Everyone deals with loss differently. With the baseball community suffering a loss, the love and respect shared in deference to Tyler Skaggs on Tuesday warms the soul. As a parent, could not fathom losing a son but sports allows for solace to be found in routine and competition. It started with a heavy press conference by the Angels prior to the game. Texas did not use warm-up music or walk-up music in their at-bats to provide individual moments of silence. Here’s some moments courtesy of Twitter:

Former teammates of Skaggs also paid their respects:

One of the more poignant ones, Patrick Corbin wore Skaggs number pitching with a heavy heart in Washington and paid tribute prior to it:

Corbin proceeded to throw seven strong innings giving up six hits and one earned run with seven strikeouts. This represents his third straight start of seven innings pitched allowing one run in each of them with at least seven strikeouts. In this outing, Corbin produced 14 swinging strikes and 12 called of his 86 pitches for a 30.2 CSW (called plus swinging strike) percentage. During his post game interview, one can see the emotion draining out by Corbin. 

Here’s the other notable performances by starting pitchers last night:

  • Charlie Morton , Tampa Bay: 101 pitches, 15 swinging strikes, 23 called, 37.6 CSW%. Morton notched his ninth win while racking up 12 strikeouts yielding only four hits, one earned run and a walk in seven innings. Morton also takes over the American League lead in ERA (2.36). 

  • Zack Wheeler , New York Mets: 116 pitches, 14 swinging strikes, 18 called, 27.6 CSW%. Although Wheeler did not factor in the decision, he turned in a strong outing at home against the Yankees. Wheeler worked 6.1 innings giving up five hits, two earned runs and a walk with eight strikeouts. Over his last three starts, Wheeler’s recorded a 1.89 ERA, 0.84 WHIP and 19:4 K:BB in 19 innings. 

  • Aaron Nola , Philadelphia: 117 pitches, 14 swinging strikes, 25 called, 33.3 CSW%. Nola recorded his seventh win with eight shutout innings in Atlanta ceding four hits and three walks with eight strikeouts. He’s caught fire of late with his last three starts yielding a 0.39 ERA, 0.70 WHIP and 28 strikeouts against five walks in 23 innings. 

  • Tyler Beede , San Francisco: 100 pitches, 12 swinging strikes, 13 called, 25 CSW%. It seems like Beede could be a strong home stream option in the second half, but his win on the road in San Diego provided some positive signs. It’s his first start with the Giants this year with no walks and he lasted seven innings allowing one earned run with four strikeouts. Plus, he generated 11 ground balls versus nine fly balls, also a first this season. 

Bullpen Notes: Holland takes a walk on the wild side

There’s many ways to blow a save, but the Diamondbacks made the record books in Los Angeles last evening. Greg Holland incurred his third blown save and first loss of the year recording two outs, but also allowing two earned runs on four walks. He left with the bases loaded and T.J. McFarland entered walking Cody Bellinger resulting in the winning run. According to Elias Sports, the Dodgers became the first team since 1920 to draw five straight walks to end a game without an out in between. 

Here’s the other high leverage events from Tuesday night:

  • Sean Doolittle gets his fifth win when the Nationals walked off the Marlins at home. Doolittle worked an inning walking one and striking out two. He’s secured five straight saves and garnered a win over his last nine appearances yielding only one earned run over his last 7.2 innings. 

  • While the Reds bullpen remains fluid, Raisel Iglesias recorded his second win on a walk-off by his teammates in the 11th inning. Iglesias fired a clean inning and Amir Garrett struck out the side in the 10th keeping the game tied. 

  • It never seems easy, but Edwin Díaz notched his 18th save working around a hit with two strikeouts at home versus the Yankees. 

  • Héctor Neris preserved Nola’s shutout striking out the side in Atlanta for his 17th save. 

  • Blake Treinen could be activated as soon as today, but Liam Hendriks locked down his third save giving up a hit with two strikeouts. Hendriks extended his scoreless streak to 11.2 innings and has been unscored on in 23 of his last 24 relief appearances (0.31 ERA in 28.2 innings). 

