It was a night for loud bats and crooked numbers, with Petco Park baking in 95-degree heat and the Padres riding Jackson Merrill’s two-homer game to a sweep. But the bigger conversation across the league belonged to a few teams and one especially hot Cincinnati shortstop.
Elly De La Cruz kept the ball flying in another rough Reds loss. Cincinnati was thumped 14-1 by the Dodgers, and the lone run came on De La Cruz’s homer.
That blast off Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave him 25 home runs on the season, tying his career high, and it also extended his home run streak to five straight games. September has been a big month at the plate for him, too: he’s 15-for-31 with seven extra-base hits and 10 RBI.
The stolen bases haven’t come quite as often this year, but De La Cruz has clearly taken another step with the bat, ranking among the top 12 qualified hitters in slugging percentage and wRC+.
Milwaukee also kept rolling. The Brewers finished off a three-game sweep of the Cubs, and even though the ninth inning got a little tense, they never let the series slip away.
They jumped on Chicago early with three runs in each of the first two innings, getting home runs from Christian Yelich, Jackson Chourio, and William Contreras. The win pushed Milwaukee to within one and a half games of the Dodgers and gave them a five and a half game cushion over the Braves for the best record in the National League.
And then there was the Mets-Marlins shootout, which looked more like a football game than a baseball game on the opening night of the NFL regular season. New York outlasted Miami 15-14 in a game packed with 35 hits and 10 walks.
The Mets built an 8-0 lead and chased Marlins starter Janson Junk after three innings, but Miami stormed back with five runs in the sixth to tie it. New York answered with six runs in the top of the seventh, and that ended up being enough.
The Marlins kept pushing, but their comeback died in the ninth when Owen Caissie struck out and Graham Pauley popped up with the tying run on second base.
In Other News...
Javier Sanoja Is Forcing A Marlins Infield Rethink
Javier Sanoja has turned the last stretch of the season into a convincing audition for a larger role, and it has happened just as the Marlins have been trying to sort out their infield picture. His increased playing time at third base has gone hand in hand with sharper production at the plate, a reflection of better discipline and cleaner swing mechanics that have come from daily work with assistant hitting coach Chris Hess. Hitting coach Pedro Guerrero and manager Clayton McCullough have both noticed the change, and Sanoja looks a lot more settled than he did earlier in the year.
Since Aug. 1, Sanoja has hit .349 with five home runs, numbers that are hard to ignore for a player who is suddenly forcing his way into the everyday conversation. For Miami, the question is no longer whether he can handle a larger share of the workload, but how quickly the club is willing to reshape its infield around what he has become over the past few weeks. [Read more 🡒]
Joe Mack Is Becoming A Much Bigger Marlins Story Than Expected
Joe Mack was called up on May 4, and since then the Marlins have gotten far more than a fill-in behind the plate. The 23-year-old catcher has turned into one of the most important everyday pieces on the roster, giving Miami both some real production at the plate and steady work on the defensive side during a season in which the team has leaned on every bit of stability it can find.
After 94 games, Mack has 13 home runs and 46 RBIs, but his biggest impact may be what has happened when he is handling the pitching staff. He leads National League catchers in Fielding Run Value and runners caught stealing, a combination that has helped the Marlins pitching and overall play take a noticeable step forward. For a player expected to merely grow into the job, Mack has already made himself part of the teams longer-term conversation. [Read more 🡒]
Marlins Get A Huge Dodgers Test With One Key Twist
The Marlins are about to get a three-game look at the Dodgers in Miami, and the matchup comes with a twist that changes the feel of the series. Los Angeles is still bringing the kind of lineup and pitching depth that can stress any opponent, but this trip will come with a different look than usual as the teams line up their starters for each game and try to carry recent form into a test that could tell Miami a lot about where it stands.
Shohei Ohtani will not be part of the series because of injury, and the Dodgers are turning to a young replacement in the designated hitter spot as they open the weekend. For Miami, that means the challenge is still substantial even without one of baseballs biggest names in the mix, and it also adds an extra layer of intrigue to how the series unfolds as the Marlins try to take advantage of the opening against a club that rarely offers many. [Read more 🡒]