MLB scores: deGrom pitches gem, homers in Mets win; Freddy Peralta leads Brewers past Reds

As the action came to a close on Wednesday, we completed one full week in the 2019 Major League Baseball season. Seven full days of action, much of it incredibly surprising. At the end of the slate we have the 4-2 Orioles, 2-4 Yankees, 2-5 Red Sox, 7-1 Mariners, 4-2 Rangers, 2-5 Astros, 2-3 Nationals, 2-3 Braves, 1-4 Cubs and 3-4 Rockies. 

That's an awful lot of upside down from the expectations entering the season, though it's also significantly magnified because it's the start of the season. If the Orioles won four of five or the Cubs lost three of four in, say, mid-August, it wouldn't be nearly as much of a headline. It is difficult to not go crazy and overreact, but that's our daily task here in the early going. The games count and the wins/losses are banked for good but there is just so much baseball left to play. 

We are also getting glimpses of some contenders from last season and expected contenders this season doing great things that just might be a sign of things to come while the final unbeaten team suffered its first loss. We'll explore. 

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 Wednesday, April 3

Here are the five things you need to know from Wednesday in Major League Baseball:

1. deGrom goes deep in Mets' third straight win

New York Mets ace Jacob deGrom had himself a night on Wednesday.

The 30-year-old right-hander went seven innings for the Mets, only allowing three hits and no earned runs while striking out 14. deGrom also crushed a homer in the third inning, the second of his career. 

With his career-high 14 strikeouts and homer, deGrom became the fifth pitcher (since 1969) to record at least 14 strikeouts and hit a home run in a game, according to Elias. The last pitcher to do the same was Madison Bumgarner on Aug. 16, 2015 against the Washington Nationals when he also struck out 14 and had a solo home run.

Pitchers to strike out at least 14 and hit a home run in the same game, since 1969 (per Elias):

Jacob deGrom, 4/3/19
Madison Bumgarner, 8/16/15
Steve Carlton, 8/21/77
Tom Seaver, 5/29/73
Bob Gibson, 8/30/72

— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) April 4, 2019

Fancred's Jon Heyman further notes that deGrom is just the ninth player since 1893 to hit a homer and strike out 14 or more in the same game. He's in pretty good company for that one...

deGrom is the 9th player since 1893 to hit a homer and strike out 14 or more in the same game. Six of the previous 8 are in the Hall of Fame. The HOFers: Dazzy Vance, Warren Spahn, Early Wynn, Bob Gibson, Tom Seaver, Steve Carlton. The other 2: Pedro Ramos and Madison Bumgarner.

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) April 4, 2019

The accolades don't end there ... deGrom matched Bob Gibson's record of 26 consecutive quality starts (1967-68). A quality start is when a pitcher throws six or more innings with no more than three earned runs. 

Jacob deGrom threw his 26th straight quality start, tied with Bob Gibson in 1967-68 for the longest streak in MLB history (ER was official in both leagues in 1913). He's the 5th pitcher since the mound was lowered in 1969 to strike out 14 batters and hit a home run in a game. pic.twitter.com/ovMTiHMgDs

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) April 4, 2019

Behind deGrom, the Mets defeated the Marlins 6-4 for their third straight win, completing their sweep of Miami. The Mets head to Citi Field for their home opener against the Washington Nationals on Thursday.

2. Dodgers keep home run streak alive

For the first time in franchise history, the Dodgers homered in the first seven games of the season. In L.A.'s 5-3 win over the Giants, Enrique Hernandez led off the bottom of the first inning with a homer off lefty Derek Holland.

First time in franchise history the Dodgers have homered in the first seven games of the season.

— Ken Gurnick (@kengurnick) April 4, 2019

On Opening Day, the club knocked a record eight out of the park. Hernandez's blast on Wednesday was the Dodgers' 18th home run on the season, and the second baseman's third on the 2019 season. Enjoy:

The Dodgers finished up their first homestand of the season with a 5-2 record, and will travel to Coors Field to take on the Colorado Rockies on Friday.

3. Rangers blank Astros, take series

Behind lefty starter Mike Minor (7 IP, 7 K, 5 H, 2 BB), the Texas Rangers shutout the reigning World Series champion Houston Astros 4-0. Texas takes the series over Houston, winning two out of three. The Rangers have now taken series over two of the last three World Series champions, as they took two out of three against the Chicago Cubs last week. The four wins came against both Chicago and Houston's aces: Yu Darvish, Cole Hamels, Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole.

4. Brewers keep winning one-run games

Picking up where they left off last regular season, the Milwaukee Brewers are now 6-1. There's rightfully been much ado about Christian Yelich, but let's focus elsewhere right now. The Brewers just completed a sweep of the Reds by winning three one-run games. Of their first six wins, five have come by one run (the other was by two). Generally speaking, the formula to win lots of close games is by getting good pitching -- particularly out of the bullpen -- and timely hitting. We've seen lots of examples of timely hitting and we know about the bullpen. 

Or do we? 

The vaunted bullpen from last year isn't really what this group is. Corbin Burnes is now in the rotation. Corey Knebel is out for the season. Jeremy Jeffress is currently hurt. Through the first six games of the season, lefty star Josh Hader was used four times for five innings. Junior Guerra also had already logged five innings of work. Those two in particular already had workload concerns. 

At the bare minimum, we knew Hader was unavailable Wednesday, which means someone had to step up. Someone did: 23-year-old righty Freddy Peralta. The youngster rarely strayed from his fastball and he didn't need to. He would go eight scoreless innings, allowing just two hits -- both singles -- without walking anyone, and Peralta struck out 11. It was a masterful performance against an offense that should have firepower. He was only spotted one run in support but it still never felt like he was going to need more. 

Reliever Alex Wilson allowed two baserunners in the ninth, but still escaped. The Brewers are 6-1 while the Cubs and Cardinals aren't off to good starts. Life is good in Milwaukee at the moment. 

On the Reds' end, they've been awful since Opening Day, particularly on offense. They've now lost four straight, scoring just six runs combined in the four losses. On the season, they are hitting .167/.238/.269. 

Big picture for both: Massive differences in W-L records in one-run game generally even themselves out, though we do see outliers like the 2012 Orioles (29-9 in one-run games). The Reds have too many good hitters for this to continue. Expect some evening out for each team. 

5. Nats bullpen leaks again, but hand Phils' first loss

The Nationals brought a 1-3 record into Wednesday and it's never just one thing, but the bullpen had been awful. In 11 1/3 innings prior to Wednesday, the Nats relievers had allowed 16 earned runs on 23 hits and six walks. It had a 12.71 ERA and 2.56 WHIP. Washington relievers were allowing opposing hitters to slash .411/.468/.554. Yikes. 

Tasked with holding a 6-4 lead heading to the eighth on Wednesday, it happened again. Single, strikeout, walk, walk, double, single and the Phillies had an 8-6 lead. Perhaps most brutal of all was Trevor Rosenthal was again involved and ...

Trevor Rosenthal: 7 batters faced, 4 hits, 3 walks, 7 earned runs

— Baseball Reference (@baseball_ref) April 3, 2019

He doesn't even have an ERA because he hasn't recorded an out. As I said, brutal. 

Still, the Nationals persevered and watched the Phillies bullpen one-up the meltdown. A Yan Gomes RBI double brought it within one and he would score on a fielding error from Rhys Hoskin, who simply just didn't catch a feed from pitcher Seranthony Dominguez. Then in the ninth, David Robertson allowed a single before three straight walks would end the game. Yes, a walkoff walk, #shrimp. 

The Phillies loss now means there are no zeroes on the standings page. No winless teams, no undefeated teams. 

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