The Cycle, Issue 129: Fountain Pen
A look back at the last week—including the Rays' no-hit oddity, Rizzo's three-homer game, and the White Sox's skid—a viewer's guide to the next week, and thoughts on the Royals' City Connect uniforms
In this issue of The Cycle . . .
Did You See That? The Rays’ no-hit oddity, the season’s first complete game, hard-luck pitchers, Rizzo’s three-homer game, Trout back on top, signs of life from struggling rookies, and the White Sox’s skid.
On Deck: A viewer’s guide to Week 4
Rooting For Laundry: The Royals’ spring their City Connects
Feedback
Closing Credits
Did You See That?
The wildest thing that happened in Major League Baseball this past week was last Saturday’s Red Sox–Rays game at Tropicana Field. That was a bullpen game for the Rays, who—with Shane Baz, Luis Patiño, and Ryan Yarbrough joining Tyler Glasnow and Yonny Chirinos on the injured list—have been bullpenning two of the five spots in their rotation. J.P. Feyereisen started that game with two no-hit innings, and five relievers followed suit, holding the Red Sox hitless through nine. However, the Rays failed to score against Garrett Whitlock (making his first major-league start) and company, sending the game into the tenth, where Sox first baseman Bobby Dalbec greeted Rays righty Matt Wisler with a leadoff (and RBI, thanks to the automatic runner) triple. The Sox plated Dalbec, as well, to take a 2–0 lead. Hansel Robles struck out the first two batters in the bottom of the tenth, got two strikes on the third man, Taylor Walls, and got him to ground to second base, but Trevor Story threw wide to first, plating the automatic man and keeping the Rays alive. Kevin Kiermaier then got ahead of Robles 3-1, then ripped an inside fastball into the right-field stands for a walkoff home run and a 3–2 Rays win.
Thus we had a game in which the Red Sox were no-hit for nine innings and were shocked to lose. It was the 15th no-hitter in major-league history to be broken up in extra innings, the first since Dodger lefty Rich Hill (who is now on the Red Sox) pitched into the 10th and gave up a walk-off home run against the Pirates in August 2017. It was just the third no-hitter broken up in extra innings in which no pitcher completed nine innings, and the first ever in which no pitcher completed seven innings. No Rays pitcher threw more than two innings in the game (which Feyereisen, Jeffrey Springs, and Andrew Kittredge all did), and the winning pitcher was the only one to allow a run or a hit: Wisler.
As far as individual pitching performances go, Walker Buehler turned in the first complete game of the year, shutting out the Diamondbacks on three hits on Monday, walking no one, striking out 10, and posting a 91 game score, the highest in the majors this season.
Aaron Nola and Joe Ryan had identical line scores (7 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 9 K) in their starts on Sunday and Wednesday, respectively, compiling game scores of 83, which tied for the fourth-best of the season. Incredibly, Nola got a no-decision in his game as Eric Lauer struck out 13 Phillies over six innings, Brad Boxberger, Devin Williams, and Josh Hader completed the shutout, and Corey Knebel, who has otherwise been sharp this season, coughed up the lone run of the game in the top of the ninth as the Brewers beat the Phillies 1–0.
That’s the toughest no-decision of the season thus far. The hardest-luck loss came when Frankie Montas held the Rangers scoreless for 7 1/3 innings on Saturday, but was pulled with one out and runners on the corners in the eighth only to watch Dominco Acevedo allow both runners to score and the A’s lose 2–0 to the Rangers. Martín Pérez did the bulk of the work for the Rangers in that game and has now allowed just one run in 13 innings over his last two starts.
Out in the bullpen, the Yankees’ Michael King struck out eight of the 10 batters he faced in a three-inning outing against the Guardians last Friday and has not allowed a run in 8 1/3 innings over his last four appearances, striking out 14 against just two walks and stranding all six of his inherited runners over that span.
On the other side of the ball, the big performance of the week was Anthony Rizzo’s three-homer game against the Orioles on Tuesday. Rizzo joins Vladimir Guerrero, who turned the trick against the Yankees, on the only hitters to hit three homers in a game thus far this season.
