10 Important Stories From 13/05/17 Box Scores: Berrios and Happ Debut, Sale Makes History & More

By Simon Jones

Saturday marked the MLB debut of Ian Happ and the season debut of Jose Berrios, and both more than lived up to expectations. There were yet more power explosions, a big walk-off for Bryce Harper and Chris Sale making strikeout history.

So let’s look at some of the bigger stories from Saturday’s games.

1) Berrios Shines in Season Debut….
Jose Berrios was recalled this week to a certain amount of hype, but with expectations tempered after some serious struggles in his 2016 rookie campaign. Yesterday’s season debut against the Indians was more than encouraging as he held Cleveland to a single run on only two hits and a walk across 7 2/3 strong innings. Berrios has dominated the minors in 2017, so the hope is he can translate some of those numbers to the big leagues this time around.

2) Welcome to The Show, Ian Happ….
Ian Happ made his big league debut yesterday, dropped in at the deep end with facing Carlos Martinez. Happ’s confidence may have been hit when he got called on a slide-rule double play to prevent Kyle Schwarber scoring, but it didn’t show, as he powered a two-run homer in the seventh inning. Happ probably won’t stick around long, once the Cubs get a few of their injured players back, but this bodes well for his more permanent return further down the line.

3) Sale Makes History….
Chris Sale continued to dominate hitters yesterday, striking out twelve against the Rays. This marks the seventh consecutive outing that Sale has double-digit strikeouts, putting him rather esteemed company – Nolan Ryan and Pedro Martinez are the only two AL pitchers to achieve this feat. Sale’s night was muddied slightly by giving up three runs including two homers, but he still boasts a 2.15 ERA and .77 WHIP as well as an amazing 85 Ks on the year.

4) J.D. Martinez Making Up For Lost Time….
It seemed to take an age for J.D Martinez to return from injury, but he seemed intent on making it worth the wait on Saturday. Martinez hit a pair of home runs in a 3-for-4 effort that also included three RBIs. The Detroit slugger missed 33 games all told, but it’s fair to say that he is back and should be started in all formats.

5) Wood Making His Case to Stick Around….
With the Dodgers heading for a log-jam of starters as various injured pitchers return, it appeared that Alex Wood might be the odd man out. Of course the Dodgers solved that problem in the short term with Kenta Maeda’s –ahem- hamstring injury. Wood definitely made his case to stick around a while longer with a strong outing in Colorado, pitching six scoreless innings and striking out ten. Wood has now lowered his ERA to 2.27, with 48 strikeouts across only 35 2/3 innings.

6) Karns Strikes Out 12….
Nate Karns had a horrible April, after his trade to the Royals, however he seems determined to right the ship after his third decent performance in May. Karns didn’t make it beyond five innings yesterday, but did fan twelve whilst allowing two runs against the Orioles. He has 29 Ks across 17 1/3 May innings and has now lowered his ERA to 4.46. He will look to continue his revival against the Twins on Friday.

7) Teheran Strong Against The Marlins….
Julio Teheran pitched six shutout innings against Miami last night. Teheran has struggled mightily in his last few outings, and this represented his first quality start in a month – not quite what owners were hoping for when they drafted him as a borderline top 20 SP back in March. It’s still concerning that there were only four strikeouts versus two walks in this outing – he still sits with an ugly 34/22 K/BB rate across the year.

8) Bour Homers in Third Straight Game….
Justin Bour was having a pretty underwhelming 2017 just a few days ago, but he finally appears to have found his power stroke. Yesterday’s bomb was his third straight game with a long ball. Even so, his seven home runs on the season don’t figure too highly in a 2017 of huge power across the league, but it is worth keeping an eye on his progress.

9) Bautista Finding His Power Stroke….?
In what is another instance of the writer’s curse, I wrote off Jose Bautista in my Trade Counsel column earlier in the week. Obviously Bautista has taken that personally and seems determined to prove me wrong. Yesterday, he went 2-for-4 with a double and a home run, marking his third HR in the last four games. That said, he did only hit 4-for-17 across that time with three more strikeouts. Even with this upsurge he only has five homers on the season, so I’d say it’s too early to suggest he is anywhere near his old self just yet.

10) Moore’s Up-and-Down Season Continues….
When Matt Moore is good, he tends to be very good, and that trend continued yesterday against the Reds. Moore’s outing represented the third time this season that he’s gone seven or more innings giving up only a single run. The problem is, of course, that he’s given up 26 earned runs across the other five starts, never making it out of the sixth inning. Last night he managed to strike out seven whilst scattering eight hits and three walks. His ERA sits and an unsightly 5.67, so start him at your peril.

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