Little Caminero it’s here again. The Rays third baseman took over Seth Lugo into the first inning on Wednesday, making his streak six. Caminero is just two home runs behind Jordan Alvarez for the American League lead.
1. Swanson’s big game
The Cubs scored 23 runs on the Padres in yesterday’s game victory. Shortstop Dansby Swanson he was in the middle of the game, hitting three home runs and driving in eight. Swanson was tagged as the backup catcher Rodolfo Duran with a grand slam long after the score was decided, but his first two homers came against the starter Walker Buehler. The shot went two yards on Tuesday, giving him five home runs in the past two days. Swanson had a similar flurry of production against the Mets last week. He collected three homers and 15 RBI in a four-game outing. After a slow start to the season, Swanson’s numbers now look to be in line with his regular output, minus the residual strikeout rate. He hit 16 home runs and a 102 wRC+.
2. Skenes allows a career-high seven earned runs
Reigning NL Cy Young winner Paul Skenes struggled against the Phillies on Wednesday, allowing seven earned runs on eight hits, including two home runs. Pittsburgh’s worst right-handed start of the season came against Philadelphia. The Pirates’ infield rival Skenes got five runs scored in May. The big righty had cut his ERA below 2.00 before that outing. Since then, Skenes has amassed nine starts with a 5.36 ERA. He lost six decisions. The Pirates haven’t defeated Skenes since posting an eight-inning scoreless streak to open May.
3. Misiorowski vs. Burns
The radar gun in Milwaukee will be buzzing Thursday afternoon. The new flamethrowers Jacob Misiorowski again Chase Burns will face off in the final game of the series. Misiorowski followed up a nearly flawless May with a superb June in which he allowed just three earned runs over 28 innings. Burns was hit with five earned runs in his last outing, but finished June with 40 hits in five games. This is simply the premier roundup of Thursday’s slate.
Photo courtesy of Matt Marton, Imagn Images
