Here are a few items to monitor around the league as we head into the weekend:
1. Trout homers in fourth straight game
Mike Trout had himself a series in the Bronx. He went deep in all four games against the Yankees and finished the series with a total of five home runs. The Angels outfielder is the first visiting player to homer in four straight days against the Yankees, per Sarah Langs of MLB.com. Trout’s final blast in New York was a 446-foot no-doubter to left field that extended the Angels’ lead to 7-4. He’ll look to continue the streak against knuckleballer Matt Waldron and the Padres on Friday. Here’s more on Trout’s resurgence and what it could mean for the Angels moving forward.
2. Messick loses no-hitter in ninth inning
Parker Messick was three outs away from ending the longest no-hitter drought in the league. The Guardians’ lefty walked Taylor Ward to lead off the game, then retired the next 15 Orioles. A Leody Taveras walk to begin the sixth inning would be Baltimore’s only other baserunner heading into the ninth inning. Taveras snuck a ground ball past second baseman Juan Brito in the final frame to end the no-hit bid. As Zack Meisel of The Athletic notes, Cleveland has gone a league-leading 16,408 days without a no-hitter. Len Barker‘s perfect game against the Blue Jays on May 15, 1981, was the last no-no for the club. Messick’s next chance to end the streak will be Tuesday against Houston.
3. Strider makes rehab start
Spencer Strider tossed 3 1/3 innings with High-A Rome on Thursday. He struck out three and walked two. The Braves star is working his way back from an oblique injury. Manager Walt Weiss said last week that Strider would likely have two more rehab appearances after his Thursday outing. Left-hander Martin Perez will get the ball for the Braves today. He’s back with the club after some roster maneuvering earlier in the week. The veteran is likely looking at a couple more starts in the big leagues before Strider is ready, unless the club turns to exciting young right-hander Didier Fuentes.
Photo courtesy of Brad Penner, Imagn Images
“Messick’s next chance to end the drought will be Tuesday against Houston.”
Weird sentence to include
I thought it was clever.
BB
“I thought it was clever.”
Why?
Messick himself joked about it during post-game interviews.
This kid is something special. Everyone has counted him out and he continues to defy the odds
They did that to Rocky too and as well as he did against Creed, the rest of his career was sus.
Time for the Angels to do a tribute to Mike Trout and sign A.J Pollock and Anthony Bass among others. Bass couldn’t be worse than Jordan Romano right?
He’s got a big mouth, so might get the hook early in games.
I think Anthony Bass is currently playing for the Gwinnett Stripers. He’s not, but that would be cool.
At what point do we give Mason Miller the Cy Young? He has been absolutely insane this year I imagine if he keeps it up with the insane strikeout rate he will have a legitimate shot at it.
Soft
“At what point do we give Mason Miller the Cy Young?”
Well. At the end of the season for one
He’s currently tied for 3rd in NL fWAR.
And is 10th in WPA
The chances of him
1) continuing at this pace for a full season
2) winning the Cy Young
Are both very close to 0
Nine relievers have won the CYA since 1974 or a total of 9% of them.
Dennis Eckersley won the AL Cy Young and MVP awards in 1992 so it’s possible
Awards voting has changed DRASTICALLY since then….
I’ve been wondering when/if we’ll see the next reliever Cy Young. I really think the 81 IP threshold is basically a requirement if it’s going to happen. (Eric Gagne has 82.1 IP in his Cy Young 2003 season.) But as long as there’s a starter hitting 200 innings and/or K’s I think it’s going to be very hard for a reliever to court enough votes.
Meow – You trying to take away my man Eck’s Cy Young by one inning? LOL!
I totally agree there should be a minimum requirement, probably 75 or 80 innings. Miller is on pace for exactly 80 innings.
I don’t think there should be any hard statistical requirements, but I think that 81 IP (avg 1/every other team game) is a threshold that would significantly impact vote share.
Yankees fan that I am, still it was pretty darn special to see Trout–and to see Judge hit 4 HRs in those games. Two remarkable talents. Trout is always going to be a “what might have been” but he’s got plenty of “been”
Losing a no hitter in the ninth is a better story than pitching one. In 10 years no one would have remembered him if he threw one, but now someone will go up to him at a grocery store someday and say hey aren’t you that guy that almost threw that no hitter once?
That’s why everyone remembers Armando Galarraga and not like a Bud Smith
The only reason anyone remembers Armando Gallaraga is because he was completely robbed of the no-hitter on a bad call by the umpire with 2 outs in the 9th.
Just losing a no-no in the 9th will not help him be remembered at all.
Johnson – Not only that, Galarraga was robbed of his watch in the parking lot after the game!
Slider – What makes it worse, Brito was playing Taveras to pull …. but he’s not a pull hitter, he hits to all fields.
Cleveland remains cursed. Gavin Williams also took a no hitter into the 9th last year until surrendering a home run to Juan Soto.
Finally a manager lets a guy throw over 100 pitches for a run at the no hitter and a complete game shut out.
Teams will figure out this latest surge from Trout, enjoy it while it lasts.
Messick had a no hitter through 8 and his ERA went up after the game. Know the name – this guy is a beast.