Another week of baseball is in the books, which means another week of NL East storylines, debuts, homecomings and plenty of chaotic games. So, without further ado, let’s see everything the division had to offer us during the last full week of May, from Monday, May 23, to Sunday, May 29.
Welcome to the Show
On Saturday, the Atlanta Braves called up the 59th overall prospect and their top prospect: Michael Harris II. Harris’ road to the show was unique, going from Double-A straight to the majors, skipping Triple-A all together.
Harris played center field and batted ninth in the Braves’ 4-1 loss to the Miami Marlins and on a day where Braves hitters were dominated by Miami’s starter Sandy Alcántara, Harris himself had a good day, going 1-3 and scoring the Braves lone run.
Welcome Back Trea
On Monday, the Washington Nationals hosted the Los Angeles Dodgers for a three-game series and, with this, brought the return of Trea Turner to Nationals Park.
In Turner’s five full seasons with the Nationals, he was a Rookie of the Year runner-up, MVP candidate, and a World Series champion. His tenure with the team ended in July 2021 when the Nationals decided to rebuild, trading him and Max Scherzer to the Dodgers.
After getting a standing ovation from the DC crowd, Turner went 1-4 and drove in three of the Dodgers’ ten runs in a 10-1 blowout win against his old squad.
Game of the Year
The New York Mets and San Francisco Giants provided us with an early candidate for game of the year on Tuesday down in the Bay Area. The Mets were down 8-4 heading into the top of the eighth and all signs pointed towards a Giants win– until chaos ensued.
The Mets’ offense exploded for seven runs in the inning and found themselves suddenly in front of the Giants 11-8 but Joc Pederson single-handedly brought the Giants back into it in the bottom half of the inning, hitting a three-run homer to tie it at 11, his third long ball of the game.
The Mets managed to swing momentum back their way in the top of the ninth due to a Brandon Nimmo sacrifice fly that plated Travis Jankowski and gave the Mets a one-run lead entering the bottom of the ninth but much like he did all game, Pederson continued to torment the Mets.
This time he hit a two-out, RBI single that tied the game at 12. Three pitches later, shortstop Brandon Crawford hit another RBI single to cap off a thriller in San Francisco as the Giants took the win, 13-12.
Hot Offense Cooled in the Nation’s Capital
In case you weren’t aware, the Dodgers have a good offense and score a lot of runs. In fact, they haven’t been shut out since August 29 of 2021. That is until they ran into the team with the second-highest team ERA entering play on Wednesday.
Nationals’ pitchers, Erick Fedde, Carl Edwards Jr, Kyle Finnegan, and Tanner Rainey combined for nine scoreless innings and held the Dodgers to six hits all game.
Finnegan got himself into a jam in the eighth inning, as the Dodgers had runners on first and second with two outs, but managed to strike out Dodgers DH Edwin Rios to escape. Rainey closed the door in the ninth to secure a 1-0 Nationals win.
Nationals second baseman César Hernández provided the only offense of the game in the sixth inning, hitting a single to score center fielder Victor Robles.
Bring Out the Brooms
With how hot the Mets have been this far into the season, you would be surprised to find out that they haven’t swept anyone entering play on Memorial Day weekend. Luckily for the Mets, they were about to face a team that they bullied all season as the Philadelphia Phillies came to Citi Field for a three game series.
The Mets took the first two games of the series, winning the first game 8-6 and holding off a late Phillies comeback, and scored seven unanswered runs to secure a 8-2 victory in the second game. However, things got dicey in the series finale.
The Mets pounced on the Phillies early, scoring three runs in the first inning and holding a 3-1 lead through the game’s middle innings. Then, a three-run home run by Nick Castellanos gave the Phillies a 4-3 lead in the top of the eighth.
The Phillies held this lead until the bottom of the ninth when rookie Nick Plummer hammered the first pitch of the inning to deep right field to tie the game at four, then Eduardo Escobar hit a walk-off single to finish the job in the tenth inning.
Injury Update
The Marlins placed reliever Cody Poteet on the 15-day injured list with a right elbow muscle issue on Sunday.
Mets reliever Drew Smith dislocated his finger during the Mets’ 5-4 victory over the Phillies on Sunday Night Baseball. He is considered to be day-to-day.
With May coming to a close, it’s time we check out this past week’s top performers, guys who struggled on the bump and at the dish, and the standings as we enter June.
Who’s Hot
Francisco Lindor (New York Mets, SS) – .348 AVG, 1.348 OPS, 6 XBH, 14 RBI, 10 R, SB
Dansby Swanson (Atlanta Braves, SS) – .481 AVG, 10 1B, 6.9 K%, 2 SB
Victor Robles (Washington Nationals, CF) – .412 AVG, 7 RBI, 4 SB, 0 CS
Pete Alonso (New York Mets, 1B/DH) – .438 AVG, 1.563 OPS, 2 HR, 9 RBI, 8.7 K%
Austin Riley (Atlanta Braves, 3B)- .393 AVG, 1.214 OPS, 3 HR, 5 RBI
Who’s Not
Kyle Schwarber (Philadelphia Phillies, LF) – .043 AVG, 32.3 K%, 0 XBH, 0 RBI
Lane Thomas (Washington Nationals, LF) – .053 AVG, .368 OPS, 33.3 K%
Rhys Hoskins (Philadelphia Phillies, 1B) – .143 AVG, .179 SLG, E3
Ranger Suarez (Philadelphia Phillies, SP) – 4.1 IP, 6 H, 4 BB, 10.38 ERA
Adam Duvall (Atlanta Braves, CF) – .105 AVG, 45.5 K%, 13.6 BB%, 11 LOB
Standings (As of Monday, May 30):
1. New York Mets 32-17
2. Atlanta Braves 23-25 (8.5 GB)
3. Philadelphia Phillies 21-27 (10.5 GB) 4. Miami Marlins 19-26 (11.0 GB)
5. Washington Nationals 18-31 (14.0 GB)
For comments/questions about this story tweet @TheWhitSports.
