NEWSLETTER
With all the football going on, it’s easy to forget that we’ve got September baseball. Monday was a limited slate of action, which will be reflected in today’s MLBits, but let’s talk some baseball!
Trout Homers in 7th Straight
The Angels might not be playing in October, but Mike Trout is still giving Halos fans a reason to watch during the stretch run this season. The Angels slugger mashed another home run last night in a narrow loss to Cleveland, marking his seventh straight game with a dinger.
Trout is now one home run away from tying a trio of players as the only to hit home runs in eight straight games (Dale Long (1956), Don Mattingly (’87), and Ken Griffey Jr. (’93).
Trout now has 35 home runs on the season in just 100 games. The Angels take on the Guardians again tonight, and Cleveland is tossing right-hander Cody Morris. If you’re not doing anything this evening, maybe tune your MLB.TV account to that one, you might see some history made.
Home Run Races Update
The Yankees and Cardinals were both idle on Monday, but Albert Pujols hit career home run No. 697 over the weekend to move him just three home runs away from the 700 club.
The Cardinals start a series with the Brewers today and have 21 games to play this season.
As for fellow history-chaser Aaron Judge, the Yankees start a series with the Red Sox in Boston tonight. Judge sits at 55 home runs with 21 games to play. Judge is on pace to hit 64 home runs this season and is one ahead of Roger Maris’ 1961 pace.
Framber Valdez Ties Quality Start Record
If pitching wins championships, the Houston Astros are in good shape this season. Framber Valdez is a huge reason why. Valdez was sterling on Monday, firing a complete-game shutout, the first of his career in a 7-0 victory for the Houston Astros.
Valdez tied Jacob deGrom’s single-season MLB record with his 24th consecutive quality start on Monday. deGrom set his mark in 2018 before running it to 26 straight games to start the 2019 season. Bob Gibson made 26 straight quality starts in 1967-68. After tying deGrom’s single-season record, the overall 26-start streak is the last mark Valdez is chasing.
“It is big for me,” Valdez said of the streak through interpreter Jenloy Herrera. “It just shows me that a lot of the hard work I’ve put in, these are the results I’ve been getting.”
