Two things stand out for me about Friday night’s games. The first involves Gary Sanchez of the Twins. His inability to block pitches at the plate helped the Yankees decide to trade him. Last night, it bit the Twins, as the Guardians score the winning run from second base on a wild pitch. The video is here. Sanchez puts up a low target in the middle of the plate, so he should be expecting a ball in the dirt. The pitch is to Sanchez’s right, near the left handed batters feet. Sanchez kneels on his right leg, so he can’t move his body right; he has to try to backhand the ball with with his glove. The ball appears to hit the dirt, then I believe hits some part of Sanchez’s glove or arm, deflecting the ball to Sanchez’s left. Because the ball went so high in the air, Sanchez doesn’t know the path it took, and it takes him a while to find the ball, allowing Ernie Clement to score from second.

The pitch in the dirt can be an effective pitch, but the catcher needs to be able to keep the ball in front of him. The Guardians win the game 4-3.

The second thing is the continued invincibility of Justin Verlander. Returning from a right calf injury, Verlander simply posts five scoreless innings against the Oakland Athletics in a 5-0 win. He did not allow a hit while walking one and striking out nine. (Dustin May of the Dodgers, who turned 25 just last week, also pitched five no-hit innings. I may need to come up with a category called short no-hitters.) Verlander could still wind up winning 20 games, and most likely will win the Cy Young award this season. Maybe he should adopt this as his motto: