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Thursday's Diamond Notes
April 21, 2016
Hottest team: Athletics (won four straight)
Looking to pull off a sweep in the Bronx, Oakland will look to win its fifth straight and remain perfect on the road in the young season. They’ll play at Toronto and Detroit next, so that unbeaten run will likely end sooner than later, but the A’s will send lefty Rich Hill (1-2, 4.13) to the mound in the hopes of ensuring that first loss doesn’t come today.
A’s pitching has surrendered just a pair of runs in each of the last three games and has yet to give up more than two in any game they’ve played outside Oakland, hence the road warrior status. Hill surrendered a single run over six innings in his lone road start in Seattle, striking out 10. The bullpen has allowed just one run in eight innings they’ve worked thus far against the Yanks, who they’ve now beaten in 20 of the last 28. Third baseman Danny Valencia left Wednesday’s win with a hamstring strain, so manager Bob Melvin will likely have Chris Coghlan or Mark Canha in his place at the hot corner here. The ‘under’ has prevailed in 10 of 12 A’s games, including all five of their road wins.
Coldest team: Giants (lost three straight)
The Giants suffered their seventh loss in eight games when Zack Greinke continued his mastery in AT&T Park, winning a pitcher’s duel against Madison Bumgarner 2-1. The Diamondbacks now go in search of a four-game sweep with Shelby Miller (0-1, 8.53) taking the mound against Johnny Cueto (3-0, 3.38), the only Giants pitcher who has picked up a victory since April 12. Cueto is a perfect 3-0 with San Francisco and has given up a single run in two of his three starts, though both of those efforts came on the road. He struggled in his first start in front of the paying customer, surrendering six runs on 10 Dodgers hits in a game where the offense bailed him out. Maybe his presence will help wake up his team’s bats, since they’ve only managed to score more than a single run once in the last four games.
San Francisco hitters went 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position against Greinke and the D'backs bullpen and are 3-for-30 during his losing streak. The Diamondbacks have won in San Francisco in 11 of their last 13 contests and have won seven of the last eight overall. Miller has yet to win in an Arizona uniform and left his last start early with a lacerated index finger. Mechanics issues led to him banging his hand on the ground after releasing pitches as he worked just 1.2 innings in San Diego, facing 10 batters.
Hottest pitcher: Jake Arrieta (3-0, 1.23 ERA)
Chicago's ace has picked up right where he left last season, running his streak to 14 consecutive decisions won. He hasn't allowed a run in two of his three starts this season and hasn't surrendered one in Wrigley Field since July 25 of last season, a streak of six consecutive scoreless outings. No one in baseball history had ever done that before. Arrieta's first loss last season came at home against Cincinnati, but he's a heavy favorite (-200) here.
Coldest pitcher: Taylor Jungmann (0-2, 9.00 ERA)
The Brewers knew this season would have its rough patches, but were counting on seeing their young players make significant strides to ease the ride. Thus far, the rocky road has been as promised -- they're 7-8 -- but some unpolished gems are flaming out. Keon Broxton has already been sent down, while Jungmann, the top pitching prospect, has followed up a promising 9-8 rookie season by losing his first two decisions of 2016, rocking a pretty grimy ERA. This will be his first time ever seeing the Twins. He's got a tidy 1.80 home ERA after working five strong innings at Miller Park this season and was excellent there last year, going 5-2 with a 2.21 ERA.
Biggest UNDER run: Blue Jays (7-0 last seven)
Toronto averaged 5.5 runs per game last season, but has plated just 4.0 runs per game in 2016 after Wednesday's 4-3 extra-inning loss at Baltimore. They went 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position. The 'under' has prevailed in nine of the Jays' last 10 games. They've also played 13 of 16 games that have been decided by two runs or less this season.
