. It was some of the most brainless pitch calling this side of Eckersley-Hassey's back door slider to a man who could barely walk. And with that, the ball game was thrown away. Never get beat with your second best pitch. Rinse and repeat. 6! times.
Here is the entire pitch sequence (MLB Film Room)
MLB: 5/6/24 / Cumulative (per game)
Batting:
Games: 10/528; PA:704/39672; At Bats: 631/35370; Runs: 65/4564; Hits: 134/8436; 2b: 35/1630; 3b: 1/149; HR: 19/1060; RBI: 64/4312; SB: 15/793; CS: 5/215; W: 61/3445; SO: 160/8931; Total Bases: 228/13544 Hit by Pitch: 3/444; Sac-b 2/95; Left on Base: 120/7120
Cumulative True Outcomes % of all PA: 35.0%
Cumulative SO % of all outs: 31.8%
Cumulative Avg. HR: 2.01
Stolen Base success %: 78.7
Pitching:
Games: 10/528; Innings: 173/9375.1; Complete games: 1/7; Team Shutouts: 0/69; Shutouts: 0/4, No-Hitters: 0/1; Saves: 7/277; Runs conceded: 65/4564; Earned Runs: 58/4103; Balks: 0/53; Wild Pitches: 5/351
Cumulative Avg. Strike Outs per game: 16.9
Cumulative Avg. Walks per game: 6.54
Fielding: Cumulative only:
Games: 528: Chances: 37884; Put Outs: 28126; Assists: 9179; Errors: 579; All DPs 823
Avg errors per game: 1.10
Avg. DPs per game: 1.56
Avg. Unearned Runs per game: 0.9
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Game 39: 5/5/24 ATL at LAD
Free registration required
Full Game Link (click on "watch archive"). If game is blacked out in your area, wait a couple of hours. It will then be made available on demand for an indefinite amount of time.
Complete game, pitch by pitch video (MLB Film room)
"Condensed Game" (MLB Youtube--10:45)
Short highlights of all games played 5/5/24 (MLB Youtube--9:44). For those who like to watch HRs (although they are down considerably so far this season).
Score:
LAD (23-13 1ST NLW) 5
ATL (20-13 1ST NLC) 1
Link to Box Score, video highlights, ball by ball description, pitch description and graphic for each at bat, home and visitor game stories
Baseball Savant
Home Plate Umpire: Corey Blaser (117 pitches called, 11 incorrect) (Umpire Scorecard)
Statistics:
Time of the Game (Minutes): 127 (2:07)
Time it Took to Watch the Game: 88 (1:28)
Pitches: 236
Balls in Play: 45
% BIP of all Pitches: 19.1
Pitches per BIP: 5.24
Walks: 5
Strikeouts: 15
Home Runs: 4
Hit by Pitch: 1
Catcher Interference: 0
Plate Appearances: 65
True Outcomes (W+SO+HR+HBP+CI) / PA:
T. O.% of PA: 38.5
Strikeout as % of All Outs (15/51): 29.4
Players with 2 or more Strike outs: 4
Sacrifice Bunts: 0
Stolen Bases: 0
Stolen Base attempts: 0
**** Defensive Plays: Note: Many of these plays can be found within the highlight or "condensed games" at MLB.com.
However, I will also link directly to them via the MLB Film Room. These were excellent plays, in my judgement. You may find more, or disagree.
ATL: Orlando Arcia (SS) makes a diving stop of a ground ball by Teoscar Hernandez and flips the ball, still in his glove, to Ozzie Albies (2B) for a force out, the first out of the LAD 1st inning, after the first three batters had reached base and the Dodgers had scored two runs.
ATL: Austin Riley (3B) makes a sliding stop far behind 3rd base on an Enrique Hernandez ground ball and makes the long throw to 1st base for the 2nd out of the LAD 4th inning.
LAD: Enrique Hernandez (3B) makes a great play even further behind 3rd base than Riley (see above) and then rifles a 1 hop throw that Freddie Freeman (1B) picks on a picture play to get Marcel Ozuna for the 1st out in the ATL 2nd inning.
LAD: Andy Pages (CF) shows the great skill it takes when an outfielder loses a ball in the sun but stays with it, doesn't panic, finally finds it, and makes a regulation catch on something that was anything but "regulation". It came off the bat of Orlando Arcia and was the 1st out of the ATL 5th inning.
