Scoring, home runs up during first week
NEW YORK — The long ball is back.
Teams averaged 1.14 home runs per game through the first week of the season, according to STATS LLC. That is up nearly 26 percent from last year’s average through the first eight days and the most since 1.20 in 2006.
“It is a little surprising, particularly early in April, the runs that are being scored,” Boston Red Sox manager John Farrell said Monday.
Teams averaged 4.43 runs per game. That marked a 6 percent increase through the same period last season and the highest opening-week average since 2011.
Miami’s Dee Gordon, the reigning NL batting champion, points to Colorado rookie Trevor Story, who hit a record seven home runs in his first six games, and San Diego’s Matt Kemp, whose 10 RBIs were two behind Story’s major league-leading total.
“Trevor Story and Matt Kemp have been holding it down for us. So we appreciate them guys,” Gordon said, before adding there is most of the season to be played. “You could be hitting .800 now and hit .220 at the end of the year.”
The big league batting average of .248 was up seven percentage points from last year and the highest during the first full week since 2013.
DEVELOPMENTS
Scully’s street: On their way to Dodger Stadium, fans can now take Vin Scully Avenue into the main gate. The city of Los Angeles renamed a section of roadway from Sunset Boulevard to Stadium Way in honor of the 88-year-old Hall of Fame announcer.
Signs replacing the old name of Elysian Avenue were already posted when Scully appeared in front of a few hundred fans to accept the honor Monday.
Scully is set to broadcast the final home opener of his 67-year career today, when the Dodgers host the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Poky pace: Major League Baseball’s average game time slowed during the first week of the season and was back over 3 hours.
The average time of a nine-inning game was 3:04 through the first 79 games of this season, according to STATS, up 8 minutes from a 2:56 average for the first 79 games last year.
MLB introduced new pace-of-game initiatives last season, and the average time dropped from 3:03 during the first full week in 2014.
Last year’s final average was 2:56, down 6 minutes.
There were slight changes in the pace rules this year, cutting the timer for between-inning breaks by 20 seconds and adding a 30-second timer for visits to the mound by managers and pitching coaches.
Briefly: Oakland lefthander Felix Doubront will have Tommy John surgery. The procedure to reconstruct his ulnar collateral ligament was scheduled for Beacon Orthopedics in Cincinnati today. Projected to be Oakland’s fifth starter, Doubront was injured during his final Cactus League appearance on April 2, when he left after one inning with elbow soreness. ... The Chicago Cubs transferred Kyle Schwarber to the 60-day disabled list from the 15-day DL because of a season-ending knee injury. They also acquired left-handed pitcher Giovanni Soto from the Cleveland Indians for cash. Schwarber tore ligaments in his left knee and severely sprained an ankle in an outfield collision with Dexter Fowler at Arizona last week. Last season, he hit 16 homers and drove in 43 runs in 69 games.