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Dugout Digest - homers for days

Written by Joe Lucia on .

It was an eventful night in MLB last night. We saw a pair of three homer game, and a trio of two homer games as well. The worst offender? That would be Camden Yards, where the Nationals and Orioles combined for eight homers in Baltimore's 9-6 win. A close second would be Philadelphia, where five of the night's seven runs came on solo homers.

PIC OF THE DAY

David Lough of the Royals slides into third base and gets a nice mouthful of dirt in the process. (Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports)

Game of the Night: Padres 3, Mariners 2 (ten innings). This game was deadlocked at one run apiece when Jason Bay homered in the ninth off of San Diego closer Huston Street to give Seattle a 2-1 lead. In the bottom of the ninth, the typically reliable Tom Wilhelmsen put the first three hitters he faced on base before allowing a game-tying sac fly to Kyle Blanks, but got out of the inning without any more harm. In the bottom of the tenth, Yoervis Medina somehow fared worse than Wilhelmsen, allowing an infield single and a single before intentionally walking Chase Headley to load the bases for Will Venable, who hit a ball that deflected off of Kendrys Morales' glove to give the Padres the win.

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Aaron Hicks' defense continues to be ridiculous

Written by Joe Lucia on .

I don't even know what to say about Minnesota Twins center fielder Aaron Hicks' defense anymore. The 23-year old rookie made another amazing catch on Wednesday night on a sinking liner hit by Rickie Weeks of the Brewers. Look at him just lay out and snag a single away from Weeks with the greatest of ease.

To top things off, Hicks came up in the top of the fifth inning for Minnesota and homered, as you see all too often in situations like this.

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Josh Sale indefinitely suspended by Rays

Written by Joe Lucia on .

Just as a quick update to a story we posted yesterday, the Tampa Bay Rays have suspended minor leaguer Josh Sale indefinitely for conduct detrimental to the organization, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Sale posted a Facebook status claiming that he threw change at a stripper, and was scheduled to join the Charlotte Stone Crabs of the Florida State League this week after serving a 50-game suspension for methamphetamine use.

Meth suspension, strike one. Being an idiot on social media, strike two. If the other shoe drops for Sale, I think he'll end up looking for a new organization. Our friends at Larry Brown Sports have pointed out that his Facebook page is gone, but his Instagram still lives on. You've got to believe that someone from the Rays has their eyes on that in case he slips up again.

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Once again, you shouldn't go crazy for closers

Written by Joe Lucia on .

Most savvy baseball people know that you don't throw handfuls of cash at closers (or any relief pitchers, for that matter). That doesn't stop teams from paying the big money though, because of the myth of the capital C closer. Let's quickly recap last season's top five closers in terms of saves, shall we?

1) Jim Johnson, Orioles
LAST YEAR: 51 saves, three blown saves, 2.49 ERA, 1.2 fWAR
THIS YEAR: 15 saves, four blown saves, 5.25 ERA, 0.1 fWAR

2) Fernando Rodney, Rays
LAST YEAR: 48 saves, two blown saves, 0.60 ERA, 2.3 fWAR
THIS YEAR: 9 saves, five blown saves, 5.48 ERA, -0.3 fWAR

3) Craig Kimbrel, Braves
LAST YEAR: 42 saves, three blown saves, 1.01 ERA, 3.3 fWAR
THIS YEAR: 16 saves, three blown saves, 2.21 ERA, 0.4 fWAR

4) Rafael Soriano, Yankees
LAST YEAR: 42 saves, four blown saves, 2.26 ERA, 1.2 fWAR
THIS YEAR: 14 saves, three blown saves, 2.86 ERA, 0.3 fWAR

5) Jason Motte, Cardinals
LAST YEAR: 42 saves, seven blown saves, 2.75 ERA, 0.9 fWAR
THIS YEAR: hasn't thrown a pitch, Tommy John surgery

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Vernon Wells is terrible again

Written by Garrett Wilson on .

Whatever deal Vernon Wells struck with the devil to revive his career upon his arrival in New York this season looks like it had a pretty early expiration date.

One of the most surprising developments of the early 2013 was that Wells, fresh off of being banished from Anaheim, landed in the Bronx and suddenly began playing like he was back in his prime. With a .300/.366/.544 slash line the first month of the season, Wells was one of the major reasons that the Yankees were able to not only survive the rash of injuries that struck their lineup but thrive. Vernon's strong performance even had them looking quite smart to trade for him even though the deal was roundly mocked at the time seeing how Wells was only a year removed for having one of the worst seasons of all-time for a full-time starting outfielder.

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Kyuji Fujikawa needs Tommy John surgery

Written by Jaymes Langrehr on .

Kyuji Fujikawa was signed to be Carlos Marmol's eventual replacement as Cubs closer. Now, just 12 innings into his stateside career, the right-hander needs Tommy John surgery.

Fujikawa left his May 26 outing against the Reds with what the Cubs were hoping was a forearm strain -- the same injury that cost him a month on the DL earlier this season. Fujikawa told reporters after the outing that he felt a pop in his elbow while facing Joey Votto, though, and an MRI yesterday confirmed the worst.