LAD: Teoscar Hernandez (RF) and Mookie Betts (SS) cut down Matt Olson trying for a double for the 1st out in the ATL 7th inning. An excellent throw but even better tag by Betts, who patiently waited for the ball to get to him when he might have gone out to get it and been unable to make the play. Amazing presence of mind and baseball intelligence.
Not so excellent plays. There were none in this game.
A quintessential modern day "metrics" game; ATL in a bit of a funk.
This game was what a modern sabrmetrician would call a "perfect game". 6 runs were scored, all as result of 4 home runs. LAD hit 3--two 2 run HRs (Shohei Otani, his 2nd was a 464 foot opposite field into the wind job, still, unfortunately, only worth 1 run, though the commentators fell all over themselves in awe of the blow, and MLB.com showed it in their highlights 3 times. Still, only worth 1 run. His first was a 2 run, much less impressive HR in the 1st inning--and a 2 run HR by Teoscar Hernandes in the 6th inning. T. Hernadez almost hit another one in the 8th, but it was a cheap little thing just to the foul side of the right field foul pole, something he would be almost ashamed to accept anyway, barely over 330 feet). ATL's only run came on a solo home run by Marcel Ozuna (with the wind, into right field), in the 7th inning, hardly worth mentioning. For the series, which the Dodgers swept, LA hit 9 home runs in 3 games, accounting for 12 of their 20 runs.
By Sunday, ATL, which is one of the elite teams in MLB, seemed shell shocked, Their talisman, Ronald Acuna, who was 5 for 9 in an extra inning loss on Friday and a blowout loss on Saturday, went 0-3, with a walk and a strikeout on Sunday, He made 3 of the meekest outs you will see all year.
ATL was outscored, 20-6.
Here are videos of Acunas entire at bats in the 3 outs (MLB Video Room)
1st inning (note the right down the middle pitches he is unable to square up).
3rd inning (he is completely fooled by a hanging curve right down the middle, and again is unable to square up a fastball pretty much right in his wheelhouse). He ends grounding out to 1st base.
8th inning (whiffs at a fastball up in the zone, and then grounds out to shortsop on a low fastball).
Rough day at the office for Ronald. Rough road trip for ATL. 1-5 v SEA and LAD. Outscored 14 to 27. Now, in one of the more interesting scheduling assignments, they fly to Atlanta for 2 home games v BOS, then fly to NY for 3 with the Mets, then fly back to ATL for 6 home games against CHC and SD. Enjoy the friendly skies!
MLB: 5/5/24 / Cumulative (per game)
Batting:
Games: 15/518; PA:1125/38968; At Bats: 1002/34739; Runs: 145/4499; Hits: 241/8302; 2b: 57/1595; 3b: 6/148; HR: 37/1041; RBI: 140/4248; SB: 31/778; CS: 7/210; W: 97/3384; SO: 261/8771; Total Bases: 421/13316 Hit by Pitch: 15/441; Sac-b 4/93; Left on Base: 195/7000
Cumulative True Outcomes % of all PA: 35.0%
Cumulative SO % of all outs: 31.8%
Cumulative Avg. HR: 2.01
Stolen Base success %: 78.7
Pitching:
Games: 15/518; Innings: 263/9202.1; Complete games: 0/6; Team Shutouts: 1/69; Shutouts: 0/4, No-Hitters: 0/1; Saves: 6/270; Runs conceded: 145/4499; Earned Runs: 133/4045; Balks: 1/53; Wild Pitches: 6/347
Cumulative Avg. Strike Outs per game: 16.9
Cumulative Avg. Walks per game: 6.53
Fielding: Cumulative only:
Games: 518: Chances: 37189; Put Outs: 27607; Assists: 9016; Errors: 566; All DPs 810
Avg errors per game: 1.09
Avg. DPs per game: 1.56
Avg. Unearned Runs per game: 0.9
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Game 38: 5/4/24 MIL at CHC
ESPN+ App or Website (Note: ESPN+ requires a paid subscription). Full game replays are usually available for about 1 month.
For Full Game Video
Schedule
Replay
Baseball
ESPN+
Complete game, pitch by pitch video (MLB Film room)
"Condensed Game" (MLB Youtube--9:58)
Short highlights of all games played 5/4/24 (MLB Youtube--10:00). For those who like to watch HRs (although they are down considerably so far this season).
