The Cycle, Spoke #9: What to Watch, Week 5
Highlighting some of the season's best performances, some unexpected early season surges as this week's Spoke returns to the customary length.
So, yes, today’s action is already underway, including one of the games I recommend watching (Dodgers @ Pirates), but who asked them to start playing at 12:40 Eastern? Also, this newsletter is free. And if you’re actually trying to watch the games I recommend, you’re probably doing it with MLB.tv and thus can start the games from the start whenever you want (unless you’re in-market, of course). So, you’re getting this week’s issue when I am done writing it because it’s very tricky to get it to you before then.
The good news is that, while my injured finger prevented me from highlighting the previous week’s top single-game performances, this week, my typing is back up to about 90 percent of normal. I still can’t make a fist with my right hand, and I still have several weeks of healing and physical therapy to go, but I’m not nearly as limited in terms of what I can do here as I was a week ago. So, let’s get right into those top performers (unless you want to scroll down to today’s games to watch):
Top Performers
Rangers right fielder Adolis García had what I likely to be the best game of his career on Saturday in the Rangers’ 18–3 win over the A’s in Arlington. Sporting the Rangers’ new City Connect uniform (which: nah), García came to the plate six times and reached base every time, five of them via an extra-base hit, accumulating 16 total bases. Those 16 total bases are not only the most in the majors this season, they’re the most in the majors since September 2020, when Alex Dickerson, then with the Giants had a very similar game in a 23–5 win over the Rockies in Colorado. The last player to exceed 16 total bases in a game was Reds second baseman Scooter Gennet in his four-homer game back in June 2017, and only three players have exceeded 16 total bases this century, all of them in four-homer performances (adding Josh Hamilton in 2012 and Shawn Green, who set the all-time record with 19 total bases on May 23, 2002).
García’s night on Saturday went: two-run homer, hit-by-pitch, two-run homer, two-run homer, two-run double, double. That was just the second three-homer game of this season (following Trayce Thompson’s), tied Thompson for the second-most RBI in a single game on the season (8, one behind Ryan Mountcastle’s season best), and set the season mark for most runs scored in a game (5). As for the four A’s pitchers García faced in that game, starter Shintaro Fujinami (HR, HBP) has since been demoted to the bullpen, Adrián Martínez (HR, HR) has since landed on the injured list with an elbow injury, James Kaprielian (2B) has since been demoted to Triple-A, and that last double came off usual third baseman Jace Peterson.
On the other side of the ball, the last two weeks have seen the first two 90-plus game scores of the season. The Yankees’ Gerrit Cole set the season high of 92 with a shutout of the Twins on April 16, allowing just two singles and a walk while striking out 10. Atlanta’s Spencer Strider nearly matched that on Monday against the Marlins. Strider was perfect through six, worked around a Matt Olson error in the seventh and took a no-hitter into the eighth before allowing one-out singles to Jean Segura and Jon Berti. Those were the only baserunners Strider allowed in eight scoreless innings while striking out 13 (including the last two batters he faced to strand Segura and Berti), which all added up to a game score of 91. Those 13 strikeouts, meanwhile, tied the season high set by Sonny Gray on April 7.
That same night, the Giants’ Alex Cobb shut out the Cardinals, which stands as just the third shutout and complete game on the season, joining Sandy Alcantara and Cole. Also, last Friday, the Cubs’ Drew Smyly allowed just one baserunner in 7 2/3 innings against the Dodgers while striking out 10 to also best Sandy Alcantara’s previous game-score high with an 87, which now stand as the third-best mark on the season.
Meanwhile, Zac Gallen and Eduardo Rodriguez are the first pitchers to post multiple game scores over 80 this seaosn. Rodriguez has recovered from a slow start to the season to post scores of 84 and 81 in his last two starts, combining for 15 scoreless innings without a run or walk allowed against the Guardians and Orioles while allowing just five singles and striking out 16 in those games. Gallen, meanwhile, has a game score of 77 or better in each of his last four starts and now has an active streak of 28 scoreless innings. In those last four starts (against the Brewers, Marlins, Padres, and Royals, the last coming last night), he has struck out 41 batters in 27 scoreless innings while walking just one, hitting one, and allowing just 11 hits, nine of them singles.
On the team level, since the Rays’ season-opening 13-game winning streak came to a close on the 14th, they have continued to win at a 94-win pace, however the hottest teams in baseball have been the Orioles and the Pirates, who have won eight of their last nine and nine of their last 10, respectively. Heading into today’s action (already underway), the Pirates were tied with Atlanta for the second-best record in the majors (17–8, .680), behind the Rays, of course, and had the third-best run differential in the National League (+31+. Baltimore was next on the list at 16–8 (.667), but were 3 1/2 games behind the Rays in their own division and had the fourth-best run differential in the AL (+31). The second-best run differential in the majors, meanwhile (again behind the +87 Rays), belongs to the +56 first-place Rangers. All of which is a reminder that it’s still April, though I will say, I tuned in to Tuesday’s Pirates–Dodgers game and it was tremendously entertaining.
