Albies, Devers show youngsters have power as Gray debuts for Yankees
There are a lot of good things that come with being young. You have more energy, you can eat what you want and still lose weight, and you have your entire life ahead of you to make mistakes and learn from them.
Boston Red Sox third baseman Rafael Devers and Atlanta Braves second baseman Ozzie Albies – both aged 20 – have tons of time to make mistakes and get better. At the moment, though, the mistakes are far outweighed by the successes, and both young men had their share of success in MLB on Thursday.
Albies tallied his first major league hit and he did so in emphatic fashion, smacking a three-run homer off the Los Angeles Dodgers’ newly-acquired reliever Tony Cingrani in a 7-4 Braves loss.
Devers, in the meantime, hit the third home run of his young career, a two-run shot off Chicago White Sox starter Miguel Gonzalez in a 9-5 win for the Red Sox.
Meanwhile, Sonny Gray made his debut for the New York Yankees in a 5-1 loss to the Cleveland Indians.
After a rough start to the game where he allowed two unearned runs in the first inning on one hit and three errors, Gray – acquired from the Oakland Athletics – tossed more than five innings of three-hit ball in which he allowed no earned runs.
THURSDAY’S RESULTS
Milwaukee Brewers 2-1 St Louis Cardinals
Colorado Rockies 5-4 New York Mets
Pittsburgh Pirates 6-0 Cincinnati Reds
Cleveland Indians 5-1 New York Yankees
Houston Astros 3-5 Tampa Bay Rays
Kansas City Royals 6-4 Seattle Mariners
San Francisco Giants 11-2 Oakland Athletics
Chicago Cubs 8-10 Arizona Diamondbacks
Baltimore Orioles 5-7 Detroit Tigers
Boston Red Sox 9-5 Chicago White Sox
Atlanta Braves 4-7 Los Angeles Dodgers
Minnesota Twins 1-4 Texas Rangers
Los Angeles Angels 5-4 Philadelphia Phillies
GOLD FROM GOLDSCHMIDT
Paul Goldschmidt is good. Everyone knows this. But Thursday, he was even better than normal, as he went three-for-four with three home runs and six RBIs in Arizona’s win over the Cubs. And crazier than that, in a game that featured three rain delays, he hit a home run after each one. That is not a stat many batters have achieved.
Meanwhile, the most overlooked player may have been Indians’ starter Corey Kluber. He tossed a complete game three-hitter that featured one run, one walk and 11 strikeouts in a win for the Indians. The Yankees surely hope they do not have to face Kluber in game one of the American League Division Series.
ROBLES UNRAVELS
Oh, Hansel Robles what fodder you gave every person who will talk sports on Friday. After retiring all three batters he faced in the eighth inning, the Mets reliever hit the first batter in the ninth, then after a sacrifice bunt, he intentionally walked a batter and then walked two more to push the final run across home plate in a loss to the Rockies. What is worse, the final pitch of the game resembled a Nuke Laloosh offering, more so than it did that of a professional pitcher.
ORIOLES TREAT THEIR FANS
There is nothing quite like a triple play, but there may be nothing more beautiful than the 5-4-3 version. The Orioles and Manny Machado were kind enough to treat their fans to just that.
My oh, Manny.
@Orioles turn their SECOND triple play of the season. https://t.co/VbcGLKWp9upic.twitter.com/RC5lKdTWFG— MLB (@MLB) August 4, 2017
DODGERS AT METS
Normally, a game this season between the Dodgers and the lowly Mets is not one to watch. But considering this is Yu Darvish’s debut for the Dodgers and the Mets are trotting out one of the best pitchers in the game in Jacob deGrom, this is one that Yu will not want to miss on Friday.