Biggest OVER run: Braves (5-0-1 last six)
Atlanta got clipped in extra innings by the Dodgers, snapping a four-game winning streak. The 5-3 result reached the projected total of eight runs, pushing and keeping the team's streak of 'overs' intact. The Braves have scored 29 runs (5.8 per game) over their last five games, but haven't hit a home run since Drew Stubbs left the yard on April 10. Atlanta ranks last in MLB with three HRs, but is 4-1 since moving Nick Markakis into the leadoff spot, taking full advantage of his run of reaching safely in an MLB-best 26 consecutive games. They'll run into Clayton Kershaw (2-0, 1.64) on Thursday, so they're going to be hard-pressed to continue this high-scoring run. The total is set at 6.5.
Matchup to watch: Tigers at Royals
Sure, it's early -- we're barely 10 percent into baseball's regular season -- but the AL Central Division has seen the White Sox get off to an unexpected strong start, which means the winner of this one gets to keep pace while the loser leaves Kansas City stuck in third. The teams have split the first two meetings in riveting contests and will get another national showcase on FS-1 for this rubber game. Tigers starter Mike Pelfrey (0-2, 2.79) has yet to win for his new team and has walked more batters (7) than he's struck out (6), but he gave up a single run in six innings at Houston last time out, suffering a hard-luck 1-0 loss. Edinson Volquez (2-0, 2.04) is off to an excellent start for the Royals, but he'll have to be wary of a slumping Miguel Cabrera, who is 5-for-8 against him in his career, reaching based eight times in 11 plate appearances.
Betcha didn’t know: Although Colorado's Trevor Story has stolen the show among rookies, Astros 1B Tyler White has been no slouch. The early favorite for AL Rookie of the Year already has one Player of the Week honor under his belt and smacked his fifth homer of the season to supply his team's lone run in Wednesday's 2-1 loss. He had been hitting .167 with 11 strikeouts over the last week prior to going 1-for-4, but hasn't had a hit that hasn't left the yard in each of the past six games and has struck out at least once in eight consecutive contests. He'll look to help the Astros snap a two-game losing streak and avoid a sweep in Arlington behind Dallas Keuchel (2-1, 2.18). At this point, Houston has been MLB's biggest disappointment.
Biggest public favorite: Dodgers (-250) at Braves
Biggest public underdog: Tigers (+150) at Royals
Biggest line move: Mariners (+110 to -107) at Indians
April 21, 2016
Hottest team: Athletics (won four straight)
Looking to pull off a sweep in the Bronx, Oakland will look to win its fifth straight and remain perfect on the road in the young season. They’ll play at Toronto and Detroit next, so that unbeaten run will likely end sooner than later, but the A’s will send lefty Rich Hill (1-2, 4.13) to the mound in the hopes of ensuring that first loss doesn’t come today.
A’s pitching has surrendered just a pair of runs in each of the last three games and has yet to give up more than two in any game they’ve played outside Oakland, hence the road warrior status. Hill surrendered a single run over six innings in his lone road start in Seattle, striking out 10. The bullpen has allowed just one run in eight innings they’ve worked thus far against the Yanks, who they’ve now beaten in 20 of the last 28. Third baseman Danny Valencia left Wednesday’s win with a hamstring strain, so manager Bob Melvin will likely have Chris Coghlan or Mark Canha in his place at the hot corner here. The ‘under’ has prevailed in 10 of 12 A’s games, including all five of their road wins.
Coldest team: Giants (lost three straight)
The Giants suffered their seventh loss in eight games when Zack Greinke continued his mastery in AT&T Park, winning a pitcher’s duel against Madison Bumgarner 2-1. The Diamondbacks now go in search of a four-game sweep with Shelby Miller (0-1, 8.53) taking the mound against Johnny Cueto (3-0, 3.38), the only Giants pitcher who has picked up a victory since April 12. Cueto is a perfect 3-0 with San Francisco and has given up a single run in two of his three starts, though both of those efforts came on the road. He struggled in his first start in front of the paying customer, surrendering six runs on 10 Dodgers hits in a game where the offense bailed him out. Maybe his presence will help wake up his team’s bats, since they’ve only managed to score more than a single run once in the last four games.
San Francisco hitters went 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position against Greinke and the D'backs bullpen and are 3-for-30 during his losing streak. The Diamondbacks have won in San Francisco in 11 of their last 13 contests and have won seven of the last eight overall. Miller has yet to win in an Arizona uniform and left his last start early with a lacerated index finger. Mechanics issues led to him banging his hand on the ground after releasing pitches as he worked just 1.2 innings in San Diego, facing 10 batters.
