By Ron Kaplan, contributor
That’s just great. Richard Bleier was having a terrific season for the Baltimore Orioles (19-48), perhaps the one bright spot in a disappointing year for the O’s. But in yesterday’s 5-1 loss to the visiting Boston Red Sox, the lefty reliever left the game with an apparent lat injury after retiring the two batters he faced. Bleier was scheduled to undergo an MRI today. According to EutawStreetReports.com (an Orioles-centric blog), “With just under seven weeks until the trade deadline, there’s virtually no chance a team will be able to deal for the injured left-hander now.” Meanwhile, Danny Valencia, again batting cleanup, had one of Baltimore’s four hits.
Ian Kinsler hit his 12th double, his lone hit in four at-bats as the host Seattle Mariners scored two in the ninth to beat the LA Angels (37-32), 8-6. Kinsler also walked and scored a run.
Kevin Pillar was 0-for-4 as the Toronto Blue Jays (30-38 ) lost to the host Tampa Bay Rays, 1-0, on a walk-off single with two outs in the ninth.
Ryan Braun was 0-for-3 for the Milwaukee Brewers (41-27), who enjoyed their own 1-0 victory over the visiting Chicago Cubs.
Joc Pederson entered the game for the LA Dodgers when Matt Kemp was ejected after this play at the plate (see video). Pederson went 0-for-3 but the Dodgers (35-32) won the affair, 3-2, in 11 innings. According to JewishBaseballNews.com, for the moment Pederson has more home runs in June than any other player, with seven.
Alex Bregman was given a rare day off as the Houston Astros (44-25) beat the host Oakland As, 13-5.
Gabe Kapler’s Philadelphia Phillies (34-31) lost to the visiting Colorado Rockies, 7-2. Now that the Phils are having some problems again, there are impatient concerns about Kapler’s methods, although he did get this vote of confidence from the team’s general manager.
The Atlanta Braves swept the bumbling NY Mets yesterday, and while there’s no immediate need, I’m hoping to see prospect Max Fried back in the bigs soon. Yesterday he matched a career-high with seven innings and set a career best with 11 strikeouts, allowing just three hits and one earned run as the Gwinnett Stripers beat the Norfolk Tides, 10-2..
And finally, we’re all excited about the prospect of a new JML, but with all dues respect to the St. Louis Jewish Light, their headline — “Size didn’t prevent baseball whiz from making Major League” — is inaccurate. Michael Wielansky, the young man in question, hasn’t made anything yet; he was simply drafted in the 18th round of this month’s MLB draft by the Houston Astros. And since the shortstop is currently 6’2″ and 175 pounds, I wonder where the size factor plays in on this. Yes, at one point he was quite short and small — weren’t we all? — but that’s no longer the case, making the “David and Goliath” theme a bit moot.
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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