By Ron Kaplan, contributor
The Hebrews were homer happy over the last few days.
Mazel of the weekend goes to Joc Pederson, who went 4-for-5 on Sunday with two solo home runs (three on the year) and a double in the LA Dodgers’ 12-4 win over the Colorado Rockies on Saturday, 12-4. He was unsuccessful as a pinch-hitter on Friday and 0-for-2 on Sunday as the starting leftfielder. The Dodgers swept the weekend to move to 29-20, third in the NL West.
The other LA Jew — Ian Kinsler of the Angels — also homered twice, but on successive days. The first one came with one on and two out in Friday’s 6-0 win over the visiting Texas Rangers (which ended on a weird note). The next came on Saturday to lead off the sixth, bouncing off the foul pole. Kinsler also had a single for three hits in 14 at-bats as the Angels (32-28, third in the AL West) took two of three in the series .
Alex Bregman was 3-for-13 for the Houston Astros (37-24, second in AL West) against the visiting Boston Red Sox, including his sixth home run (a two-run job in Saturday’s 5-4 loss). Houston lost two of three to the Sox.
Ryan Braun‘s only hit in 11 at-bats over the weekend for the Milwaukee Brewers (37-23, first in NL Central) against the host Chicago White Sox came in the first inning of Friday’s 8-3 loss.
The Baltimore Orioles (17-41, last in the AL East) were rained out of two of their four games with the visiting NY Yankees. Richard Bleier appeared in Friday’s game, giving up two hits but no runs in one inning in a 4-1 loss. Danny Valencia returned from the paternity list, cracking two doubles in four at-bats out of the eighth spot in Saturday’s 8-5 loss, adding a run and an RBI.
Kevin Pillar was 1-for-13 over the weekend with one run scored, dropping his batting average to .259, as the Toronto Blue Jays (26-33, fourth in AL East) lost two of three to the host Detroit Tigers.
Gabe Kapler’s Philadelphia Phillies (31-26, third in the AL East) lost three in a row to the visiting San Francisco Giants.
According to CBSSports.com, the Chicago White Sox traded pitching prospect Brad Goldberg to the Arizona Diamondbacks for cash. Goldberg appeared in 12 games for the Sox last year to the tune of an 8.25 ERA.
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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