Watch out, Indians: The Tigers and their big bats are coming
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.
The Cleveland Indians don’t have Jonathan Lucroy and you know who else they don’t have? Miguel Cabrera. And that’s bad news for Cleveland’s AL Central lead.
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Miggy continued his recent tear on Tuesday night, hitting a homer, driving in three runs and helping the Detroit Tigers to their seventh straight win — an 11-5 rout of the Chicago White Sox.
With Cleveland’s loss, that means the Tigers enter Wednesday just three games back in the AL Central, which is surprising for a team that was 24-27 at the end of May. The Tigers have been swinging big sticks since the All-Star break, ranking third in MLB with a .766 OPS and making up 3.5 games in the standings.
A big part of this, especially lately, is Miggy, who had three hits against the White Sox on Tuesday night, his third three-hit game since last Wednesday. In the last seven games, he’s hitting .421 with four homers and nine RBIs. Victor Martinez has a .474 average in the same timespan. Even Justin Upton is hitting over .300 with a couple homers and six RBIs.
It’s a testament to just how dangerous the Tigers lineup can be if they turn it on in the season’s final months. This win streak hasn’t exactly been a collection of 2-1 wins either. They beat the Astros 11-0 on Sunday and 14-6 on Friday. All told, they’ve outscored their opponents 56-26 during the seven-game win streak.
TOP PERFORMERS
Dylan Bundy: Who were the five best pitchers in MLB on Tuesday night? Dylan, Dylan, Dylan, Dylan and Dylan. That’s Dylan Bundy, of course, the ex-Orioles top prospect who seems to have figured things out after a couple years sidetracked by injuries. On Tuesday, he faced the new-look Texas Rangers and he took a no-hitter into the sixth inning against those trade-deadline darlings. The Orioles won 5-1 behind a couple of Pedro Alvarez homers, but Bundy was the man — striking out seven and throwing seven scoreless with just one hit allowed.
Maikel Franco: In the Phillies’ 13-8 win over the Giants, Maikel Franco had himself a heck of a game. He was 4-for-4 with four RBIs, including a three-run homer in the second inning and a sixth-inning single that tied the game at eight before the Phillies went ahead for good in the eighth inning.
Robinson Cano: With the Boston Red Sox in town, Robinson Cano lifted the Seattle Mariners to a 5-4 win that had to hurt the Boston faithful watching at home. The Red Sox had a 4-0 lead in the eighth before the Mariners rallied for two runs, then Cano came up with two runners on and unloaded a three-run, go-ahead homer. It was his second hit of the night and it came off Fernando Abad, who the Red Sox acquired at the trade deadline.
MUST-SEE HIGHLIGHT
The Cincinnati Reds dealing Jay Bruce to the Mets at the trade deadline made a spot in the outfield for Scott Schebler, the 25-year-old rookie who was called up Tuesday. How did he reintroduce himself? Like this:
Yep, Schebler hit a three-run, walk-off homer to give the Cardinals a 7-5 win over the St. Louis Cardinals. Schebler started the year with the Reds, but was sent back to the minors when Adam Duvall established himself as Cincy’s third outfielder.
REST OF THE SCOREBOARD
METS 7, YANKEES 1: Jay Bruce goes 0-for-4 in his Mets debut, but that’s OK because they crushed the Yankees anyway.
ANGELS 5, A’S 4: Jett Bandy and Jefry Marte, who we assure you are real people, both homer to lead the Angles past the A’s.
TWINS 10, INDIANS 6: The Twins light up Carlos Carrasco, putting up eight runs between the third and fourth innings.
ROYALS 3, RAYS 2: Salvador Perez, whose timing always seems to be so great, hits a two-run, go-ahead homer to lift the Royals in the seventh inning.
CUBS 3, MARLINS 2: Three hits for Dexter Fowler, win No. 11 for Jason Hammel and save No. 2 for Aroldis Chapman.
BLUE JAYS 2, ASTROS 1: Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion go deep for Toronto.
ROCKIES 7, DODGERS 3: Carlos Gonzalez leads with the way for the Rockies with three hits and four RBIs.
NATS 10, D-BACKS 4: Fifteen hits and three homers for the Nats without Bryce Harper in the lineup.
PIRATES 5, BRAVES 3: Rookie Adam Frazier has two hits and two RBIs to lead the Pirates past Braves.
BREWERS 3, PADRES 2: In the battle of notable trade-deadline sellers, the Brewers get three hits each from Jonathan Villar and Hernan Perez.
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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz
