TWiB Notes - May 29 thru June 4

[Edgy MD]

White Sox closer Liam Hendricks has been activated after spending the last half year battling cancer. Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, to be exact. Except his had progressed to Stage 4.



So welcome the Hell back to Liam Hendricks.

[Frayed Knot]

Also reactivated, and pitching tonight, is Braves starter Mike Soroka, his first MLB appearance since tearing his achilles tendon during a game against the Mets in August of 2020. He later re-tore the tendon in '21



Although, seeing as how this start against Oakland, calling it a Major League opponent might be questionable.





Either way, he started things off with a 1-2-3 bottom 1st

[metirish]

Stroman with a complete game one hitter against the Rays

[Frayed Knot]

So Soroka, 6 IP, 4 R on 5 hits + 2 BBs

But the bigger news is that Oakland is in danger of winning a game, against the Braves no less.

It's 4-2 as the A's bat in bottom 8.

[Edgy MD]

It's 7–2 now as Oakland still bats in the eighth.



MLB.tv is only giving me a radio feed. Am I being blacked out or is nobody telecasting/cablecasting A's games any more?

[Edgy MD]

The Braves go down in the ninth as Trevor May finishes it for the A's!

[Frayed Knot]

Unexpectedly nice to see the Braves lose Any games in Oakland much less the first one.

I fully expected them to go 4 - 0 during this three game series

[Edgy MD]

Ben Joyce, clocked at 105 in the ACC, makes his MLB debut.

Looks not unlike Syndergaard from behind, but comes from a lower arm slot.

[Frayed Knot]

A's take their second straight from Atlanta, this one in walk-off fashion courtesy of three 9th inning walks

from Braves' closer Raisel Iglesies followed by a run-scoring grounder/error. 2-1 was the final.

So that's 1.5 games closer to the top of the division over the last two days with 2/3 of that

gain feeling like found money.

This game was also a reminder of MLB 2023 style because now not only do we not have to endure games

in EDT stretching towards midnight* but now we've got PDT games ending before midnight in the east.

This one was a 9:40 local time start and ran 2:19 - so that's an 11:59 EDT final out.





* Gary talked last night about one of the long games vs Philly last year that clocked in at 4:26 which would mean final out at around 11:36 for a 7:10 start

(OK that game was actually played on a Sunday afternoon but the point remains that approaching the witching hour ending times were certainly within the

realm of possibility in recent years)

[Frayed Knot]

Braves salvage the finale of their series in Oakland 4-2

I guess lightening can't strike thrice in the same place.

[Edgy MD]

Tigers invent a new way to lose.



With the bases loaded, and Tim Anderson at the plate, catcher Eric Haase calls for a slider, and pitcher José Cisnero misses the signal and instead throws a sinker. The crossup causes catcher Haase to miss the ball entirely, which ends up hitting umpire Cory Blaser directly in the face. The ball caroms away as the winning run scores, which turns out to almost be an afterthought as all eyes are on Blaser, who supposedly remains under observation this morning.



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[The Hot Corner]

Edgy MD wrote: White Sox closer Liam Hendricks has been activated after spending the last half year battling cancer. Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, to be exact. Except his had progressed to Stage 4. So welcome the Hell back to Liam Hendricks.

Quite inspiring, considering all he has been through. I wish him all the best going forward.

[Frayed Knot]

I had lost track of 2021 NYM Miguel Castro.

Well he's now with the DBacks where he's having a good season so far following a so-so one with the Yanx last year ... until today anyway.

Snakes brought him in the protect a one run lead vs the Braves in top 9 where he gave up a 2-out GS to Eddie Rosario.



So it looks like one of the teams will have some momentum heading into the start of the series on Tuesday.



8-5 final in the desert.

[Frayed Knot]

Travis Jankowski has resurfaced with the Rangers and made Two HR-robbing catches on Sunday.

One was definitely over the fence in RCF, the other at least on the top of the wall in dead central (as Keith would call it).

Would be nice to see him stay healthy for more than a few weeks at a time for a change.

It also doesn't look like he's had a haircut since we've last seen him.