The Marlins matched their franchise record for June wins with a victory over the Rockies last night. The club can set the mark at 20 wins tonight. Miami is now mere percentage points behind St. Louis for the final NL Wild Card spot.
1. Valdez homers for fourth straight game
The Pirates already have one of the best nicknames in the game with ‘The Password’ for Jhostynxon Garcia. ‘The Magician’ is also an elite moniker, and Esmerlyn Valdez has produced plenty of magic lately. Valdez hammered an Aaron Nola curveball into the left field seats last night for a two-run homer. He’s now left the yard in four straight games and six times in 16 career contests. It’s a small sample of 50 plate appearances, but Valdez has a ridiculous 69.2% hard-hit rate and a 38.5% barrel rate. “He’s got some of [the] craziest pop that we have in our organization,” said shortstop Konnor Griffin, relayed by Jason Mackey of MLB.com.
2. Hinch earns win No. 1,000
The Tigers cruised to a 7-3 win over the Yankees on Monday behind seven dominant innings from righty Casey Mize. The victory was No. 1,000 for manager A.J. Hinch. He moved into a tie with Charlie Manuel for 67th on the all-time leaderboard. Hinch struggled in his managerial debut with the Diamondbacks from 2009 to 2010. His next gig came in Houston, where he put together a dominant stretch. The Astros won 100+ games on three occasions under Hinch. They went to the World Series twice, taking home the 2017 title. Hinch has now turned around the Tigers, delivering back-to-back winning seasons the past two years.
3. Yankees drop fifth straight
The club on the other side of Hinch’s milestone victory has now lost five games in a row and nine of the last 12. The Yankees managed one hit off Mize and finished with just three knocks. It’s the first time in franchise history that the team has had four consecutive games of three or fewer hits (h/t Joel Sherman of the New York Post). No team had done it since the 2010 Nationals. New York has slipped 1 1/2 games behind Tampa Bay in the AL East. The club will send ace Cam Schlittler to the mound on Tuesday to try to end the skid. The AL Cy Young favorite will do battle against the two-time reigning champ, Tarik Skubal.
Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Imagn Images
