Jackie Bradley Jr. extended his streak to 29 games, Xander Bogaerts continues to rake as well, the San Francisco Giants won their fifth in a row, and Dusty Baker made a curious lineup decision. Five things we learned Wednesday ...
1. Bryce Harper sits: Sorry, I don't get this at all. I want to defer to Baker's experience, and there's no doubt Washington Nationals star Harper has been scuffling in the batting-average department, but why would you sit your best player against the New York Mets? It makes no sense. Baker said Harper needed a mental day off. "I told him to do nothing, just concentrate and watch the game," Baker said. "You can straighten yourself out by watching others and by what they're doing or not doing." By, what, watching Michael Taylor? You're sitting Bryce Harper against the Mets to play Michael Taylor? Check out Eddie Matz's report on the benching, including Harper's success in day games.
Oh, Steven Matz was brilliant as the Mets won 2-0, with Harper grounding out in a pinch-hit appearance. ESPN Stats & Information analyzed Matz's eight scoreless innings.
2. The Chicago Cubs and Jake Arrieta tie a record: It wasn't Arrieta's best effort, but the Cubs beat the Cardinals 9-8 as Kris Bryant hit a big three-run homer off Carlos Martinez.
Cubs have now won 23 straight regular-season games started by Jake Arrieta, tying longest streak in MLB history. pic.twitter.com/id9OKQYKJ1
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) May 25, 2016
The Cubs and Arrieta equal the mark set by the Braves and Kris Medlen in 2012. Which is a reminder that Kris Medlen had a nice run as a starting pitcher before he got hurt. Arrieta has won 20 of those 23 games, although Mets fans will be quick to mention that the Mets beat Arrieta in the National League Championship Series last year. But postseason results don't count! Arrieta did give up four runs for the first time in a regular-season game since June 16 -- ending a stretch of 29 consecutive starts allowing three runs or fewer, the longest such streak since at least 1916, according to the Baseball-Reference.com Play Index. (Chris Short had 26 such games from April 1967 to April 1968.) So what did we learn? I guess that even Jake Arrieta can be mediocre.
3. Nomar Mazara hits the longest home run of the season ... or does he? We can agree on this: Mazara's second-inning home run for the Texas Rangers off the Angels' Hector Santiago traveled a long way. MLB's Statcast said 491 feet, making it the longest home run of the season and the longest in the history of Globe Life Park/The Ballpark in Arlington/AmeriQuest Field/Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. (Maybe that's why the Rangers need a new park; they can't settle on one name for this one.) Here's the home run:
491 ft. @Statcast says @NomarMzra26 is INSANELY strong: https://t.co/QzflAMwvM1 #Crushedhttps://t.co/p4soCoI6tE
— MLB (@MLB) May 25, 2016
Does that look like that longest home run of the season? Longer than this Giancarlo Stanton homer on May 6 that Statcast measured at 475 feet and the ESPN Home Run Tracker clocked at 490? The ESPN Tracker measured Mazara's blast Wednesday at 453 feet -- which seemed more in line with seasoned observers who cover the team. Jeff Wilson of the Star-Telegram wrote, "Mazara found the second row of the upper deck Tuesday night with a homer measured at 422 feet. The naked eye says the Wednesday homer didn’t go 70 feet farther."
4. That big Chicago White Sox lead? Almost gone: Indians starter Corey Kluber outpitched Jose Quintana and Cleveland overcame three errors to beat the White Sox 4-3. The White Sox were six games up on May 9 but have gone just 4-11 since, and their lead over Cleveland is down to a half-game after the Indians took three of four in the series.
5. Oh, Canada! Not only did Russell Martin finally go yard for the first time this season in the Toronto Blue Jays' 8-4 victory over the Yankees, but then he did it again. Michael Saunders also homered, making it the first time in Blue Jays history that two Canadians homered in the same game. Not sure that makes up for no Canadian teams making the NHL playoffs this season.