Tag: Eugenio Suarez

MLB The Show podcast Jessica Kwong: MLB teams to pay tribute to Sandberg; Rays trade Fortes to Marlins; plus more MLB news

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

Ryne Sandberg former Chicago Cub and Hall of Famer who passed away this week at age 65 is seen here taking a swing against the Cincinnati Reds on Wed Aug 29, 1984. MLB teams will be paying respects to Sandberg before games on Tue Jul 29, 2025 (AP News photo)

MLB The Show podcast Jessica Kwong:

#1 Hall of Famer and former Chicago Cub second baseman Ryne Sandberg passed away this week at the age of 64 from prostate cancer. Sandberg during his 16 year career hit .285, 2386 hits, 282 home runs, and 1061 RBIs.

#2 The Tampa Bay Rays traded with the Miami Marlins catcher Nick Fortes on Tuesday. This after the Rays sent catcher Danny Jensen to the Milwaukee Brewers. The Marlins got minor league outfielder Matthew Etzel. This is Etzel’s second year in a row being traded. The Rays got minor league infielder Jadher Areinamo part of the trade with the Brewers. The MLB trade deadline is on Thursday.

#3  Arizona Diamondbacks third baseman Eugenio Suarez is relieved that X-rays retuned negative results of a fracture after he was hit in his right index finger by a 95.6 mph sinker pitch by Detroit Tigers pitcher Will Vest. Suarez after getting hit on Monday night doubled over and had to leave the field. On Tuesday Suarez said “I’ll come back as quickly as I can.”

#4 Last week during an annual meeting with one of the 30 teams that MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has with MLB teams he met with Philadelphia Phillies in the clubhouse after the first few minutes it was pretty smooth but when Manfred raised the subject of the game’s economics came up but didn’t use the words salary cap Phillies star outfielder Bryce Harper stood up and walked over to Manfred and said “If you want to speak about that, you can get the f— out of our clubhouse.” Which Manfred replied, “not going to get the f— out of here,” the Phillies outfielder Nick Castellanos then tried to intervene saying, “I have more questions.” Harper and the Players Association are dead set against a cap and are prepared to stay out of the 2027 season if there is a salary cap and the owners are prepared to lock the players out for as long as it takes if there is no salary cap,

#4 Framber Valdez’s frustrations came out when he questioned the defensive positioning regarding a sixth inning play on Monday night that led to the Astros coughing up a run in a 2-1 loss against the Washington Nationals. Valdez said through a Spanish interpreter, “I saw the right fielder playing center field and, you know, we have a center fielder for that, “I feel like the right fielder should have been playing right field. I was uncomfortable with that.” The Astros had also lost a four game series to the last place Sacramento A’s before playing the Nationals.

#5 Cleveland Guardians pitcher closer Emmanuel Clase is under investigation for sports gambling and has been place on non-disciplinary leave through Aug 31st. Clase is the second Guardian to go under non-disciplinary leave due to gambling allegations. The other pitcher Luis Ortiz is on non-disciplinary leave he is being investigated for throwing two pitches for balls that are allegedly connected to gambling activity.

Jessica Kwong does MLB The Show podcasts every other Wednesday night at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Tigers Stun Athletics in Grand Fashion

Published on by Matthew Harrington1 Comment

By Matthew Harrington

The Detroit Tigers may not always beat the Oakland Athletics, but the motor city kitties tend to find the most excruciating ways to do it. After bouncing Swingin’ A’s from the postseason in the last two campaigns, the American League Central leaders added another chapter of success against their West Coast foes Monday night at Comerica Park, converting a 4-1 deficit in the ninth inning into a walk-off grand slam for Rajai Davis and the Tigers (45-34).

With a decent lead in the ninth, Oakland A’s Manager Bob Melvin tabbed bullpen backend stalwart Sean Doolittle (1-3, 2.97) to sit the Tigers down for three final outs. Instead the A’s bench boss saw a surefire victory turned into a stunning defeat. Detroit came to the plate in attack mode against Doolittle, with Nick Castellanos and Alex Avila reaching base with no outs three pitches in to the left-hander’s night.

Doolittle found his footing, striking out Eugenio Suarez but failed to put Austin Jackson away on a full-count pitch. Instead Doolittle nibbled outside the strike zone to bring former Athletic Rajai Davis to the plate representing the winning run. Davis patiently took the first-pitch delivery from Doolittle for a ball, then crushed a belt-high breaking ball deep to left field about ten feet from foul pole for his sixth home run of the season. Davis made reliever Blaine Hardy (101, 2.89 ERA) the winner, handing the 27-year-old his first Major League win

Doolittle saw his scoreless inning streak snapped at 26 1/3 innings Saturday in Miami, blowing his second save of the season after allowing a Casey McGehee single to tie the game at 6-6. With a second blown save Monday night, he now has failed to shut the door in two-straight games after going the first 38 games of the season with only one missed opportunity. Since taking over the closer’s role for a struggling Jim Johnson, the first baseman-turned-reliever has collected 11 saves in 2014.

The A’s (51-31) looked securely en route to their fifth-straight win after taking a commanding 4-1 lead in the eighth inning. Oakland and Detroit entered the inning tied 1-1 after strong performances from A’s starter Scott Kazmir and his counterpart Anibal Sanchez. Sanchez opened the frame getting Yoenis Cespedes to bounce a grounder to short, but Suarez threw the ball away on the play. Brandon Moss made Detroit pay for the mistake by lacing an RBI double to left, chasing Sanchez from the game with no outs in the seventh. The 2013 ERA leader allowed the two earned runs on eight hits with only a pair of strikeouts (including the 1,000th of his career) but exited in line for the loss.

Joba Chamberlain fared far worse in relief of Sanchez, allowing the first two batters he faced to reach base, walking Josh Donaldson before yielding a single to Stephen Vogt to load the bases. A visit to the mound by Tigers Pitching coach Jeff Jones proved only a brief respite for Chamberlain, as Lowrie took the fifth pitch of the next at-bat to left for a two-run single to stake the A’s to a commanding 4-1 lead.

Lowrie knocked in the A’s first run of the game on an RBI single of Sanchez in the top of the sixth, but 2012 Triple Crown winner Miguel Cabrera responded in the home half of the inning by ripping a solo home run off Kazmir to left field, the 14th long ball of the season for the back-to-back American League Most Valuable Player.

Kazmir would then walk J.D. Martinez before exiting the game two pitches in to the next batter. Kazmir appeared to suffer tightness in his lead leg after bouncing the first pitch to Nick Castellanos well in front of the plate. After a brief visit from Melvin and trainer, the southpaw stayed in the game for one last pitch. After seeing his pitcher grimace on the pitch, Melvin instantly jumped up to pull his ace from the game.

After the game, Melvin stated that Kazmir was fine and the quick trigger was precautionary. Kazmir also departed his last start against the New York Mets on Tuesday earlier than expected, surrendering seven earned runs over three innings of a 10-1 shelling in Flushing Meadows. Aside from the one blip, Kazmir has been rock solid as the anchor of the A’s rotation, potentially in line to make this season’s All-Star team after going 9-3 with a 2.66 ERA in his first 16 starts for the green and gold.

The A’s won’t have an easy road bouncing back, as they’ll face the Tigers’ surpise of 2014 Rick Porcello (10-4, 3.41) in the second game of the three-game series. Oakland sends lefty Brad Mills to the mound in his first start since getting his first win since 2012, outdueling Zack Wheeler and the Mets last Wednesday.