Also worth noting, Angels right fielder Taylor Ward, who has forced Jo Adell and Brendon Marsh to split left field, was a single shy of the cycle on Wednesday, collecting a double, triple, and a Grand Slam against the Guardians. Of course, those nine total bases fall short of the 10 Joc Pederson compiled with two homers and a double against the Nationals on Sunday, or the 11 Willy Adams compiled with two homers, a double, and a single against the Pirates on Tuesday. Guerrero’s 14 (adding a double to his three homers) remain the most in a single-game this season, however.
Pederson, Ward, and Rizzo all rank among the week’s hottest hitters, though Peterson made just 16 plate appearances, and seven players posted a higher OPS in the last week than Rizzo, including his teammate Aaron Judge (Judge and Rizzo led the majors with four homers each in the last week). MLB’s hottest hitter, when playing time is factored in, is none other than Mike Trout, who went 11-for-24 (.458) with three homers, three doubles, a triple and five walks for a 1.608 OPS on the week.
A bit further down the list, with top prospect C.J. Abrams off to a poor start, the Padres are finally getting Ha-Seong Kim regular action and he has responded by going 4-for-12 (.333) with a homer, two doubles, and three walks in the last week for a 1.217 OPS. Similarly, Mariners rookie centerfielder Julio Rodríguez has seen his bat perk up, going 7-for-23 (.304) with three doubles, a pair of walks, and just six strikeouts in the last week, and Royals third baseman Bobby Witt went 8-for-27 (.296), albeit without much behind the average. Those two rookies have also been showing off their speed in the last week, Rodríguez stealing four bases, Witt three, both without being caught.
On the team level, the big story has been the White Sox slump. Chicago opened the season 6-2, but has lost nine of 10 since, including an eight-game losing streak (since interrupted). The Sox have been hit hard by injury, with Yoán Moncada (oblique) and Lance Lynn (knee) yet to make their season debuts, and corner outfielders AJ Pollock and Eloy Jiménez (hamstrings) starting just the first two games of the season together before each hit the injured list. Pollock is back now, but Jiménez tore his right hamstring on Saturday and is expected to be out until early June. Add Garret Crochet’s Tommy John surgery, the fact that free-agent bullpen addition Joe Kelly also has yet to make his season debut due to the biceps issue that emerged in last year’s postseason, and a brief IL stay for Lucas Giolito due to an abdominal strain, and the White Sox have been behind the eight ball before even taking the field.
On top of that, they’re hitting just .212/.263/.345 (82 OPS+) as a team on the season, and that’s with sophomore Andrew Vaughan on fire (189 OPS+ thus far). Now, they welcome the Angels, one of the AL’s best teams in the early going, and the best the Sox have had to contend with thus far based on current record and run differential, for a four-game set in the Windy City. The Chisox, the hands-down favorite in their division coming into the year, open that series with a .389 wining percentage and a -23 run differential that is just two runs better than the Orioles’ league-worst mark. The good news is they have Giolito starting tonight’s opener to try to get them back on the right foot.
On Deck
Note that all pitching matchups are probable and subject to change.
This Weekend
Series to Watch:
Phillies @ Mets: The Mets enter this series with the best record in baseball (14-6, .700) and the biggest division lead (three games, tied with the Twins, who play in a division in which the second-place team has a .412 winning percentage). The Mets have also won every series they’ve played thus far, including taking two of three from the Phillies in Philadelphia during the season’s first week. The Phillies have the second-best run differential in the division (+12) and just swept a four-game set at home against the Rockies. These two teams play seven of their next 11 games against one another, so this is a big opportunity for the Phillies to prove they can hang with New York (though it’s not clear that they can).
The pitching matchups for this series are solid throughout. Aaron Nola faces the surprising Tylor Megill in Friday night’s opener. Saturday night, Kyle Gibson, who has been better than expected in the early going, faces Taijuan Walker in the latter’s return from a bout with shoulder bursitis. In the finale, which is the ESPN Sunday night game, Zach Eflin faces Max Scherzer.
