The Twins beat the Pirates 7-3, generating their offense one base at a time. Minnesota hitters collected eight hits and eight walks. Only one of the hits went for extra bases, a double by Miguel Sano.
The Twins came into the game with a low batting average but lots of power, as 27 of their 74 hits had gone for extra base They went for all on-base today.
The Twins announcers just reported that major league rosters will be reduced to 28 players on Friday, but will stay there for the rest of the season, including the post-season. Taxi squads will increase to five players.
When I find a story, I’ll update with a link.
Update:
The Washington Nationals get their big hitter back. Juan Soto is back with the team, but not in the starting lineup:
“I talked to him last night and he really felt like he probably could use another day or two. He said his legs felt a little heavy. His arm was a little sore,” Martinez said. “He tried to ramp it up. … The last four days, he probably got about 20 at-bats. In that respect, he doesn’t feel that bad, but I want to make sure we keep him healthy. We just got him back. He missed a lot of time.”
ESPN.com
Soto feels his trip to the illjured list was the result of a false positive. That’s one way to hurt the team.
Mike Soroka suffered a torn Achilles tendon in his start against the Mets Monday night. He is done for the season. Braves manager Brian Snitker tried to stay positive to the blow:
“Somebody else is going to get an opportunity,” manager Brian Snitker said. “Things like that happen. These guys will regroup. Somebody is going to get an opportunity to do something really good. Our young guys are going to continue to get better. We’re going to be fine.”
MSN.com
Soroka pitched a great rookie season and was set to be the Braves ace. Those are big shoes to fill. Then again, a lot of people are getting the chance to step up and fill holes in pitching rotations so far in 2020.
The majors saw all six scheduled games played on August 4, 1920. The Pirates shutout the Braves 3-0 in Boston for the low scoring game of the day. At the high end, the Senators beat the Indians in Cleveland 11-3.
The best offensive game of the day did not come from that contest, however. Joe Jackson of the White Sox hosted the Yankees, Chicago pounded New York 10-3. Jackson collected three hits in four trips, hitting a triple and driving in two runs. The four game series between the now powerful Yankees and the defending AL Champions set an attendance record for a four-day, single game a day series, taking in 126,000 fans.
Wilbur Cooper of the Pirates spun the shutout to take home best pitched game of the day honors. Cooper allowed five hits and one walk while striking out four for a game score of 80. Cooper ties Pete Alexander of the Cubs with 18 wins to lead the National League.
Tris Speaker of the Indians posts a two for two day to raise his league leading batting average to .421. George Sisler of the Browns hangs in the race with a two for four day, and is now batting .403. Jackson climbs to .397.
In the AL pennant race, the White Sox gain on both the Yankees and league leading Indians. New York remains four games out of first place, the White Sox right behind them at 4 1/2 games back of Cleveland.
In the NL, the first place Dodgers and second place Reds had the day off, and Brooklyn’s lead remains 2 1/2 games. The Pirates win moves them into a tie with the Giants for third place, both teams five games out.
In other news, Hal Chase is banned from the Pacific Coast League for gambling. A semi-pro team tries to sign him, but the head of that league says no.
For the past few years Baseball Musings tried to help with playing Beat the Streak. MLB is not offering the game during the short 2020 season, but people indicated they can still use the data. The Day by Day Database keeps track of hit streak of at least five games. In addition, two programs produce top ten lists of players with a high probability of a hit. If you find this useful, please support Baseball Musings with a donation.
Here are the top picks my programs produced for use in Beat the Streak. This post mostly explains the ideas behind the calculations. In addition, this post shows tests on the Neural Network (NN). This post discusses an NN that includes the ballpark. I updated the models, and the results of those tests are here.
Here are the NN picks:
It looks like a good day to be a Rockies batter. Batters are 12 for 35 against Gausman this season. He walked one and struck out ten in 37 PA, so when bats meet his pitches, good outcomes happen.
The NN picks:
The two systems agree on Blackmon, with Murphy the consensus second choice.
You can follow the NN results on this spreadsheet. I do not guarantee results. Your best pick is going to have about a 25% chance of not getting a hit. Good luck!
I added Robinson Cano to the .400 hitters probability spreadsheet. Many of the originals on the list are fading fast, but Donovan Solano keeps the hits coming and his probability of hitting .400 in the short season relatively high with a 0.0031 value.
Alex Bregman stays atop the Baseball Musings Batter Rankings as the Astros took the night off. Nelson Cruz of the Twins did play, and his three for five night in the 5-4 win over the Pirates propels him into second place, just 0.3 points behind Bregman. He passes Anthony Rendon of the idle Angels. Max Muncy of the Dodgers goes 0 for 4 as San Diego beats LA 5-4, but holds fourth place. His teammate, Corey Seager, batting as the designated hitter, goes two for four with a double to take the fifth slot.
Aaron Judge failed to homer in the Yankees 6-3 win over Philadelphia, but he did extend his hit streak to six games with a single and a double, and he rises to 14th on the list.
The Day by Day Database is up to date.