<img alt="Washington Nationals v New York Mets" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/IY-cfaOGBkbpFiepKkAo385Ydf8=/0x0:4315x2877/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73591214/2171730618.0.jpg">
Photo by Adam Hunger/Getty Images
Grimace continues to inspire the New York Mets to victory. Yep. Colorado Rockies (58-93) 3, Arizona Diamondbacks (83-67) 2
Well, well, well. Monday night wasn’t a complete and utter disaster for the Atlanta Braves on all fronts and that was thanks to the fact that the Diamondbacks were unable to really get a ton of offense going in Coors field. They scored two runs in the first inning off of Antonio Senzatela, with both of them coming from a deep two-run dinger from Ketel Marte that flew high, far and deep to center field.
Merrill Kelly did a great job for the Diamondbacks in this one as he held the Rockies to just one run while he was out there. However, Ezequiel Tovar’s home run in the fourth inning ended up being slightly contagious in the Rockies dugout, as Hunter Goodman hit a solo homer of his own in the seventh inning in order to tie the game up at two runs apiece. Colorado’s pitching staff held Arizona to just those two runs scored and just like that, the Rockies had a chance at sending their fans home happy for once.
The game remained tied heading into the ninth inning, which is when a GIDP snuffed out any hope that the Diamondbacks had of breaking the deadlock. Brenton Doyle led off Colorado’s half of the ninth with a single and then he stole second with nobody out to really put the pressure on Ryan Thompson and the Diamondbacks. It sure seemed like they would get a little relief from a GIDP after Brendan Rogers hit what looked like a tailor-made 4-6-3 double play. However, the 6 screwed up the throw to the 3 and instead of this being a productive out for the Rockies, it was a game-sealing error and Colorado had officially done everybody else in this race a solid.
New York Mets (82-68) 2, Washington Nationals (68-82) 1
Well, at least Jake Irvin showed up and did his job tonight. It turns out that he’s not just dedicated to ruining the Braves on any given night as he definitely came pretty close to ruining New York’s night tonight. Irvin made it into the eighth inning with just one run allowed and five strikeouts as well. This was Irvin’s longest outing since he pitched eight shutout innings against — guess who — the Mets (!!!) back on July 4.
However, Irvin’s fantastic performance ended up going in vain since Washington’s lineup couldn’t give him enough run support. Sean Manaea’s only real slip-up came in the fourth inning when José Tena hit an RBI single to make it 1-0. However, Jake Irvin eventually slipped up in the eighth inning when a double from Tyrone Taylor turned into a run after Jose Iglesias hit a comebacker that Derek Law couldn’t corral for an RBI infield single.
The game eventually went to extras and it simply came down to one team scoring in extras while the other team failed to do so. Washington attempted to manufacture their Manfred Man into a run with a leadoff sacrifice bunt but it didn’t amount to anything after Keibert Ruiz and Jacob Young both grounded out against Reed Garrett. Meanwhile, Francisco Alvarez hit a sacrifice fly to move New York’s Manfred Man to third and then Starling Marte hit a liner to left to end the game and put the Mets back in sole possession of the third and final Wild Card spot.
San Diego Padres (86-65) 3, Houston Astros (81-69) 1
I said the Padres were off yesterday. Whoops! Anyways, I kind of wish they were off because they picked up a win over the Astros on Monday night in order to cap off what was a frustrating night of baseball as far as the Braves are concerned. Anyways, this was a pretty straightforward win for San Diego as they took the lead in the first inning off of an RBI double from Manny Machado and never trailed from that point forward.
They added another run off of a fourth-inning solo shot from Jackson Merrill and then Jurickson Profar capped off a four-hit night by restoring San Diego’s two-run lead in the bottom of the eighth with a solo homer of his own. Robert Suarez picked up the save, Yu Darvish’s six shutout innings ended up being totally worth it and the Padres picked up a game on everybody but New York while winning their fourth-straight game. Woo. Awesome. Lovely.
Here’s the current NL Wild Card picture (Playoff Odds from FanGraphs):
Padres 86-65, +3.5, 99.5% Playoff OddsDiamondbacks 83-67, +1.0, 83.7% Playoff OddsMets 82-68, —, 56.1% Playoff Odds-----------------------------------------------------------------Braves 81-69, -1.0, 60.4% Playoff Odds
The Braves are the only team that’ll be facing a new team tonight, as Atlanta will be traveling to Cincinnati to take on the Reds. Everybody else is entering into the middle games of their respective three-game series. Once again, it’s less about getting help and more about Atlanta simply taking care of business. They’ll have some favorable pitching matchups coming up in Cincinnati and they absolutely have to take advantage. Otherwise, we’ll be in for some more nervy scoreboard watching.
