Kris Bryant stays hot, homers in Cubs win over Padres
Take a look around the league with Big League Stew’s daily wrap up. We’ll hit on all of the biggest moments from the day that you may have missed, while providing highlights, photos and interesting stats.
Back in San Diego where he starred at the University of San Diego between 2011 and 2013, Kris Bryant had every reason to be comfortable. He was definitely feeling good on Thursday night. Bryant launched a two-run homer in the first inning of the Cubs’ 3-0 win over the Padres and extended his hitting streak to 10 games. Chicago is 8-2 during that stretch and 23-17 on the season, which has them in one of the two wild-card spots in the National League.
“I’m glad [Bryant] was able to come through for the hometown crowd – that was nice,” said Cubs manager Joe Maddon after the game.
It was a good night overall for the Cubs’ kids. 25-year-old starting pitcher Kyle Hendricks pitched a complete game shutout, the first of his career, and 21-year-old second baseman Addison Russell hit his second home run of the season, a solo shot in the seventh.
This is exactly what baseball fans on the North Side of Chicago were hoping to see this season. Maddon’s men, especially the young ones, are on a roll and are giving everyone reason to believe they’re only going to get better.
MCCANN DELIVERS WALKOFF HOMER AS TIGERS TOP ASTROS IN EXTRAS
James McCann was the man of the moment in Detroit, delivering a walkoff home run in the 11th inning to lift the Tigers to a 6-5 win against the visiting Houston Astros.
The only reason the game needed extra innings was because Detroit had blown a five-run lead, allowing three runs in the seventh, one in the eighth, and one more in the ninth to make the score 5-5.
When McCann stepped in the box to lead off the bottom of the 11th, he quickly went down 0-2, but he hit the third pitch he saw from Astros left-hander Tony Sipp over the left field wall just out of outfielder Colby Rasmus’ reach.
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It was a heck of a time for McCann, 24, to come up with his second career home run, the first was an inside-the-parker in late April, and he hopes he can continue to contribute for the Tigers as he gets more playing time with starting catcher Alex Avila currently on the DL.
”I’m not sure what I’m going to do for an encore,” McCann told reporters. ”I’m hoping to play long enough up here to hit a bunch of normal homers, too.”
JENNINGS STILL SEEKING FIRST MANAGERIAL WIN WITH MARLINS
Six runs and 12 hits wasn’t enough to get Dan Jennings his first win as Marlins manager. Miami lost to Arizona 7-6, dropping Jennings to 0-4 since he took over for Mike Redmond on Monday. Dating back to Redmond’s finals series in charge, the Marlins have lost seven straight.
The difference between the two teams in this latest loss was an RBI infield single by Diamdonbacks outfielder A.J. Pollock in the eighth. Mat Latos got the start for Miami and his tough start to the season continued, as he couldn’t get out of the sixth and left the game with six earned runs against next to his name.
The results so far are not changing the perception around baseball that moving Jennings from his role as GM to field manager was a headscratching decision by the Marlins organization, one that has earned a deserved reputation for its bumbling ineptitude. Jennings can only hope he can pick up win No. 1 at some point this weekend with Miami hosting Baltimore for a three-game series.
BLUE JAYS’ BATS LEAD THEM TO WIN OVER ANGELS
When the Toronto Blue Jays’ offence is clicking, there isn’t much an opposing pitcher can do about it.
Toronto tagged Angels starter Matt Shoemaker for all eight of their runs in an 8-4 win. A three-run blast by Edwin Encarnacion in the fifth did the brunt of the damage while R.A. Dickey did his part as well, pitching a complete game and striking out six to improve to 2-5 in 2015.
The problem is that when the Blue Jays’ offence isn’t hot, they’re in trouble. Toronto is 17-4 when scoring more than five runs and 2-20 when they score four or fewer. Questions about whether John Gibbons will make it through the season as the club’s manager popped up this week, though those concerns would be put to rest with a couple consistent weeks of all-around play.
As it stands the Blue Jays are 4 1/2 games back of the Rays, who now hold the top spot in the AL East after blanking the A’s 3-0.
Want to see more from Thursday’s slate of games? Check out our scoreboard.
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Israel Fehr is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter. Follow @israelfehr
