Skenes, Misiorowski and Burns are part of an influx of talented young pitchers in the NL Central
He's just the latest young pitcher in the NL Central to show his impressive potential.
Pittsburgh's Paul Skenes, of course, finished third in the National League Cy Young race as a rookie last year. More recently, Milwaukee's Jacob Misiorowski threw 11 straight hitless innings to start his career and then beat Skenes in a head-to-head matchup Wednesday. Now Burns, the No. 2 pick in last year's draft, has reached the majors, and Skenes could have some help in his own rotation whenever Bubba Chandler — MLB Pipeline's No. 2-ranked prospect — is promoted to the Pirates.
These pitchers have given the NL Central quite a shot in the arm after the Chicago Cubs have appeared in control of the division at various points. Milwaukee has won 22 of its last 31 and trails the Cubs by just two games now. Cincinnati has won 14 of its last 21. Even the last-place Pirates have played better than .500 baseball for over a month, and they just swept three straight from the New York Mets by a combined score of 30-4.
Four teams in the NL Central are at least four games over .500, and every team has an ERA under 4.00 — the only division that can say that. These young starters, who have joined more established pitchers like Freddy Peralta of the Brewers and Hunter Greene of the Reds, suggest the future is bright in the division — as long as you're not a hitter.
SF slump
The Giants dropped two of three to the lowly Chicago White Sox immediately after losing three in a row to Miami. San Francisco is now 7 1/2 games behind the NL West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers and has gone 4-8 since its big trade for Rafael Devers.
Devers has hit .217 since arriving from the Boston Red Sox.
Trivia time
Washington's James Wood became the first player since Barry Bonds to be intentionally walked four times in a game Sunday. But which Hall of Famer drew five intentional walks in a game in 1990?
Line of the week
Sonny Gray — another NL Central pitcher — was sensational Friday night in St. Louis' 5-0 win over Cleveland, throwing a one-hitter with 11 strikeouts. Gray had not thrown a complete game since 2017 and hadn't thrown a shutout since 2015.
Gray did not have a walk, faced one batter over the minimum and threw only 89 pitches.
Comeback of the week
Miami trailed Arizona 7-3 before scoring three runs in the eighth, one in the ninth and one in the top of the 10th to win 8-7. Dane Myers stole second and third in the ninth before scoring the tying run on a sacrifice fly, and Agustín Ramírez put the Marlins ahead in extra innings with an RBI single.
Arizona's win probability peaked at 97.4% in the bottom of the seventh, according to Baseball Savant.
Honorable mention: Baltimore fell behind 6-0 in the second Friday night before blowing out Tampa Bay 22-8. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Orioles became the first American League or National League team to win by at least 14 runs after trailing by six.
Trivia answer
Andre Dawson of the Chicago Cubs was intentionally walked five times on May 22, 1990, against Cincinnati. The Cubs won that game 2-1 in 16 innings.
___
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
27 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Derrick Harmon injury update: Latest news on Pittsburgh Steelers rookie's status
Derrick Harmon injury update: Latest news on Pittsburgh Steelers rookie's status originally appeared on The Sporting News The Pittsburgh Steelers have an injury concern with their 2025 first-round pick, defensive lineman Derrick Harmon. Harmon suffered an injury in the first half of the preseason Week 3 game against the Carolina Panthers. Video from the broadcast showed Harmon on a cart with a towel over his head. Harmon appears to have suffered the injury in the second quarter. Here's what we know about Harmon's status thus far. Derrick Harmon injury update UPDATE: According to head coach Mike Tomlin, Harmon suffered a knee sprain, but he didn't offer any details beyond that. While we didn't get a timeline, the fact that it's a knee sprain is great news after Harmon's troubling reaction to the injury initially. END OF UPDATE UPDATE: Some good news to report on Harmon, as the Steelers rookie was back on the sideline with his teammates in the fourth quarter. "He's out here now on the sideline, sitting on the bench in between Cam Heyward and TJ Watt. The Steelers' locker room is on the opposite side of this sideline. He was able to walk out here in street clothes. So we're gonna take that as a good update," Steelers sideline reporter Missi Matthews said. The fact that Harmon was able to go back to the sideline under his own power strongly suggests he has avoided a significant injury. END OF UPDATE UPDATE: Steelers sideline reporter Missi Matthews spoke to head coach Mike Tomlin at halftime but he did not have an update and said Harmon is still being evaluated. END OF UPDATE UPDATE: Steelers Senior Director of Communications Burt Lauten has announced that Harmon is dealing with a knee injury and has been ruled out for the rest of the game. The severity of Harmon's injury remains unknown. Here's video of Harmon being carted to the locker room. The look on his face is not good. END OF UPDATE Here's the screen capture of Harmon on the cart from the aforementioned video. The exact injury remains unknown as of this writing. Brian Batko of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette had this to say about the look on Harmon's face as he was being carted to the back. "The look on Steelers first-round pick Derrick Harmon's face when they briefly showed a glimpse of him on the cart on the KDKA broadcast? Not good at all. Damn," Batko wrote. We'll update this page when more information is available. Taken with the No. 21 overall pick in April's draft, Harmon is expected to start in his first season in the NFL. It goes without saying that losing Harmon would be a tough blow to the Steelers' defensive front. MORE PITTSBURGH STEELERS NEWS Steelers predicted to cut 145-game starter at shaky position group Steelers urged to make trades with Commanders, Colts before Week 1 Will Howard injury update: Is Steelers QB playing in preseason Week 3? Steelers reportedly eyeing Patriots cut candidate Antonio Brown criticizes Pittsburgh Steelers' roster
Yahoo
27 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Brandon Lowe's smooth sliding stop
Brandon Lowe backhands a grounder with a smooth sliding stop and throws to first to retire Willson Contreras in the 9th inning
Yahoo
27 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Contreras HR, Burleson's 2 RBIs power the Cardinals to a 7-4 win over the Rays
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Willson Contreras homered, Alec Burleson's two-run single highlighted a five-run second inning and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Tampa Bay Rays 7-4 on Thursday night. Sonny Gray (12-6) allowed three runs on six hits in five innings, with six strikeouts and a walk for the win. Kyle Leahy, Matt Svanson and JoJo Romero (fourth save) combined to limit Tampa Bay to one run and five hits the rest of the way. Trailing 1-0 going into the second, the Cardinals got run-scoring hits from Nathan Church and Lars Nootbaar before another run scored on a wild pitch and Burleson drove in two runs with a single to right field. Ivan Herrera added an RBI single in the fourth and Contreras hit his 18th homer of the season in the seventh off Bryan Baker. Tampa Bay's Yardy Diaz hit a two-run homer in the third. It was his 17th homer at Steinbrenner Field and 21st of the season overall. Joe Boyle (1-3) took his first home loss this season. He allowed six runs, five earned, on nine hits with five strikeouts and three walks in five innings. Key moment Diaz, the Rays' veteran DH singled in the bottom of the fifth and injured his right hamstring. He left the game and is day-to-day. Key stat After allowing just one earned run in four previous starts at Steinbrenner Field, Boyle allowed five earned and six total Thursday. He also allowed a career-high nine hits. Up next Rays RHP Adrian Houser (6-4, 2.67 ERA) faces Cardinals RHP Miles Mikolas (6-9, 4.99) on Friday. ___ AP MLB:
