Bases Covered is a daily roundup of the most interesting stories in baseball.
Iron man for a day
On Sunday, Baltimore’s Manny Machado began serving his four-game suspension for charging the mound and punching Royals pitcher Yordano Ventura.
Although he dropped his appeal, Machado had some harsh words for the league. While he’ll miss four games, Ventura, who negotiated his suspension from nine games down to eight, will miss just one start.
“All I can say is I wish whoever is making those opinions could step in the batter’s box and try to get hit by a 99-mph fastball—a couple times thrown at them,” he said.
Machado’s absence ended his streak of consecutive appearances at 229 games. That means San Francisco third baseman Matt Duffy became baseball’s new reigning iron man, appearing in his 188th consecutive game on Sunday.
Duffy’s title could be short-lived, though: He was injured while running the bases in the Giants’ 5–1 win over Tampa Bay and exited the game in the seventh inning.
Stealing bases… and hearts
Boston slugger David Ortiz stole his second base of the year on Sunday, making it to second without a throw. The 40-year-old received a standing ovation from the crowd at Fenway.
“I’m not an expert, I just look and I run,” he told a reporter from MLB.com, adding that the standing ovation “motivated me to steal more bags now.”
The Freak wins it
Tim Lincecum made his debut for the Angels over the weekend, allowing one run on four hits over six innings to earn the win.
Lincecum said returning to the mound was like riding a bike. “I got into the rhythm of the game, and my nerves went away,” he explained.
On Sunday, Lincecum’s teammate, Jered Weaver, pitched a complete game shutout, allowing just three hits in all; the Angels beat the A’s, 2–0.
Standing O
Cubs prospect Willson Contreras homered in his first major-league at-bat on Sunday—off the first pitch he saw, in fact.
“I was waiting for my first major-league at bat, but I didn’t imagine it would be a homer,” Contreras said, noting that he’d been hoping for a base hit when he entered the game in the sixth inning.
A 15-year-old from Normal, Illinois, caught Contreras’s homer. His reaction was anything but normal: the teenager looked to be losing his mind—in the best way—after the catch.
The Cubs defeated the Pirates 10–5 to earn the series sweep.
Below .500
The Twins avoided a four-game sweep on Sunday, defeating the Yankees 7–4. Minnesota starter Ervin Santana received a standing ovation when he was pulled from the game in the eighth inning. The 33-year-old allowed three runs on six hits, walking two and striking out four, to earn his first win since May 14.
With the loss, the Yankees dipped below .500. “We felt like we had a shot to get a win today, and we let it get away,” said Alex Rodriguez. The team currently sits fourth in the American League East.