Players of the Day for Thursday, August 29, 2019
American League
If good starting pitching is essential down the stretch and into the playoffs, then the Cleveland Indians appear to be in great shape. The Indians' staff is so deep they had the luxury of letting Trevor Bauer go to Cincinnati at the trade deadline.
One reason for such confidence is hard-throwing right-hander, Mike Clevinger, who busted the Tigers Thursday with eight scoreless innings in a 2-0 Cleveland win.
Francisco Lindor accounted for all of Cleveland's runs with a third inning solo homer and a seventh-inning sacrifice fly while Clevinger shut down the Tigers on four hits, striking out 10 with no walks.
Brad Hand worked a hitless ninth for his 33rd save of the season, second best in the AL. Yankee Aroldis Chapman leads the league with 36 saves.
Clevinger improved to 10-2 on the year, with a stellar 2.72 ERA and 123 strikeouts in 86 innings. Due to various aliments, Clevinger had only four starts through June, and a 1-2 record. Since then, he's 9-0 in 11 starts.
The win left the Indians 3 1/2 back of Minnesota in the Central division, but 1 1/2 ahead of Oakland and 2 1/2 up on Tampa Bay in the wild card race. Winners of five of their last six the Indians swept Detroit and head to Tampa Bay Friday for a three-game series with the Rays.
National League
What you don't know can hurt you.
Just ask Jacob deGrom, who knows most - if not all - of the Cubs' hitters tendencies pretty well. What they like, what they don't, what to throw in certain counts are all part of DeGrom's masterful repertoire.
What he didn't know was how exactly to pitch to Cubs' catcher, Victor Caratini. Though, on the other hand, maybe Caratini figured out how to hit off deGrom.
The two last met on June 23rd, a 5-3 Chicago win, and the result was pretty much a draw. deGrom stuck out Caratini in his first at-bat, but surrendered a single the second time around. So much for a short learning curve.
In Thursday's 4-1 Chicago victory, it was Caratini who had the upper hand, driving in all of the Cubs' runs with a pair of home runs off the Mets' starter.
Caratini launched a solo shot in the second inning, tying the game at 1-1. In the top of the seventh, after Chicago starter, Jon Lester, had held the Mets to one run over six frames, Caratini removed all doubt with a three-run blast. That sent deGrom to the showers and the Mets to their sixth straight loss and a three-game sweep by the visiting Cubs. Three Chicago relievers held the Mets hitless over the final three innings. Caratini was 7-for-12 (.583) in the Cubs' three wins over the Mets.
The result sent the Mets to the back of the wild card pack, five games behind Chicago, as the Cubs have wrested control of the second wild card position and find themselves a mere 1 1/2 games behind St. Louis in the Central division race.
On Friday, the Mets head off on a dangerous road trip, with three games each in Philadelphia and Washington. Both teams are ahead of them in the division and wild card. The Cubs return home for a three-game series with central division rival, Milwaukee.
American League
 |
| Clevinger: 8 scoreless |
If good starting pitching is essential down the stretch and into the playoffs, then the Cleveland Indians appear to be in great shape. The Indians' staff is so deep they had the luxury of letting Trevor Bauer go to Cincinnati at the trade deadline.
One reason for such confidence is hard-throwing right-hander, Mike Clevinger, who busted the Tigers Thursday with eight scoreless innings in a 2-0 Cleveland win.
Francisco Lindor accounted for all of Cleveland's runs with a third inning solo homer and a seventh-inning sacrifice fly while Clevinger shut down the Tigers on four hits, striking out 10 with no walks.
Brad Hand worked a hitless ninth for his 33rd save of the season, second best in the AL. Yankee Aroldis Chapman leads the league with 36 saves.
Clevinger improved to 10-2 on the year, with a stellar 2.72 ERA and 123 strikeouts in 86 innings. Due to various aliments, Clevinger had only four starts through June, and a 1-2 record. Since then, he's 9-0 in 11 starts.
The win left the Indians 3 1/2 back of Minnesota in the Central division, but 1 1/2 ahead of Oakland and 2 1/2 up on Tampa Bay in the wild card race. Winners of five of their last six the Indians swept Detroit and head to Tampa Bay Friday for a three-game series with the Rays.
National League
 |
| Caratini's 2HRs sink Mets |
What you don't know can hurt you.
Just ask Jacob deGrom, who knows most - if not all - of the Cubs' hitters tendencies pretty well. What they like, what they don't, what to throw in certain counts are all part of DeGrom's masterful repertoire.
What he didn't know was how exactly to pitch to Cubs' catcher, Victor Caratini. Though, on the other hand, maybe Caratini figured out how to hit off deGrom.
The two last met on June 23rd, a 5-3 Chicago win, and the result was pretty much a draw. deGrom stuck out Caratini in his first at-bat, but surrendered a single the second time around. So much for a short learning curve.
In Thursday's 4-1 Chicago victory, it was Caratini who had the upper hand, driving in all of the Cubs' runs with a pair of home runs off the Mets' starter.
Caratini launched a solo shot in the second inning, tying the game at 1-1. In the top of the seventh, after Chicago starter, Jon Lester, had held the Mets to one run over six frames, Caratini removed all doubt with a three-run blast. That sent deGrom to the showers and the Mets to their sixth straight loss and a three-game sweep by the visiting Cubs. Three Chicago relievers held the Mets hitless over the final three innings. Caratini was 7-for-12 (.583) in the Cubs' three wins over the Mets.
The result sent the Mets to the back of the wild card pack, five games behind Chicago, as the Cubs have wrested control of the second wild card position and find themselves a mere 1 1/2 games behind St. Louis in the Central division race.
On Friday, the Mets head off on a dangerous road trip, with three games each in Philadelphia and Washington. Both teams are ahead of them in the division and wild card. The Cubs return home for a three-game series with central division rival, Milwaukee.
