The first Friday of May brought with it a 14-game slate (the Astros and Angels are off in advance of their series in Mexico) that included 13 night games. Here is everything you need to know about the day's MLB action.
Select games can be streamed regionally via fuboTV (Try for free). For more on what channel each game is on, click here.
Baseball scores for Friday, May 3
FINAL - Cubs 4, Cardinals 0 (box score)FINAL - Yankees 6, Twins 3 (box score)FINAL - Rays 7, Orioles 0 (box score)FINAL - Phillies 4, Nationals 2 (box score)FINAL - Tigers 4, Royals 3 (box score)FINAL - Indians 2, Mariners 1 (box score)FINAL - Braves 7, Marlins 2 (box score)FINAL - Athletics 14, Pirates 1 (box score)FINAL - Giants 12, Reds 11 in 11 innings (box score)FINAL - Blue Jays 1, Rangers 0 in 12 innings (box score)FINAL - Red Sox 6, White Sox 1 (box score)FINAL - Brewers 3, Mets 1 (box score)FINAL - Diamondbacks 10, Rockies 9 (box score)FINAL - Dodgers 4, Padres 3 (box score)Hendricks reignites rivalry with 81-pitch shutout
The Cubs (17-12) beat the National League Central first-place Cardinals (20-12) 4-0 behind right-hander Kyle Hendricks' 81-pitch shutout. As our own Matt Snyder notes, Hendricks became the first to throw a shutout on 81 pitches or fewer since Aaron Cook (Red Sox) in 2012 as well as just the 13th all-time. (Full pitch data is only available dating to 1988.)
Kyle Hendricks with the first shutout of 81 pitches or fewer since Aaron Cook in 2012. 13th all-time. The list: https://t.co/fyiWCah4u8
— Matt Snyder (@MattSnyderCBS) May 3, 2019
Hendricks (2-4) struck out three and did not walk a batter, and improved to 6-2 in 15 starts against the Cardinals.
Here's the breakdown of all 81 pitches from Hendricks:
Here are all 81 pitches Kyle Hendricks threw today to shut out the Cardinals.
He threw 63 strikes (78%), and his fastest pitch was 88.3 mph. pic.twitter.com/UxJQUz05FQ
— Andrew Simon (@AndrewSimonMLB) May 3, 2019
Jon Lester, on Kyle Hendricks today: “The craziest part was he only threw 18 balls. That’s two an inning. That stat is more impressive than the 81 pitches.”
— Jesse Rogers (@ESPNChiCubs) May 3, 2019
With the victory, the Cubs notched their fifth consecutive win (a season high), and have cut down St. Louis' first-place lead to 1 1/2 games. Game 2 of the pivotal three-game series is on Saturday at 4:05 p.m. ET, with Michael Wacha and Yu Darvish facing off on the mound. Fans can stream the game regionally via fuboTV (Try for free).
Highlight of the night: Machado takes Kershaw deep
For the first time in his career, Manny Machado faced Clayton Kershaw on Friday. The two were briefly teammates last year. Now they're division rivals. Round 1 went to Machado. He took Kershaw into the second deck:
That is one aesthetically pleasing dinger. Statcast measures it at 437 feet. Not as far as I would've guessed, but gosh, that sure looked pretty.
Red Sox finally win a Sale start
For the first time this season, the Red Sox won a game started by Chris Sale. Hard to believe, isn't it? Sale went into Friday's game with a 6.30 ERA in six starts and 30 innings. Boston lost all six of those games (Sale personally was 0-5). The Red Sox lost nine games started by Sale all last season. They lost six before May this year. Crazy.
The good news: Sale is gradually looking better and better each time out. He flummoxed the White Sox, his former team, Friday night and had his best start of the season.
Sale now has a 2.84 ERA with 29 strikeouts in three starts and 19 innings against his former team. And the Red Sox are now 1-6 in his seven starts. Hey, gotta start somewhere.
Giants spoil Senzel's debut with huge comeback
Top prospect Nick Senzel's big-league debut was a night to remember for all the wrong reasons for the Reds. Cincinnati blew an 8-0 lead to the Giants and eventually lost 12-11 in 11 innings. Stephen Vogt hit a game-tying home run in the ninth and Evan Longoria had the game-winner in the 11th.
The eight-run comeback is tied for the largest in Giants history. As for Senzel, the rookie infielder-turned-center-fielder went 1 for 5 with two walks. Reaching base three times makes for a pretty good MLB debut, I'd say. The rest of the game? Yuck. Look away, Reds fans.
Bullpen helps lift Yankees over Twins
Despite Yankees starter James Paxton only lasting three innings because of soreness in his left knee, New York's bullpen was able to hold steady for a 6-3 victory over the Twins. Jonathan Holder threw two perfect innings before Adam Ottavino and Tommy Kahnle each worked a hitless inning. And finally, Aroldis Chapman got the final three outs for his sixth save of the season in seven chances. Gary Sanchez hit two homers in the win:
The depleted Yankees, with 13 players on the injured list, will further evaluate Paxton on Saturday with an MRI. Here's Mike Axisa with more on the key loss.
Phegley has career night for A's
Chances are it won't get any better than Friday night for A's catcher Josh Phegley. Phegley went 4 for 5 with two doubles -- both with the bases loaded -- and a homer in the blowout win over the Pirates. He drove in eight runs.
Phegley is the first player with an eight-RBI game since Mark Reynolds had a 10-RBI game last July. He's the first A's player with an eight-RBI game since Eric Chavez in 2001.
Gausman ejected in win over Marlins
It's been nearly one year since a heated Braves-Marlins benches-clearing incident, but there's still bad blood between these two NL East teams. In the second inning of Friday's game (ATL 7, MIA 2), Atlanta righty Kevin Gausman was ejected for throwing behind Marlins starting pitcher Jose Urena. It was Urena who hit Ronald Acuna Jr. with a fastball last August, which triggered the bench clearing last season. You can read about both incidents here.
Quick hits
