There’s always baseball happening — almost too much baseball for one person to handle themselves.
That’s why we’re here to help, though, by sifting through the previous days’ games, and figuring out what you missed, but shouldn’t have. Here are all the best moments from this weekend in Major League Baseball:
Yankees were all about fours
The Yankees took down the Athletics 12-2 on Sunday, and as you’d expect in a game with a 10-run difference, a couple of big performances helped power things. Aaron Judge had four hits to get his average back above .400 for the season – he’s now at .409/.494/.779 for the year, leading the majors in all three slash categories – and Ben Rice hit a grand slam, his first, to lead the Yankees to victory.
The Yankees broke the game open in the fifth inning when Rice cleared the bases with his four-bagger after Mitch Spence had relieved an ineffective Luis Severino. The former Yankees starter struggled in his first career start against his former team, matching a career worst with eight earned runs allowed in four-plus innings.
Meanwhile, Judge racked up three singles and a double, driving in a pair and scoring once himself. In addition to the slash line and hitting over .400, he’s also leading the majors in wins above replacement, hits, homers, RBI, OPS+, and total bases, while pacing the AL in runs. It shouldn’t surprise you that all of this means he’s also leading in intentional walks, but if he keeps at it the way he’s going, he might start seeing even more of those than usual.
Elko’s first big league hit was a homer — and a decisive one at that.
His three-run shot in the bottom of the sixth inning put the White Sox ahead to stay, and they went on to a 4-2 victory over the Miami Marlins on Sunday.
Elko hit .348 for Triple-A Charlotte this season, with 10 home runs in 31 games. After receiving his call-up to the majors, the 26-year-old first baseman made his big league debut Saturday.
The 26-year-old was the designated hitter Sunday when he connected to break a 1-all tie against Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara.
“I want to come here and help us win games and do whatever I can to do that,” Elko told MLB.com. “I was able to contribute today and check a few other boxes, too, which felt great.”
The White Sox are still just 12-29 on the season, sitting more games behind the first-place Tigers in the AL Central than they have wins on the season, but if newcomers like Tim Elko can show up and help turn things around a little at a time, then maybe there can be a little hope for the future in Chicago. Or at least a slightly more watchable team in the present.
Minnesota Twins win eighth straight with walk off
DaShawn Keirsey Jr. singled home the winning run in the 10th inning on Sunday, as the Twins beat the Giants, 7-6, extending their winning streak to eight games.
The Giants scored in the top of the 10th, but in the bottom half automatic runner Ty France moved to third on Brooks Lee’s single and scored on Ryan Jeffers’ ground out. After an intentional walk and a groundout, Keirsey lashed a line drive down the left field line against Ryan Walker (1-2) to complete a 6-0 homestand for the Twins.
Royce Lewis snapped an 0-for-36 streak with an RBI single that tied the game 4-4 in the sixth. He finished last season hitless in his last 21 at-bats and hadn’t registered a hit in his first five games this year after coming off IL on May 6.
At just 21-20 on the season and five games back of the Tigers, Lewis rounding back into the form that made him such an exciting rookie for the Twins in 2022 and 2023 would be huge, but he’s got quite a ways to go before he can be counted on like that again. Still, great to get this first hit out of the way, considering the recent struggles.
Ronel Blanco strikes out career-high 11 in eight innings
Yainer Diaz hit a three-run homer in the third to give Houston an early lead, and Christian Walker added two hits and three RBIs to help the Astros win 6-0 and take the series against the Reds, 2-1.
It was the second-longest start of Blanco’s career and longest since he tossed a no-hitter in his season debut last year in a 10-0 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on April 1.
Blanco (3-3) retired the first nine batters, with six strikeouts, before walking TJ Friedl to start the fourth. He sat down the next four batters before Spencer Steer got Cincinnati’s first hit on a double to the corner of left field with one out in the fifth.
But Blanco quickly got back on track and retired the next nine batters before Jose Trevino doubled with one out in the eighth. Will Benson grounded out before Blanco struck out Santiago Espinal to end his day and head to the dugout to a standing ovation.
Sure the Nationals lost, but check out this catch
Winning isn’t everything, you know. At least not for our purposes. Sometimes it’s enough to just admire a killer catch made in a losing effort. Like this one from Nationals’ center fielder Dylan Crews, in which he stretched as much as humanly possible while diving:
He just barely got that ball in the webbing of his glove, and held on as he continued to slide across the outfield after hitting the ground. The Nats would lose to the Cardinals (who have also won eight in a row) 6-1, but hey. Pretty good catch.
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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