The Walk Off: Khris Davis makes history with three-homer night
Welcome to The Walk Off, the nightly MLB recap from Big League Stew. Here we’ll look the top performers of the night, show you a must-see highlight and rundown the scoreboard. First, we start with an historic night from Oakland outfielder Khris Davis..
When the end of April arrived a few weeks ago, Khris Davis had Oakland fans wondering if he was worthy of a spot in the lineup every day.
Davis was struggling at the plate with a .221 batting average with only three home runs and nine RBIs through the first 23 games of the season after being acquired in a trade with Milwaukee in February.
While Davis continues to strike out often and still isn’t hitting for average with much success at .228, he has discovered his power and it helped him make a bit of history and win a ball game Tuesday night.
Davis blasted a Grand Slam off Rangers reliever Shawn Tolleson in the bottom of the ninth inning to give Oakland a 8-5 walk-off win. It was the third home run of the night for Davis, who became only the second player in major league history to hit three home runs in a game the third of which was a walk-off Grand Slam. Joey Votto also did so for Cincinnati.
When Davis rounded third base and saw almost all of his teammates waiting for him at home plate, he stopped halfway down the third-base line and shot his batting helmet toward the plate like a jump shot before finishing his home run trot.
[Elsewhere: The embarrassing way Fredi Gonzalez found out Braves were firing him]
Davis has hit eight home runs already in May and now has 11 this season to rank among the major league leaders. He also has 28 RBIs and has A’s fans feeling much more comfortable about the team trading for him. He’s also a bargain. He’s on pace for more than 30 home runs at $525,000 this season.
TOP PERFORMERS
Noah Syndergaard: He might be the best young pitcher in baseball. He certainly looked like it over seven innings Tuesday against Bryce Harper and the Nationals. Syndergaard struck out 10 and allowed five hits doing his part in the New York Mets 2-0 shutout over Washington
Madison Bungarner: The leading man for the Giants struck out 11 while pitching a complete game en route to his fifth win of the season. Bumgarner was an inning away from a shutout at San Diego but allowed a leadoff home run to Matt Kemp in the ninth inning before finishing off a great outing in a 5-1 victory.
Chase Anderson: Milwaukee’s starter was one out away from his first career shutout but gave back-to-back solo home runs to Jason Heyward and Kris Bryant and had to settle for an otherwise dominant outing and a victory over the best team in baseball. Milwaukee beat the Cubs 4-2 thanks to the best outing of the season for Anderson who carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning.
Vince Velasquez: A high pitch count limited Philadelphia’s starter to five innings, but he still managed to strike out 10 and earn his fifth win of the season as the Phillies beat the Marlins 3-1. Philadelphia pitching struck out a total of 17 Miami batters.
Robinson Cano: A resurgent season continued for the Mariners’ second baseman who went 3-for-4 with two RBIs and three runs scored in a 10-0 win at Baltimore.
[Elsewhere: Robinson Cano is back, healthy and proving the doubters wrong]
MUST-SEE HIGHLIGHT
After being recalled from Double-A Corpus Christi earlier in the day, Houston designated hitter Evan Gattis belted a two-run, line drive home run near the left-field foul pole in the 11th inning to help lead Houston to a 6-5 win over the White Sox. Chicago came back with a run of its own in the bottom of the inning but wasn’t able to steal the moment from Gattis and the game from the Astros.
THE REST OF THE SCOREBOARD
Royals 8, Red Sox 4: Paulo Orlando went 3-for-4 and drove in four runs for Kansas City. Orlando and eric Hosmer both homered and Kelvin Herrera earned the victory in relief for the defending champs.
Indians 13, Reds 1: With loads of run support giving him confidence, Cleveland starter Danny Salazar struck out eight over 71/3 innings to earn his fourth win of the season. Salazar allowed five hits and issued on only one walk.
Pirates 12, Braves 9: John Jaso, Andrew McCutchen, Gregory Polanco and Francisco Cervelli each had three hits as Pittsburgh hammered Atlanta pitching. The teams combined for 36 hits the game with the Pirates accounting for 21 of them.
Rays 12, Blue Jays 2: For the second straight game, Tampa Bay belted out 17 hits off Toronto pitching and Chris Archer won his third consecutive start. Archer pitched six innings and struck out seven, but also issued four walks.
Tigers 7, Twins 2: With manager Brad Ausmus serving a one-game suspension, Detroit scored all of its runs in the seventh inning off three Minnesota pitchers. Ian Kinsler and J.D. Martinez each hit home runs in the decisive inning.
Dodgers 5, Angels 1: Clayton Kershaw allowed one run on four hits in eight innings and struck out 11 batters with no walks. Mike Trout threw out Kershaw on the bases at third, which was the only downside of this outing for Kershaw.
Diamondbacks 5, Yankees 3: New York scored two runs in the eighth inning but couldn’t complete the comeback once Arizona starter Zack Greinke was out of the game. Greinke pitched seven innings and struck out seven.
Rockies 3, Cardinals 1: Colorado doesn’t often have the advantage in starting pitching but it did with Chad Bettis on the mound in Busch Stadium. He didn’t allow a hit until the fifth inning and took a shutout into the seventh leading Colorado to a win on the road. Bettis struck out four and also drove in a run in the win.
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Kyle Ringo is a contributing writer to Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KyleRingo