After being signed to a 2-year, $9.5 million deal this past winter, Fujikawa was quickly thrust into the closer's role when Marmol struggled out of the gate. Outside of two bad outings within the span of a week in April, he's been solid this season, striking out 14 batters in 12 innings and walking just two. Fujikawa landed on the DL following the second of those two nightmare appearances on April 12, but returned with a very strong month of May. In seven outings this month, he allowed just three hits in 7.2 innings, striking out 10.

With Kevin Gregg settling into the 9th inning during Fujikawa's first stint on the DL, Fujikawa had been mostly working the 8th inning since his return. Now, manager Dale Sveum is saying the Cubs will play matchups in the 8th, with Marmol, Carlos Villanueva and Rafael Dolis getting most of the work in that frame. As a whole, Chicago's bullpen has been middle of the pack, with their 3.96 ERA ranking 9th in the National League.

Fujikawa is slated to make $4.5 million this year and next, and the Cubs have a $5.5 million team option for 2015 that automatically vests based on games finished -- something that may be unlikely now that he'll miss the next year. In 8 seasons with the Hanshin Tigers, Fujikawa put up a 1.26 ERA in 541.1 innings, notching 220 saves.

[Twitter]

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Mariano Rivera throws out first pitch, blows save

Written by Joe Lucia on .

Before Tuesday's Yankees-Mets game, the ceremonial first pitch before the game was thrown out by retiring Yankees closer Mariano Rivera. Former Mets closer John Franco was the catcher for Rivera's pitch, and both men got a rousing ovation from the New York crowd.

A little less than three hours later, Rivera came in to close out the game for the Yankees. His outing was a very non-Rivera outing. It began with a Daniel Murphy ground rule double, putting the tying run on second base with none out. David Wright singled in Murphy to tie the game at one, handing Rivera his first blown save of the year. Lucas Duda then followed up with a single to right field to score right and give the Mets a walkoff win, and to hand Rivera a loss to go along with his blown save.

To top the outing off, it was the first time in Rivera's career that he blew a save without recording an out. Talk about a perfect storm.

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Dugout Digest - long doesn't mean "good"

Written by Joe Lucia on .

Last night, the Twins beat the Brewers 6-5 in 14 innings. Common logic dictates that because tha game went 14 innings, it must have been a thrill to watch. Well...not so much. After five innings, the game was tied at four. So essentially, in the final nine innings of the game, a total of three runs were scored. There were a total of three hits in the five extra frames of the game. EVen the great performances were a bit muted, as Jean Segura's six hits were all singles. To draw an analogy to another sport, this is like a football game that's 10-10 going into overtime, but if each team was scoreless in the second half of the game. Not exactly something that you'd love to watch, is it?

PIC OF THE DAY

Shin-Shoo Choo makes a catch in the lights. I like this for some reason. (Frank Victores-USA TODAY Sports)

Game of the Night: Rays 7, Marlins 6. Congratulations to the Miami Marlins for their loss last night, dropping their winning percentage to .250. Lord. Anyway, Miami scored four early runs off of Jeremy Hellickson, but the Rays stormed back to make it a 4-3 game. Chris Coghlan stretched the lead to two after a solo homer in the sixth, but Jose Lobaton doubled in a pair to tie the game. Miami once again took the lead in the eighth on a Greg Dobbs single, but Yunel Escobar singled home a run to once again tie the game. Finally in the ninth, Desmond Jennings singled in Kelly Johnson off of Chad Qualls to give Tampa Bay another win and move them to just a half game behind the Orioles for third place in the AL East.

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Marathon bombing survivors throw out first pitch at Red Sox game

Written by Joe Lucia on .

Before Tuesday night's Phillies-Red Sox game, the ceremonial first pitches were thrown out by two survivors of the Boston Marthon bombings. Jeff Bauman, who lost both of his legs in the blast and identified the suspects, and Carlos Arredondo, who helped save Bauman's life, were the honorees at Fenway Park. Arredondo wheeled Bauman out to the mound, and the pair each threw strikes to home plate to standing ovations from the crowd as well as the members of the Phillies and Red Sox.

Excuse me, it's getting a little dusty in here.

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Rays prospect Josh Sale brags about throwing change at a stripper

Written by Joe Lucia on .

Tampa Bay Rays prospect Josh Sale hasn't played an inning this year while serving a 50 game suspension for meth use. However, the 21-year old is still making headlines. According to Deadspin, Sale posted the below message on his Facebook page on Monday night, making light of throwing change at a stripper.

I really couldn't care less what a player does off the field as long as A) he's not an idiot about it and B) it doesn't affect his play on the field. He was literally *just* added to the roster of the Charlotte Stone Crabs today after serving his suspension, and now Sale is back in the news again for embarrassing reasons.

Sure, what he did wasn't illegal, but it's a black eye for the organization, and that's something no one wants. You've got to wonder if the Rays are going to put their foot down with him soon.

[Deadspin]

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