Rotoworld:

09.12: Juan Soto went 2-for-3 with a run scored and a pair of walks on Sundayin the Nationals' win over the Pirates. (Soto has been a certifiable on-base machine in the second half. He reached base safely in four of his five plate appearances in this one. The 22-year-old fantasy superstar owns a stratospheric .311/.457/.528 triple-slash line with 97 runs scored, 25 home runs, 83 RBI and nine stolen bases across 565 plate appearances this season.)

Rotowire:

Management did nothing to really make this team better. Kimbrel has struggled adjusting to the set up role, which is not surprising. You need to look at SIms' performance in "Game Level" situations on baseballreference.com.  16 hits, 4 HRs, 6.46 ERA in 15 innings in SAVE situations. His ERA in August games that mattered was 6.75. And not much better in no decision situations. The guy cannot pitch when the game matters.  That's the point. Hand the ball to Sims in a clutch situation, and expect the worst, as shown on Sunday vs the Cards.

Continues to pitch well. The other day he followed up a leadoff single with 9 straight outs -- 5 Ks and 4 ground balls.

Burnes was at a season high 115 pitches on a team headed for the pennant and a team that values low pitch counts more than almost any other team. 

Kimbrel has a 5.68 ERA and 3 Blown Saves for the White Sox while Mychal Givens has 7 Saves and a 1.17 ERA  in 15 1/3 IP when he's come in a tie game or to ;protect a lead for the Reds. Luis Cessa has a 1.76 ERA for the Reds....both of those FAR from lackluster. Kimbrel has been the lackluster one. 

Far more exciting than 3,000 K, he was well on his way to a Maddux!  92 pitches through eight. 

Justin Bruihl, the pressure on, got three groundouts on six pitches.

He's making a claim for the Cy Young Award despite not being near the top in IP this year. Missed a perfect game by giving up a hit in the later innings, ultimately to be pulled.  BTW, he also racked up his 3,000th K in the same game.  He's got one more big contact left in him.  Maybe he'll get 3 years given that his health doesn't seem at risk right now.

Still don't know what the Reds see in this guy.  Another crushing loss delivered by Sims in a crucial 4-4 tied game with the Cards. Don't think management has a clue about evaluating RPs. And they did nothing to "fix" the Reds for a playoff run at the trade deadline. 3 lackluster RPs while teams like the White Sox nabbed Tepera and Kimbrel, and 5 other closers changed hands. Even Brad Hand would have been a good choice last week.

Set down the first 18 in order. But no-nos are so common these days that it was no big deal, as far as I can tell, when he didn't come out for the ninth.

Josh Hader sealed the ninth no-hitter this season, breaking the record set in 1884, the first year pitchers threw overhand.

Yesterday's Top Performers

Pitchers:

Corbin Burnes* (MIL): 8.0 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 1 BB, 14 K, 95 GmSc

Zack Wheeler* (PHI): 6.2 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 8 K, 68 GmSc

Cole Irvin (OAK): 7.0 IP, 2 ER, 6 H, 1 BB, 8 K, 64 GmSc

Jose Suarez (LAA): 5.2 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 3 BB, 7 K, 63 GmSc

Walker Buehler (LAD): 7.0 IP, 2 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 5 K, 60 GmSc

View All of Yesterday's Pitchers at Baseball-Reference.com

* - pictured above

Yesterday's Top Performers

Batters:

Jorge Polanco* (MIN): 3-5, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 2 R

Tommy La Stella* (SFG): 3-6, 1 HR, 5 RBI, 3 R

James McCann* (NYM): 2-4, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 2 R

Aaron Judge (NYY): 2-4, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 2 R

Austin Hays (BAL): 2-5, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 2 R

Daulton Varsho (ARI): 3-4, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 1 R

Nolan Arenado (STL): 2-4, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 2 R

Brandon Belt (SFG): 2-4, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 2 R

Bryan Reynolds (PIT): 2-3, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 2 R

Luis Robert (CHW): 4-5, 3 RBI, 1 R

View All of Yesterday's Batters at Baseball-Reference.com

* - pictured above

Rotoworld:

09.11: Michael Pineda pitched well in Saturday's victory over the Royals,allowing just one run on five hits across five frames. (The veteran right-hander struck out three in the ballgame and didn't walk a batter. The only blemish on his day came on an RBI single by Andrew Benintendi in the fourth inning. The 32-year-old hurler has pitched well in 20 appearances (19 starts) this season, compiling a 3.87 ERA, 1.22 WHIP and 79/18 K/BB ratio across 93 innings on the year. He'll square off against the Blue Jays in Toronto his next time out on Friday.)

Rotowire:

I'm afraid it is, Bob.

But Shohei has clearly tired.

At the plate in his last 16 games: .154/.313/.385.

On the mound in his last three starts: 7.04 ERA, 1.50 WHIP.

And even so, he last night became the fourth pitcher in 63 years to get an intentional walk.

Stathead Spotlight: Shohei Ohtani

Most recent pitchers to be intentionally walked

See the full list at Stathead.com's Batting Game Finder

Yesterday's Debut

PH/DH Seth Beer (ARI)

Born: September 18, 1996 (Age: 24-357d)

Drafted: Drafted by the Houston Astros in the 1st round (28th) of the 2018 MLB June Amateur Draft from Clemson University (Clemson, SC).

Debut: 1-1, 1 hr, 1 rbi, 1 r

Joey hit a homer last night but it's fair to say he's still not having fun.

Saturday, September 11
Yesterday's Top Performers Batters: Andrew Benintendi* (KCR): 4-5, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 3 R Tom Murphy* (SEA): 2-3, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 2 R Eduardo Escobar* (MIL): 2-5, 2 HR, 2 RBI, 2 R Brandon Belt (SFG): 2-3, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 2 R Cedric Mullins (BAL): 1-4, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 R, 2 SB Bobby Dalbec (BOS): 2-4, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 R Jared Walsh (LAA): 2-3, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 R Starling Marte (OAK): 3-5, 2 RBI, 2 R Jose Altuve (HOU): 3-4, 1 RBI, 3 R Matt Olson (OAK): 4-5, 4 RBI View All of Yesterday's Batters at Baseball-Reference.com * - pictured above

Dan Martin describe the debacle:

The Yankees began to resuscitate their season when they played the Mets in July.

They took another step towards burying it with an embarrassing loss to their crosstown rivals on Friday night.

The pitching was brutal, the fielding was laughable and the bats once again were silent in a 10-3 defeat to the Mets in front of 37,288 at Citi Field, as the Yankees lost their season-worst seventh straight to open the Subway Series.

... With runners on first and second and two outs, Baez singled to left. Joey Gallo’s strong throw home easily beat Jonathan Villar to the plate, but Sanchez froze and somehow missed the tag on the sliding Villar.

Villar was initially called out on the play, but the Mets challenged it and the call was reversed, resulting in a tie game.

It was a stunning mental and physical error that displayed what bad shape the Yankees have been in since the end of the 13-game winning streak that seems to have happened three years ago rather than just two weeks ago.

https://nypost.com/2021/09/10/mets-rout-reeling-yankees-in-subway-series-opener/

I'll have to fix his Cubs stats at the end of the season.

Meanwhile the love keeps growing in Queens. Not so much in the Bronx.

Javier Baez (SS) NY-N - Sep. 10
https://www.rotowire.com/baseball/player.php?id=805766

Baez went 3-for-4 with a double, two RBI and a run scored in Friday's 10-3 win over the Yankees.

ROTOWIRE RECOMMENDS: Baez knocked an RBI single in the first inning and an RBI double in the fourth. It was already his fifth multi-hit game in September after producing three in August. Over his last eight games, the slugging infielder has gone 14-for-29 (.483) with six extra-base hits and seven RBI. Baez now owns an .807 OPS with 80 RBI through 472 plate appearances.

Nick Anderson (P) TB - Sep. 10
https://www.rotowire.com/baseball/player.php?id=805738

Manager Kevin Cash announced Friday that Anderson (elbow) is with the team in Detroit and could be activated during the weekend series against the Tigers, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.

ROTOWIRE RECOMMENDS: Anderson has yet to pitch in a big-league game this season after tearing an elbow ligament during spring training, but the right-hander appears to be on the brink of making his 2021 debut. He's allowed just one earned run on three hits across his last five outings with Triple-A Durham, and given that he's back with the Rays, his next outing figures to come in the majors, possibly as soon as this weekend. Anderson posted an impressive 0.55 ERA and 0.49 WHIP across 16.1 innings during the abbreviated 2020 campaign.