Astros @ Blue Jays: This is less about where these two teams are now than where we expect them to be come October and the chance that this could be a playoff or even ALCS preview. If you can believe it, this weekend set concludes the season series between these two heavily favored teams. The Jays took two of three in Houston last week and it took the Astros 10 innings to pull out a win in the finale of that series. The Astros got back over .500 this week by taking three of four from the Rangers, but they still have a -6 run differential. The Jays are only +3, but they have yet to suffer consecutive losses this season and are 7-2 against the Astros and Red Sox over their last three series.
Jose Urquidy and Yusei Kikuchi open things up Friday night, Luis Garcia and José Berríos make a more compelling matchup on Saturday afternoon, and Framber Valdez and Kevin Gausman make for a compelling series finale on Sunday.
Twins @ Rays: These two teams enter this weekend set with matching 11-8 records and with the first-place Twins taking their seven-game winning streak on the road after sweeping a six-game homestand against the White Sox and Tigers. The Twins are the story here, as they’re not only on top of the weak central division but have the fourth-best run differential in the American League (+14 to the Rays’ +6). For their part the Rays have won their last three series, taking two of three from the Cubs, Red Sox, and Mariners.
This isn’t a terribly compelling rivalry, and former Rays prospect Joe Ryan, who dominated the Mariners on Wednesday, won’t pitch in the series, but it will be a good test for a Twins team that wants to prove they belong atop their division. Minnesota will start Dylan Bundy (excellent so far in three five-innings starts), Chris Archer (who has yet to exceed 76 pitches or 4 1/3 innings pitched in a start this season), and Chris Paddack (better each time out thus far, but still looking for his first quality start of the season). The Rays counter with Corey Kluber (mixed and underwhelming results thus far) and, most likely, a bullpen game (remember, the last nearly resulted in a no-hitter) and Shane McClanahan (excellent in his last two starts).
Friday, April 29
Pitching Matchup of the Day
Noah Syndergaard vs. Lucas Giolito, Angels @ White Sox, 7:10 pm ET
Based on the results, alone, Syndergaard appears to be rounding into shape as he scrapes off the rust from his long Tommy John recovery. A closer look shows some worrisome exit velocities and a decline in velocity, not only from the upper-90s he featured as a Met, but from start to start this season, with his fastball averaging more than 96 miles per hour in his last Spring Training start but dipping below 95 miles per hour, on average, his last time out against the Orioles. That all bears watching. As for Giolito, an abdominal strain put 15 days between his first two starts of the year, making this his first of the regular season on normal rest after a competitive outing and, the White Sox hope, his first time past the fourth inning this year.
Game of the Day
Phillies @ Mets, Aaron Nola vs. Tylor Megill, 7:10 pm ET
Nola dominated the Brewers in his last start, holding them scoreless on one hit and one walk while striking out nine over seven innings, and the Phillies hope that was a sign of things to come, as Nola’s first three starts were middling at best. As for the Phillies, this game will be a good test for Nola, as he gave up three runs in just 3 1/3 innings when he last faced the Mets on April 13. Megill, meanwhile, threw 5 1/3 scoreless against the Phils on April 12 and is now 3-0 with a 2.35 ERA on the season, while the Mets are undefeated in his starts. The 26-year-old Mets sophomore is going to force the Phillies to do the work themselves. He has walked just three batters in 23 innings on the season, hit no one, and thrown just one wild pitch.
Also:
Madison Bumgarner and Adam Wainwright face off in St. Louis in a matchup of marquee veterans, one of whom is 40, and one of whom has a 40-year-old left arm. Seriously, Bumgarner is eight years younger than Wainwright but, playoffs included, has thrown just 356 2/3 fewer innings in his major-league career.
Lefties Tyler Alexander and Tyler Anderson are facing off in L.A. to prove that they are different people.
Saturday, April 30
Pitching Matchup of the Day
Robbie Ray vs. Jesús Luzardo, Mariners @ Marlins, 6:10 pm ET
Ray is the defending American League Cy Young award winner, and while he had a stinker against the White Sox in his second start of the season, his other three have all been quality. Luzardo also had a stinker his second time out, against the Cardinals, but has struck out 20 batters in 10 innings while allowing just two runs, total, in his other two starts, and he hasn’t allowed a home run yet in 14 1/3 innings. I see this a matchup of two talented lefties on opposite sides of a breakout.
