Live updates: Best of Wednesday MLB action
Bryce Harper already has gotten Wednesday off to a bang, hitting three home runs and driving in five for the Nationals in a 7-5 victory against the Marlins. At 22, Harper is the youngest player in 46 years to hit three homers in a game. The Nats improved to 14-15, with Max Scherzer pitching well until he allowed a three-run homer to Giancarlo Stanton in the eighth.
Here’s one of Harper’s blows:
After the game, Harper confidently declared that the Nationals are “the team to beat” and that they are poised to get hot and that “everybody knows it” on both fronts.
Now, this might seem a bit odd for someone playing for a 14-15 team and Harper has plenty of detractors who are going to go after him for the comments. Let’s keep in mind that the Nationals have won seven of their last nine, though, and that talented teams routinely come back from slow starts. Just last year, the Royals were under .500 in July and made the World Series. Any declarations that Harper is doing anything other than showing confidence in himself and his teammates would probably be an overreaction.
As for Harper himself, he’s still only 22 and is the second-youngest player in the NL behind Addison Russell of the Cubs. Lots of people like to complain that he’s been overhyped — and much of that is fair — but it’s going to far to say he’s a disappointment or anything like that. His homers Thursday moved him into 26th in MLB history in career home runs through an age-22 season with 63 — even though he’s not close to being through this season yet. Hank Aaron had 66. Albert Pujols had 71, Miguel Cabrera 78 and Mickey Mantle 84. It’s reasonable to think Harper can pass Mantle this season and maybe even get to Ted Williams at 91, which would be good for ninth ever (Mel Ott is first with 115 for those curious).
Source: Baseball-reference.com play index
Obviously he’d need to stay healthy and keep swinging like this, but if he stays on the field, there’s little reason to doubt the latter part of that sentiment. Even so, he’s already in the midst of impressive company.
As always here in The Eye, we’ll be updating this thing throughout the night and put a bow on it once the action is complete. Feel free to sit here and refresh at your leisure, or just come back Thursday morning for a one-stop shop as to what you missed.
Games for Wednesday (all times p.m. ET) (full scoreboard)
Nationals 7, Marlins 5 (Box score): Scherzer struck out 10 and Harper finished with his sixth multi-homer gamer. The Marlins did get the tying run on base in the ninth with no outs, but Drew Storen got a Martin Prado fly out before striking out Stanton and Marcell Ozuna to nail down the save. Prado and Dee Gordon each had three hits for the Fish while Denard Span, Ian Desmond and Wilson Ramos all collected a pair of hits for Washington.
Always something interesting up top for Bryce Harper. (USATSI)
Diamondbacks 13, Rockies 7 (Box score): The Rockies got home runs from Justin Morneau, Nick Hundley and Drew Stubbs while Corey Dickerson added a triple along with Hundley and Nolan Arenado doubles — and they got blown out. The D-Backs pounded out 18 hits, including homers from Mark Trumbo and Aaron Hill. Ender Inciarte went 4-for-6, Hill went 4-for-5 and A.J. Pollock doubled twice and scored four times.
Padres 9, Giants 1 (Box score): The Padres got back above .500 while knocking the Giants back down to it. The Padres managed 16 hits, including three each from Wil Myers (who tripled), Cory Spangenberg and Alexi Amarista (who doubled). On the mound, Ian Kennedy went seven innings and allowed only six hits and one earned run while striking out five. Brandon Belt doubled and tripled for the Giants.
D-backs (Robbie Ray) at Rockies (Jordan Lyles), Game 2 FOLLOW LIVE
Orioles (Ubaldo Jimenez) at Mets (Jacob deGrom) FOLLOW LIVE
Reds (Mike Leake) at Pirates (Gerrit Cole) FOLLOW LIVE
Yankees (CC Sabathia) at Blue Jays (Mark Buehrle) FOLLOW LIVE
Rays (Alex Colome) at Red Sox (Justin Masterson) FOLLOW LIVE
Phillies (Jerome Williams) at Braves (Mike Foltynewicz) FOLLOW LIVE
Tigers (Alfredo Simon) at White Sox (Chris Sale) FOLLOW LIVE
Indians (Carlos Carrasco) at Royals (Danny Duffy) FOLLOW LIVE
Dodgers (Carlos Frias) at Brewers (Wily Peralta) FOLLOW LIVE
Athletics (Scott Kazmir) at Twins (Kyle Gibson) FOLLOW LIVE
Rangers (Colby Lewis) at Astros (Samuel Deduno) FOLLOW LIVE
Cubs (Jon Lester) at Cardinals (Lance Lynn) FOLLOW LIVE
Mariners (Roenis Elias) at Angels (C.J. Wilson), 10:05 (preview)
Milestone Watch
Longest hitting streak: Juan Uribe at 13
Daily Awards
Best security presence: Hank the Dog making Miller Park safer for the Brewers:
Oops baserunning moment of the night
In the first inning, Kevin Kiermaier got on base and stole second in Fenway, but he also slid past the bag and was tagged out once he did.
