THREE UP, THREE DOWN
Chris Sale: The Boston left-hander sacrificed some velocity for efficiency last season, taking a little off his fastball in hopes of inducing earlier contact and pitching deeper into games, but he is back. Sale’s fastball jumped from an average of 92.8 mph in 2016 to 94.4 mph this season, and he has been the best pitcher in baseball, going 5-2 with a 2.34 ERA and an American League-leading 101 strikeouts in 73 innings. Sale, who also has a knee-buckling slider and changeup, struck out 10 or more in eight consecutive starts, has limited hitters to a career-low .177 average and leads the league with an 0.81 WHIP (walks plus hits per inning).
Twins Peak: Can the Twins stage a revival similar to their 2002 season after losing 103 games in 2016? Minnesota is in first place in the AL Central with a 26-19 record. Slugger Miguel Sano has powered the offense with a .986 on-base-plus-slugging percentage, 11 homers and 37 RBIs. Ervin Santana, who gave up a league-high 39 homers in his last season with the Angels in 2012, is 7-2 with an AL-best 1.80 ERA and .134 batting average against. The Twins probably can’t keep up this pace, but they’re making things interesting in the division.
Arizona marketing: Kudos to the Diamondbacks for launching a summer-pass program that allows fans an outfield reserve seat for all 25 home games in June and July for $50. Baseball needs to attract younger fans, and what better way than a $2 ticket? The 4,000 summer-pass seats went on sale last Sunday and sold out in four days. “This is an affordable way to get people to Chase Field during the hot summer months to see a team that’s playing well,” Arizona president and chief executive Derrick Hall said. “We want fans to get into the habit of coming here and seeing that it’s very affordable. I can see a lot of postcollege grads, kids on summer break and families taking advantage of this.”
Nationals bullpen: Washington’s relief corps is adding to the angst inside the Beltway. The NL East-leading Nationals have a major league-worst 5.17 bullpen ERA and 24 homers given up, sixth-most in baseball. Relievers have blown nine of 23 save opportunities. Joe Blanton, setup savior for the Dodgers last season (7-2, 2.48 ERA in 75 games), has a 9.49 ERA and six homers given up in 12 1 ⁄3 innings. He gave up seven homers in 80 innings in 2016. A trade for a closer would allow the Nationals to keep their two reliable relievers, Matt Albers and Koda Glover, in setup roles.
Mariners bats: The patience of Seattle manager Scott Servais wore thin Wednesday after his club became the second in the modern era, joining the 1969 San Diego Padres, to score one run or fewer in five consecutive games and giving up at least 40 runs in that span. “We’ve got to pick up our intensity,” Servais said. “We are better than this. I’ve about had enough of this. We need to dial it up a little bit.” Nelson Cruz stopped the bleeding with a clutch three-run homer in the sixth inning of Thursday’s 4-2 come-from-behind win over Washington, but the Mariners, expected to contend in the AL West, are still in last place with a 21-29 record.
Anibal Sanchez: Detroit’s five-year, $80-million investment in the right-hander looked sound when Sanchez went 22-13 with a 2.92 ERA and 13 homers given up in 308 innings in 2013-14, the first two years of the deal. The next two years? Not so much. Sanchez went 17-23 with a 5.42 ERA and 59 homers given up in 310 innings in 2015-16. After a brutal start to 2017 — 9.00 ERA, nine homers given up in 21 innings of 11 relief appearances — Sanchez, who is being paid $16 million this season, asked to be sent to triple A on Monday to work as a starter. Detroit would have to pay $5 million to buy out his $16-million option for 2018.