Monday is the third of its type in April, which means it's the one day a year that we get morning baseball. Fenway Park housed an 11:05 a.m. ET start for Patriots' Day, this year between the Rays and Red Sox. Here's how all the action unfolded:
Final scores
Red Sox 4, Rays 3 (box score)
Cardinals 2, Pirates 1 (box score)
Yankees 7, White Sox 4 (box score)
Braves 5, Padres 4 (box score)
Brewers 6, Cubs 3 (box score)
Indians 3, Twins 1 (box score)
Astros 3, Angels 0 (box score)
Rangers 7, Athletics 0 (box score)
Diamondbacks 4, Dodgers 2 (box score)
Mariners 6, Marlins 1 (box score)
Yanks' Holliday hits second-longest homer of 2017
Veteran Matt Holliday can still put the thunder into one, as he proved on Monday night against the White Sox. Behold the second-longest home run of 2017 thus far ...
Per Statcast, that one traveled 459 feet. As you saw, it also turned a scoreless tie into a 3-0 lead for the host Yankees against the White Sox. Coincidentally, one of those three runs was scored by Pete Kozma, Holliday's former teammate with the Cardinals.
As for the 37-year-old Holliday, he entered Monday night's tilt with a strange but very productive 2017 batting line of .242/.419/.394 with one home run in 10 games. Now make that two home runs in 11 games. Coming into this one, just six of his 43 plate appearances had been against lefties, so those OBP-heavy numbers weren't some kind of "platoon special." The guy can still hit.
And speaking of Yankee power bats ...
Rookie colossus Aaron Judge did this on Monday night in the Bronx:
That's Judge's fourth homer of the young season, and that puts him in pretty exclusive franchise company ...
Yep, the Mick hath been invoked. The 6-foot-7, 282-pound Judge came into that game against the White Sox with a .583 SLG, so he's indeed been punishing the ball in 2017. As for the Yankees in general, they've now won eight in a row, and they lead the majors in runs scored.
Mookie never strikes out
Red Sox outfielder Mookie Betts is a superstar. He finished second in AL MVP voting last year and he's only 24 years old. He's one of the best stat-stuffing players in the game. He hit .318/.363/.534 with 214 hits, 42 doubles, five triples, 31 homers, 113 RBI, 122 runs and 26 steals last season. That's just covering every base, no?
Betts is also incredibly difficult to strikeout. Going back to last season, Betts now hasn't struck out in his last 123 plate appearances, good for the longest streak by a Red Sox player since Danny Doyle back in 1975, when he went 159 plate appearances.
Betts now has 40 at-bats this season without a punch out. The longest such streak to begin a season since 2000 was 60 at-bats, done by Juan Pierre in 2005. The longest such streak to begin a season since the '94 strike came in 1995, when Carlos Baerga went 87 at-bats.
Betts went 2 for 4 with a double and an RBI in the Red Sox's win on Monday's matinee win. The Red Sox have now won three in a row to move to 8-5 and comfortably put the nearly team-wide flu epidemic in the rearview mirror.
Dansby Swanson's first walk-off
The Braves, aided largely by Freddie Freeman's two homers, edged the Padres on Monday night. The clinching blow, though, was struck by rookie shortstop Dansby Swanson, who notched the first walk-off hit of his young career and the first walk-off hit in SunTrust Park history. Here's the dugout view of Swanson's two-out, bases-loaded single to left in the bottom of the ninth ...
Braves win, people. Less surprisingly, Padres lose. Anyhow, Swanson's still lugging around a batting line of .151/.182/.226, but it's of course still early. He entered the year as the heavy favorite to win NL Rookie of the Year honors, so maybe this clutch knock will get him going.
One Brave who been going for some time is Freeman. Thanks to his two homers against the Padres, including this eight-inning oppo taco ...
He's now raking to the tune of .400/.481/.867 in 2017.
And your MLB home run leader is ...
Yep, Eric Thames of the Brewers, who hit his seventh of the season on Monday night in Wrigley. He also made a little franchise history in the process ...
Signed this offseason out of Korea for just $16 million over three years, Thames is one of the early season's best stories. He's a 30-year-old who failed to stick in the majors earlier in his career but put up big numbers in the KBO. Still, it's lesser competition in Korea, and it's also a very hitter-friendly circuit. Those factors invited much skepticism with the Brewers inked Thames. So far, though, he's looking like a major steal for Milwaukee. Specifically, he's now batting .405/.479/1.000 (!).
Angels lose again
That Angels defeat noted above happened to be their sixth straight loss. As recently as April 11, the Halos were 6-2, 1.5 games up in the AL West, and riding a high of multiple comeback wins. On Monday, though, they endured a second straight shutout for the first time since July of 12. Over this six-game losing streak, they've scored a total of just eight runs.
By the way, over that same span, Mike Trout's batting .350 with a home run, four walks, and three steals, so, no, you can't pin this on the reigning AL MVP.
Mariners welcome back Ichiro
The Marlins visited Seattle on Monday night, and manager Don Mattingly gave Ichiro the start in left, probably in part so that the M's could fete him once more. This occasioned Ichiro's first return to Seattle since he joined the 3,000 hit club last year, and, who knows, this could be his final go-round. The team honored him with a pregame ceremony (video here), and then the Safeco Crowd gave him a standing o prior to his first trip to the plate ...
Check out the video with audio here. Also, there's a pretty sweet Ichiro bobblehead in the works for later this week ...
Quick hits
- Craig Kimbrel faced nine Rays in the past three games, striking out seven. He has 12 strikeouts and five saves in seven innings this season with a 1.29 ERA and 0.71 WHIP.
- The Marlins have activated Martin Prado from the disabled list. As a corresponding move, Tyler Moore was designated for assignment.
- The Athletics placed starting pitcher Kendall Graveman on the 10-day DL, retroactive to Saturday with a shoulder sprain. Catcher Bruce Maxwell was recalled as a corresponding move.
- The Dodgers have placed RHP Rich Hill on the 10-day DL because of a blister on his left middle finger.
- Athletics SS Marcus Semien will undergo surgery to repair a fractured right wrist. He'll be out for an extended period of time.
- The Angels acquired RHP Parker Bridwell from the Orioles in exchange for cash considerations or a PTBNL.
- On Monday, the Cubs removed RHP Carl Edwards from the bereavement list and placed INF Tommy La Stella on it.
- Matt Carpenter was scratched from the Cardinals' Monday night lineup with a finger injury.
- The Rangers have placed RHP Sam Dyson on the 10-day disabled list with a hand contusion and recalled RHP Keone Kela to take his place on the active roster.
- James Paxton of the Mariners has been named AL Player of the Week.
- Marcell Ozuna of the Marlins has been named NL Player of the Week.
- Kyle Schwarber of the Cubs laid down his first career bunt, and it was a beauty.
- From Sunday to Monday, Pirates INF Josh Harrison was plunked in four straight plate appearances.