Arenado homers twice, Story once as Colorado finally gets some offense
MILWAUKEE» After Milwaukee starter Chase Anderson split open his finger about 10 minutes before the first pitch of Wednesday night’s game against the Rockies, the Brewers had to scramble.
Colorado made the most of that scramble in what turned out to be an impromptu bullpen day for Milwaukee, posting a season high in runs in a 11-4 victory at Miller Park that snapped a three-game losing streak.
“You try to take advantage of that, because you know they’re in a little bit of dire straits,” manager Bud Black said. “In that type of game, you think you’re in pretty good position if you get off to a
NEW YORK» Cincinnati manager David Bell notices the difference from his playing days.
“There’s just no question that swings are geared for more home runs,” he said. “The swings are different than they used to be. It’s pretty obvious when you pull up a video of 20 years ago, 30 years ago.”
Baseball’s all-or-nothing trend accelerated in the season’s first full month, as batters binged on home runs and pitchers thrived on strikeouts.
Players hit 1,144 home runs in 874 games through April 30, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, an average of 1.31 per game. That is on track to break the record average of 1.26 set two years ago.
“I think we’re starting to see more and more, some of the mis-hits are going pretty far, too,” Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said.
Even more significantly, the barrage took place during a time when cold weather in much of the country usually causes many fly balls to die on warning tracks. There were 912 homers in 838 games through April last year, an average of 1.09 in a season that ended at 1.15 — the second-highest ever. This year’s weather was better to some degree; there have been 15 postponements, down from 28 through last April.
“The ball’s been flying here more than I’ve ever seen,” Mets manager Mickey Callaway said after New York and Minnesota combined for a Citi Field-record 10 long balls. “This time of year, the balls don’t usually travel.”
Perhaps more alarming to baseball officials is the rise in strikeouts. Batters are averaging 8.86 strikeouts per game, up from 8.48 last year — the 11th consecutive record year for whiffs. Strikeouts are on pace to top 43,000, up from 41,207 last year and 30,644 in 2005.
“Pitching just continues to get better and better, more wipeout stuff. Just nastier pitching,” Los Angeles Dodgers infielder David Freese said.
Before 2017, strikeouts never exceeded hits over a full calendar month. There were more whiffs than hits in April, June and September last year, and there were 187 more strikeouts than hits over the full season.
This year already there were 949 strikeouts and 848 hits in March and 6,799 strikeouts and 6,371 hits in April, leaving strikeouts 529 ahead.