Bases Covered is a daily roundup of the most interesting stories in baseball.
Bad news for the Mets
Mets left-hander Steven Matz is suffering from elbow soreness and will miss his next scheduled start on Saturday. The elbow flare-up is a big concern for the team, though manager Terry Collins told reporters they were erring on the side of caution in letting the 24-year-old sit out for a few days.
David Wright, too, is dealing with soreness, though in his case it’s his right shoulder. The Mets captain got the day off on Wednesday.
Good news for the Mets
Noah Syndergaard homered twice on Wednesday, helping his team to a 4–3 win over the Dodgers.
“I don’t think I ever hit two home runs when I played in little league,” Syndergaard told reporters.
On Thursday, Bartolo Colon will make his first start since hitting his first career home run. He’ll be facing off against Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw—a can’t miss matchup.
Goodbye, streak
The Cubs were on an eight-win streak, but that came to a halt on Wednesday when the team faced the Padres for a doubleheader at Wrigley Field. San Diego won both games, so Chicago’s record is now 25-8.
Despite the losses to a team that isn’t very good, the Cubs aren’t worried. They’ll have to lose a few every now and then. As Ben Zobrist told reporters:
“Here we are in May, and it’s the first time we’ve lost two in a row. It speaks volumes about how we’ve played so far, and we’re not going to let one day that we struggle deter us from continuing to do what we’ve been doing the last 1 1/2 months.
“Sexy”
Nationals ace Max Scherzer tied the MLB nine-innings strikeout record on Wednesday with 20, and the Nationals defeated the Tigers 3–2.
Speaking after the victory, Scherzer was keen to point out how sexy his performance was.
“Tonight, at the end of the night, it was a special night, because strikeouts are sexy,” said the 31-year-old righty. “And to be able to punch out 20, it’s sexy.”
Meanwhile, Bryce Harper has appealed the one-game suspension he received for his actions earlier this week. The 23-year-old was ejected from a game but emerged from the clubhouse and returned to the field following his team’s walk-off win (shouting some expletives in the umpire’s direction in the process).
Not-so-sweet sixteen
Cleveland’s matchup with Houston lasted 16 innings on Wednesday. The gruelling game finally ended courtesy of Marwin Gonzalez’s two-run home run, giving the Astros a 5–3 victory.