Matz marvels as Jays beat Royals 5-1 in doubleheader opener
By DAVE SKRETTAApril 17, 2021 GMT
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) Steven Matz held the Kansas City Royals without a hit into the sixth inning, and Jonathan Davis and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. homered to give the Toronto Blue Jays a 5-1 victory in the seven-inning opener of their doubleheader Saturday.
Matz (3-0) only allowed a pair of walks before Nicky Lopez’s blooper to left with one out in the sixth. Matz gave up Andrew Benintendi’s two-out double later in the inning for the only other blemish on an otherwise dominant performance.
D-backs Preview #15: 4/17 @ Nationals
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When Luke Weaver took the mound in his last outing he faced a Cincinnati Reds team that was.well..Red Hot. Through 8 games they were averaging over 8 runs per game, and were batting .316/.388/.567
However utilizing just two pitches, his Four Seam Fastball and Changeup, Weaver dominated, taking a no hitter into the 7th inning. He ended up giving up just a single, a walk, and a HBP while striking out 8. The D-backs went on to win 7-0.
Speaking about the outing pitching coach Matt Herges said
“I was tearing up in the dugout..... I was overwhelmed with basically just thankfulness for him. He went out there with two pitches..he flat out executed. If you look at his heat map of that game it was beautiful. That night I sent it to him and said this is a thing of beauty. It was a big cluster of fastballs up in that left hand corner and a big cluster of changeups down in that down far right box and some under , which
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Gamethreads XII and XIII: Blue Jays at Royals times deux
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Last night’s game was rained out, so you get double the Saturday baseball! Or you would, but MLB has kept one of the rule changes from 2020’s pandemic-shortened season; doubleheaders are played as seven-inning regulation games. Personally, I’m fine with this. It makes doubleheader day seem like a bit less of a slog and prevents the bullpen from being completely demolished.
Mike Minor, who was originally slated to start last night’s game will get the afternoon contest. Ervin Santana, who was recently added to the roster, will get the nightcap. Singer was originally scheduled to start today’s contest. I have not been able to find any information on why Santana is getting the start instead.
Nick Heath, who had been designated for assignment earlier in the week, has been on the fringe of making the Royals major league club the past several years.