On a day full of intriguing pitching matchups, Shohei Ohtani vs. Jared Jones might take the cake. Ohtani has allowed five earned runs all season. Jones bounced back from a rough season debut with five zeroes against the Astros in his last outing.
1. Montgomery walks off the Braves
What a debut for Braden Montgomery. One of the top prospects in the White Sox system joined the club for his first MLB game on Tuesday. The outfielder picked up his first big-league hit in his second at-bat, singling home fellow prospect Jacob Gonzalez. Montgomery then came to the plate with Chicago trailing by one in the 10th inning. With two outs and the tying run on third base, the rookie drilled a game-winning home run. Montgomery became the fifth player to hit a walk-off homer in their MLB debut. “It was something out of dreams,” Montgomery said (h/t Jesse Rogers of ESPN). “It’s something that I couldn’t draw up any better myself.”
2. Acuna leaves with a hamstring injury
Braves outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr. seems to have avoided a serious leg injury after leaving last night’s game against the White Sox. Acuna came up lame while running out a ground ball in the fourth inning. He was diagnosed with left hamstring tightness and will undergo imaging on Wednesday. It’s the same hamstring that cost Acuna a couple of weeks in early May. Manager Walt Weiss said the injury isn’t as severe this time. “It doesn’t seem as bad as the last one,” Weiss said (h/t Zach Sweet of MLB.com). “We’re not eyeing an IL [stint] on him right now, but day to day. He’s going to get an MRI, and then we’ll go from there. It’s certainly not as bad as the last one.”
3. Athletics tie franchise home run record
The fireworks at Las Vegas Ballpark continued on Tuesday night. After slugging seven home runs in a wild extra-innings loss on Monday, the Athletics hit five more yesterday. The dozen long balls tied the club’s franchise record for home runs in a two-game span (h/t Martin Gallegos of MLB.com). Outfielder Henry Bolte got in on the fun, taking lefty Robert Gasser deep in the second inning. for his first career home run. Bolte has more than held his own in his first taste of the majors, delivering a 114 wRC+ across 25 games. The A’s play four more times in Vegas this week.
Photo courtesy of Matt Marton, Imagn Images
