Bases Covered is a daily roundup of the most interesting stories in baseball.
Buster the Giant
Buster Posey hit a grand slam during Wednesday night’s game against the Padres, and the Giants defeated their cross-state rival 6–0. It was Posey’s second grand slam in five games.
The Giants needed the boost, too: the team lost leadoff hitter Norichika Aoki to the disabled list on Wednesday; he suffered a small fracture in his right fibula during Tuesday’s game. Aoki joins Hunter Pence on the DL; the 32-year-old outfielder has been out of action with left wrist tendinitis.
Homebodies
After falling 4–1 to the Brewers on Wednesday night, the New York Mets have now lost seven games in a row. Each of those losses has been on the road, and maybe that’s the team’s problem: they just can’t seem to keep it together outside of Citi Field. The team has the second-worst road record in MLB, but despite that, they’re just one game below .500 (in fact, only one team in the NL East has a record over .500 — the Washington Nationals). So why can’t the team win on the road?
Sale throws strikes
Chris Sale struck out 10 batters in Wednesday’s game against the Twins. It was his seventh straight game with 10 or more strikeouts, but the left-hander also gave up six runs in 6.2 innings and the White Sox lost, 6–1. “I go out to pitch,” Sale remarked after the game. “I’ve got one job to do and that’s get as far into a game and keep it to as little runs as I can and didn’t quite do that today.”
Calluses abound
While batting gloves have become the norm across MLB, there are still some old-school players who go bare-handed, including Wil Myers, Colby Rasmus and Evan Gattis. Never mind that showing no love for gloves means their hands end up colonized by calluses—ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick says it’s “a refreshing sight for fans and purists.”
Chocolate city
The Nationals won their fifth straight game on Wednesday, a tight 2–1 victory in 11 innings. Shortstop Ian Desmond hit a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded, and the “cover him with chocolate sauce!” ritual continued in Washington as the 29-year-old got dirty. Only days earlier, Nationals starter Max Scherzer got the chocolate-sauce treatment after his near-perfect no hitter versus the Pirates.