Hottest pitcher: Jake Arrieta (3-0, 1.23 ERA)
Chicago's ace has picked up right where he left last season, running his streak to 14 consecutive decisions won. He hasn't allowed a run in two of his three starts this season and hasn't surrendered one in Wrigley Field since July 25 of last season, a streak of six consecutive scoreless outings. No one in baseball history had ever done that before. Arrieta's first loss last season came at home against Cincinnati, but he's a heavy favorite (-200) here.
Coldest pitcher: Taylor Jungmann (0-2, 9.00 ERA)
The Brewers knew this season would have its rough patches, but were counting on seeing their young players make significant strides to ease the ride. Thus far, the rocky road has been as promised -- they're 7-8 -- but some unpolished gems are flaming out. Keon Broxton has already been sent down, while Jungmann, the top pitching prospect, has followed up a promising 9-8 rookie season by losing his first two decisions of 2016, rocking a pretty grimy ERA. This will be his first time ever seeing the Twins. He's got a tidy 1.80 home ERA after working five strong innings at Miller Park this season and was excellent there last year, going 5-2 with a 2.21 ERA.
Biggest UNDER run: Blue Jays (7-0 last seven)
Toronto averaged 5.5 runs per game last season, but has plated just 4.0 runs per game in 2016 after Wednesday's 4-3 extra-inning loss at Baltimore. They went 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position. The 'under' has prevailed in nine of the Jays' last 10 games. They've also played 13 of 16 games that have been decided by two runs or less this season.
Biggest OVER run: Braves (5-0-1 last six)
Atlanta got clipped in extra innings by the Dodgers, snapping a four-game winning streak. The 5-3 result reached the projected total of eight runs, pushing and keeping the team's streak of 'overs' intact. The Braves have scored 29 runs (5.8 per game) over their last five games, but haven't hit a home run since Drew Stubbs left the yard on April 10. Atlanta ranks last in MLB with three HRs, but is 4-1 since moving Nick Markakis into the leadoff spot, taking full advantage of his run of reaching safely in an MLB-best 26 consecutive games. They'll run into Clayton Kershaw (2-0, 1.64) on Thursday, so they're going to be hard-pressed to continue this high-scoring run. The total is set at 6.5.
Matchup to watch: Tigers at Royals
Sure, it's early -- we're barely 10 percent into baseball's regular season -- but the AL Central Division has seen the White Sox get off to an unexpected strong start, which means the winner of this one gets to keep pace while the loser leaves Kansas City stuck in third. The teams have split the first two meetings in riveting contests and will get another national showcase on FS-1 for this rubber game. Tigers starter Mike Pelfrey (0-2, 2.79) has yet to win for his new team and has walked more batters (7) than he's struck out (6), but he gave up a single run in six innings at Houston last time out, suffering a hard-luck 1-0 loss. Edinson Volquez (2-0, 2.04) is off to an excellent start for the Royals, but he'll have to be wary of a slumping Miguel Cabrera, who is 5-for-8 against him in his career, reaching based eight times in 11 plate appearances.
Betcha didn’t know: Although Colorado's Trevor Story has stolen the show among rookies, Astros 1B Tyler White has been no slouch. The early favorite for AL Rookie of the Year already has one Player of the Week honor under his belt and smacked his fifth homer of the season to supply his team's lone run in Wednesday's 2-1 loss. He had been hitting .167 with 11 strikeouts over the last week prior to going 1-for-4, but hasn't had a hit that hasn't left the yard in each of the past six games and has struck out at least once in eight consecutive contests. He'll look to help the Astros snap a two-game losing streak and avoid a sweep in Arlington behind Dallas Keuchel (2-1, 2.18). At this point, Houston has been MLB's biggest disappointment.
Biggest public favorite: Dodgers (-250) at Braves
Biggest public underdog: Tigers (+150) at Royals
Biggest line move: Mariners (+110 to -107) at Indians
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