Despite the new MLB rules MLB RULES that seemed to hurt the players, the athletes are performing better than ever. There have been several notable accomplishments this week, and there is still plenty of baseball left.
Miguel Cabrera is the king of the base
Miguel Cabrera experienced his best moment of the 2023 season on Tuesday night. During a game against the Texas Rangers, he reached 3,106 hits in his illustrious MLB career and surpassed Ken Griffey Jr. in on-base hits for 15th all-time.
Notably, he faced fellow Venezuelan player Martín Pérez for two of his at-bats. This performance was reminiscent of Cabrera's best years, where he struck fear into the hearts of the best pitchers in the sport.
For the current contest, he has accomplished a feat of hitting 3 unstoppable homers in a single game for the first time. The last time he was able to do this was about a year ago, on July 5, 2022, when he had a successful 3-3 score against the Cleveland Guardians.
For May alone, Cabrera has a .315 average (1720-541), .387 slugging percentage, .529 slugging, .916 OPS, with 106 doubles, 4 triples, 85 home runs, 268 runs scored (the most in any month) and 287 RBIs.
The Tigers' June schedule will consist of games against a variety of teams. They will face the Chicago White Sox, Philadelphia Phillies, Arizona D-backs, Atlanta Braves and Kansas City Royals three times each. In addition, they will have seven games against the Minnesota Twins, four against the Rangers and a single game against the Colorado Rockies.
Blue Jays defeat the Brewers
The Toronto Blue Jays won 7-2 against the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday night, thanks to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Alejandro Kirk, who both managed to get three hits, as well as Whit Merrifield, who drove in two runs and reached base twice for Toronto.
Toronto finally ended its four-game losing streak thanks to the efforts of Brandon Belt and Cavan Biggio, who managed to drive in runs and reach base three times each.
Although William Contreras hit a two-run home run, marking his second successful home run in two consecutive games, the Brewers unfortunately experienced their fourth loss in a span of five games.
In five innings, Yusei Kikuchi (6-2) managed to allow just two runs and three hits, finally snapping his three-start winless streak. Although he struck out four batters, he also walked five, which marks his season-high.
In the game, Pearson pitched for two innings, followed by Cimber who got two outs during the eighth inning. Mayza came to the plate to retire Tellez and prevent the runners from advancing. The Toronto team was able to close out the game successfully with the help of Dominican infielder Garcia.
The Dominican Guerrero had an impressive 5-3 performance that included a strikeout and a hit while playing for the Blue Jays. On the other hand, Mexico's Kirk managed to score a run with a 4-3 record.
Miguel Cabrera's 3106th hit and 5,272nd base hit, surpassing Ken Griffey Jr. for 15th all-time in the major leagues 💥💥
Video: IVC#TEX 9-6 #DET | 8th inning 🔽#MLB #Texas #Detroit #BigLeague #Baseball pic.twitter.com/kwviNhCUsr
- BeisbolPlay (@beisbolplaycom) May 31, 2023
Cubs outlast the Rays
The Chicago Cubs secured a 2-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday, with Nico Hoerner connecting on a home run and the team capitalizing on a rare error by their opponents. This handed Shane McClanahan his first loss of the season.
In the sixth inning, with the game tied 1-1, Ian Happ was up to bat first. He hit a short pop that fell between Brandon Lowe and Josh Lowe, who appeared to be confused and made an obvious miscommunication.
Hitting a double, Happ singled home a run to second base. After that, Seiya Suzuki was unable to connect as Trey Mancini hit a ground ball to second base. Finally, a Mike Tauchman single to left field sealed the deal and broke the tie.
Kyle Hendricks was relieved by Julian Merryweather, Mark Leiter Jr. and Adbert Alzolay, who together managed four innings of relief for the team and allowed just one hit. As a result, Julian Merryweather earned his first major league victory, while Adbert Alzolay earned his second save after securing six outs.
In his 5 2/3 innings, McClanahan (8-1) allowed six hits while striking out seven and walking two. The left-hander hoped to become the starting pitcher in team history to own a 9-0 season-opening record.
The Rays had a good game with notable performances from their Dominican players, specifically Wander Franco, Manuel Margot and Francisco Mejia. Mexican player Randy Arozarena also had a good game, while Isaac Paredes struggled. In addition, Colombian Harold Ramirez had a good performance.
The record for the Cubs was unblemished, as they were propelled to victory by Christopher Morel, the player from the Dominican Republic who helped the team win all three games.