Score:
CHC (20-14 2ND NLC) 6
MIL (20-12 1ST NLC) 5
Link to Box Score, video highlights, ball by ball description, pitch description and graphic for each at bat, home and visitor game stories
Baseball Savant
Home Plate Umpire: Hunter Wendelstedt (150 pitches called, 11 incorrect) (Umpire Scorecard)
Statistics:
Time of the Game (Minutes): 150 (2:30)
Time it Took to Watch the Game: 71 (1:11)
Pitches: 291
Balls in Play: 50
% BIP of all Pitches: 17.2
Pitches per BIP: 5.82
Walks: 8
Strikeouts: 20
Home Runs: 4
Hit by Pitch: 0
Catcher Interference: 0
Plate Appearances: 76
True Outcomes (W+SO+HR+HBP+CI) / PA:
T. O.% of PA: 42.1
Strikeout as % of All Outs (20/51): 39.2
Players with 2 or more Strike outs: 4
Sacrifice Bunts: 0
Stolen Bases: 1
Stolen Base attempts: 1
**** Defensive Plays: Note: Many of these plays can be found within the highlight or "condensed games" at MLB.com.
However, I will also link directly to them via the MLB Film Room. These were excellent plays, in my judgement. You may find more, or disagree.
MIL: Sal Frelick (RF) makes a sliding catch of a Mike Tauchman line drive to end the CHC 2nd inning.
MIL: Oliver Dunn (3B) pick and throw collaborates with Rhys Hoskins (1B) for nifty 2nd out in the CHC 3rd inning to derail Dansby Swanson.
Not so excellent plays
Both teams: The CHC 1st inning:
In a painful 37 pitch 1st inning, rookie pitcher Tobias Myers faced 8 Cub hitters. He opened the inning by allowing a lead off home run to Nico Hoerner, then walked 4 batters (including 11 consecutive balls). Somehow, the Cubs managed to parlay having nearly batted around into 2 runs (1 run from the last 7 batters), setting the stage for a close enough game for MIL to come back and almost win. Had the Cubs been able to somehow not strike out twice (once on an awful pitch, the other on a check swing), leaving the other run to be driven in on a ground ball out, they might have scored the 4 or 5 they should have, knocking the rookie out and putting the game away right then and there. And had the rookie had some idea of the strike zone, then the whole game may have been changed. To his credit he did come back from that start to pitch 2 more innings, giving up a two run HR to Christopher Morel, but little else, in his 3 innings of work. But the bottom of the first was one of the more ugly innings (by both teams) that I have seen this season.
All 37 pitches of the bottom of the 1st inning (MLB Film Room)
One team's starter fails, both teams' bull pens suspect
Interestingly this game showed that all the cogs in the wheel of a pitching staff must click for a good pitching result. MIL started a raw rookie who was as wild as could be, but pulled the game back with some very good middle relief, before their late relievers failed. CHC, meanwhile, got a very good 6 inning 99 pitch shutout from their starter, Jameson Taillon, before 2 of their 3 relief pitchers failed, allowing 5 hits and 3 earned runs. Only Mark Leiter Jr., who's 2 innings were sandwiched around an awful appearance by Keegan Thompson and a very shaky one by Hector Neris, was effective. In total, 4 of the 6 relievers and one starter in this game failed. Which explains the linescore, which shows 4 runs in the first 3 innings (3 on HRs) and 6 runs in the last 3.
MLB: 5/4/24 / Cumulative (per game)
Batting:
Games: 15/503; PA:1149/37843; At Bats: 1029/33737; Runs: 151/4354; Hits: 256/8061; 2b: 36/1538; 3b: 8/142; HR: 33/1004; RBI: 141/4108; SB: 18/747; CS: 3/203; W: 102/3287; SO: 252/8510; Total Bases: 407/12895 Hit by Pitch: 12/426; Sac-b 0/89; Left on Base: 209/6805
Cumulative True Outcomes % of all PA: 35.0%
Cumulative SO % of all outs: 31.7%
Cumulative Avg. HR: 2.00
Stolen Base success %: 78.6
Pitching:
Games: 15/503; Innings: 263.2/8939.1; Complete games: 0/6; Team Shutouts: 2/68; Shutouts: 0/4, No-Hitters: 0/1; Saves: 6/264; Runs conceded: 151/4354; Earned Runs: 136/3912; Balks: 1/52; Wild Pitches: 17/341
Cumulative Avg. Strike Outs per game: 16.9
Cumulative Avg. Walks per game: 6.53
Fielding: Cumulative only:
Games: 503: Chances: 36149; Put Outs: 26818; Assists: 8782; Errors: 549; All DPs 791
Avg errors per game: 1.09
Avg. DPs per game: 1.57
Avg. Unearned Runs per game: 0.9
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Game 37: 5/3/24 MIA at OAK
ESPN+ App or Website (Note: ESPN+ requires a paid subscription). Full game replays are usually available for about 1 month.
