Great Hitting, Great Pitching

The MLB season is in full swing and last night featured some amazing feats on both the mound and the batter’s box. Whether you’re interested in Major League or college ball betting, there’s no denying that 2019 has been a phenomenal year for baseball.  Here are the highlight’s from last night’s games…

Harper Hits a Grand Slam

Philadelphia Phillies right fielder Bryce Harper has been going through a magnified slump lately. On Tuesday night in st. Louis, it seemed he was ready to try almost anything different to try breaking out of it. In his first plate appearance of the game in the first inning, Harper stepped into the batter’s box without his signature sleeves and with no batting gloves. He walked. For this second at-bat in the second inning, Harper had on batting gloves, and it paid off.

Harper drove a pitch from an erratic Dakota Hudson clear into the right-field stands for his first grand slam in a Phillies uniform. The slam was the highlight of a six-run inning that gave Phillies starter Aaron Nola some comfort on the mound.

 

Harper had a 2-for-3 night with a walk before being removed for Nick Williams late in the game when the result was pretty much decided. The Cardinals also pulled catcher Yadier Molina in the sixth inning to likely have him ready for an afternoon game in the series finale after the Phillies had a 6-0 lead.

Nola picked up his third win to go 3-0 on the season. It was certainly another encouraging outing by Nola as he continues to work his way back from a tough start to the season. Nola pitched six full innings before being removed in the seventh inning. He allowed just one run on a solo home run by Matt Wieters in the sixth. It was just one of three hits allowed by Nola. He walked just one batter, and that was a leadoff walk to Matt Carpenter in the bottom of the first inning on five pitches. Nola struck out seven batters in what was his best outing of the season so far.

The Phillies look for a rare series victory in St. Louis on Wednesday afternoon. Jered Eickhoff will take the mound for the Phillies and will be opposed by Jack Flaherty, who has racked up a good number of strikeouts this season but has been hurt by home runs.

Sale Turns Things Around

Red Sox ace Chris Sale got off to an abysmal start to begin the season, but it didn’t take him long to regain his dominant form.

Sale gave up only four earned runs in 18 innings of work heading into Wednesday’s game against the Orioles, and he picked up where he had left off in Baltimore.

Sale turned in eight innings of work, and gave up only one earned run on the evening. Unfortunately for him, the team could only muster one themselves, so he was hit with a no-decision.

He had a no-hitter heading into the sixth, but he saved his best stuff for the seventh, when he struck out three Orioles hitters on nine pitches. Here’s how the immaculate inning looked.

Wow.

Kershaw Doesn’t Mess Around

Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw gave Braves young star Dansby Swanson a teachable moment in the most recent meeting between the teams.

The Braves and Dodgers squared off in LA on Wednesday night, and when Swanson took too long getting ready for an at-bat, Kershaw was not having it — especially in front of the home crowd.

Swanson stepped out of the box for quite a long time at one point, clearly taking his time, which led to a frustrated Kershaw stepping off the mound, then saying the following:

“Let’s f—ing go!” Kershaw barked.

https://twitter.com/PitchingNinja/status/1126439580314550273

And then he put Swanson to sleep with this nasty curve ball — his patented strikeout pitch.

Don’t poke the bear.

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