Baseball Daily Dose: Strasburg’s Streak Snapped
Stephen Strasburg had his impressive winning streak come to an end on Thursday, suffering his first loss of the 2016 season at the hand of the Dodgers. The star right-hander had won each of his first 13 decisions on the season and had been unbeaten through his first 17 starts of the year.
It’s the first loss for Strasburg since he fell to the Mets on September 9 of last year. It was just the second time this season that the Nationals dropped a game that Strasburg had started, the other coming against the Reds on June 4.
Justin Turner was a one-man wrecking crew for the Dodgers, single-handedly doing most of the damage against Strasburg. He clubbed a two-run homer on a 3-2 pitch in the first inning, then jumped on a 3-0 fastball to deliver a three-run blast in the third. It was the fourth career multi-homer game for Turner.
What’s impressive about Strasburg’s outing on Thursday is that he didn’t implode after surrendering the six early runs, he battled back and kept the Nationals in the ballgame. After Turner’s second home run, Strasburg retired 12 of the final 13 hitters he faced, making it through six innings and racking up 10 strikeouts in the process.
With Clayton Kershaw on the shelf for an indeterminate amount of time, Strasburg could be positioned to secure his first National League Cy Young Award. Even with Thursday’s rough outing included, the 27-year-old right-hander sits at 13-1 on the season with a 2.83 ERA, 1.00 WHIP and 148/34 K/BB ratio across 120 2/3 innings.
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Ichiro charging toward 3000
Ichiro Suzuki took a major step toward an incredible milestone on Thursday, slapping a pair of singles to bring his hit total in Major League Baseball to 2,996.
With four more hits, the 42-year-old will become just the 30th player in MLB history to reach the 3,000-hit plateau. What makes his story so much more impressive is that Ichiro was already nearly two months past his 27th birthday when he debuted with the Mariners in April of 2001.
He joined the Mariners having already played nine seasons in Japan’s Pacific League, where he had collected 1,278 hits. With four more knocks, he’ll bring that combined total to an astounding 4,278 professional hits.
Let’s be clear, this isn’t some washed-up version of Ichiro who is simply hanging around trying to accumulate enough hits to reach this milestone. He has been swinging the bat as well as ever this season, slashing .341/.419/.399 with 27 runs scored and eight stolen bases in 199 plate appearances. He has been a major factor for a Marlins team that is charging toward a surprise playoff berth in 2016.
The sweet-swinging outfielder has recorded multi-hit efforts in four of his last five starts, so as long as he finds himself in the lineup there’s a decent chance that he could make history before the end of the club’s weekend series against the Mets.
It’s no longer a question of whether Ichiro will reach the 3,000-hit mark or not, the only questions now are when and how it will occur. The last two hitters to join the 3,000-hit club, Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter, each did so by blasting home runs. Will Ichiro, who in his earlier days said it was easy to hit home runs, but he preferred to hit for a high average instead, join them by knocking his first ball of the year over the wall? It would be much more fitting, if in true Ichiro fashion, he legged out an infield single.
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Pedroia goes 5-for-5 in Red Sox rout
The Red Sox offense has been firing on all cylinders all season long, and looked like a finely-tuned machine as they routed the Twins 13-2 on Thursday in Boston. The club has now won nine of their past 10 games and sits atop the American League East, half a game ahead of the Orioles.
Dustin Pedroia etched his name into the Red Sox record books on Thursday, going 5-for-5 in the lopsided victory. It’s the fourth time that the diminutive second baseman has recorded five hits in a ballgame, tying the club record set by Carl Yastrzemski and Johnny Pesky. Since Pedroia broke onto the scene in 2006, only Joe Mauer (5) has recorded more five-hit games.
The top of the Red Sox order inflicted most of the damage against Tyler Duffey and the Twins on Thursday. Mookie Betts, Pedroia, Xander Bogaerts and David Ortiz combined to go 14-for-19 with 10 runs scored, two homers and seven RBI in the contest.
Pedroia himself is having quite the resurgent season at the dish. With Thursday’s five-hit effort, he is now slashing .304/.372/.444 with 61 runs scored, nine homers and five stolen bases on the season. Not bad for a guy who on average was the 178th player off the board in fantasy drafts this spring.
American League Quick Hits: Sonny Gray was clobbered for seven runs over five innings in a loss to the Rays… David Ortiz clubbed his 24th homer of the season in the Red Sox’ rout of the Twins… Steven Wright earned his 12th victory, allowing just one earned run and punching out nine over eight strong innings… Brett Lawrie was removed from Thursday’s game against the Tigers due to tightness in his left hamstring… Jesse Hahn will be recalled from Triple-A to start for the A’s on Sunday as Rich Hill (blister) isn’t ready to return… Logan Morrison visited the doctor on Thursday for a wrist issue that has kept him out of the Rays lineup… Blake Swihart has had to slow down on his rehab due to soreness in his ankle… Chris Tillman struck out seven over seven innings of one-run ball in a victory over the Yankees… Zach Britton closed out that contest to earn his 30th save… J.D. Martinez (elbow) took batting practice on the field before Thursday’s game… O’s prospect Hunter Harvey will undergo Tommy John surgery on July 26… Chris Davis (flu) returned to the O’s lineup after missing three games… ESPN’s Jayson Stark hears from rival executives that there’s a “70 percent” chance Chris Archer ends up getting dealt to the Dodgers before the trade deadline… Chris Cotillo of SB Nation reports that the Indians have agreed to a minor league deal with Joe Thatcher.
National League Quick Hits: Francisco Liriano pitched brilliantly in a victory over the Brewers, striking out 13 Brewers in 6 2/3 innings… Matt Holliday was drilled in the face by a 95-mph fastball from Andrew Cashner, but sustained only minor injuries. He’s day-to-day… Aledmys Diaz completed the Cardinals’ come-from-behind victory with a walk-off single against the Padres… Andrew Cashner upped his trade stock by striking out eight Cardinals over 5 2/3 innings of one-run ball… Matt Joyce, who entered the lineup after Starling Marte was a late scratch, homered and plated four runs in a win over the Brewers… Yasiel Puig was forced to leave Thursday’s game due to tightness in his right hamstring… Dexter Fowler (hamstring) will rejoin the Cubs at some point over the weekend… The Giants are considering trading for Boone Logan from the Rockies, according to Jon Morosi of MLB Network… Ryan Zimmerman (rib cage) began a minor league rehab assignment with High-A Potomac… Chris Owings (foot) is expected to rejoin the D’Backs within the next week.