Uh-oh ejection of the night
Joey Votto appears to have bumped an umpire and we know that’s a no-no (full details here).
MLB wrist-shot of the day
Jose Abreu, channeling his inner Blackhawks:
He scores! @79JoseAbreu #ThatReaction pic.twitter.com/As2KRHHO8G
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) May 6, 2015
Fun with Statcast
How powerful was @Bharper3407 on his 3-HR day? Spoiler: Very, very powerful. http://t.co/cNO5rsjldO #Statcast pic.twitter.com/kl14fDkPs0
— #Statcast (@statcast) May 6, 2015
Off-topic radio discussion of the day
Mike Shannon is currently having a fine soliloquy about vanilla donuts.
— Eric McFarland (@vexedtechie) May 7, 2015
Hey, why not?
More to come
News, injuries and rumors
A’s: Coco Crisp was activated from the DL while Craig Gentry was sent to Triple-A.
Astros: George Springer is being evaluated for a concussion and is out of the lineup after crashing into the fence again to make a catch.
Cardinals: Jordan Walden will miss six to 10 weeks due to a torn shoulder muscle, the club announced.
Dodgers: Yasiel Puig will begin his rehab assignment Thursday (dodgers.com). Also, Hyun-Jin Ryu has suffered a setback in his rehab (dodgers.com).
Indians: Nick Swisher has been activated after rehabbing from double knee surgery in the offseason. He went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts Tuesday night as a designated hitter. (Cleveland.com)
Nationals: Jayson Werth was not in the lineup for a second straight day. He continues to struggle with his surgically repaired right shoulder. Werth, who is batting .176 in with no homers in 74 at-bats after starting the season about a week late, had the a/c joint repaired Jan. 9. (CSN Washington)
Phillies: Chase Utley will get a “mental break” (which is French for, “He’s benched”) until Friday, manager Ryne Sandberg says. Utley is batting .103 with an on-base plus slugging of .389. Utley has no doubles in 87 at-bats. He’s hit into some bad luck (he’s got an .082 average on balls hit in play), but his hard-hit balls are down, too. Utley is 36 years old with a history of injury problems, but his health is not an issue right now. (Philly.com)
Jarrod Saltalamacchia: The free agent is being looked at by four teams, per Jon Heyman, including the Diamondbacks.
Tigers: Justin Verlander has been cleared to throw again after having a third MRI on his sore right triceps. Verlander, who has not pitched yet this season, has not thrown with any considerable effort since April 15. (Oakland Press)
White Sox: Jeff Samardzjia has dropped the appeal of his suspension and will miss Saturday’s scheduled start. In his stead, rookie Carlos Rodon makes his big-league debut as a starter (whitesox.com).
Yankees: Brett Gardner is out of the lineup with a stiff neck he got while sliding. (Meredith Marakovits)
Looking Ahead to Thurday’s MLB action (all times p.m. and ET)
Get away day for most, so it’s a relatively heavy daytime schedule.
A’s (Drew Pomeranz) at Twins (Ricky Nolasco), 1:10
Dodgers (Joe Wieland) at Brewers (Mike Fiers), 1:40
Cubs (Jake Arrieta) at Cardinals (John Lackey), 1:45
Indians (Corey Kluber) at Royals (Edinson Volquez), 2:10
Tigers (Kyle Lobstein) at White Sox (Jose Quintana), 2:10
Reds (Anthony DeSclafani) at Pirates (A.J. Burnett), 7:05
Orioles (Chris Tillman) at Yankees (Nate Eovaldi), 7:05
Rangers (Nick Martinez) at Rays (Chris Archer), 7:10
Pdares (Brandon Morrow) at Diamondbacks (Rubby De La Rosa), 9:40
Astros (Collin McHugh) at Angels (Hector Santiago), 10:05
Marlins (Dan Haren) at Giants (Tim Hudson), 10:15
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