Bases Covered is a daily roundup of the most interesting stories in baseball.
Scully to retire
Legendary voice of the Dodgers Vin Scully announced on Saturday that 2016 will in all likelihood be his last season in the broadcast booth. Scully, who will be 88 in November, has been with the franchise since 1950.
Yankees crush Braves
The Yankees defeated the Braves 20–6 on Sunday to complete the sweep. But New York didn’t gain any ground on the Blue Jays, who swept the Tigers to maintain a 1.5 game lead in the AL East. “We still have a lot of games to play and we play Toronto a lot,” said Yankees manager Joe Girardi. “We have to take care of our own business.” The Yankees will now face the last-place Boston Red Sox.
Ortiz in the record books
Red Sox slugger David Ortiz tweeted Sunday that he’s “Ready 2 take on the yanks.” The 39-year-old hit his 28th home run of the season Sunday versus Mets rookie Noah Syndergaard. It was Ortiz’s 494th career homer, which puts him above Lou Gehrig and Fred McGriff on the all-time list.
Venditte gets a W
Oakland’s switch–pitcher, Pat Venditte, notched his first MLB win on Sunday, defeating the Diamondbacks 7–4. The 30-year-old reliever tossed two scoreless innings to earn the win in a game that stretched to 11 innings.
Maddon hosts PJ party
Never mind that Cubs ace Jake Arrieta threw a no-hitter versus the Dodgers on Sunday. The real story took place after the game, when Chicago manager Joe Maddon hosted a pyjama party for the players. “It’s about having fun as a group,” said Maddon about the event, which he’d planned for the late-night flight back to Chicago from L.A. Cubs reliever Hector Rondon sported a Superman onesie, while Fernando Rodney, a new addition to the team, had to go shopping for his jimmy-jams in L.A. because he only found out about the party the day before.
