I hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable Memorial Day. It was a solid day for the Detroit Tigers, as the bats finally woke up! At the same time, they received some timely pitching from Alex Wilson and Justin Wilson. This allowed them to nudge out a 10-7 victory over the Kansas City Royals in game one of their three-game series.
Justin Verlander takes the mound on Tuesday looking to bounce back after a rough outing against Houston last week. He will be up against the Royals’ Eric Skoglund, who is making his major league debut. You might be wondering where starter Danny Duffy is. Well, he is out six to eight weeks with a strained oblique. You can see how the Tigers and the rest of the American League Central are doing in the latest installment of Central Intelligence.
Jacob interviewed Drew Walters, a switch hitting outfielder who is a prospective Tigers selection in this year’s amateur draft. The Whitecaps stretched their win total to 34 after an extra innings victory over Dayton. The Tigers may have found a diamond in the rough in undrafted relief man Jason Foley writes The Detroit News’ Lynn Henning.
Elsewhere in baseball
The Houston Astros exploded for an 11-run eighth inning to overcome a six-run deficit and beat the Minnesota Twins. It was the largest comeback for the Astros since 2008.
By far the biggest story of the day was the bench-clearing brawl between the Washington Nationals and San Francisco Giants where Bryce Harper charged the mound after Hunter Strickland hit him in the hip with a 98 mile per hour fastball.
Bryce Harper charges the mound after being hit by Hunter Strickland pic.twitter.com/vXB3TqOsCR
— Barno (@DCBarno) May 29, 2017
Bryce Harper and Hunter Strickland get mad, punch each other in the face. pic.twitter.com/9tLtDGqb8m
— Molly Knight (@molly_knight) May 29, 2017
It was bad news all around baseball as Mike Trout is out for approximately six to eight weeks with torn UCL in his left thumb, Trout has elected to have surgery. The offense was loud all over the place yesterday as the Tampa Bay Rays scored five runs in the seventh inning to spoil Texas Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre’s first game of the 2017 season. The Toronto Blue Jays scored 17 runs to rough up the Cincinnati Reds, a season high in runs for the Blue Jays.
Dodgers rookie Cody Bellinger continues his red hot month of May as he homers against the St. Louis Cardinals. That was Cody’s 11th homer in 32 games. Andrew McCutchen gave Pittsburgh Pirates fans something to be excited about as they walk off the Arizona Diamondbacks despite losing both catcher Chris Stewart and outfielder Gregory Polanco to injuries during the game.
Former Tiger David Price made his 2017 debut for the Boston Red Sox with a victory over the Chicago White Sox. Price showed little rust, regularly touching 95 mph with his fastball. A Rangers fan caught a Joey Gallo home run with a giant margarita in one hand.
Meet Hunter Renfroe
San Diego Padres outfielder Hunter Renfroe showed off his cannon of an arm with a 101.6 mph laser, the fastest throw from the outfield so far this season according to Statcast.
Think twice …@Hunter_Renfroe fires a 101.6-mph seed straight home to keep Addison Russell at third base. https://t.co/Weyb2LaMbm #Statcast pic.twitter.com/ioyvLSRtuH
— #Statcast (@statcast) May 30, 2017
He also hit a grand slam.
.@Padres rookie @Hunter_Renfroe turns a two-run deficit into a two-run lead. https://t.co/dHVnx22FqW #PapaSlam pic.twitter.com/ooBHYkVzLf
— MLB (@MLB) May 29, 2017
Baseball is strange
Don't talk to me or my son ever again. pic.twitter.com/cnKrGBtRfL
— Molly Knight (@molly_knight) May 29, 2017
Bryce Harper, Helmet Throw Mechanics (scratchreel). #SRGif pic.twitter.com/CT4dBFNPTn
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 29, 2017
YOU'RE ON THE SAME TEAM pic.twitter.com/3OK1qMh4HQ
— Hannah Keyser (@HannahRKeyser) May 29, 2017