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Aaron Judge went 3-for-4 with a solo home run and a walk on Friday against the Orioles.
Before this game, Judge was stuck in his worst slump of the season. He’d gone just 3-for-29 with strikeouts in more than half of his plate appearances over the last week. That feels over now with this three-hit performance. He’s still unquestionably the best hitter in baseball with a freakish .372 batting average, 1.207 OPS, and 28 home runs before the end of June.
Max Fried allowed seven hits and three runs with seven strikeouts over six innings in a no-decision against the Orioles on Friday.
Fried looked mortal here relative to how well he’s pitched this season. The Orioles sent seven men to the plate in the first inning and scratched two runs across. Then, they tied the game in the sixth inning and cost Fried the win. He didn’t seem comfortable with either of his sliders here and really leaned on his cutter and curveball, which combined to make up 64% of all the pitches he threw. Nevertheless, his next start is scheduled to come on the road against the Reds.
Yandy DÃaz went 3-for-5 and blasted a pair of solo home runs on Friday night, powering the Rays in a 14-8 rout over the Tigers.
The 33-year-old slugger got the home half of the first inning started with a bang, crushing a 3-2 fastball from Jack Flaherty for a leadoff 409-foot (111.3 mph EV) solo shot. He then victimized Chase Lee for a 356-foot (106.9 mph EV) solo shot in the fifth inning that extended the Rays’ advantage to 9-3. He also singled in the seventh inning and was hit by a pitch in the game, reaching base safely in four of his six plate appearances. On the season, he’s slashing a healthy .277/.328/.460 with 12 long balls and 44 RBI.
Matt Thaiss had a huge night at the dish in Friday’s lopsided victory over the Tigers, going 3-for-4 with a double and four RBI.
The light-hitting backstop delivered a two-out, two-run double off of Jack Flaherty to cap off a four-run uprising in the opening inning. He then walked in the third and raced around to score on a three-run double by Taylor Walls. Thaiss also smacked an RBI single off of Carlos Hernandez in the sixth inning and added another RBI knock off of Brenan Hanifee in the eighth before scoring on Kameron Misner’s RBI single. Even with this huge night, he’s still hitting just .239/.396/.310 on the season with one homer, 13 RBI and a stolen base in 145 plate appearances.
Curtis Mead singled twice, drew three walks, drove in a run and scored three times on Friday night as the Rays hammered the Tigers in the first game of their three-game series.
The 24-year-old infielder came through with an RBI single off of Jack Flaherty in the opening inning that extended the Rays’ early lead to 2-0 before racing around to score on a two-run double by Matt Thaiss. He then started another four-run rally in the third inning with a one-out single, ultimately scoring on Taylor Walls’ three-run double. Mead also worked a two-out walk in the sixth inning and scored on Josh Lowe’s RBI double. With his impressive evening, he’s now hitting .250/.336/.385 with three homers, eight RBI and three stolen bases in his first 110 plate appearances.
Shane Baz notched his seventh victory of the season on Friday night, limiting the Tigers to five runs on four hits over his 5 1/3 innings of work.
The 26-year-old hurler punched out six batters on the evening while issuing four free passes. The bulk of the damage done against him came on a three-run blast off the bat of Riley Greene in the third inning. Baz then left two men on when he exited in the sixth inning and both ultimately came around to score. He got 15 swings and misses on 105 pitches on the night — nine of those on his cutter — while posting a CSW of 30 percent. He’ll carry an unappealing 4.79 ERA, 1.33 WHIP and a 77/34 K/BB ratio (82 2/3 innings) into Thursday’s matchup against the Royals in Kansas City.