The Mets are on the board. Now, it’s the Phillies’ turn. The club will look to end an eight-game slide in Chicago this afternoon.
1. Murakami’s home run streak
First baseman Munetaka Murakami took Ryan Thompson deep in the seventh inning of Wednesday’s contest. He’s now homered in five consecutive games, which puts him in impressive historical company (h/t Scott Merkin of MLB.com). Murakami’s homer streak ties him with Shohei Ohtani for the longest by a Japanese-born player. The five-game run matches the White Sox franchise record, set by several players. It also ties the MLB rookie record, which has been done 13 times. Colson Montgomery has also homered in four straight games, which is a record for a pair of teammates. The slugging infielders will look to keep it going against Michael Soroka on Thursday.
2. Ritchie getting the call
The Braves are promoting top prospect JR Ritchie for his MLB debut against the Nationals today. The right-hander was off to an excellent start in Triple-A, posting a 0.99 ERA across five appearances. Ritchie is taking the spot of fellow intriguing rookie Didier Fuentes, who allowed four earned runs over three innings on Wednesday, but did rack up seven strikeouts. Ritchie and Fuentes are likely to be up and down with the big-league club frequently as the organization tries to buy time for its injured starters to return.
3. Soriano’s historic start
Right-hander Jose Soriano navigated around seven hits to deliver five scoreless innings against the Blue Jays on Wednesday. The outing trimmed his ERA to 0.28. It’s the lowest mark through six starts since earned runs became an official stat in 1913, per MLB. Soriano has allowed one earned run all season, and it came in one of his most dominant outings. Drake Baldwin tagged him for a solo home run in the first inning of an April 6 start, but Soriano settled in for eight strong frames to beat Chris Sale and the Braves. He’s ripped off 24 2/3 scoreless innings since the Baldwin blast. Soriano is lined up to face the White Sox in his next start.
Photo courtesy of Rick Scuteri, Imagn Images