  • Seattle’s Roenis Elías closed out his 11th save navigating around a hit with two strikeouts. He’s saved six games since June 12th with 10 strikeouts against zero walks his last nine innings. Austin Adams recorded all four of his outs via strikeout for his first win. He’s not been scored upon his last 11 outings spanning 12.1 innings with 25 strikeouts versus four walks and only three hits for a tidy 0.58 WHIP. 

Hitter Highlights: Frazier surges

Just when it seemed safe to give up on Adam Frazier , he goes on a tear. Frazier finished last night 4-for-4 with three runs, a double and his fourth home run driving in three runs. He’s also the second player in modern history (since 1900) with at least nine hits, five doubles and a home run over two games joining Joe Cronin who did so in June of 1933. 

Somehow bypassed for the All-Star game, Rafael Devers took it out on Toronto going 4-for-5 with two runs, two home runs (13,14) and six RBI making some history of his own:

Devers moved his hit streak to six games during which he’s batting .556 (15-for-27) with 10 runs, seven doubles, two home runs and eight RBI. He’s currently pacing towards 122 runs, 27 home runs, 107 RBI and 15 stolen bases. 

Like Frazier above, Danny Jansen also remains hot of late. Jansen hit his fifth home run, and third in his last eight contests. Over his last eight games, Jansen’s hitting .400 with five runs, two doubles, three home runs and eight RBI. 

On the surface, Christian Yelich launched his 31st home run in a loss to the Reds. But, going back to July eighth of last year, Yelich has appeared in 153 games with 130 runs, 56 home runs, 142 RBI and 30 stolen bases with a robust .347/.434/.720 slash line. Good lord. Eric Thames moved his hit streak to six games during which he’s homered in three of the last four. Mike Moustakas added his 24th home run and on pace for 45 this season. 

Yasiel Puig sparked the Reds comeback win with two hits and two runs including his 18th home run. Since June 15, Puig’s appeared in 16 games with 13 runs, seven home runs, 13 RBI, four stolen bases and a .327/.413/.782 slash line. Eugenio Suárez remains on a power surge homering for the third straight game during which he’s crushed four driving in nine. Phillip Ervin quietly extended his hit streak to six games. 

Perhaps a trip to Colorado will awaken the Astros bats. So far, so good. Jose Altuve recorded his first four hit game since May of last year scoring two runs. Altuve’s hitting .340 since his return from the injured list over 12 games. Yuli Gurriel hit two home runs for the second multi-homer game of his career. He’s 12-for-his-last-29 with five home runs in a seven game hit streak. 

Both Jake Bauers and Tyler Naquin registered four hits in a 9-5 Cleveland win in Kansas City. 

Chris Herrmann launched a grand slam for his first hit with Oakland in his season debut. Franklin Barreto went 1-for-4 and will take over as the primary second baseman going forward with Jurickson Profar transitioning to a utility role with the team. 

It’s almost as if José Martínez were meant to be a designated hitter? He hit two home runs as the Cardinals designated hitter in Seattle. Cripes. 

Last, but not least, Evan Longoria racked up four hits with a double and two home runs in San Diego driving in five. Kevin Pillar also chipped in with four hits in five at-bats scoring two runs and driving in one. 

What To Watch For…

Two injury notes to track, both Tommy LaStella and Brandon Lowe left their respective games last night after fouling a ball off their legs. If Lowe ends up on the injured list, he could be replaced by Nate Lowe who hit three home runs in Durham Tuesday night. 

Dylan Cease makes his major league debut pitching Game one of a doubleheader in Chicago against the Tigers. 

Chris Sale will try to get back on track but has struggled against the Blue Jays this season allowing eight earned runs in nine innings over two starts. 

The Yankees welcome back Domingo Germán to the rotation as he makes his first start since June seventh in the majors. 

Be sure to stay with Fantasy Alarm for the latest updates and all the fantasy information to remain ahead of the competition. 

 

Statistical Credits:

BaseballSavant.com

Fangraphs.com

MLB.com - game notes