Game of the Day
Astros @ Blue Jays, Luis Garcia vs. José Berríos, 3: 07 pm ET
Garcia, last year’s AL Rookie of the Year runner-up, has struck out 13 men in 11 2/3 innings against just two walks in his last two starts, but he also allowed three homers and eight runs in those outings, one the last of which came against the Jays (6 IP, 5 R, 6 K, 2 HR). Berríos’s season line is distorted by a disaster outing on Opening Day. He has a 3.00 ERA since and held the Red Sox to three runs over 13 innings in his last two outings. Both are better pitchers than their numbers show at the moment.
Sunday, May 1
Pitching Matchup of the Day
Marcus Stroman vs. Corbin Burnes, Cubs @ Brewers, 2:10 pm ET
Stroman bounced back from two ugly outings with a quality start against the Braves in his last turn, his first quality start as a Cub. He held the Brewers to one run over five innings in his first start for Chicago. Defending NL Cy Young award winner Burnes, meanwhile, is up to his old tricks with 29 strikeouts against three walks and just two runs allowed in 20 2/3 innings over his last three starts. His only subpar outing thus far this season was his Opening Day showing against the Cubs.
Game of the Day
Phillies @ Mets, Zach Eflin vs. Max Scherzer, 7:08 pm ET, ESPN
Eflin held the Rockies to a run on two hits his last time out in his first quality start of the year and appear to be rounding into form nicely after missing the entire second half of last season due to a reoccurrence of an old patellar tendon injury. As for Scherzer, he was just filthy his last two times out. Facing two contending teams, the Giants and Cardinals, he struck out 20 in 14 innings against four walks while allowing just one run on three hits, total, striking out 10 men in seven innings in both games. He’s at full blast already, and the Phillies had better get their winning in in the first two games of this series.
Also:
Astros @ Tigers, Framber Valdez vs. Kevin Gausman, 1:37 pm ET
Logan Gilbert vs. Sandy Alcantara, Mariners @ Marlins, 1:40 pm ET
Luis Severino vs. Daniel Lynch, Yankees @ Royals, 2:10 pm ET
Next Week
Note that Monday is the day that the expanded-roster rules expire. Prior to Monday’s games, every team will have to pare its roster down to 26 players with a maximum of 13 pitchers.
Series to Watch:
Braves @ Mets: This is the first head-to-head series between the defending World Series champions and the team currently bosting the best record in the majors (and also leading them by five games in their own division). It’s a four-game set in Queens, with a doubleheader on Tuesday. The Mets appear to have Chris Bassitt, Carlos Carrasco, and Tylor Megill lined up, with a spot-starter, likely David Peterson, who has pitched well in three starts thus far but has lost his rotation spot to Megill, likely for one of the double-header games. The Braves should have Charlie Morton, Kyle Wright, and Ian Anderson on turn for the three days of the series and could give Spencer Strider a spot start in the doubleheader.
Of particular note: Ronald Acuña Jr. is back, but the Braves intend to rest him in day games after night games, at least to start, which means he may only play in two of these four games: Monday night and the Tuesday nightcap, as Wednesday is a day game.
Yankees @ Blue Jays: Heading into the weekend, these two teams have the top two records in the AL (with the Jays tied with the Angels for second place in the overall AL standings) and are just a half-game apart atop the AL East. In the second series of the season, the two split four games in the Bronx. Next week, they’ll play three in Toronto. This series will have the added drama of finding out which Yankees can actually make the trip, as Anthony Rizzo and Aaron Judge, the team’s top two hitters in the early going (and two of the hottest hitters in the majors over the last week), have both indicated a reluctance to take the COVID-19 vaccine. Thus far the largest baseball-related disruption this season caused by Canada’s (entirely reasonable) COVID-vaccine requirement for travelers has been Red Sox sophomore Tanner Houck missing his turn in Boston’s rotation this week due to his lack of a vaccine. Rizzo and/or Judge (never mind both of them) missing this series would be a far more significant violation, though it would still pale next to their failure to get vaccinated in the first place. Assuming they are all vaccinated, the Yankees have Jordon Montgomery and Jameson Taillon scheduled to start, likely followed by Nestor Cortes. The Jays will have Ross Stripling, Alek Manoah, and Yusei Kikuchi on turn.
