Happy Getaway Day to a handful of teams. You know what that means: Day baseball! That's never a bad thing.
A few interesting items of note heading into Wednesday's action.
The Mariners can tie a major-league record if they hit a home run. They've won four in a row, but ...The AL West is exceedingly hot, with the Astros and Angels having each won five in a row. The Astros, specifically, were 2-5 on the road before coming home and sit undefeated in Minute Maid Park.The Indians also brought a five-game winning streak into their Wednesday matinee, though ... well, we'll get to that. The Orioles are in action, though Chris Davis is not in the starting lineup. He won't have a chance to snap his MLB record 0 for 49 streak.As for the games that actually got played, we'll have you covered below with the best storylines of the day. 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 Wednesday, April 10Archer trade paying off big for Rays
Another day, another win for the first place Rays. They finished a three-game sweep on Chicago's south side Wednesday and are now 10-3 on the young season, tying the 2010 team for the best record through 13 games in franchise history. Wednesday's win was made possible by Austin Meadows and Tyler Glasnow, two of the three players acquired from the Pirates in last year's Chris Archer trade.
Glasnow, in his third start of the season, struck out 11 batters in six shutout innings. He allowed two hits and walked one, and, as usual, his had video game stuff working. Looking at this:
A 97 mph cutter (!) and a hammer mid-80s curveball is no joke. There's a reason Glasnow was so highly regarded during his prospect days. He's now sitting on a 0.53 ERA with 21 strikeouts and only three walks in 17 innings so far this season.
As for Meadows, he had three hits and a walk from the leadoff spot, and fell a triple short of the cycle. The home run was already his fourth of the season and part of back-to-back homers with Tommy Pham, who reached base for the 45th consecutive game, extending his franchise record. Meadows is hitting .341/.420/.659 through 13 games.
Archer has been pretty good for the Pirates, especially this season, but wow is this trade shaping up to be an all-time heist for the Rays. Even with the expected returning to normalcy -- I like Meadows and Glasnow, but I doubt their true talent level is a 1.079 OPS and a 0.53 ERA, respectively -- they look like impact players for Tampa.
Tigers snap Indians' five-game winning streak
Through the Indians came into Wednesday with a five-game winning streak and a lead in the AL Central, there were reasons for concern. Specifically, almost the entire offense. It's been brutal, ranking near the bottom or at the bottom of the entire American League in most important categories.
They didn't do much to alleviate any concerns on Wednesday, losing 4-1 to the (upstart?) Tigers. The Indians were gifted five walks, but managed only five hits and the one run.
Meanwhile, the Tigers had more home runs than the Indians did runs, as Niko Goodrum and John Hicks both went deep. The Tigers tagged All-Star Trevor Bauer for four runs on 10 hits in 5 2/3 innings.
Tigers starter Matt Boyd looked good, allowing just one run on four hits in six innings. He struck out six and walked two. It's hard to go crazy here, however, because we're already noted the punchless Indians' offense. A brief summary of the lineup on Wednesday would be that Tyler Naquin pinch hit for Jordan Luplow in the eighth inning. Luplow was hitting in the three-hole.
Also of note here is Shane Greene picking up his MLB-best eighth save. A year after posting a 5.12 ERA, Greene has yet to allow a run in eight innings this season.
Big picture takeaway here is just how small the margin is for Indians pitchers. During the five-game winning streak they allowed a total of eight runs. That's a tall order to keep that line moving.
Quick hits