For Full Game Video
Schedule
Replay
Baseball
ESPN+
Complete game, pitch by pitch video (MLB Film room)
"Condensed Game" (MLB Youtube--8:35)
Short highlights of all games played 5/3/24 (MLB Youtube--9:56). For those who like to watch HRs (although they are down considerably so far this season).
Score:
OAK (16-17 3RD ALW) 3
MIA (9-25) 5TH NLE) 1
Link to Box Score, video highlights, ball by ball description, pitch description and graphic for each at bat, home and visitor game stories
Baseball Savant
Home Plate Umpire: Brian Knight (134 pitches called, 5 incorrect) (Umpire Scorecard)
Statistics:
Time of the Game (Minutes): 140 (2:20)
Time it Took to Watch the Game: 68 (1:08)
Pitches: 267
Balls in Play: 45
% BIP of all Pitches: 16.9
Pitches per BIP: 5.93
Walks: 2
Strikeouts: 19
Home Runs: 1
Hit by Pitch: 2
Catcher Interference: 0
Plate Appearances: 66
True Outcomes (W+SO+HR+HBP+CI) / PA:
T. O.% of PA: 36.4
Strikeout as % of All Outs (19/51): 37.3
Players with 2 or more Strike outs: 6
Sacrifice Bunts: 1
Stolen Bases: 2
Stolen Base attempts: 2
**** Defensive Plays: Note: Many of these plays can be found within the highlight or "condensed games" at MLB.com.
However, I will also link directly to them via the MLB Film Room. These were excellent plays, in my judgement. You may find more, or disagree.
OAK: Darell Hernaiz (SS) makes a leaping catch of a line drive by Nick Fortes to end the MIA 5th inning.
OAK: The Oakland Ball Boy makes a geat tumbling stop of a hard foul ground ball just outside one of the bull pen plates to save the bull pen from injury. Otto Lopez hit the foul ball in the MIA 2nd inning. Best play of the game, in my opinion.
Not so excellent plays:
OAK: Esteury Ruiz (CF) takes the wrong route to a long fly by Jazz Chisholm Jr. with 1 out in the MIA 2nd. It was a ball he should have caught. Not only did he miss the ball, but he then muffed the rebound after the ball bounced off the warning track and onto the wall. So two mistakes on a ball that was ruled a triple. OAK pitcher J.P. Sears then bore down and struck out Emmanuel Rivera and got Otto Lopez on a come backer to end the inning and keep the score at 0-0.
Why I chose a game between these two teams, Oakland's bullpen revival.
I chose this game because my only other choice for a free game was the White Sox (6-25 going into the game) and the Cardinals (14-17). The A's (15-17 and Marlins (9-24) had a combined record that was better. The game was also on ESPN+, which allows a 10 second fast forward, as opposed to MLB.com's 30 second forward. Meaning that I could watch the game in under 70 minutes. The other game, which lasted almost exactly as long as this one (2:21 v 2:20) would have taken around 1/2 hour longer to watch. Watching the White Sox for 90 minutes would have been quite toxic. And by the way, The A's carried a 4 game winning streak into this game, and the Marlins had just finished a 3 game sweep of the Pittsburgh Pirates (who the A's swept in 3 games just before this series). The Pirates are going through a bit of a rough patch at the moment.