Mariners @ Astros: These are the top two finishers in last year’s AL West, and the Mariners and Astros are just a game apart in the AL West heading into the weekend, though both are looking up at the Angels at the moment. The Mariners have the edge in the standings right now, and they took two of three from Houston two weeks ago. They’ll have Marco Gonzales, Chris Flexen, Matt Brash, and Robbie Ray on turn for this series. The Astros will have Jake Odorizzi, Cristian Javier, Justin Verlander, and Jose Urquidy ready to go.
Giants @ Dodgers: This is just a two-game set—Tuesday and Wednesday—but any games between these two teams are must-see at this point. In addition to being the top two teams in their division and the next two teams after the Mets in the overall NL standings heading into the weekend, they are also tied for the major-league lead in run differential at +44 (the Mets are third at +33). The Dodgers will have Tony Gonsolin and Julio Urías on turn for these two games. The Giants will have Carlos Rodón on turn for the Tuesday game and Jakob Junis, with or without an opener, for Wednesday.
Monday, May 2
If you believe that the 38-year-old Charlie Morton is bound to snap out of his early-season funk sooner or later, then Morton vs. Chris Bassitt in the Braves-Mets opener at 7:10 pm is the game to watch on Monday. If you’re put off by his 11 walks in 18 innings thus far, try the Angels and White Sox at 2:10 pm ET. You’ll get Dylan Cease, off to a solid start for Chicago, against Patrick Sandoval, who appears to be coming into his own in a big way. Sandoval posted a 122 ERA+ in 14 starts and three relief appearances last year and he is off to a great start in his age-25 season, having struck out 20 in 15 innings without allowing an earned run. His last time out, he held Cleveland scoreless on two singles and a walk while striking out nine in seven innings, and needing just 90 pitches to do it. Also worth a look: Zac Gallen vs. Pablo López in Miami at 6:40 pm and Zack Greinke vs. Steven Matz in St. Louis at 4:15 pm.
Tuesday, May 3
Tuesday is Ohtani day. He’ll start in prime time at Fenway Park against public-health traitor Tanner Houck, after which you can flip over to the potential Carlos Rodón vs. Tony Gonsolin matchup in L.A. at 10:10 pm ET.
Wednesday, May 3
Rookie Matt Brash against super-veteran Justin Verlander in a 2:10 pm ET afternoon game between the Mariners and Astros in Houston is the one to watch on Wednesday. The ambitious could do a tripleheader with that game followed by Yankees–Blue Jays (Cortes vs. Kikuchi) at 7:07 pm ET and Giants-Dodgers (Junis vs. Urías) at 10:10 pm ET.
Rooting For Laundry
Royals’ City Connect Uniforms
I have to be honest, I’m burning out on these City Connect uniforms. When the series was announced at the start of last season, I thought I’d hate it, but that we might see some really wild looks that were at least interesting in a bad way. Remember, the series launched with the Red Sox wearing yellow and powder blue. As things unfolded, I was pleased that these uniforms weren’t going to be as bad as I had feared. However, with these new Royals kits, 10 of the 30 teams have unveiled their City Connect uniforms, and, just as the bad ones aren’t bad in an interesting way (the Dodgers’ are the worst, and they’re just lazy), I’m still waiting for the first City Connect uniform that I really love.
I was enthusiastic about the Astros’ NASA-themed entry, but, like the Diamondbacks’ Serpientes uniforms, which also seemed promising, they looked just awful on the field (among other things, the wordmark across the chest is way too small). These Royals uniforms are probably the best in the series thus far, but they’re still inferior to the Royals’ standard look. Of course, the Royals’ Dodgers-derived home uniforms set a pretty high bar. That’s why they’ve only been subject to minor tweaks in the team’s 54-year history (including some this offseason).
