Tuesday marked the third day of the Major League Baseball season. Not every team was active, but roughly half the league played, while two teams finally got to open their season after a Monday rainout. Let’s run down some of the major storylines from the day.
Well, after we give all the scores with handy links to catch up on everything.
Scores and boxes
Tigers 6, White Sox 3 (box score)
Yankees 5, Rays 0 (box score)
Astros 2, Mariners 1 (box score)
Cubs 2, Cardinals 1 (box score)
Indians 4, Rangers 3 (box score)
Rockies 6, Brewers 5 (box score)
Giants 8, Diamondbacks 4 (Box score)
Angels 7, Athletics 6 (Box score)
Padres 4, Dodgers 0 (Box score)
Tigers power up
Justin Verlander vs. Jose Quintana looked like a juicy pitching matchup in the first game of the season for both the Tigers and White Sox, but instead the Detroit offense tagged Quintana for six runs through the first four innings, including five in the second. All of those runs came via the longball and none from Miguel Cabrera or Victor Martinez.
First, JaCoby Jones hit his first career homer, a three-run shot:
Three hitters later, Nick Castellanos hit a two-run shot.
Then, a couple innings later, leadoff man Ian Kinsler -- who had 28 bombs last season -- went deep.
The six runs would be more than enough for the Tigers to start the season on a happy note. Verlander put forth a power display of his own, striking out 10 in 6 1/3 innings while allowing two runs on six hits. This marked the first time a Tigers pitcher struck out at least 10 hitters in a season-opening start since Mickey Lolich did it in 1970.
CC still limiting hard contact
Yankees starter CC Sabathia had a much improved 2016 season, lowering his ERA from 4.73 to 3.91, among other stats. One area that really improved was hits allowed, and that was due, in part, to Sabathia being among the league leaders in average exit velocity on batted balls. That is, players generally hit the ball less hard off Sabathia than almost every other starting pitcher.
On Tuesday against the Rays, Sabathia only gave up three hits -- all singles -- in five innings of scoreless work. Sure, there were a few balls squared up, notably Evan Longoria’s single and Rickie Weeks’ deep fly out in the first, but he generally picked up where he left off. Given the Yankees’ questionable rotation, it was a great sign for the Bronx Bombers.
Holy Clayton Richard!/Dodgers’ woes against lefties
Clayton Richard entered last season as one of the last men in the Cubs’ bullpen and was soon shown the door. This year, he started the second game of the season for a rebuilding team against the defending NL West champs.
The line: 8 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K
Say what?
Hey, good for Richard. That’s one hell of an outing in Dodger Stadium. It was only the third time in his career he has thrown at least eight innings without allowing a run. It marked the first time since 2012 he did as much.
The Padres are now 1-1 and have to be feeling good about a split in the first two games, especially given that their first game came against Clayton Kershaw.
On the Dodgers’ end, it can’t be encouraging. No, not necessarily the Richard part. The fact that Richard is left-handed is at least cause for concern. Remember, down the stretch and then through the NLCS, the biggest topic with the Dodgers’ offense was how bad it hit against left-handed pitching.
One game doesn’t a season make, but the personnel is very similar to last season and it appears there’s a shot lefties will have their way with the Dodgers offense again.
Instant Angels Hero
Through Danny Espinosa’s first seven at-bats with the Angels, he had zero hits. On Tuesday, he stepped to the plate with one out in the ninth and the A’s holding a 6-4 lead over his Angels. There were two men on base and Espinosa sent an 0-2 Ryan Dull slider over the wall for a go-ahead, three-run homer.
The Angels would hold on for the victory, their first of the year, with Espinosa the hero.
Cautious optimism on Brantley
Indians outfielder Michael Brantley finished third in AL MVP voting in 2014. In 2015, he missed the last month-plus, but still led the AL in doubles. Last year, he was unable to get fully recovered and managed only 11 subpar games.
I think the ship has sailed on calling Brantley possibly the best player on the Indians as long as Francisco Lindor isn’t hurt, but Brantley very well could line up closely behind if returns anywhere close to form. In his age-30 season, there are still a few prime years left in there.
Through two Indians wins this season, Brantley is 3 for 9 (.333) with a pair of RBI.
It’s not exactly a huge breakout, but he has played in both games, gotten hits in both games and looks like there’s something left in the tank.
Again, it’s only two games, but there’s reason for optimism there, especially as the defending AL champs are 2-0 against the defending AL West champs.
