American League notes
AL EAST Baltimore Orioles
Despite consecutive dismal seasons for both him and the team, Chris Davis said 2019 has been easier to deal with than last year.
“I feel like last year, the bar was set so high from the beginning of the year and then things changed so quickly,” Davis told BaltimoreBaseball.com. “It was a complete 180 after the All-Star break and trade deadline. Half of our team was gone.
“This year, it’s been a little bit different. I feel like we have things to work on, things that we’re trying to accomplish, and you can see the work that we’ve put in starting to pay off. It’s encouraging.”
❚ The Orioles were 12-12 in July, their first month without a losing record since August 2017, when they went 17-12. They hadn’t won more than nine games in a month since then.
Boston Red Sox
When the Red Sox were swept by the New York Yankees in a doubleheader Aug. 3, it gave them 54 losses, matching their total for all of last season.
The futility of the team with the highest payroll in the majors, which lost its eighth straight game Aug. 4, prompted the unorthodox move of holding a players-only meeting between games of the doubleheader.
“When things come up, you’ve got to address it,” LHP Chris Sale said. “Obviously, we’re not playing the way we want . ... We have enough respect for each other to get together as a group and go over some things.”
The meeting came after the Yankees clubbed Sale for eight runs in 32⁄3 innings. He is 0-4 with a 9.90 ERA against them this season.
❚ RHP Nathan Eovaldi isn’t the new closer after all. Manager Alex Cora said RHP Brandon Workman (2.03 ERA, five saves through Aug. 3) will keep that role.
New York Yankees
SS Gleyber Torres’ twohomer game Aug. 3 against the Boston Red Sox was his fifth of the season and seventh of his career.
At 22 years, 233 days, he became the second-youngest player in American League history with seven. Joe DiMaggio was seven days younger when he reached that number.
“The power to all fields is the biggest thing,” RF Aaron Judge said of Torres, whose other four multi-homer games this season through Aug. 4 all were against the Baltimore Orioles.
The Yankees got a scare when Torres left the Aug. 4 game and went to a hospital to be examined for what the club termed a “core issue.” But he was released and was in the lineup as the DH the next day.
❚ The Yankees’ extensive injured list added two more names Aug. 4: 1B Edwin Encarnacion (broken right wrist) and CF Aaron Hicks (strained right elbow). DJ LeMahieu and Mike Ford figure to split time at first base, and Brett Gardner took over in center field.
Tampa Bay Rays
The Rays went 8-1 at Fenway Park this season, outscoring the Boston Red Sox 54-30 in those games. They are the first visiting team with eight wins at Fenway since the 1966 Baltimore Orioles, who went on to win the World Series.
The Rays’ three-game sweep of the Red Sox last week was just the second at Fenway of at least three games in franchise history. The Rays swept a fourgame set in April 2010.
“It’s tough to win here, period,” manager Kevin Cash said. “It’s tough to win a series here, let alone do what we just accomplished. We should feel good about ourselves.”
❚ Rookie LHP Brendan McKay allowed just two walks in his first five career starts. He issued one or no walks in each, the best career-opening streak by a traditional Rays starter.
Toronto Blue Jays
SS Bo Bichette set a team record with 13 hits in his first seven career games and had at least one hit in each. He batted .406 in that span.
With his first career homer, July 31 against the Royals at Kansas City, Bichette (21 years, 148 days) became the youngest player in team history to homer from the leadoff spot, surpassing Lloyd Moseby.
“We all know he’s not going to keep hitting .400, but that’s what we’ve seen the whole time from this kid,” manager Charlie
Montoyo said. “From my eyes, he’s one of the best players in baseball.”
❚ Toronto led the majors with 83 home runs from June 16 to Aug. 3. They had nine players with 10 homers or more for the season as the week began.
AL CENTRAL Chicago White Sox
IF Ryan Goins is getting a bump in playing time now that 3B Yoan Moncada is on the injured list because of a strained right hamstring.
Moncada was injured July 30 while fielding a ground ball against the New York Mets. He is out until late August.
The White Sox signed Goins as a minor league free agent during the offseason. He has not played regularly in the major leagues since 2017, when he was with the Toronto Blue Jays.
❚ Batting for the first time since high school, RHP Carson Fulmer strained his right hamstring Aug. 2 while running out a ground ball in the 14th inning against the Phillies at Philadelphia. He was placed on the IL.
Cleveland Indians
RHP Danny Salazar, who hadn’t pitched in the majors since 2017 because of shoulder surgery, was inserted into the rotation when RHP Trevor Bauer was traded. But Salazar strained his right groin in his first outing and went back on the injured list.
The Indians hope to fill that spot with RHP Corey Kluber, out since May 1 because of a broken right forearm. He threw 35 pitches to hitters from the Indians’ Class AA Akron (Ohio) affiliate and was set to make his first rehab start for Class AAA Columbus (Ohio) on Aug. 8.
❚ RHP Shane Bieber shared on Twitter a Topps baseball card that mistakenly called him “Justin.” Topps’ witty response: “Is it too late to say sorry?” – a reference to a Justin Bieber lyric.