After taking three out of four from Minnesota, the Indians have pulled even in the AL Central. Despite the identical records, Fangraphs has Minnesota with a 59.5-percent chance to win the division and Cleveland with only a 40.5-percent chance. The Twins have a run differential of 131 compared to only 82 for the Indians, which is the reason for the discrepancy in the odds to win the division. Cleveland hosts Boston and travels to New York this week while Minnesota travels to Milwaukee and Texas.
Pitching Performance of the Day
Mike Minor might deserve this slot for his eight scoreless innings in which he only allowed five baserunners and struck out 11. But Minor is virtually universally owned, so we’ll go with a more lightly owned choice. Ryan Yarbrough , who is owned in less than 30 percent of ESPN leagues, came one out short of a complete game while allowing no runs and only three baserunners with eight strikeouts. Yarbrough only threw 99 pitches and apparently wasn’t happy about not being allowed to finish the game, but it was only a 1-0 lead. Yarbrough bumped his strikeout rate up over 20-percent, but he’s not a big swing-and-miss guy. His skill is limiting traffic as he owns a 3.4-percent walk rate. He can really help with your WHIP as he has allowed less than a baserunner per inning on the year.
Hitting Performance of the Day
Only two hitters had double-digit total bases on Sunday, and they both play for the Royals who rank bottom five in runs scored per game. Jorge Soler and Hunter Dozier each homered twice with Soler adding a double and a walk and Dozier adding a triple. Soler now has 35 home runs on the season while Dozier has 22, though Dozier has been the better hitter overall with a 138 wRC+ to Soler’s 131. Dozier has three multi-homer games in August.
Jorge Soler and Hunter Dozier each have 4 HR at Comerica Park this season. That's more than every Tiger except JaCoby Jones and Brandon Dixon . This team is so bad.
— Jamal Spencer (@JamalWZZM13) August 11, 2019
Two dudes.
— Kansas City Royals (@Royals) August 11, 2019
One game.
1?6?0?6? feet of launched baseballs.#HEYHEYHEYHEY pic.twitter.com/1pPPTI74FN
Game of the Day
One day after the Astros dropped 23 on the Orioles, Baltimore got some revenge with an 8-7 win. The game featured five lead changes including one in each half of the ninth inning. The Astros entered the ninth trailing 5-4 but quickly erased the deficit as the first two batters reached and scored on a Michael Brantley triple. Brantley also scored on the play after an error and gave Houston a two-run lead. The Orioles got to within a run on a Chris Davis sac fly in the bottom half and were down to their final out when Rio Ruiz hit a game-winning two-run home run off Roberto Osuna . Here’s the game graph courtesy of Fangraphs.
What to Watch for Today
Monday isn’t the most exciting slate. The best match-up is Boston at Cleveland, though the Red Sox aren’t all that close to a playoff spot. The Yankees and Orioles will play a doubleheader, Zack Greinke will make his second start for Houston against the White Sox, and there is a Coors game with Arizona traveling to Colorado.