RADIO
Chris Davis hit his major league-leading 17th home run off Nationals' spot-starter Nate Karns on Tuesday. Davis now is batting a strong .344 with 47 RBI to go along with his league-best home run total. Slugging .728 with a .437 OBP, Davis is among the league leaders in most batting categories. After a hot start Davis had cooled off during the middle portion of May, only to heat right back up to end the month. He’s scorching at the plate and has finally found his stride at the major league level after years of misuse by the Rangers.
Dodgers rookie starter Hyun-Jin Ryu tossed his first career MLB shutout. Ryu struck out seven, allowing only 2 hits over 113 pitches. He's now 6-2 with a 2.89 ERA, 1.13 WHIP and a 67/22 K/BB ratio in 71 2/3 innings over 11 starts. Ryu was aided by Luis Cruz’s first extra-base hit of the season, a 2-run homer off Joe Blanton in the 5th. Back-to-back doubles by Matt Kemp and A.J. Ellis accounted for the Dodgers' final run in the 6th.
Key Callups:
St. Louis has recalled their next top pitching prospect Michael Wacha to start Thursday. Wacha is likely to be on an innings limit and has already thrown 52.2 innings in Triple-A. Wacha lead the PCL with a 2.05 ERA and was 4-0 with 34 K over those 52.2 IP. Some are projecting Wacha as no more than a #3 starter, but think there's a chance that he could pan out to be comparable to Shelby Miller. Time will tell...
After Tuesdays game the Red Sox recalled outfielder Jackie Bradley. Bradley will provide some outfield depth with Shane Victorino ailing. He was demoted in April after a disastrous start to the season hitting just 0.97 over 31 at-bats. He has since heated up in Triple-A batting .360/.461/.547 with two bombs and two stolen bases. He should play a decent amount with Jonny Gomes struggling and the Flyin’ Hawaiian hurt.
Hot Shots (Interleague):
- Mariano Rivera blew a save for the first time in 2013. Mo failed to retire a batter for the first time in his career. Yes you read that correctly. The blown save ruined a Huroki Kuroda seven inning shutout performance in which he out-dueled Mets rookie ace Matt Harvey who allowed just one run with 10 K.
- Mat Latos moved to 5-0 on the year with 6.1 innings allowing just one run. Latos’ command was a bit off as he uncharacteristically walked four, but he allowed only five hits and struck out seven.
- Cliff Lee was dominant in Boston as he went 8 innings with 4 hits, 8 strikeouts while allowing just an earned run. Jonathan Papelbon closed out his former team with a clean 9th for his 10th save on the season. Michael Young smacked his second homer of the year over the Green Monster and Domonic Brown hit his eleventh of the season in support of Lee.
- Jean Segura continued to dominate as he delivered a 6-for-7 night at the dish in a 14-inning duel with the Twins. Segura’s average now stands ridiculously at .365, all six of his hits were singles.
- Jason Grilli handled the heart of the Tigers lineup as he struck out Torii Hunter, Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder to nail down his 21st save in the 11th inning. Grilli dropped his ERA to 1.14 with a squeaky clean 0.68 WHIP to go along with it. His 37 K through 23.2 innings are fantastic and he’s yet to blow a save. The Pirates are 12 games over .500 and Grilli is a big reason why.
- Rick Porcello struck out 11 in a no-decision versus the Pirates. He was outmatched by Jeanmar Gomez who tossed 7 scoreless and held the high powered Tigers to just three hits.
- Adam LaRoche paced the Nationals with his second two-homer game of the season. He is hitting just .243 on the season but has 10 homers.
- Kevin Gausman once again looked overmatched by Big-League hitters as he allowed 7 ER over four painful innings of work. He failed to strike out a batter, and once the O’s have a replacement healthy he’s surely going back to Double-A for more seasoning.
- Jake Odorizzi was optioned back to Triple-A Durham. Chris Archer could be an option, but he has struggled at times with his command this season. The Rays have other options to choose from in Durham, my dark-horse favorite is RHP Alex Colome. The 25-year-old Colome is an underrated prospect who owns a 9.96 K/9 and a 2.60 ERA over 10 starts. Someone will need to step up until David Price is ready.
- Tyler Lyons was good again as he allowed one run over seven innings in defeat of the floundering Royals. Lyons moved to 2-0 and has allowed 2 runs over his first 14 ML innings.
- Edward Mujica pitched a perfect 9th to notch his 16th save on the year.
- Hanley Ramirez could be activated Monday and is expected to rehab with High-A Rancho Cucamonga starting Thursday.
- Josh Hamilton was a late scratch Tuesday after reporting back spasms during BP.
- Jarrod Parker threw 7 innings of two run ball to record a win over the Giants. Derek Norris (2) and Adam Rosales (3) homered for the A’s. Hunter Pence went way-gone to left field in the Giants loss; it was his 8th homer on the season.
- Matt Kemp was hit by a pitch on the inner right elbow and doubled before being removed in the ninth inning of the Dodgers win, he will likely get Wednesday off as a precaution.
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Follow Shawn Caswell on Twitter: @CasKnowsRoto