Mariners have good signs despite losses
OK, so first things first. It stinks to start the season 0-2, particularly as a fan base that likely was very hopeful heading into the season. I get that. But there’s gotta be perspective on 160 games remaining. If this team is good enough to go 88-72, that’s a potential playoff team. Considering they turned in an 87-75 Pythagorean last year, 0-2 doesn’t seem that insurmountable, right?
In terms of the lack of hitting, two things:
- A team with Robinson Cano, Nelson Cruz, Kyle Seager and some fine complementary pieces is going to hit.
- I would attribute a lot of that to what the Mariners were facing on the mound in these two games (and we’ll get to that below).
There are some silver linings in these first two games, though. I promise.
Felix Hernandez struck out six and walked none. Sure, he gave up two home runs, but George Springer and Carlos Correa are very powerful hitters. And that’s all he gave up.
On Tuesday, Hisashi Iwakuma allowed two runs on four hits in six innings. Only a pair of home runs got him -- and the Crawford Boxes really helped on the Marwin Gonzalez home run that was the difference.
Given that 2016 looked like a big decline for both of these starters and how much more the rotation is a question than the lineup, I would say the Mariners can feel about as good as any 0-2 team should.
Astros have to be ecstatic
Though they haven’t been stellar yet, the Astros’ offense has the pieces to be one of the best in the AL. They’ll come around. There were questions about the pitching heading into the season, especially for a division favorite, though. For example: Dallas Keuchel won the Cy Young in 2015 but had a 4.55 ERA and 1.29 WHIP last season. Well, he was great in his debut on Monday.
Next up, youngster Lance McCullers needs to avoid the DL and probably also take a step forward to become a solid two for them. On Tuesday against the Mariners, McCullers allowed only one run on five hits in six innings with seven strikeouts. That works.
Further, after an awful start to the season, Ken Giles was pretty disappointing in 2016. Through two outings in 2017, Giles has a pair of saves with five strikeouts in two innings. He looks every bit as filthy as many thought he would last year. Will Harris and Luke Gregerson have also combined for three scoreless innings.
And the Astros are 2-0 with only five runs from an offense that will hit.
Arrieta’s command a (mostly-good) mixed bag
Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta followed up a 2015 Cy Young win with an up-and-down 2016 that hinged mostly on him commanding his fastball and harnessing his nasty breaking stuff. If he found ways to avoid putting guys on base, he was nearly untouchable (see the World Series), but the command issues often plagued him through the second half.
It was a bit similar story on Tuesday. Arrieta was perfect through three innings and looked like he might be in the midst of a perfect game, especially in the second inning when he hit almost every single spot with ease.
In the fifth, though, he fell behind 3-1 and then hit a batter. A wild pitch advanced said runner and then after an infield single, he walked his first hitter of the game. In the sixth, he fell behind a few guys, uncorked a wild pitch and walked another.
Now, overall Arrieta was great. He only allowed four hits and two walks in six innings with zero earned runs (one total) while striking out six. He was dominant in stretches. There was, however, just enough of those “whoa, what was that?†pitches to give the teeniest bit of concern.
Parra, Reynolds covering up injuries for Rockies
The expectation was that Ian Desmond would be the everyday first baseman in Colorado with youngster David Dahl in left field. Both open the season injured, but so far so good for the Rox, thanks to their replacements.
Mark Reynolds fills in at first base and through two games, he’s 4 for 7 with two doubles, a home run and four RBI. Fill-in left fielder Gerardo Parra is 5 for 9 with a double and four RBI.
The Rockies are 2-0, too.
Quick-hitters
- In the Arrieta section above, Stephen Piscotty was the player who was hit with a pitch and that was his right elbow. When he advanced to second on a wild pitch, the throw through hit Piscotty on the left elbow. Then, when Piscotty was scoring, a throw to the plate ended up hitting him on the side of the helmet (video here). Three times in one single trip around the bases. The Cardinals announced he suffered a head contusion and will be re-evaluated in the morning.
- A pair of starting pitching trade candidates had a rough day. Dayn Perry touched on it.
- The Brewers have struck out 28 times in two games. You can do the math if you want, and here’s the context: The MLB record for team strikeouts in a season is 1,543. By what team? The 2016 Milwaukee Brewers.
- I noted Monday night it was good to see now-Rockies closer Greg Holland back and recording a save. He notched his second on Tuesday. Great start in his return from over a season off for injury.
- Diamondbacks starter Patrick Corbin lasted only four innings, but Archie Bradley was great in relief, working 3 1/3 innings and striking out seven.
- Giants third baseman Eduardo Nunez is 5 for 9 with two stolen bases through two games.