Wednesday's generally a good mix after day and night action and this one is no different. In said day action, we saw the MLB home run leader club another to keep his team hot while beating up on a slumping opponent. The Cardinals have really been struggling and that continued with a Phillies pitcher putting together a dominant outing in St. Louis. Also, a game in Pittsburgh provided a breathtaking home run and one of the more remarkable stats you'll see.
All that and more in our daily roundup. Let's go.
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Baseball schedule/scores for Wednesday, May 8
FINAL - Rangers 9, Pirates 6 (box score)FINAL - Brewers 7, Nationals 3 (box score)FINAL/13 - Diamondbacks 3, Rays 2 (box score)FINAL - Phillies 5, Cardinals 0 (box score)FINAL - Padres 3, Mets 2 (box score)LIVE - White Sox at Indians, 6:10 p.m. ET (GameTracker)LIVE - Mariners at Yankees, 6:35 p.m. ET (GameTracker)Red Sox at Orioles, 7:05 p.m. ET (GameTracker)Twins at Blue Jays, 7:07 p.m. ET (GameTracker)Angels at Tigers, 7:10 p.m. ET (GameTracker)Marlins at Cubs, 7:35 p.m. ET (GameTracker)Royals at Astros, 8:10 p.m. ET (GameTracker)Giants at Rockies, 8:40 p.m. ET (GameTracker)Reds at Athletics, 10:07 p.m. ET (GameTracker)Braves at Dodgers, 10:10 p.m. ET (GameTracker)Eickhoff dominates struggling Cardinals
Fans searching for a feel-good this season could do worse than Phillies starter Jerad Eickhoff. The right-hander battled through bouts of numbness and other injuries while trying to pitch in 2017 and only managed three appearances last season with ailments lingering. This year he was able to work his way back to form and he actually looked better than ever with a dominating performance over the Cardinals Wednesday afternoon in St. Louis.
Now through four starts (five total appearances), Eickhoff is 2-1 with a 1.50 ERA, 0.97 ERA and 31 strikeouts against 11 walks in 30 innings.
The Phillies took two of three in St. Louis, moved to 21-15 and will maintain at least a 2 1/2 game lead in the NL East.
On the Cardinals' end, their lengthy hot streak is clearly in the rearview at this point. They had won 10 of 11 as part of a longer streak of very good baseball since a 3-5 start just one week ago. They lost a game to the Nationals on Thursday and then were swept in Wrigley Field by the rival Cubs. It looked like the nadir of their struggles was the blowout loss Sunday night that allowed the Cubs to take first place, especially when the Cardinals won on Monday, 6-0.
Instead, the Phillies outscored the Cardinals 16-1 in the last two games to take the series. They've now lost six of their last seven.
The Cardinals stay home to host the Pirates for four this weekend in an attempt to get things back on track. The Phillies have won eight of 11 and head to Kansas City for a pretty winnable three-game series.
Yelich homers for hot Brewers against hapless Nats
Reigning NL MVP Christian Yelich homered again in Miller Park, this time to open the scoring Wednesday against the Nationals:
That's his 16th homer of the year and that leads the majors. The reigning NL MVP is now hitting .356/.462/.797 and is every bit the monster he was down the stretch last season. So far, though, he's only been doing it with the power at home. Fifteen of those 16 homers have come in Milwaukee and he's hitting .296/.377/.389 on the road.
The Brewers are actually 16-8 at home compared to 7-8 on the road, so it's been a much smaller sample away from Milwaukee. That'll even out, because they now embark on what should be a tough road trip, hitting Chicago, Philadelphia and Atlanta.
The Brewers have won six in a row and will get some head-to-head action with the Cubs starting Friday in a battle for first, though theoretically there's a way that series ends with the Cardinals at the top. Still, it's fun.
The Nationals are the complete opposite. They are terrible. They've lost four in a row and 14 of 19. They are already seven games out and actually a lot closer to the Marlins than first place. We went more in depth here on their woes. Manager Dave Martinez's seat has to be getting warm.
Stat of the day
Not only did Joey Gallo homer in a winning effort, but it was his 100th career homer. Would you believe he's the first player ever to get to 100 homers before 100 singles? Well, if we told you he wasn't yet to 100 singles, surely you'd know the answer. It's not even close. Check this out.
This is my new favorite stat.
Fewest career singles at time of 100th HR
1) Joey Gallo: 93
2) Russell Branyan: 172
3) Ken Phelps: 174
4) Ryan Howard: 176
5) Chris Carter: 179
6) Dave Kingman: 180
Great breakdown from @SlangsOnSports https://t.co/TzebRczUmf
— Matt Meyers (@mtmeyers) May 8, 2019
Phenomenal.
Quick hits
