Friday brought us a stuffed slate 15-game of MLB action, including one day game. Here is everything you need to know about the day in baseball.
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 10 Urshela comes through again for Yankees
The Yankees and Rays opened the biggest series of the season -- biggest by mid-May standards, that is -- at Tropicana Field on Friday night. New York, despite all their injuries, went into the game 1 1/2 games behind Tampa in the AL East. They're now a half-game back after eking out a win.
The hero? Gio Urshela, of course. Urshela swatted a game-tying ninth inning two-run home run on Tuesday, then provided the game-winning two-run single Thursday. On Friday, it was another two-run single to turn a 3-2 deficit into a 4-3 lead. The Yankees won by the same score.
Urshela, who was only supposed to fill in at third base temporarily when Miguel Andujar hit the injured list, is now hitting .349/.409/.518 on the season. He's driven in 13 runs in 30 games played and has stuck at the hot corner even with Andujar healthy.
The Yankees did not cruise to the win in the late innings, it should be noted. The Rays loaded the bases with no outs against Adam Ottavino in the seventh inning. Ottavino escaped the jam by striking out Tommy Pham and getting Ji-Man Choi to hit into this spectacular DJ LeMahieu double play:
With the win, the skeleton crew Yankees -- they still have a dozen players on the injured list -- are a half-game behind the Rays in the AL East. It's the closest they've been to first place since March 30.
And, because losing Friday's game wasn't bad enough, the Rays also lost breakout star Tyler Glasnow to forearm tightness. That is a common precursor to elbow trouble. Glasnow will go for tests Saturday.
Gio has been just what the Brewers needed
Given the loss of Wade Miley to free agency and the uncertain status of Jimmy Nelson, the Brewers have rotation concerns. To address those concerns they recently inked veteran lefty Gio Gonzalez, who helped them to the division title last season after he was acquired in trade from the Nationals. This year Gonzalez had been in the minors for the Yankees, but the Yanks opted to allow him to become a free agent rather than add him to the active roster. So need and familiarity intersected for the Brewers and Gonzalez. It's been a nice addition for Milwaukee.
Speaking of which, here's what Gio did against the Cubs in the opener of their key NL Central clash on Friday:
Add those outputs to Gonzalez's prior two starts for the Brewers this season, and in 2019 he's now pitched to a 1.69 ERA in three starts with 12 strikeouts and four walks in 16 innings. Gonzalez's velocity is what it is, but he's balanced out an already balanced repertoire. This season, he's yet to throw any one of his four pitches more than 28.4 percent of the time, and he's yet to throw any one of them less than 21.9 percent of the time. That keeps hitters guessing, which allows him to keep runs off the board despite sub-par velo and average stuff. So long as he keeps commanding that full bag of tricks, he should be key to the Brewers' hopes to repeat in the NL Central.
Also in this one, Ryan Braun did what he does at Wrigley Field:
As MLB.com's Adam McCalvy notes, Braun was 106 for 324 (.327) with 18 home runs and 69 RBI in 84 career games at Wrigley Field through Friday's homer. He finds the Friendly Confines, well, friendly. The Brewers' Friday win means there's now a tie atop the NL Central standings.
Odorizzi dominates again, Twins win again
Jake Odorizzi, an impending free agent whose stock is on the rise, dominated again Friday. Against an admittedly weak Tigers lineup, Odorizzi allowed just one hit in seven scoreless innings. He allowed a one-out double to Christin Stewart in the first inning, then retired the final 20 batters he faced.
Odorizzi now owns a 2.32 ERA with 43 strikeouts in eight starts and 42 2/3 innings on the season. Chances are he's going to get hit with the home run regression stick at some point -- I can't imagine a 0.42 HR/9 is sustainable with a 24.8 percent ground ball rate in the juiced ball ea -- but Odorizzi has made some legitimate improvements this year.
As for the Twins, they've won four straight games and 15 of their last 20. They sit four games up on the Indians in the AL Central. According to FanGraphs, Minnesota has improved their postseason odds from 35.8 percent on Opening Day to 86.0 percent following Friday's win. That is the largest postseason odds increase in baseball.
Mets break out with eight-run first inning
It's the oldest trick in the book: Hold a team meeting right before a bad team comes to town. In this case, the meeting involved Mets owner Jeff Wilpon, GM Brodie Wagenen, and manager Mickey Callaway, and the bad team was the Marlins. Wilpon, Van Wagenen, and Callaway met for more than an hour Friday to discuss the team's struggles.
How did the Mets respond? With an eight-run first inning against Miami righty Pablo Lopez. Amed Rosario had the big blow with an opposite field grand slam.
Inexplicably, Lopez, a 23-year-old with an actual chance to be part of the next respectable Marlins team, was left in the game long enough to allow 10 runs in three innings. Tens runs on 10 hits and two walks, including three homers. Lopez threw 62 pitches. Three of the last six pitchers to allow 10-plus earned runs in a game are Marlins:
May 10, 2019: Pablo Lopez, Marlins vs. Mets (10 ER in 3 IP)April 9, 2019: Wei-Yin Chen, Marlins vs. Reds (10 ER in 2 IP)August 2, 2018: Andrew Cashner, Orioles vs. Rangers (10 ER in 1 2/3 IP)July 31, 2018: Tyler Skaggs, Angels vs. Rays (10 ER in 3 1/3 IP)July 21, 2018: Austin Bibens-Dirkx, Rangers vs. Indians (11 ER in 4 IP)July 7, 2018: Elieser Hernandez, Marlins vs. Nationals (10 ER in 2 1/3 IP)According to WCBS 880's Wayne Randazzo, the eight first inning runs are one short of the Mets franchise record. They scored nine runs in the first inning against the Giants back on August 16, 1988. New York had not scored eight runs in any of their previous 11 games.
Quick hits