The A's have suddenly developed a lights out 8/9 punch with Lucas Erceg and Mason Miller (Miller was AL Relief Pitcher of the month for March-April--1.35 ERA, struck out 28 of 51 batters over 13 1/3 innings and, drum roll please!!! threw 94 pitches over 100MPH, "by far the most in MLB," according to MLB.com. Erceg is also a near 100MPHER. It will be interesting to see how long this lasts, but for a walking ghost of a team (Sacramento next year, Las Vegas, supposedly in 2028, with an owner who could care less about the team and its fans, except for how much money he can make off an eventual sale), the A's are far surpassing expectations so far. And by the way, the run that scored off Erceg in the 9th inning was the first the OAK bullpen had allowed in 30.1 innings, the longest in OAK history (Fingers, Knowles, Eckersley, Isringhausen, Doolittle, Balfour, not withstanding).
This was Luis Arraez' final game as a Marlin, as he was traded to the San Diego Padres minutes before the game began. There were lots of hugs in the Miami dugout. And the A's turned their 39th double play of the season (in 33 games). That number leads MLB at the moment.
MLB: 5/3/24 / Cumulative (per game)
Batting:
Games: 15/488; PA:1081/36694; At Bats: 986/32708; Runs: 103/4203; Hits: 222/7805; 2b: 46/1502; 3b: 3/134; HR: 21/971; RBI: 96/3967; SB: 27/729; CS: 3/200; W: 80/3185; SO: 247/8258; Total Bases: 337/12488 Hit by Pitch: 5/414; Sac-b 4/89; Left on Base: 189/6596
Cumulative True Outcomes % of all PA: 35.0%
Cumulative SO % of all outs: 31.7%
Cumulative Avg. HR: 1.99
Stolen Base success %: 78.5
Pitching:
Games: 15/488; Innings: 264.1/8675.2; Complete games: 0/6; Team Shutouts: 3/66; Shutouts: 0/4, No-Hitters: 0/1; Saves: 9/259; Runs conceded: 103/4203; Earned Runs: 94/3776; Balks: 2/51; Wild Pitches: 12/324
Cumulative Avg. Strike Outs per game: 16.9
Cumulative Avg. Walks per game: 6.53
Fielding: Cumulative only:
Games: 488: Chances: 35088; Put Outs: 26027; Assists: 8531; Errors: 530; All DPs 771
Avg errors per game: 1.09
Avg. DPs per game: 1.58
Avg. Unearned Runs per game: 0.9
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Game 36: 5/2/24 SF at BOS
Free registration required
Full Game Link (click on "watch archive"). If game is blacked out in your area, wait a couple of hours. It will then be made available on demand for an indefinite amount of time.
Complete game, pitch by pitch video (MLB Film room)
"Condensed Game" (MLB Youtube--9:12)
Short highlights of all games played 5/2/24 (MLB Youtube--5:52). For those who like to watch HRs (although they are down considerably so far this season).
Score:
SF (15-17 3RD NLW) 3
BOS (18-14 3RD ALE) 1
Link to Box Score, video highlights, ball by ball description, pitch description and graphic for each at bat, home and visitor game stories
Baseball Savant
Home Plate Umpire: Mark Wegner (134 pitches called, 10 incorrect) (Umpire Scorecard)
Statistics:
Time of the Game (Minutes): 141 (2:21)
Time it Took to Watch the Game: 94 (1:34)
Pitches: 264
Balls in Play: 50
% BIP of all Pitches: 18.9
Pitches per BIP: 5.28
Walks: 7
Strikeouts: 13
Home Runs: 1
Hit by Pitch: 1
Catcher Interference: 0
Plate Appearances: 69
True Outcomes (W+SO+HR+HBP+CI) / PA:
T. O.% of PA: 31.9
Strikeout as % of All Outs (13/54): 24.1
Players with 2 or more Strike outs: 2
Sacrifice Bunts: 0
Stolen Bases: 0
Stolen Base attempts: 0
**** Defensive Plays: Note: Many of these plays can be found within the highlight or "condensed games" at MLB.com.
However, I will also link directly to them via the MLB Film Room. These were excellent plays, in my judgement. You may find more, or disagree.
SF: Jung Hoo Lee (CF) makes a diving catch of a Jarren Duran line drive with 2 outs and the tying run on base in the BOS 4th inning. The tying run got to 2nd base when, 2 batters earlier, Lee lost a fly ball in the sun, but quick work by Mike Yastrzemski kept Cedanne Rafaela to a double.
