MLB - NEWS & NOTES

Trout slams his way to a career-high 7 RBIs
Slugger crushes 2 homers as Angels fly above .500

TORONTO -- Mike Trout has been on fire at the plate in recent weeks and kept it up against the Blue Jays on Wednesday, absolutely crushing two home runs, including a grand slam off right-hander Aaron Sanchez in the fourth inning to lead the Angels to a 11-6 win at Rogers Centre.

Trout, who went 3-for-6 to improve his slash line to .299/.462/.651 on the year, also added an RBI single with the bases loaded in the ninth, giving him a career-high seven RBIs. It was the first seven-RBI performance by an Angels player since Torii Hunter on July 4, 2010, against the Royals. (MLB.com)

 

ST. LOUIS -- An MRI examination showed that closer Jordan Hicks has a torn UCL in his right elbow, the Cardinals announced on Monday.

The team, which did not detail the extent of the tear, is determining what its next step will be, though this particular injury often leads to season-ending Tommy John reconstructive surgery.

Hicks exited the ninth inning Saturday against the Angels after feeling a pull in his right triceps during his last few throws to David Fletcher, who struck out swinging. Catcher Yadier Molina noticed Hicks reaching over his head, trying to stretch out his arm, so Molina visited the mound and motioned to Cardinals manager Mike Shildt and athletic trainer Adam Olsen to check on him.

After the game, Hicks was diagnosed with triceps tendinitis and said he passed tests postgame to make sure the injury wasn’t to his elbow. (MLB.com)

 

LA Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs died this morning at age 27. It was 10 years ago that Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart died in a car accident.
Cause of death is unknown.

 

Whoa

 

Bryce Harper’s 1,000th hit is 200th home run...

Phillies outfielder Bryce Harper reached two career milestones with one swing on Wednesday night against the Braves. He just wishes it happened under better circumstances. In the sixth inning, Harper put the Phillies on the board with a solo home run off of Bryse Wilson, notching both his 1,000th career hit and 200th career home run.

Harper is hitting .248/.364/.473 with 16 home runs, 60 RBI, and 51 runs scored in 374 plate appearances on the season. He’s on pace for 705 PA, which also puts him on pace for 30 homers, 113 RBI, and 96 runs scored.

 

The 2019 Home Run Derby bracket has been finalized and was just announced on ESPN. We knew six of them heading into tonight: The Indians’ Carlos Santana, the Blue Jays’ Vladimir Guerrero Jr., the Brewers’ Christian Yelich, the Mets’ Pete Alonso, the Pirates’ Josh Bell, and the Braves’ Ronald Acuña Jr.

They will be joined by the Astros’ Alex Bregman and the Dodgers’ Joc Pederson.

Yelich and Alonso are No. 1 and 2 in baseball in homers with 31 and 28, respectively. Bell is fourth with 26. Bregman’s 23 are good for 10th place. Pederson and Acuña each have 20, Santana has 18, and Guerrero has eight.

Bregman was in the Derby last year, narrowly losing to Kyle Schwarber in the first round 16-15. Pederson lost in the finals to Todd Frazier 15-14 in 2015. Everyone else is a newcomer.

The bracket:

• Yelich (1) vs. Guerrero (8)
• Alonso (2) vs. Santana (7)
• Bell (3) vs. Acuña (6)
• Bregman (4) vs. Pederson (5)

 

In early June the Cleveland Indians announced that starter Carlos Carrasco was “stepping away from baseball activities” and had been placed on the injured list due to “a recently diagnosed blood condition.” They provided no further detail as it is a non-baseball condition. They said that more information would be shared at Carrasco’s discretion. They asked everyone to “keep Carlos and his family in their thoughts in this challenging time.”

Last night, in a snippet of an interview Carrasco gave to Frank Camilo of Dominican Republic news network CDN 37, Carrasco says that he has been diagnosed with leukemia.

 

A 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck Southern California on Friday night, interrupting the fourth inning of the Dodgers-Padres series at Dodger Stadium. Despite the shaking, the teams carried on with the game: San Diego lefty Eric Lauer pitched to a 2-2 count against Kiké Hernández, then induced a fly out to end the inning.

The earthquake lasted less than a minute, but it was enough to rattle the cameras and send some of the crowd scurrying toward the exits, per multiple reports. Despite the dramatic-looking footage from the incident, however, the stadium didn’t appear to lose power or suffer any substantial damage in the quake.