The basic concept behind the Royals’ City Connect uniforms is strong. Kansas City is the City of Fountains, those fountains originally installed to provide relief to the city’s horses. That slogan is on their flag along with an art-deco depiction of a fountain’s spray. The primary innovation here is to take that image from the flag and convert it into the bottom half of an interlocking “KC.”
That’s a pretty clever idea, and it is executed well here, both with a similarly-styled interpretation of the Royals’ four-pronged crown on the jersey (above) and without on the cap:
Of course, I’d prefer this entire uniform be powder or royal blue (or some combination thereof). Supposedly the navy base color is a tribute to the pre-Royals Kansas City teams, including the Kansas City Blues and Kansas City Athletics. However, the former of those two was the Yankees’ Triple-A team, and the latter of them behaved like it was until Charlie Finley bought them and changed their colors to green and gold, so that’s a dubious history to celebrate, even if Mickey Mantle did play 40 games in a navy Kansas City uniform in 1951 and Roger Maris was an American League All-Star in a navy Kansas City uniform in 1959.
I do like that the Royals are wearing this with white pants and powder-blue accessories. I also like the art-deco interpretation of the team’s original “R” logo on the right sleeve (though I’m old enough to be troubled by the fact that it’s not on the right sleeve).
As for the demerits, I don’t like the unbalanced placement of the number on the front of the jersey (which may be necessitated by the presence of the Nike swoosh, which only makes me dislike that imbalance even more). I don’t much care for the supposed art-deco font for the player names on the back, and I those name are way too big:
As for the little hidden details (“Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey” inside the collar for the Lieber & Stoller song played after every win, and a stitched silhouette of a fountain on the jock tag), I can’t see them so I don’t care.
I’ll be curious to see how these look on the field. For now, I think both that they’re probably the best of the first 10 uniforms in this series, and that, when the Royals wear them, I’ll still be wishing they were wearing their primary home whites.
Feedback
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You can also write me at cyclenewsletter[at]substack[dot]com, or @ me on twitter @CliffCorcoran.
Closing Credits
Despite the literally hundreds of classic movies I have watched over the last two years, I have not seen the 1954 romantic-comedy Three Coins in the Fountain, which lacks any particularly notable names in front of or behind the camera. Nonetheless, the film won two Oscars: one for its color, widescreen, on-location cinematography of Rome and Venice (based on the reviews, the city is the real star of the picture); the other for the title song, written by Jules Styne and Sammy Cahn and sung by Frank Sinatra. The song is a gentle ballad, pleasant but unmemorable to my ears, typical of what you might hear in a romantic Hollywood film of the era. That’ll do just fine for this issue’s closer, as I’m coming off a couple of weeks of very busy work (I just finished a proofread on Temple Grandin’s latest book on Thursday) and just found out this morning that a member of my household has contracted COVID (mild symptoms thus far, good health in general, vaccinated, of course). So, gentle, pleasant, and unmemorable is exactly how I’m hoping the next week or so will go.
The three-coins idea in the lyric and the title refers to the tradition of tossing a coin in Rome’s Trevi fountain to ensure your return to the city. There are three because the film follows three American women—played by Dorothy McGuire, Jean Peters, and Maggie McNamara—looking for love in this romantic city. That, in turn, was inspired by the convergence of three roads at the fountain, which gives the fountain its name (from the Latin trivium, the intersection of three streets).
I visited Rome on my honeymoon 16 years ago, and my wife an I both threw coins in Trevi fountain (which is a genuinely awesome installation, completed in 1762, in the heart of that beautiful city) while standing exactly where the actresses are shown doing so in the video below. We repeated the ritual with the scaled-down replica at Epcot Center’s Italian pavilion upon our subsequent visits there. We’ve since returned to Epcot (and have plans to do so again later this year, pandemic permitting). I’m still waiting on that return trip to Rome, however.
The Cycle will return on Thursday with the usual business and hopefully a bit more as the 2022 season approaches the end of its first full month of games.