MLB on Sling TV: Cardinals at Dodgers on ESPN; regional action on Fox Sports Networks
St. Louis Cardinals (Leake 1-3, 5.10) at Los Angeles Dodgers (Wood 1-3, 4.58) 8pm ET on ESPN
John Lackey had a very good 215 for the Cardinals, and then signed with the Cubs for $32 million over two years. The Cardinals tried to replace him with Mike Leake, signing him to a 5-year deal worth about $80 million. Whoops. Over his first 6 starts, Leake gave up more than a hit an inning, including 6 homers, leading to a 6.03 ERA and an 0-3 record. But on Tuesday, against the Angels, proud owners of the third-worst record in baseball, Leake got his mojo back: 8 IP, 6 IP, 1 R, 1 BB, 5 SO. Overall, Leake’s peripherals – strikeouts, WHIP, homers… are about in line with his career norms, there’s nothing that jumps out to suggest a 25% hike in ERA, but here we are.
Alex Wood was a promising 24-year-old when the Dodgers picked him up in the stretch run deal from the Braves. In 368 ⅔ innings, he posted a 3.42 ERA, with 3.12 SO/BB ratio, and a 1.27 WHIP. Since coming to LA, however, he’s gone 4.43, 2.32 and 1.31. He got off to an atrocious start this year, with 4 starts, 21 innings, 6.00 ERA, 1.1 SO/BB – heck, he’d given up more runs than strikeouts. But there have been signs of life since, as in each two of his last three starts he’s gone 6+ innings, struck out 9 and given up a total of 3 runs.
Here’s the action from the FOX Sports regional networks across the land: (Starters subject to change)
Chicago White Sox (Gonzalez 0-0, 4.91) at New York Yankees (Tanaka 1-0, 3.11) 1:05pm ET on YES
Minnesota Twins (Duffey 0-2, 2.60) at Cleveland Indians (Bauer 3-0, 3.86) 1:10pm ET on FOX Sports North & SportsTime Ohio
Oakland Athletics (Gray 3-4, 6.00) at Tampa Bay Rays (Smyly 1-4, 3.63) 1:10pm ET on Fox Sports Sun
Cincinnati Reds (Straily 1-1, 3.47) at Philadelphia Phillies (Morgan 1-0, 3.94) 1:35pm ET on FOX Sports Cincinnati
Detroit Tigers (Fulmer 2-1, 6.00) at Baltimore Orioles (Gausman 0-1, 2.16) 1:35pm ET on FOX Sports Detroit
Miami Marlins (Conley 2-2, 3.72) at Washington Nationals (Strasburg 5-0, 2.76) 1:35pm ET on FOX Sports Florida
San Diego Padres (Vargas 0-2, 3.54) at Milwaukee Brewers (Davies 1-3, 6.29) 2:10pm ET on FOX Sports San Diego & FOX Sports Wisconsin
Atlanta Braves (Wisler 1-3, 3.27) at Kansas City Royals (Duffy 0-0, 3.00) 2:15pm ET on FOX Sports Kansas City & FOX Sports South
Toronto Blue Jays (Sanchez 3-1, 2.58) at Texas Rangers (Ramos 0-2, 5.11) 3:05pm ET on FOX Sports Southwest
Los Angeles Angels (Santiago 2-2, 4.07) at Seattle Mariners (Hernandez 3-2, 2.27) 4:10pm ET on FOX Sports West
San Francisco Giants (Cain 0-5, 6.69) at Arizona Diamondbacks (De La Rosa 4-4, 3.93) 4:10pm ET on FOX Sports Arizona