June 9, 2021
1. Ke’Bryan Hayes missed first base, and a HR becomes an out
It doesn’t get much worse than this, running the bases. You feel for him, and then you don’t — how can you forget you didn’t touch the base?
The Pirates’ bizarre aversion to first base this year keeps rolling along:
And how weird is this — on the same night, another player had the same thing happen to him, crossing home plate after hitting a HR (he does, however, still get a triple):
2. Gerrit Cole gave a 12-second pause when asked if he’s ever used “Spider Tack” on baseballs
The second-hand embarrassment cringe watching this clip is off the charts. How can you not have a better answer ready than this?
Everyone already knew he’d been using the stuff, but man — that was awkward. The line about “generations of pitchers have passed down traditions…” as a sort of folksy, campfire-tales explanation is just a bit odd.
3. Deep HRs of the night: Ohtani, Acuña, Andujar, Franco
4. Quote of the day, Joey Votto
“We had some sh** talking mother f***ers in St. Louis… It’s kind of nice to go on the road and let them have it — so, how’d you like that?”
5. Clutch hit of the night: Mike Tauchman grand slam
Down by two in the eighth inning, bases loaded, and in an instant the game turns completely around — for the best-record-in-MLB San Francisco Giants:
6. Speaking of the Giants, Brandon Crawford set a record last night
The most appearances at shortstop in Giants history, wow.
And on the same night, he hit two home runs — the kid from the Bay Area has become a franchise legend (PS: If the pictures on this one aren’t fully visible, click the tweet to open it fully on Twitter):
7. The most entertaining man in NCAA is on a roll
It’s becoming a daily thing with this guy, real-life Kenny Powers, pitching for Virginia in the NCAA tournament:
8. Injury and roster news: Jack Flaherty and Riley Pint
The Cardinals are on a six-game losing streak, with the Cubs and Brewers taking over in the N.L. Central, and some bad news about their best pitcher:
And then, a bit of an odd/sad story — the number 4 overall MLB draft pick in 2016 has decided to retire, after never making it past the single-A level:
9. Gerrit Cole’s start tonight will heavily scrutinized
Fair or not, if he pitches a bad start immediately after the “sticky stuff” crackdown begins, people are going to look at him very very differently.
8:10 ET in Minnesota:
11. Reaction of the night: Bryce Harper
12. Tyler Glasnow was nasty yet again last night
Seven innings pitched, one earned run, eleven strikeouts, one walk, 110+ pitches — and the Rays win again, with the best record in the American League.
13. The Phillies now have a “Home Run Hat”
Every fan in the ballpark needs to be wearing one of these, ASAP:
14. Nick Castellanos strikes out, disagrees, and takes his walk
Forget about only rejecting the unwritten rules, and skip right past all the normal-rules rules. Nick Castellanos is awesome (and leading the majors with a .357 batting average):
Also, what a lameness this is — the Reds edited the bottom of a giant banner they’d hung outside the ballpark, to cover up the taunting of the Cardinals part of the original Castellanos photo:
15. Lastly, some very great reflexes on the mound (Triple-A game)
The kind of play a baseball scorecard could never capture in notation:
Hope you’ve enjoyed the newsletter. See you tomorrow. Stay thirsty, as always, my friends.
Shout out to PQ.