Speaking of . . .
What to Watch
This Weekend
Series to Watch
Atlanta @ Mets: This is the first confrontation of the season between these two rivals, who enter the weekend as the top two teams in the National League East. Atlanta is up three games on New York at the moment, but both play today, so that could change before this wrap-around four-game set starts on Friday. The Mets are coming in cold, having dropped four straight, including scoring just one run in their first two games against the lowly Nationals this week, but this matchup could wake them up. It should certainly wake up their fans. Also, he’s not listed among the probables yet, but Max Scherzer will be eligible to return from his sticky-stuff suspension for the finale on Monday.
Phillies @ Astros: This is a rematch of last year’s World Series in the victor’s home park. Both teams started slow this year, but the Phillies, despite their injuries, are 7–3 over their last 10, and the Astros have won six of their last seven, including shutting out the Rays league-leading offense the last two nights. This is a three-game set that starts on Friday, and the first two games have the teams’ top starters lined up to face off, with Aaron Nola and Zack Wheeler set to take on Framber Valdez and Cristian Javier, respectively.
Giants @ Padres in Mexico City: This is the first of two specialty series this season, to be followed by a pair of Cubs–Cardinals games in London in late June. You’re going to hear a lot this weekend about these being the first regular-season Major League games in Mexico City. That’s technically correct, but the MLB regular season is no stranger to Mexico. In fact, the first neutral-site games outside of the continental US were played in Monterrey in 1996, with the Padres hosting the Mets. In fact, this is the fourth time the Padres will play in Mexico as the home team (also vs. Rockies for one game in 1999 and vs. Dodgers for three games in 2018, the latter series featuring a combined no-hitter by the Dodgers, all four of those games in Monterrey). There were also four games in Monterrey in 2019 (Cards @ Reds twice, then Astros @ Angels twice).
The Padres were supposed to host the Diamondbacks in Mexico City in April 2020, but that series, along with that season’s scheduled London games, were cancelled by the pandemic. These are the first neutral-site games outside of the continental US since then, so that’s exciting just for the return-to-normalcy thing, even though part of the attraction of these games is their abnormalcy. This is a two-game set to be played on Saturday and Sunday at Estadio Alfredo Harp Helú, which opened in 2019 as the new home of the Mexican League’s Diablos Rojos del México, the winningest team in Mexico League history. Fun fact: the Diablos currently feature the 46-year-old Fernando Rodney in their bullpen.
Note, as always, that national broadcasts are subject to regional alternatives and that pitchers in italics are not yet official probables.
Thursday, April 27
Julio Urías vs. Mitch Keller, Dodgers @ Pirates, 12:35 pm ET, MLBN
Already underway, but the rubber game of an unexpectedly competitive series. The Dodgers came back from a five-run deficit to win 8–7 on Tuesday in a very entertaining game that featured Andrew McCutchen playing both hero (three-run homer in the fourth inning) and goat (inning-ending pop-out with the bases loaded in the eighth). Then the Pirates came back and stomped the Dodgers’ bullpen in an 8–1 win on Wednesday. Keller, meanwhile, has turned in four straight quality starts with a 2.88 ERA over that span.
Shane McClanahan vs. Dylan Cease, Rays @ White Sox, 7:10 pm ET, MLBN
This is all about the starting pitchers. Cease was the runner-up in last year’s AL Cy Young voting. McClanahan finished sixth. McClanahan is 4–0 with a 1.86 ERA through five starts this season. Cease’s walk rate is creeping back up, but he still has a 2.73 mark. This is also a rematch Saturday’s game, which also featured these two, with McClanahan striking out 10 in a quality start and Cease using up 100 pitches before he could get to the fifth inning. The Rays won that one 4–3.
Friday, April 28
Aaron Nola vs. Framber Valdez, Phillies @ Astros, 8:10 pm ET, Apple TV+
Game 1 of the World Series rematch. Nola hasn’t been sharp thus far this season, but three of his last four starts have been quality and he went seven innings his last time out. Valdez, meanwhile, has a 2.25 ERA and has completed seven innings in three of his last four starts.
Grayson Rodriguez vs. Eduardo Rodriguez, Orioles @ Tigers, 6:40 pm ET
E-Rod tries for a third-straight dominant outing, doing so against the Orioles’ top pitching prospect, who matched his zeros for five innings when the faced off in Baltimore on Sunday. Facing the Orioles for a second consecutive start raises the difficulty level for Eduardo in this game.
