PrizePicks

Kurtz blasted a two-run homer in the second inning, an RBI double in the fourth, a solo shot in the sixth, a solo shot in the eighth and to put an exclamation point on the night he clobbered a three-run homer off of Cooper Hummel in the ninth inning. In perhaps the greatest single game performance in MLB history, Kurtz etched his name in the record books. He became just the 20th player in history to have a four-homer game and the first rookie to accomplish that feat. He also tied the MLB record for total bases in a game with 19. The front-runner for the American League Rookie of the Year award is now slashing an absurd .305/.374/.686 with 23 homers and 59 RBI on the season.

While this game was mostly tight throughout, the Phillies blew it wide open late with 10 runs over the final three innings against the Yankees’ beleaguered bullpen. Schwarber was right in the middle of that onslaught with a two-run, eighth inning homer that was scorched at 115.2 mph. He also accounted for the only damage done against opposing starter Will Warren with another two-run, 113.8 mph shot in the fifth inning. He added a 108.9 mph lineout between those and is in the middle of a special power surge with 10 home runs in his last 15 games.

The Yankees jumped all over Walker for two quick homers in the first two innings. They had another solo shot later, but could never string enough hits together otherwise to put together a real rally. That was surprising though, because Walker allowed 10 hard-hit balls in total and didn’t seem to fool many hitters either with a steady dose of cutters in the strike zone. His next start is scheduled to come on Wednesday against the White Sox.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Volpe can’t exactly figure out the player he wants to be. This home run was his fourth homer in his last six games and came on a swing that was 75.6 mph, three ticks above his season average. He had three hard-hit balls in total and seems to be pushing himself to be a power hitter again, rather than the contact-oriented approach he struggled with over the last few months. Maybe it sticks, or maybe he will try to be a different player again tomorrow.

This game got out of hand late, but that was no fault of Warren. He finally got back on track after a string of poor starts in July by finding the command of both his sweeper and sinker. The sweeper forced a handful of timely swings-and-misses while the sinker generated plenty of soft contact. The key to each was keeping them low in the zone after he struggled to locate them for the better part of a month. His next start is scheduled to come at home against the Rays.

Sheehan turned in a solid start after nearly unraveling in the first inning. He walked two of the three hitters he faced and was all over the place. It took him 32 pitches to finally get through that inning and he wound up finding some consistency during the middle innings by leaning on his fastball up in the zone. That pitch and his slider carried him in a game where he had no command of his usually strong changeup. Those five innings also tied his longest outing of the season as he tries to hold his spot in this Dodgers rotation as the rest of their staff gets healthy. His next start is scheduled to come on the road against the Rays.