SF: Nick Ahmed (SS) goes deep into the hole and makes a brilliant throw to dismiss Tyler O'Neill for the 1s out in the BOS 8th inning
BOS: Rafael Devers (3B) and Bobby Dalbec (1B) combine to make an excellent play on a hard grounder by Jorge Soler, for the 2nd out in the SF 1st inning.
BOS: Connor Wong (C) goes all the way back to the screen to make a very difficult catch look very easy as he dismisses Mike Yastrzemski for the 2nd out in the SF 5th inning.
Not so excellent plays. There were no bad plays or mental errors in this game.
Yaz to Yaz, Interesting SF calls to the bullpen, a short digression about submarine ball pitching.
Before the game there was a very nice meeting between Hall of Famer Carl and his grandson Mike (SF RF) Yastrzemski followed by grandpa lobbing in the first ball to grandson. It was a reminder of the generational nature of the game and was quite touching. SF called on 3 relievers to work each of the last 3 innings: Eric Miller, Tyler Rogers, and closer Camilo Doval. Miller and Doval are your typical 100mphers, who do one thing to get 3 outs. Rogers, on the other hand, reminded
me of an old timey reliever that I grew up with, Ted Abernathy.
He was a revelation in the Cubs bullpen in the mid 1960s, a one time starter with a sore arm who ended up pitching for 7 teams in an 18 year career. He remade himself into a sometimes knuckle balling submarine pitcher.
Kent Tekulve, the great Pirates reliever of the 1970s (7-9th inning, Game 6, 1979 World Series) (Pittsburgh Pirates Youtube) credited Abernathy as his model.
But neither one of them pitched with the exaggeration that Tyler Rogers does. You have to look back to Carl Mays (1-SABR Biography)
(2-Mays in action-Youtube), the great pitcher of the dead and live ball era who is only known today as the man who threw the pitch that killed Cleveland's Ray Chapman (SABR Biography) in 1920. He was actually an excellent pitcher who spanned 2 eras. He pitched in 3 World Series. It was said that Mays' knuckles actually scraped the mound when he pitched.
Rogers motion is exaggerated like that, his fastball is 82mph and his changeup is 74mph. And the Red Sox had no chance against him as he easily put them away 1-2-3 in the 8th inning.
Tyler Rogers' 8th inning. (MLB Film Room
MLB: 5/2/24 / Cumulative (per game)
Batting:
Games: 6/473; PA:456/35613; At Bats: 396/31722; Runs: 51/4100; Hits: 85/7583; 2b: 20/1456; 3b: 4/131; HR: 9/950; RBI:49/3871; SB: 14/702; CS: 1/197; W: 45/3105; SO: 112/8011; Total Bases: 140/12151 Hit by Pitch: 9/409; Sac-b 1/85; Left on Base: 83/6407
Cumulative True Outcomes % of all PA: 35.0%
Cumulative SO % of all outs: 31.7%
Cumulative Avg. HR: 2.01
Stolen Base success %: 78.1
Games: 6/473; Innings: 109.2/8411.1; Complete games: 0/6; Team Shutouts: 1/63; Shutouts: 0/4, No-Hitters: 0/1; Saves: 1/249; Runs conceded: 51/4100; Earned Runs: 44/3682; Balks: 0/49; Wild Pitches: 2/312
Cumulative Avg. Strike Outs per game: 16.9
Cumulative Avg. Walks per game: 6.56
Fielding: Cumulative only:
Games: 467: Chances: 33997; Put Outs: 25234; Assists: 8348; Errors: 515; All DPs 751
Avg errors per game: 1.09
Avg. DPs per game: 1.59
Avg. Unearned Runs per game: 0.9
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Game 35: 5/1/24 KC at TOR
ESPN+ App or Website (Note: ESPN+ requires a paid subscription). Full game replays are usually available for about 1 month.
For Full Game Video
Schedule
Replay
Baseball
ESPN+
Complete game, pitch by pitch video (MLB Film room)
"Condensed Game" (MLB Youtube--9:47)
Short highlights of all games played 5/1/24 (MLB Youtube--9:53). For those who like to watch HRs (although they are down considerably so far this season).