Also: Luis Castillo vs. Alek Manoah in Toronto at 7:07 pm ET; Jack Flaherty vs. Dustin May at 10:10 pm in L.A.
Saturday, April 29
Zack Wheeler vs. Cristian Javier, Phillies @ Astros, 5:10 pm ET, MLBN
Game 2 of the World Series rematch. Like Nola, Wheeler has started slowly this year, but he struck out 11 in a quality start his last time out. Javier has been good but not great thus far, but had a very similar outing in his last start (6 IP, 3 H, 10 K).
Giants @ Padres, Sean Manaea vs. Joe Musgrove, Mexico City, 6:05 pm ET, MLBN
Manaea, who has bounced between the bullpen and rotation in the early going, faces his old team and their ace in his second start of the season in MLB’s Mexico City debut. Unfortunately, the only Mexican native on either team, Giants outfielder Luis González, is on the 60-day injured list following back surgery.
Also: Spencer Strider vs. Tylor Megill in Queens at 4:05 pm ET.
Sunday, April 30
Giants @ Padres, Alex Cobb vs. Yu Darvish, Mexico City, 4:05 pm ET, MLBN
This is the better pitching matchup in this two-game set, and there’s less competition for your attention on Sunday (at least in MLB), so if you’re only going to watch one Mexico City game, make it this one. Cobb is coming off his shoutout of the Cardinals. Darvish has allowed just one run in three of his four starts this season and was great against the Brewers two turns ago (7 IP, 1 R, 12 K).
Also: Nestor Cortes vs. Martín Pérez in Arlington at 2:35 pm ET
Next Week
Series to Watch
Pirates @ Rays: The Pirates don’t seem likely to cool off against the Nationals this weekend, which means this will be a matchup of two of the young season’s hottest teams. I do wish it was in beautiful PNC park rather than that eyesore in St. Peterburg, but you take what you can get. This runs Tuesday to Thursday.
Diamondbacks @ Rangers: As I type these words, this is a matchup of the first place teams in the two western divisions. The Rangers have been bludgeoning teams, leading the majors with 6.4 runs scored per game through Wednesday’s action. The D’backs have been stealing their lunch and will have Zac Gallen looking to extend his scoreless streak in one of the two games.
Phillies @ Dodgers: If you’d rather play the long game than focus on the hot hand, try this matchup of the defending NL champion Phillies and the perennial pennant favorite Dodgers. Both have been underwhelming thus far, but the Dodgers really have been giving Mookie Betts starts at shortstop (I was lucky enough to catch both of those games, and he’s legit at the position), and if the Phillies fair well in those marquee matchups against the Astros, they could come into this series with some momentum.
Monday, May 1
Bryce Elder vs. Max Scherzer, Atlanta @ Mets, 1:10 pm ET, MLBN
If it’s not Scherzer it’s going to be Kodai Senga, so that’s the most compelling Mets starter in this series either way.
Tuesday, May 2
Tanner Bibee vs. Gerrit Cole, Guardians @ Yankees, 7:05 pm ET
Bibee, the Guardians’ top pitching prospect, was excellent in his major-league debut on Wednesday, holding the Rockies to one run over 5 2/3 innings while striking out eight and walking no one. It will be interesting to see how he does against a better team and their ace.
(See note on Zac Gallen under Wednesday)
Wednesday, May 3
Logan Webb vs. Framber Valdez, Giants @ Astros, 2:10 pm ET, MLBN
Zac Gallen vs. Andrew Heaney, Diamondbacks @ Rangers, 2:05 pm ET
Aaron Nola vs. Dustin May, Phillies @ Dodgers, 4:10 pm ET
Mitch Keller vs. Shane McClanahan, Pirates @ Rays, 6:40 pm ET
All speculative matchups. All worth watching. Be mindful that Gallen could wind up staring on Tuesday against Jon Gray at 8:05 pm ET. Gallen is worth watching whenever he starts given his scoreless streak.
My wife was watching The Last of Us recently (I still haven’t), and overhearing “Long, Long Time” has put me on a bit of a Linda Ronstadt kick the last few days, because I’m just barely old enough to remember the peak of her popularity. So, since my finger is still smarting a bit after all this typing, let’s go with one of her bigger hits and one of the cover tunes she most successfully made her own. “Hurts So Bad” was originally a top-10 hit by Little Anthony and the Imperials in 1965, and Ronstadt covers it pretty straight, but the arrangement updates it to 1980 very nicely, particularly with the way it replaces those lush soul strings with some great guitar work from Danny Korchmar. When she wails that staccato “please–don’t–go, please–don’t–go!” into the guitar solo? That’s the stuff.