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The story of the night was in Los Angeles, where Clayton Kershaw reeled in yet another Dodger milestone.
Today’s Headlines
Dane Dunning Spins a Gem
In my admittedly fantasy-oriented brain, I tend to think of Dane Dunning as a boring, sinkerballer who, so far at least, hasn’t pitched deep into games. But give the man credit. He twirled the best game of his young career last night as he silenced a tough Atlanta lineup, that included Ronald Acuña Jr.
Final line for Dane Dunning: 7 2/3 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 7 K
Longest outing of Dunning’s career and longest by a Ranger this season
— kennedi landry (@kennlandry) May 1, 2022
Spencer Strider Continues to Impress
On the other side of the Ranger’s game, Atlanta’s rookie pitcher Spencer Strider continues to impress. The club’s fourth-round pick out of the 2020 draft has been making long relief appearances out of the pen and has been very effective outside of his previous outing against the Marlins on the 23rd. Armed with a fastball that regularly clocks in the triple digits and a slider that has missed plenty of bats, he’s someone to keep an eye on should he get a chance at Atlanta’s starting rotation.
No. 2 @Braves prospect Spencer Strider brought the ? out of the bullpen:
3 2/3 IP
0 H
0 R
1 BB
5 Ks pic.twitter.com/QLAXIKvpgX— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) May 1, 2022
Offense is Down
Universal humidors, baseball shenanigans, and spin rates, oh my! If you had the feeling that fewer runs were being scored, here are some numbers, and, spoiler alert, you were not wrong.
April will finish with the lowest runs per game and HRs for April in the expansion era (1998-2022)
R/G: currently 4.02 as of 9:55 ET. Previous low was 4.17 in 2012
HRs: currently 570. Previous low was 592 in 2015.
— Jason Collette (@jasoncollette) May 1, 2022
The Dead Red Machine
A couple of days ago, Joey Votto described the team’s dreadful start, “This is awful to experience each and every day.” The Reds’ team ERA is 6.09, the worst in baseball. Second-worst are the Pirates at 5.12. Offensively, the Reds are tied with the D-Backs for second-lowest in team wOBA at .268.
The Cincinnati Reds are off to a rough start. pic.twitter.com/hOnw3F0guG
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) May 1, 2022
Kershaw
Years ago, Sean Casey, a career .302 hitter, admitted he knew it was time to retire when some hotshot rookie dropped a knee-buckling curveball on him during spring training. That was 2008. We’ve witnessed brilliance ever since. Last night was another remarkable milestone as Spencer Torkelson went down in the record books as the illustrious lefty’s 2697th strikeout, pushing him past Don Sutton for the all-time franchise record.
THE KING.
Congratulations, @ClaytonKersh22, on being the all-time strikeouts leader in Dodger history! pic.twitter.com/heplKnEQsG
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) May 1, 2022
Clayton Kershaw on the crowd reaction: "I know what it means to me, that I've been fortunate enough to be here for this long. It means a lot. I grew up here, started a family here. I've been through a lot of ups and a lot of downs here. Tonight adds to that for sure."
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) May 1, 2022
Best Moments From Yesterday
The Orioles Win!
Orioles fans went home happy on a walk-off win against their division rivals. Tied 1-1 in the tenth, Red Sox reliever Hirokazu Sawamura botched a routine throw to Rafael Devers on a bunt attempt by catcher Robinson Chirinos. Red Sox are left to lament what could have been on a night in which Nathan Eovaldi pitched brilliantly.
We present another riveting walk-off highlight! pic.twitter.com/Q1Mbr9cgiw
— Orioles on MASN (@masnOrioles) May 1, 2022
Back to Kershaw
Who doesn’t love a great pitcher’s duel? Give the rookie credit as he matched Kershaw through five, allowing only one run, a home run to Mookie Betts as he helped the Tigers to an impressive 5-1 victory.
Quite the starting pitching battle tonight
380 combined starts
188 combined wins
2,696 combined strikeouts pic.twitter.com/CklPMvW7xP— Blake Harris (@BlakeHarrisTBLA) May 1, 2022
He might not be much of a hitter, but Marisnick is a one-of-a-kind player defensively. Last night we got to see him do what he does best as he made an incredible diving grab to rob the Padres’ Ha-Seong Kim.
Jake Marisnick FLIES for this catch ?
(via @MLB) pic.twitter.com/VVdmtMpt0Y
— SI MLB (@si_mlb) May 1, 2022
Injuries
The Mariners officially placed Mitch Haniger on the 10-day IL retroactive to April 29th after he sprained his ankle in a game against the Marlins this past Friday. Manager Rick Servais classified it as a Grade 2 high ankle sprain. Stuart Fairchild was the corresponding callup.
Joey Gallo left Saturday night’s game against the Royals with left groin tightness.
Ahmed Rosario was held out of the Guardians’ lineup with left wrist soreness.
J.D. Martinez was held out of the Red Sox lineup last night with a lingering adductor strain, but he should be able to start Sunday’s game.
Articles You Should Read
Joey Votto’s experiment with his new, hockey-puck knob bat is over: ‘I feel so much better’ – C. Trent Rosecrans, The Athletic.
Quantifying Hitter Plate Discipline with EAGLE: Part 1 – Joshua Mould and Dr. David Anderson, Baseball Prospectus.
Fantasy Baseball Coverage
Featured image by Justin Paradis (@JustParaDesigns on Twitter)