<img alt="Washington Nationals v New York Mets" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/IY-cfaOGBkbpFiepKkAo385Ydf8=/0x0:4315x2877/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73591214/2171730618.0.jpg">
Photo by Adam Hunger/Getty Images
Grimace continues to inspire the New York Mets to victory. Yep. Colorado Rockies (58-93) 3, Arizona Diamondbacks (83-67) 2
Well, well, well. Monday night wasn’t a complete and utter disaster for the Atlanta Braves on all fronts and that was thanks to the fact that the Diamondbacks were unable to really get a ton of offense going in Coors field. They scored two runs in the first inning off of Antonio Senzatela, with both of them coming from a deep two-run dinger from Ketel Marte that flew high, far and deep to center field.
Merrill Kelly did a great job for the Diamondbacks in this one as he held the Rockies to just one run while he was out there. However, Ezequiel Tovar’s home run in the fourth inning ended up being slightly contagious in the Rockies dugout, as Hunter Goodman hit a solo homer of his own in the seventh inning in order to tie the game up at two runs apiece. Colorado’s pitching staff held Arizona to just those two runs scored and just like that, the Rockies had a chance at sending their fans home happy for once.
The game remained tied heading into the ninth inning, which is when a GIDP snuffed out any hope that the Diamondbacks had of breaking the deadlock. Brenton Doyle led off Colorado’s half of the ninth with a single and then he stole second with nobody out to really put the pressure on Ryan Thompson and the Diamondbacks. It sure seemed like they would get a little relief from a GIDP after Brendan Rogers hit what looked like a tailor-made 4-6-3 double play. However, the 6 screwed up the throw to the 3 and instead of this being a productive out for the Rockies, it was a game-sealing error and Colorado had officially done everybody else in this race a solid.
New York Mets (82-68) 2, Washington Nationals (68-82) 1
Well, at least Jake Irvin showed up and did his job tonight. It turns out that he’s not just dedicated to ruining the Braves on any given night as he definitely came pretty close to ruining New York’s night tonight. Irvin made it into the eighth inning with just one run allowed and five strikeouts as well. This was Irvin’s longest outing since he pitched eight shutout innings against — guess who — the Mets (!!!) back on July 4.
However, Irvin’s fantastic performance ended up going in vain since Washington’s lineup couldn’t give him enough run support. Sean Manaea’s only real slip-up came in the fourth inning when José Tena hit an RBI single to make it 1-0. However, Jake Irvin eventually slipped up in the eighth inning when a double from Tyrone Taylor turned into a run after Jose Iglesias hit a comebacker that Derek Law couldn’t corral for an RBI infield single.
The game eventually went to extras and it simply came down to one team scoring in extras while the other team failed to do so. Washington attempted to manufacture their Manfred Man into a run with a leadoff sacrifice bunt but it didn’t amount to anything after Keibert Ruiz and Jacob Young both grounded out against Reed Garrett. Meanwhile, Francisco Alvarez hit a sacrifice fly to move New York’s Manfred Man to third and then Starling Marte hit a liner to left to end the game and put the Mets back in sole possession of the third and final Wild Card spot.
San Diego Padres (86-65) 3, Houston Astros (81-69) 1
I said the Padres were off yesterday. Whoops! Anyways, I kind of wish they were off because they picked up a win over the Astros on Monday night in order to cap off what was a frustrating night of baseball as far as the Braves are concerned. Anyways, this was a pretty straightforward win for San Diego as they took the lead in the first inning off of an RBI double from Manny Machado and never trailed from that point forward.
They added another run off of a fourth-inning solo shot from Jackson Merrill and then Jurickson Profar capped off a four-hit night by restoring San Diego’s two-run lead in the bottom of the eighth with a solo homer of his own. Robert Suarez picked up the save, Yu Darvish’s six shutout innings ended up being totally worth it and the Padres picked up a game on everybody but New York while winning their fourth-straight game. Woo. Awesome. Lovely.
Here’s the current NL Wild Card picture (Playoff Odds from FanGraphs):
Padres 86-65, +3.5, 99.5% Playoff OddsDiamondbacks 83-67, +1.0, 83.7% Playoff OddsMets 82-68, —, 56.1% Playoff Odds-----------------------------------------------------------------Braves 81-69, -1.0, 60.4% Playoff Odds
The Braves are the only team that’ll be facing a new team tonight, as Atlanta will be traveling to Cincinnati to take on the Reds. Everybody else is entering into the middle games of their respective three-game series. Once again, it’s less about getting help and more about Atlanta simply taking care of business. They’ll have some favorable pitching matchups coming up in Cincinnati and they absolutely have to take advantage. Otherwise, we’ll be in for some more nervy scoreboard watching.
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