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In the second inning, after Kevin Pillar hit a two-run house run, Acuña adopted his first-inning stroll with a monstrous two-run blast to proceed the abrupt welcome to The Show for Texas rookie Cody Bradford, who was making his MLB debut. The MVP candidate crushed an 80.4 mph curveball from Bradford, launching it a Statcast-projected 454 toes into the left-field seats to provide the Braves an early 4-0 lead. It was Acuña’s ninth homer of 2023. He is now on tempo for an MVP-caliber 35 house runs and 67 stolen bases this season. Acuña now has 17 450-plus-foot homers in his profession (together with the playoffs), trailing C.J. Cron (18) for probably the most within the Majors because the begin of 2018. “The thing that impresses me the most [about Acuña] so far this year is his work ethic,” s...

We’re approaching the quarter mark of the common season and there’s nonetheless a big group of groups that had excessive expectations heading into the season and have largely disenchanted up to now. Just a few of the shock groups have continued to play nicely too, however we’re attending to the purpose the place golf equipment are prepared to essentially consider how their roster is shaping up for the summer season. A reminder for a way these rankings are calculated: first, we take the three most necessary parts of a group — their offense (wRC+), their pitching (a 50/50 mix of FIP- and RA9-, weighted by starter and reliever IP share), and their protection (RAA) — and mix them to create an total group high quality metric. I additionally add in an element for “luck,” adjusting a group’...

BALTIMORE — Shohei Ohtani made extra historical past Monday evening, changing into the primary beginning pitcher since 1964 to achieve base 5 occasions in a recreation because the Los Angeles Angels beat the Baltimore Orioles 9-5. Ohtani had 4 hits and a stroll, making up for his shaky pitching with a stel...

CHICAGO -- Seiya Suzuki initially thrust each arms skyward in celebration of heart fielder Cody Bellinger's leaping catch on the wall in Monday evening's 6-4 loss to the Astros. Soon after, the Cubs' proper fielder was motioning for an athletic coach to make their approach to the outfield. In the seventh inning, Bellinger robbed Houston’s Kyle Tucker of an extra-base hit with a highlight-reel catch on the prime of Minute Maid Park’s center-field fence. As Bellinger got here again all the way down to the warning observe, his left leg buckled and the outfielder tumbled to the turf. Bellinger made the gradual stroll again to the guests’ dugout -- teammates and a member of the Cubs’ coaching workers at his aspect -- however he was changed within the eighth inning by pinch-hitter Miles Mastrobu...

Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports On Thursday night time, Drew Rasmussen baffled the Yankees, holding them to simply two hits in seven scoreless innings and solely attending to a three-ball rely as soon as; he didn’t stroll anyone whereas putting out seven. Within 24 hours, nonetheless, the Rays all however introduced that the 27-year-old righty’s season was in jeopardy, inserting Rasmussen on the 60-day injured checklist with a flexor pressure and placing yet one more damper on the group’s scorching begin. Indeed, it was nearly a month in the past that the Rays misplaced one other beginning pitcher. Jeffrey Springs had allowed only one run in 16 innings over three begins whereas putting out 24 earlier than he was sidelined by what was initially recognized as ulnar neuritis after ...

TORONTO — Talk about energy arms. Three call-ups from Buffalo got here to Toronto and confirmed they've what it takes to go deep and throw deep. Buffalo Bills quarterbacks Josh Allen, Kyle Allen and Matt Barkley took batting observe earlier than the Blue Jays hosted the New York Yankees Monday night time. ...

Pretty a lot in every single place he goes, Shohei Ohtani provides followers a present they've by no means seen earlier than. He did it once more for the Camden Yards crowd on Monday night time, launching a homer to part of the park in middle discipline that the Orioles broadcasters made positive to notice very not often will get reached.  The majestic Ohtani blast soared 456 ft and was hit at 114.6 mph off the bat, simply extra eye-popping superior metrics from the Statcast darling slugger. It was tied for the longest homer at Camden Yards this season.  Ohtani additionally began this recreation on the mound, the place he did enable two homers, however he offered himself with a cushion with the three-run shot within the fourth inning. It was the sixth homer he is hit whereas pitching in hi...

Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports The 2023 season isn’t off to the very best begin for final 12 months’s AL Cy Young finalists. Reigning winner Justin Verlander missed the primary 5 weeks with a shoulder pressure and now faces the unenviable job of rescuing an ailing Mets rotation. Runner-up Dylan Cease has had his moments however an equal variety of surprisingly poor outings. Finally, third-place finisher Alek Manoah is struggling most of all. His ERA has doubled, his WAR is within the negatives, and his 1.28 Okay/BB ranks final amongst certified main league pitchers. Manoah’s gradual begin has been tough to look at. Last season, at simply 24 years outdated, he established himself because the ace of the Blue Jays’ employees, securing his first All-Star choice and incomes the nod for Ga...