By Ron Kaplan, contributor
Mazel Tov of the day goes to Ryan Braun, whose solo home run provided a 5-4 walk-off win for the Milwaukee Brewers (4-1) over the visiting St. Louis Cardinals (2-3), who took a 4-0 lead going into the fifth. The blast — Braun’s second of the season — came with two outs in the final frame. It was also his third home run in four career at-bats against Cardinals pitcher Dominic Leone and the fourth walk-off of the Hebrew Hammer’s career.
Ryan Sherriff earned his first hold of the year for the Cards, tossing 1.2 innings of scoreless relief, walking one and striking out one.
Kevin Pillar was 2-for-5 with his second double, two runs scored, and second RBI to help the Toronto Blue Jays (4-2) wring out the visiting Chicago White Sox, 14-5.
Alex Bregman was 1-for-3 with two walks to help the Houston Astros (5-1) beat the visiting Baltimore Orioles, 11-6. He also made a nice defensive play for the second night in a row. Neither Richard Bleier nor Danny Valencia appeared for the O’s (1-4).
Joc Pederson did not appear for the LA Dodgers (2-4) in their 6-1 loss to the host Arizona Diamondbacks. According to “sources,” he would have come in to pitch in the Dodgers’ 8-7 15-inning loss to the D’backs the night before.
Ian Kinsler remains on the DL for the LA Angels (4-2), who beat the visiting Cleveland Indians, 13-2. Japanese sensation Shohei Ohtani — who stars both as a pitcher and a batter — served as the Angels’ DH and homered in his first home at-bat. It was one of three hits he had in the game so looks like the hype was right, so far at least. Fun.
Gabe Kapler’s Philadelphia Phillies (1-3) were shut out by the host NY Mets, 2-0. Of course, Kapler’s early-season breaking-in period was a topic of discussion in the Mets’ broadcast booth, as it was in this lengthy profile in yesterday’s New York Times.
And finally, I don’t know about you — and it might just be me as a grumpy old man — but even though I’m obviously on Facebook, I’m not too thrilled that the only way to watch the Mets-Phillies game today is via FB.
Ron Kaplan (@RonKaplanNJ) hosts Kaplan’s Korner, a blog about Jews and sports. He is the author of three books, including The Jewish Olympics: The History of the Maccabiah Games and Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War.
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