Bases Covered is a daily roundup of the most interesting stories in baseball.
Regrets, he has a few
Yasiel Puig, whom the Dodgers placed on trade waivers on Sunday, opened up to ESPN about his demotion to the minors and how hard it is to watch his former team soar while he toils away in triple-A.
Puig said he’s learned humility, and talked about how different the minors are—how he was used to huge crowds, which he no longer sees.
“I keep hitting. I’m behaving. I’m doing the work I have to do,” he said.
Speaking of Puig, one writer wonders whether the outfielder might be a good fit in Detroit.
Time for a winning streak
The Mets defeated the Marlins 2–1 on Monday thanks to Yoenis Cespedes’s 10th inning walk-off home run. It was an important win in an important series—the Mets are currently battling for the final NL wild-card spot, and they’ll need to go on a tear if they’re going to somehow move up the standings.
Mets manager Terry Collins recently suggested that his team’s World Series run last season led to health problems with his rotation this year. But Neil Paine of FiveThirtyEight took a look, and he writes: “Since the Division Series began in 1995, there’s been no relationship between the length of a team’s stay in the postseason and whether its pitchers met expectations the following season.”
Lucky onesies
It took 13 innings, but the Cubs rallied to defeat the Pirates on Monday, 8–7.
Jake Arrieta got the no-decision after allowing six runs over 6 1/3 innings. But Chicago held strong to earn their comeback despite Arrieta’s rough outing, and manager Joe Maddon joked that the team’s onesies deserve thanks: as is sometimes custom with the team, they all wore onesies on a flight home from Los Angeles.
Still surging
The Royals continued their hot streak on Monday, earning an 8–5 win over the Yankees.
Despite being a low-run-scoring team, Kansas City is somehow back in playoff contention. The team is third in the AL Central, but only two games behind the Orioles for the second AL wild card spot.
Both-hander strikes again
Pat Venditte, the switch pitcher who was with the Blue Jays earlier this season, pitched three solid innings for the Mariners on Monday, allowing one run on one hit.
When Adrian Beltre faced Venditte, the Rangers’ third baseman had some fun, wearing his batting helmet backwards and laughing as he faced the ambidextrous reliever.
The Mariners couldn’t claw their way back after a poor showing from starter Hisashi Iwakuma, though. The right-hander gave up five runs on six hits over just three innings. Texas took the win, 6–3.