Score:
KC (19-13 2ND ALC) 6
TOR (15-17 4TH ALE) 1
Link to Box Score, video highlights, ball by ball description, pitch description and graphic for each at bat, home and visitor game stories
Baseball Savant
Home Plate Umpire: DJ Reyburn (150 pitches called, 5 incorrect) (Umpire Scorecard)
Statistics:
Time of the Game (Minutes): 139 (2:19)
Time it Took to Watch the Game: 62 (1:02)
Pitches: 270
Balls in Play: 49
% BIP of all Pitches: 18.1
Pitches per BIP: 5.51
Walks: 3
Strikeouts: 17
Home Runs: 2
Hit by Pitch: 1
Catcher Interference: 0
Plate Appearances: 69
True Outcomes (W+SO+HR+HBP+CI) / PA:
T. O.% of PA: 33.3
Strikeout as % of All Outs (17/54): 31.5
Players with 2 or more Strike outs: 4
Sacrifice Bunts: 1
Stolen Bases: 0
Stolen Base attempts: 0
**** Defensive Plays: Note: Many of these plays can be found within the highlight or "condensed games" at MLB.com.
However, I will also link directly to them via the MLB Film Room. These were excellent plays, in my judgement. You may find more, or disagree.
KC: Bobby Witt Jr. (SS) makes a superb sliding stop of a ground ball by Bo Bichette and throws him out at 1st to end the TOR 6th inning.
KC: Hunter Renfroe (RF) robs Bo Bichette of a hit with a sliding catch racing in for the 1st out in the TOR 9th inning.
TOR: Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. (1B) makes a fine stop to take a hit away from Michael Massey for the 1st out in the KC 2nd inning. Guerrero won a Gold Glove in 2022.
TOR: Addison Barger (LF) (see Game 28: 4/24/24 TOR at KC on the March-April link above), the rookie brought up to replace Kevin Kiermaier, who had a shaky but then spectacular defensive debut in Left Field, a position he had never in his life played before 4/24/24, makes an excellent running catch and then contacts the wall in foul territory to dismiss Adam Frazier for the 1st out in the KC 3rd inning. Barger's offense is, as might be expected, an ongoing struggle (.156--1 for 18, with 0 walks and and 6 strike outs). But he has impressed team mates with his take no prisoners, Pete Reiser defense. He will most likely go back down when Kiermaier returns, but he is definitely a prospect.
TOR: Davis Schneider (2B), makes a great diving stop of a hard ground ball by Michael Massey and dismisses Massey in the KC 6th inning. Second out of the inning, it allowed Vinnie Pasquantino to score from 3rd for the Royals 3rd run of the inning and game. But without Schneider's excellent defensive play, the inning could have been a lot worse.
A solid game was played by all.
KC scored 3 in the 6th to break a scoreless tie by playing small ball (double, sacrifice bunt, single, double, single, ground out). In the 8th, they put the game away with a more modern strategy: 2 singles and a 3 run Home Run by Michael Massey, who was the star of the game with 4 of the 6 KC RBIs. TOR was limited to a solo HR by Danny Jansen in the bottom of the 7th. There was excellent starting pitching by Seth Lugo and Chris Bassitt (before he ran out of gas), and none of the mental mistakes that have plagued the last couple of games I have watched. A joy to view.
MLB: 5/1/24 / Cumulative (per game)
Batting:
Games: 15/467; PA:1077/35156; At Bats: 975/31326; Runs: 87/4049; Hits: 204/7498; 2b: 40/1436; 3b: 4/127; HR: 20/941; RBI:83/3822; SB: 16/688; CS: 8/196; W: 92/3060; SO: 243/7899; Total Bases: 312/12011 Hit by Pitch: 7/400; Sac-b 1/84; Left on Base: 194/6324
Cumulative True Outcomes % of all PA: 35.0%
Cumulative SO % of all outs: 31.7%
Cumulative Avg. HR: 2.01
Stolen Base success %: 77.8
Games: 15/467; Innings:266.0/8301.2; Complete games: 0/6; Team Shutouts: 5/62; Shutouts: 0/4, No-Hitters: 0/1; Saves: 8/248; Runs conceded: 87/4049; Earned Runs: 77/3638; Balks: 0/49; Wild Pitches: 6/310
Cumulative Avg. Strike Outs per game: 16.9
Cumulative Avg. Walks per game: 6.60
Fielding: Cumulative only:
Games: 467: Chances: 33560; Put Outs: 24905; Assists: 8144; Errors: 511; All DPs 738
Avg errors per game: 1.09
Avg. DPs per game: 1.58
Avg. Unearned Runs per game: 0.9
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