It was another great week of baseball. Diamondbacks pitcher Madison Bumgarner has regained his World Series MVP form and pitched a 0-hit shutout against the Atlanta Braves in the second game of a doubleheader. Unfortunately, it did not count as a no-hitter because the game only lasted seven innings.
The Mets’ Jacob DeGrom dominated again, striking out 15 in a complete-game two-hit shutout against the Washington Nationals.
Those were some of the major highlights that happened this week. Here are the main stories that topped the headlines.
Oakland Athletics Historic Win Streak Snapped
The Oakland Athletics 13-game win streak was snapped Sunday afternoon with an 8-1 loss against the Baltimore Orioles. It was the longest win streak in MLB history in the month of April.
The streak was particularly impressive considering how they looked like the worst team in the MLB during the first two weeks of the season. They started the season 1-7 before they piled win after win together. They are also the first team to win 13 straight games after starting the season 0-6.
It goes to show that the baseball season is a marathon, not a sprint.
Cole vs Bieber
The two best pitchers in the American league faced off Saturday as the New York Yankees beat the Cleveland Indians 2-1 in an epic pitchers duel.
Yankees ace Gerrit Cole literally put his underachieving team on his back by pitching seven innings of three-hit ball, striking out 11 batters, and allowing one earned run. Cole ultimately received the win against last year’s Cy Young Winner Shane Bieber.
Bieber was not bad himself, going seven innings, striking out 9, and allowing two earned runs. Bieber has also been the main positive of an underachieving team.
The Yankees, who were expected to be the team to present the American League in the World Series, are currently standing at 9-12. If they lose their upcoming series to the lowly Baltimore Orioles, there could be decisions to be made.
Dodgers-Padres Wars Episode II: The Tatis-pire Strikes Back
Fernando Tatis Jr is the man. After struggling to gain consistency early in the season, he single-handedly lit up the Los Angeles Dodgers in another intense showdown between division rivals.
Tatis hit five home runs in the four-game series, which the Padres won 3-1. In game 2 and game 3 of the series, Tatis hit two home runs off Cy Young winners Clayton Kershaw and Trevor Bauer respectively. Only Barry Bonds has ever hit two home runs consecutively at Dodger Stadium. He hit his fifth home run off of upcoming star Dustin May in the series finale.
There was some controversy following Tatis’ fourth home run. He seemed to take a peak at one of catcher Will Smith’s signals to Bauer right before he hit the home run. Afterwards, he taunted Bauer by doing his strikeout celebration while running the bases. Bauer said after the game that he did not mind and pitchers who take exception to that are “soft.”
Tatis helped the Padres come back from a 7-1 deficit in the series finale by scoring the game-winning run in the top of the 11th inning. The Padres ended up winning 8-7. First baseman Eric Hosmer said it was a “statement.” The season is still young, but the Padres look like serious contenders.
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