The Walk Off: White Sox lose despite record-tying homer barrage
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.
If you missed the MLB Free Game of the Day on Yahoo Sports on Saturday afternoon, you missed a wild one.
The Toronto Blue Jays “outslugged” the Chicago White Sox by a final of 10-8. Though if you look at the stats closer, you’ll actually find that Chicago did most of the slugging.
The White Sox actually tied a team record by hitting seven home runs. Unfortunately for them, all seven were of the solo variety, meaning they couldn’t keep up with Toronto’s more well-rounded attack.
Chicago started its barrage in the most unusual manner. With two outs in the second inning, Brett Lawrie hit a long fly ball that bounced off the top of the wall and stayed in the park. There was some confusion on the field about whether or not it cleared the wall, but Lawrie removed all doubt by rounding the bases for an inside-the-park home run.
That started a string of back-to-back-to-back home runs with Dioner Navarro and J.B. Shuck. Lawrie would homer again in the fourth. He also drove in Chicago’s only non-homer tally with an RBI single in the sixth. Tim Anderson, Alex Avila and Adam Eaton followed with homers in the seventh, eighth and ninth respectively, with Eaton’s tying the team record.
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As for the Blue Jays, they got a single two-run homer from Devon Travis. Edwin Encarnacion doubled twice and drove in four runs.
TOP PERFORMERS
Andrew McCutchen: The Pirates star centerfielder had not homered at home since May 2. That changed in a big way on Saturday as McCutchen went deep not once, but twice in Pittsburgh’s 6-1 over the Dodgers. McCutchen opening the scoring with a solo shot in the fourth. That was actually the game’s first hit. Two innings later, he followed with a three-run blast that blew the game open. The multi-homer game is the 11th of McCutchen’s career.
Francisco Lindor and Carlos Carrasco: Lindor homered twice and Carrasco pitched a four-hitter to lead the Indians past the Tigers 6-0. For Lindor, the game marked the first of what should be several multi-homer games. For Carrasco, this was his third career shutout. For the Indians, this makes eight straight wins overall and moves their season record to 8-0 against the Tigers.
Kevin Gausman and Matt Wieters: The Orioles swept a day-night doubleheader against the Rays on Saturday, winning the opener 5-0 and the nightcap 8-6. Gausman was the star of Game 1, pitching 7 2/3 scoreless innings while striking out seven. In Game 2, Wieters did the heavy lifting, crushing a pair of home runs. Adam Jones and Chris Davis also homered, as the Rays fell for the 10th straight game.
Drew Pomeranz: San Diego starter was a one-man wrecking crew on Saturday, leading the Padres to a 3-0 win over the Reds with his arm and his bat. On the hill, Pomeranz tossed seven scoreless innings, limiting Cincinnati to three hits while striking out six. With the bat, Pomeranz had two hits, which included a solo homer in the fifth and an RBI single in the seventh.
MUST-SEE HIGHLIGHT
The Angels suffered another loss on Saturday, falling 7-3 to the A’s. However, Albert Pujols did notch another milestone, hitting career home run No. 574. That moved him past Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew for 11th place on the all-time home run list.
THE REST OF THE SCOREBOARD
Yankees 2, Twins 1: The Yankees got a much-needed performance from Michael Pineda. In six innings, the 27-year-old right-hander allowed one run on two hits while striking out eight. Dellin Betances, Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman each added a scoreless inning of relief to bring it home.
Brewers 6, Nationals 5: Make that seven straight losses for the Nationals, who are now on the verge of being swept by the rebuilding Brewers.
Marlins 9, Cubs 6: Giancarlo Stanton and Justin Bour each had two hits and three RBIs as Miami handed Chicago its fifth loss in six games.
Rockies 11, Diamondbacks 6: Shelby Miller’s up and down season continued with another clunker. In six innings, he allowed seven runs on 11 hits, including a pair of home runs. He’s 2-7 on the season with a 6.79 ERA.
Mets 1, Braves 0: This one was decided by one swing. Former Brave Kelly Johnson smacked a solo homer for the game’s lone tally.
Astros 13, Royals 5: Houston’s huge offensive weekend continued as they scored 13 runs for the second consectuve game.
Rangers 10, Red Sox 3: Texas scored eight runs (three earned) against previously dominant knuckleballer Steven Wright.
Phillies 3, Giants 2: Philadelphia scored all three in the seventh, including a go-ahead two-run homer from Cameron Rupp.
Mariners 5, Cardinals 4: All 10 of Seattle’s hits were singles, but that was enough to knock off St. Louis.
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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
