The Walk Off: Xander Bogaerts continues to sizzle for the Red Sox
Welcome to The Walk Off, the nightly MLB recap from Big League Stew. Here we’ll look at the top performers of the night, show you a must-see highlight and rundown the scoreboard. First, we start with a game you need to know about.
Since the beginning of May, the hottest hitter in baseball has resided in the Boston Red Sox lineup. Of course, the identity of that player has changed several times, with everyone from David Ortiz to Mookie Betts to Jackie Bradley Jr. and his 29-game hitting streak holding the title.
The hottest of them all though has definitely been Xander Bogaerts. In fact, since April 20, the 23-year-old shortstop is hitting .389/.438/.556. That hot streak continued to blaze in Boston’s 15-4 win against the Twins on Saturday, as Bogaerts collected four more hits, including his eighth home run. Bogaerts also scored four times and drove in three.
That came one day after Bogaerts had four hits, including a home run, in Friday’s 8-1 win.
That’s a pretty good 24-hour stretch, yes?
Bogaerts now leads qualified AL hitters with a .358 batting average, and is second only to Washington’s Daniel Murphy overall. Murphy is currently hitting .374.
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Based on these last two games, Bogaerts has no intentions of slowing down and may close that gap even more. That’s good news for a Boston team that needed its young core to collectively step up this season. The results have been even better than they could have hoped. With David Ortiz still slugging on his way out, the Red Sox look like a very dangerous team.
TOP PERFORMERS
Edwin Encarnacion: After snapping an 0-for-19 skid with a walkoff homer on Friday, Encarnacion stayed hot in the Blue Jays 11-6 win against the Orioles. The 33-year-old slugger homered twice, including a three-run homer in the sixth, and doubled, to finish with five RBIs.
Jake Arrieta: The Cubs ace became baseball’s third 10-game winner after limiting the Braves to two runs over seven innings. Arrieta also helped himself at the plate with two hits, while his teammates jacked four home runs at the Cubs cruised to an 8-2 victory.
[Related: Jake Arrieta throws his name in the Home Run Derby mix]
Chelsor Cuthbert: The rookie third baseman has done a solid job replacing Mike Moustakas. That continued with a pair of solo home runs in the Royals 4-1 win against the White Sox. In doing so, Cuthbert became the first Royals rookie with a multi-homer game since Eric Hosmer in 2011? Overall, he’s hitting .270 with four homers.
Ian Kinsler: Detroit’s veteran second baseman was the difference in their 6-1 win over the Yankees. Kinsler turned two hits into five RBIs, crushing a three-run homer in the fifth and a two-run double in the seventh. The big game made a winner of Justin Verlander, who improves to 6-5.
MUST-SEE HIGHLIGHT The Brewers hit five home runs in their 7-4 win over the Mets. None more impressive though than the 429-foot blast pitcher Wily Peralta hit against Logan Verrett. Peralta’s home run was the first of his career, and one of five hit by Milwaukee. Ryan Braun, who basically hits homers for a living, had two of them.
THE REST OF THE SCOREBOARD
Nationals 8, Phillies 0: Starter Tanner Roark didn’t need much support, but his teammates gave plenty, scoring four in the second and three more in the fifth. Roark allowed six hits over seven innings while striking out seven.
Reds 2, A’s 1: Cincinnati scored its two on a Jay Bruce home run. That also beat Oakland 2-1 in Friday’s game.
Rockies 5, Padres 3: Did you know that Rockies starter Tyler Chatwood is an eight-game winner? Chatwood notched No. 8 with 6 2/3 innings of three-run ball. Carlos Gonzalez also homered and drove in four.
Astros 4, Rays 3: Make that eight losses for Chris Archer. The Rays ace had a second straight quality start, allowing three runs over 7 1/3 innings, but he’s still strugling to get over the hump.
Cardinals 5, Pirates 1: Right-hander Carlos Martinez nearly went the distance, allowing just one run over 8 1/3 innings. Matt Holliday broke the game open with a three-run homer in the sixth.
Giants 5, Dodgers 4 (10 innings): Buster Posey lost his bat, then he slammed his bat, then delivered a walk-off single against Kenley Jansen.
Diamondbacks 5, Marlins 3: After Jose Fernandez retired the first 17 batters, Arizona’s offense erupted for four two-out runs in the decisive sixth inning.
Angels 4, Indians 3: Angels reliever Fernando Salas threw one pitch and recorded one out in the ninth. He got the win thanks to Yunel Escobar’s walk-off blooper in the bottom half.
Rangers 2, Mariners 1 (11 innings): Texas got a game-tying home from Prince Fielder with two outs in the ninth. Then Rougned Odor homered in the 11th to bring home the win.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813
