By Ron Kaplan, contributor
Three home runs erev Shabbos? Sounds good to me.
Mazel of the weekend goes to Joc Pederson, who recently returned from the DL list. In three games against the host Cincinnati Reds, he was 4-for-12 with two home runs (one on Friday and four on the season), a double, four runs scored, and four RBIs as the LA Dodgers swept the series.
Scott Feldman did not appear over the weekend. He gets the call tonight against the Rays in Tampa Bay. Fun fact: he’s already tossed as many innings this year as he did in all of 2016.
Ian Kinsler hit his fifth home run — once more leading off a game — in a 13-4 win for the Detroit Tigers over the visiting Rays on Friday. It was their only win, pushing their record to 32-36. Kinsler was 2-for-12 with an additional RBI. He also made a sweet defensive play in Friday’s game.
Danny Valencia was 2-for-11, including home run #7 — yep, Friday — as the Seattle Mariners (34-37) took one of three from the host Texas Rangers
Kevin Pillar was 3-for-13 including his 17th double and 18th RBI as the Toronto Blue Jays (33-35) dropped two of three to the visiting Chicago White Sox.
Alex Bregman was 1-for-7 as the Houston Astros continue to struggle, relatively speaking. While they still own the best record in the Majors (46-24), they’ve lost eight of their last dozen games. Bregman did not appear in Saturday’s game as the ‘Stros lost two of three to the visiting Boston Red Sox.
Richard Bleier walked the only batter he faced all weekend (in Saturday’s 15-6 win) as the Baltimore Orioles (33-34) took two of three from the visiting St. Louis Cardinals.
Craig Breslow did not appear in the last three games of a four-game sweep the Minnesota Twins (34-33) suffered at the hands of the visiting Cleveland Indians that began on Thursday. He did strike out three batters in 2.1 shutout innings in the series opener, a nice turnaround from his previous two disastrous outings.
Ryan Braun is almost ready to begin a rehab assignment for the Milwaukee Brewers who, to be honest, have been doing all right without him.
Only telling you because Ty Kelly was a member of Team Israel in the World Baseball Classic: did you know that he was selected off waivers from the NY Mets by the Toronto Blue Jays (April 10) then purchased by the Philadelphia Phillies (April 22)? He drove in the Phillies’ only run in a 1-0 win over the visiting Boston Red Sox on June 15. Jewish Baseball News doesn’t track Kelly’s stats because, while his mother is Jewish, he does not identify exclusively as such.
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