 

In a battle of rookies in the final round of the 2019 Home Run Derby at Progressive Field, Mets first baseman Pete Alonso defeated Blue Jays third baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Alonso swatted 23 home runs to Guerrero’s 22. Given what Guerrero did in the two rounds prior, it has a Josh Hamilton-Justin Morneau feel. Like Guerrero, Hamilton set what was then the single-round record with 28 home runs, but lost in the finals to Justin Morneau. Hamilton out-homered Morneau overall 35 to 22. Guerrero out-homered Alonso 91 to 57.

Alonso didn’t appear to be on his way to a victory. He struggled in the first round, only escaping by the skin of his teeth with a 14-13 victory over hometown hero Carlos Santana. He had a last-second victory over Ronald Acuña Jr. in the second round as well, winning 20-19. His pitcher, his cousin Derek Morgan, also appeared to need some time to warm up.

The 2019 Home Run Derby was quite enjoyable, even beyond the all-rookie finals and Guerrero’s back-and-forth battle with Pederson. Ronald Acuña Jr. hit 25 home runs, ousting Josh Bell who hit “only” 18 dingers in the first round. Alonso narrowly escaped with the win in each of the first two rounds, beating hometown hero Carlos Santana 14-13 then sending Acuña to the showers 20-19 in the second round. There were many tape-measure home runs and there was much drama.

For winning the Derby, Alonso earned a $1 million prize. Guerrero got $500,000 while the other six contestants took home $150,000. As both are rookies earning the major league minimum, Alonso nearly doubled his 2019 salary by winning the Home Run Derby while Guerrero nearly matched his salary.

 

Everything after Vlad vs. Joc was completely anticlimactic

 

Tonight's All-Star lineups...

 

For the first time since 2014, an American League team hosted the All-Star Game. This time, it was at Progressive Field in Cleveland, Ohio, home of the Indians. For a seventh consecutive year, the American League emerged victorious, defeating the National League 4-3. (HBT)

 

1) Dodgers (1 last week)
Many of the top teams in baseball have stumbled a bit lately, even the mighty Dodgers, who lost three of four to the Padres heading into the break. But they have reinforcements on the way, with Corey Seager (left hamstring) and David Freese (left hamstring) activated off the injured list, as well as the pending return of A.J. Pollock (right elbow).

2) Astros (5)
Houston won seven of eight heading into the break, due in part to a fantastic stretch by Yuli Gurriel, who homered in five straight games to end the first half. Gurriel, who was named American League Player of the Week, is batting .400 (18-for-45) with nine home runs and 18 RBIs during an 11-game hitting streak.

3) Yankees (2)
The Yankees have homered in 76 of their 88 games this season, including 36 of their past 37. They've hit multiple homers in 14 of their past 19 games and 21 of 37. They're fourth in the Majors with 149 homers, their highest total through 88 games in team history. Second-half storylines for the Yankees include -- what else? -- the health status of some of their key players, including Giancarlo Stanton, who's out with a right knee sprain, and Luis Severino, who's dealing with a rotator cuff and lat strain.

4) Braves (3)
Dallas Keuchel, the newest addition to Atlanta's rotation, has had two strong starts in a row, allowing a combined four earned runs over 14 1/3 innings with a 0.91 WHIP. The Braves ended the first half on a high note, taking two of three from the Phillies and Marlins. They'll open up the second half with a six-game lead in the National League East division.

5) Twins (4)
The Twins have slipped a little bit lately, losing 11 of 20 games. They were 47-22 over their previous 69 games to open the season. Individually, Jason Castro is on a nice run, batting .533 (8-for-15) with two home runs in his past four games. Miguel Sano is hitting .400 (12-for-30) with four homers and nine RBIs during a nine-game hitting streak.

The rest of the Top 20:

6) Rays (6 last week)
7) Indians (14)
8) Brewers (10)
9) Nationals (16)
10) Cubs (7)
11) Athletics (11)
12) Red Sox (9)
13) Rangers (8)
14) Phillies (13)
15) Cardinals (17)
16) D-backs (15)
17) Padres (18)
18) Reds (20)
19) Angels (21)
20) Pirates (19)

(MLB.com)

 

Angles pitch combined no-no in 1st game back home after Skaggs died...

https://www.mlb.com/video/mallex-sm...is-rengifo-to-first-baseman-ju?t=most-popular