AL and NL notes:
The Orioles are sinking at a staggering pace, the Yankees are rising. Giannis buys stake in Brewers, LaMonte Wade shows unlikely power for Giants. The latest with your team. Pages 26-29.
AL EAST Baltimore Orioles
The Orioles entered the week with an 18-game losing streak, three short of the club and AL record set in 1988, and lost 16 straight by multiple runs before a one-run loss to the Atlanta Braves on Aug. 21.
The O’s, who had a 14-game losing streak earlier this season, had the worst record in the majors and have clinched their fifth straight losing season.
“I hoped that we would be able to avoid stretches of play like we’re in right now,” general manager Mike Elias said. “But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t know it was a possibility at the beginning of this project.”
❚ 1B Ryan Mountcastle had a career-high 13-game hitting streak in which he hit .396 with four doubles, five homers and 10 RBI and raised his batting average from .246 to .264.
Boston Red Sox
The Red Sox were 7-12 in August as the week began and had gone from first to third place in the division.
But for the first time in about a month, they appear to have a set rotation with LHP Chris Sale (2-0, 1.80 ERA in his first two starts) joining LHP Eduardo Rodriguez and RHPs Nathan Eovaldi, Nick Pivetta and Tanner Houck, who has been on the Class AAA shuttle before and after starts as Boston tries to maximize its roster.
The hope is that rotation stability will lead to better overall performance.
“Results apart, we’re in a better spot pitching-wise as a staff,” manager Alex Cora said. “(Starting pitching) was a big question mark at one point during the season. I feel very comfortable.”
❚ Red Sox relievers were sixth in the league with a 3.95 ERA entering the week. But it was 4.90 since the All-Star break, and most alarming was RH closer Matt Barnes’ 1-3 record and 12.60 ERA this month.
New York Yankees
The Yankees were in third place, nine games back, and out of a wild-card spot on July 26, but their nine-game winning streak entering the week had moved them to second place in the division and first in the wild-card race.
A combination of solid pitching and hitting enabled them to go 26-9 since the All-Star break and move to 20 games over .500 for the first time since 2019.
Yankees pitchers posted a 2.41 ERA in the winning streak, holding opponents to three or fewer runs in seven of the nine games, while the lineup scored at least five runs seven times.
“Even in our darkest moments,” RHP Gerrit Cole said. “we thought we were better than what our record was.”
❚ Cole’s 191 strikeouts are the most by a Yankees pitcher in his first 23 starts of a season. David Cone had 189 in 1997.
Tampa Bay Rays
RHP Chris Archer’s first outing in more than four months lasted just two innings because of left hip tightness, the same injury that set back his rehab.
But Archer didn’t allow a run against the Chicago White Sox on Aug. 22 and struck out half of the eight batters he faced, and he said afterward he believed the setback was minor.
Since leaving his April 10 start against the New York Yankees because of forearm tightness, Archer has gone through the death of his mother in addition to the injuries.
This is Archer’s fourth straight season with time on the injured list, and he had missed 213 of 221 possible games since Aug. 21, 2019, before returning. LHP Josh Fleming, sent to the bullpen to make room for Archer, could return to the rotation if Archer needs more time off.
❚ SS Wander Franco entered the week with a 24-game onbase streak, the longest active in the majors and tied for the longest by a rookie in team history (Rocco Baldelli, 2003).
Toronto Blue Jays
The Blue Jays had lost three in a row and six of seven when LHP Hyun Jin Ryu rebounded from two disappointing starts to match a season high with seven scoreless innings Aug. 21 against the Detroit Tigers.
It was his fifth scoreless outing this season and Toronto’s league-leading 12th shutout.
“It was huge. It’s about the circumstances of the game,” manager Charlie Montoyo said. “We’re on a semi-losing streak. We need to win close games, the offense is not swinging the bats very good right now, so there’s no room for error. We needed a game like that, and he gave it to us.”
❚ Marcus Semien entered the week leading major league second basemen with 30 homers, one ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays’ Brandon Lowe. Semien’s career high is 33 in 2019.
AL CENTRAL Chicago White Sox
SS Tim Anderson was hitting .304 through 104 games with 14 home runs and 17 stolen bases and was selected to the All-Star Game for the first time in his six-year career.
“The heart and soul of our team,” RHP Lucas Giolito said.
Against the Tampa Bay Rays on Aug. 20 at St. Petersburg, Florida, Anderson sent the game to extra innings with a ninth-inning home run, then won it with a tiebreaking single in the 11th.
“There’s no better shortstop in the whole league when you talk about his complete game,” manager Tony La Russa said.
❚ RHP Dylan Cease exceeded 100 pitches for the third time in four starts Aug. 19 in a loss to the Oakland Athletics when he threw 102.
Cleveland
RHP Triston McKenzie won consecutive starts for the first time this season. First, he took a perfect game into the eighth inning while pitching eight scoreless innings to defeat the Tigers on Aug. 15 at Detroit. On Aug. 21, he held the Los Angeles Angels to one run in seven innings.
“He’s good. He’s really good,” Angels manager Joe Maddon said. “He’s a classic example of a tension-free approach. Everything is fluid and easy . ... He’s something to be reckoned with in the future.”
Before the back-to-back wins, McKenzie was 1-5 with a 5.66 ERA in 17 games and was optioned to Class AAA Columbus (Ohio) four times.
❚ DH Franmil Reyes broke out of a 2-for-35 slump Aug. 20 by blasting a 430-foot home run to center field off Angels RHP Jaime Barria.