As is often the case, Monday brought a less-than-full MLB slate. With nine night games on the schedule, though, we did have enough action to get the week started. The good news for the Pirates? The losers of eight straight were off on Monday, so the possibility of a ninth straight loss won't descend upon them until Tuesday. Elsewhere, the Dodgers aim to win their fifth in a row, and the AL Central-leading Twins began a mettle-testing home series with the Astros. Now let's jump in.
Select games can be streamed regionally via fuboTV (Try for free). For more on what channel each game is on, click here.
Baseball schedule/scores for MondayBader, Cardinals stun Corbin, Nats
Michael Wacha returned from the IL to make the start, Marcell Ozuna and Jose Martinez stayed hot, and Yadier Molina extended his hit streak to 16 games. Also of note was the night Harrison Bader had. He homered as part of the Cardinals' six-run fifth:
He later used his speed on a bunt single, and he also made this miracle snare:
Yep, based on the way the ball left Yan Gomes' bat and how much ground Bader had to cover, he had just a one in 10 chance of making that catch. Make it he did, though. We know about the defensive value -- on a rate basis, Bader has been one of the most valuable defenders in all of baseball since the start of the 2018 season. This season, however, he's showing growth with the bat. In particular, he has more than doubled his walk percentage relative to a season ago, and he has significantly cut down on how often he swings at pitches outside the zone. Last season, Bader was regularly victimized by sliders away from right-handed pitchers, but in 2019 he has done a much better job of laying off those. The result? He's now slashing .222/.397/.444 for the year. Low batting average aside, that's excellent production for an elite up-the-middle fielder who also adds value on the bases.
On the other side of things, Patrick Corbin in this one endured his worst start to date as a member of the Nationals:
Five of those six runs were allowed with two outs. At the time of that second out, the Nats had better than an 80 percent chance of winning the game. That, of course, didn't come to pass. As a result of all that, Corbin saw his ERA for the season go from 2.48 to 3.58, and the Nationals slid back to a season-worst three games under .500.
Odorizzi outduels Verlander
The Twins' victory over the mighty Astros on Monday pushed their record to 17-9, which scales to a 106-win pace. Central to those Monday night efforts was Minnesota right-hander Jake Odorizzi:
And here's a sampling of his evening:
At one point, Odorizzi retired 13 straight. On the downside, he became the first Twins starter to walk a batter since April 24.
Odorizzi's counterpart, future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander, was almost as good, but he allowed a home run to utility infielder Ehire Adrianza, which accounted for all the scoring. In the process, Verlander made a bit of weird history:
For the fourth straight start, the @astros' Justin Verlander allowed just one run - all have come on solo shots.
He joins the Padres' Greg Harris in Sept 1991 as the only pitchers in the Live Ball era (since 1920) to make four straight starts allowing only one run on a solo HR.
— Stats By STATS (@StatsBySTATS) April 30, 2019
Verlander boasts a 2.45 ERA on the season, but he's now allowed seven home runs in 44 innings. The Twins as a team have now hit 50 home runs in 2019.
Highlight of the day: Rarely do bunts work this well
The Padres and Braves got together in Atlanta, and with one out and one on in the bottom of the third a little baseball madness unfurled before our eyes. For the Braves, starting pitcher Mike Soroka was at the plate, and in keeping with ancient National League tradition, he was trying to give away an out. Here's how that went:
All right. Bad throw with some mustard on it plus an outfield playing shallow yields chaos for the visiting Pads. That's an error on Eric Hosmer with the throw -- his third of the year -- and Manuel Margot in center -- his first of the year. Soon thereafter Ozzie Albies singled to bring home Soroka. Rarely do we see the throw on a fielded bunt almost make it to the warning track, but every new day occasions small miracles.
Quick hits
