A look at what’s happening around the majors today:
DO IT AGAIN
One night after Zach Davies and three Cubs relievers combined for the seventh no-hitter in the majors this year, matching the most in a season since 1900, Jake Arrieta pitches for Chicago against the World Series champion Dodgers.
Until Thursday night, Los Angeles hadn’t been no-hit since Arrieta’s gem with the Cubs in Chavez Ravine on Aug. 30, 2015. Arrieta (5-8, 5.45) is 0-4 with an 8.20 ERA in his last five starts.
ROCKET MEN
Carlos Correa and the Astros try for their 12th consecutive victory when Framber Valdéz (4-0, 1.67 ERA) starts in Detroit — although the weather forecast calls for heavy rain. Houston’s streak is one shy of the team record, set in 1999 and matched in 2004 and 2018. The Astros have outscored opponents 91-24 during the winning run.
BACK IN BEANTOWN
Domingo Germán (4-4, 4.17 ERA) starts for the New York Yankees in their first game in front of fans at Fenway Park since 2019. MartÃn Pérez (5-4, 4.32) pitches for the rival Boston Red Sox, who will honor former second baseman and fan favorite Dustin Pedroia during pregame ceremonies. Pedroia spent his entire 17-year pro career in the Boston organization.
ON THE ROAD AGAIN
After a day off, the staggering Arizona Diamondbacks visit San Diego looking to stop a 23-game road losing streak that marks the longest in modern major league history. The Diamondbacks (21-55) have dropped 19 of their last 20 games and 42 of 48. They’re on pace to lose more than 115 times this season.
POWER TRIP
Miami right-hander Pablo López (3-4, 2.86 ERA) tries to slow down Kyle Schwarber and the visiting Nationals. Schwarber homered twice Thursday night against the Marlins, raising his season total to 21 by hitting 12 in his past 13 games, and the Nationals won for the 10th time in 11 games.
Schwarber became the first player in big league history to homer 11 times in a 13-game span from the No. 1 slot in the batting order, according to STATS. He is the fourth player with eight home runs and 15 RBIs in a five-game stretch, joining Shawn Green, Manny Ramirez and Frank Howard.
López pitched seven shutout innings against the Chicago Cubs last Saturday.
HOMECOMNG
Los Angeles Angels manager Joe Maddon, who guided the Rays to the 2008 AL pennant, will manage his second series at Tampa Bay as an opposing skipper this weekend and first since he was with the Chicago Cubs in September 2017.
FILLING BALLPARKS
The Chicago White Sox, Houston, Milwaukee and San Francisco all move to full capacity for the first time since 2019, raising the total to 24 teams at 100%. Five teams are scheduled to reach full capacity in the next 10 days: Colorado (Monday), Oakland (June 29), Pittsburgh (July 1), Minnesota and Tampa Bay (July 5). Toronto, forced from home by Canadian government coronavirus restrictions, is playing home games at the field of its Triple-A team in Buffalo, New York.
BAY AREA BRAGGING RIGHTS
Sean Manaea (6-3, 3.01 ERA) is on the mound when the Oakland Athletics end the first of their three 10-game trips this season close to home. They play an interleague game against Johnny Cueto (5-3, 4.05) and the major league-leading Giants in San Francisco, meaning Manaea gets an opportunity to hit for the first time since 2018. The left-hander has a 1.19 ERA over his last six starts, allowing only five runs in 37 2/3 innings.
WRONG NUMBERS
Matt Harvey is 0-8 with an 11.49 ERA in his last nine starts for the Orioles, leaving him 2-8 with a 7.80 ERA going into his outing against the Blue Jays in Buffalo, New York.
Alek Manoah (1-0, 4.18) pitches for Toronto while appealing a five-game suspension assessed by Major League Baseball senior vice president Michael Hill, who concluded the rookie intentionally threw at Baltimore’s Maikel Franco last weekend when he hit him on the left shoulder with a 94 mph pitch, just after allowing consecutive homers to Ryan Mountcastle and DJ Stewart.
Baltimore has lost 20 straight road games, equaling the 1916 Philadelphia Athletics for the second-longest skid in AL history, trailing only the 22 road losses in a row by the 1943 A’s. The Orioles have dropped 14 of 15 overall, including consecutive losses of 13-0 and 9-0.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and the Blue Jays have won a season-high five straight.
MINOR RETURNS
Royals left-hander Mike Minor (6-4, 4.48 ERA) is set to pitch at Texas for the first time since the Rangers traded him to Oakland late last season.
The 33-year-old Minor was 26-23 with a 4.00 ERA over three seasons with Texas. He made his only All-Star team there in 2019, a career year when he struck out 200 batters and finished eighth in AL Cy Young Award balloting. Minor faced the Rangers in Kansas City in his Royals debut, pitching four-run ball over six innings on April 3 in an 11-4 win.
Dane Dunning (2-6, 4.71) is slated to start for the Rangers.
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