MLB news roundup sees Jacob deGrom dealing with an injury, the Yankees fans give the Astros a rousing chorus of boos and pitchers rake.
Tuesday was loaded with great storylines in baseball with individual storylines, team storylines and jam-packed box scores and incredible highlights. Chances are you didn’t get a chance to see all of them by the time you went to bed last night or you may only closely follow your favorite baseball team. So you’ve come to the right place because I’m going to go around the horn with some of the top headlines and highlights from across MLB so you’ll be well-briefed on the latest MLB news.
MLB news: Jacob deGrom facing a potential stop on the injury list
The New York Mets will go as far as Jacob deGrom can take them. The perennial Cy Young contender has been off to a blistering start that could see him win his third Cy Young Award, but a tight lat muscle resulted in his Tuesday start being pushed back. Results of an MRI revealed inflammation in his right lat and the plan, for now, is he won’t require a stop on the injury list and will just miss the one start. For now, Mets fans will be keeping their fingers crossed deGrom’s lat issue won’t be a lingering one that forces him to miss more starts.
MLB news: Yankees fans welcome Astros to the Bronx as only they can
For the first time since the cheating scandal was exposed, the Houston Astros visited the Bronx to take on the New York Yankees. Prior to the game, Astros manager Dusty Baker said his team wouldn’t be intimidated by the expected boos and taunts from Yankees fans. Even with a limited crowd in attendance, Yankees fans made it feel like a sold-out crowd with the veracity of boos aimed at the Astros, especially toward Jose Altuve.
Yankees fans really held nothing back.
Someone even brought an inflatable trash can inside the stadium that was later confiscated by security.
Another Yankees fan wore an Oscar the Grouch costume so he could bang a trash can while the Astros were batting, but security wouldn’t let him wear the costume inside the stadium. That’s no fun! The Yankees got the 7-3 win to open the series.
MLB news: Cubs sweep Dodgers in a doubleheader
The Chicago Cubs swept their doubleheader with the Los Angeles Dodgers with Game 1 seeing Clayton Kershaw having the shortest outing of his MLB career. Kershaw was chased after one inning and 39 pitches after giving up four first-inning runs, including a bases-loaded double from David Bote.
As remarkable as that Kershaw stat is, consider he also walked Javier Baez who only had one walk entering the day. Kershaw, conversely, had only walked five in 38.2 innings entering the game. Perhaps because the weather was unseasonably chilly, Kershaw thought it was October and reverted to his poor postseason play?
Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports
The nightcap saw Jason Heyward launch a home run off Trevor Bauer, which was the game’s only run until the Dodgers evened the score late to force extra innings.
Bauer laughed off the homer by offering to pitch to an NL batter in the Home Run Derby in July.
Baez hit a game-tying home run before Bote got the walk-off hit to give the Cubs the sweep in Game 2 and hand the Dodgers their eighth loss in their last 10 games. The Dodgers are tied for second in the NL West with the San Diego Padres, 1.5 games back of the San Francisco Giants.
MLB news: Dylan Cease, Huascar Ynoa have a night at the plate and on the mound
Who needs the designated hitter?!
Atlanta Braves pitcher Huascar Ynoa hit a 427-foot grand slam, marking the second straight start he hit a home run. On top of that, this was the second straight start he didn’t allow an earned run, which makes him the third pitcher since 1913 to accomplish that feat, joining Rick Ankiel in 2000 and Don Larsen in 1958.
As impressive as that was, Chicago White Sox starter Dylan Cease was even more impressive.
Cease struck out 11 batters in six shutout innings while only allowing one hit in the win to lower his ERA to 2.37 and improve to 2-0 on the young season. The young right-hander brought also mashed in the box, picking up three hits, which is three times as many as he allowed.
This is the first time since Catfish Hunter in 1968 that a pitcher struck out at least 10 batters, allowed no more than one hit and had three hits as a batter. Have a night! Maybe Cease can pick up a few of the at bats lost with Luis Robert going on the injured list with a hip flexor strain?