There is always baseball happening â almost too much baseball for one person to follow themselves.
Don’t worry, we’re here to help you by figuring out what you missed but shouldn’t have. Here are all the best moments from last night in Major League Baseball:
If the Chicago White Sox miss the playoffs by a game or two, their Friday night loss to the Houston Astros is a game that will stand out.
Chicago entered the top of the sixth inning with a 5-0 lead. Then, the Houston bats exploded for an eight-run inning.
In said inning, left fielder LaMonte Wade Jr. both singled and walked in a run; first baseman Christian Walker hit a three-run double; right fielder Cam Smith blasted a go-ahead, three-run home run, his 13th long ball of the year; second baseman Jose Altuve had an RBI single; catcher Christian Vázquez later had an RBI double for good measure in the ninth, giving the Astros a sizzling, 9-5 win.
Houston, which used seven pitchers to get through the game, got three-hit performances from Altuve and shortstop Jeremy Peña.
While 51-54, the Astros have won four consecutive games and are just two games behind the Texas Rangers for first place in the American League West and three games behind the Cleveland Guardians for the third AL wild-card seed.
The Atlanta Braves hit four home runs on Thursday, and the long ball propelled them to another victory on Friday.
Trailing the Baltimore Orioles 3-2 in the top of the eighth, catcher Drake Baldwin got the Braves even with a solo homer, which ultimately sent the game to extra innings. In the 10th, Atlanta got the lead on a fielder’s choice and then first baseman Matt Olson gave it a four-run cushion with a three-run home run to right field.
Now, Baltimore did make it close in the bottom half of the inning, scoring three runs, highlighted by a two-run homer from third baseman Christian Encarnacion-Strand â who also laced a two-run double in the first â but Atlanta held on to win, 7-6.Â
Seven of nine Braves starting position players recorded a hit, with right-hander Grant Holmes going five innings and Elieser Hernández being the unsung hero of the night, tossing three scoreless innings of relief. Meanwhile, Olson’s homer was his 27th of the year, which is seventh in MLB, and Baldwin’s homer was his 20th, which is fourth among catchers.
This one was back and forth all night.
After first baseman Nolan Schanuel gave the Los Angeles Angels a 1-0 lead on an RBI single in the top of the first, San Francisco Giants first baseman Rafael Devers hit an opposite field, two-run home run in the bottom half of the inning. Then, in the bottom of the third, third baseman Casey Schmitt launched a three-run home run, giving the Giants a 5-1 lead.
All that said, the Angels narrowed the gap to one run in the fifth with a two-run triple from catcher Tyler Heineman and a sacrifice fly from center fielder Mike Trout. San Francisco later got a sacrifice fly from catcher Daniel Susac in the bottom of the fifth, but infielder Vaughn Grissom evened the score for Los Angeles at 6-all with a two-run homer in the eighth, and the game would go to extra innings.
Unfortunately for the Halos, though, they failed to plate a run in the top half of the 10th, and Devers sent the San Francisco faithful home happy in the bottom half of the inning with a walk-off, RBI single to deep left field.
Devers and Schmitt have each hit 21 home runs this season, combining for 110 RBIs and a .483 slugging percentage, with the Friday night victory snapping a five-game losing streak for the Giants.
“Kramer, what are you doing?”
Back-to-back AL Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal was in top form against the Kansas City Royals. Over 7 â innings, the southpaw surrendered just one run and six baserunners (four hits and two walks), while rec
