No shortage of suspense in closest day of games in nearly 37 years
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Monday was full of nail-biting games across baseball.
The dozen games that were played in the Majors were decided only by 20 runs. According to STATS, that is the smallest combined run differential on a single day with at least 12 games since August 6, 1989 (13 games were also decided by 20 runs that day).
Of the 12 games on Monday, eight of them were one-run affairs:
- Royals 2, Rays 1
- Rangers 4, Marlins 3
- Brewers 2, Reds 1 (10 inn.)
- Dodgers 2, Twins 1
- White Sox 6, Guardians 5
- Cardinals 3, D-backs 2
- Rockies 3, Red Sox 2
- Padres 1, Braves 0
Three of the other games were decided by three runs or fewer. The only true blowout game occurred in Anaheim, where the Orioles took down the Angels 6-1 in a game that wasn't short on intrigue, either.
These low-scoring games meant we saw plenty of excellent pitching performances across baseball. Coming off the injured list, Milwaukee's Brandon Woodruff retired the first 15 Reds hitters he faced and struck out 10 batters across six scoreless innings. San Diego's Michael King tossed seven scoreless innings against a high-octane Braves lineup.
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Elsewhere, we saw Anthony Kay (White Sox) blank the Guardians with six scoreless innings. Foster Griffin (Nationals) struck out nine Phillies hitters and allowed one run in 7 1/3 innings. And Michael Wacha (Royals) allowed one run in seven innings against the Rays.