pennant fever rises

The chase for playoff berths is getting real in MLB, and a bunch of Mississippians are in the thick of things. The most compelling game on Tuesday was Houston-Los Angeles, a “rematch” of the 2017 World Series before 52,692 vocal fans at Dodger Stadium. Former Mississippi State standout Kendall Graveman, in his second appearance for first-place Houston, helped send Dodgers fans home disappointed by throwing a scoreless eighth inning in a 3-0 victory. L.A. is running second in its division. … Tim Anderson, the East Central Community College alum, went 3-for-4 with his 10th homer of the season to spark the first-place Chicago White Sox to a 7-1 win over Kansas City. Ocean Springs’ Garrett Crochet threw a scoreless inning for the ChiSox. McComb’s Jarrod Dyson went 0-for-2 for the Royals, who are not a playoff contender. … Austin Riley, the ex-DeSoto Central High star, had a pair of hits and scored a run in Atlanta’s 6-1 win against St. Louis in a matchup of third-place teams still in the postseason hunt. … MSU product Hunter Renfroe belted his 17th home run for Boston, but the second-place Red Sox lost to resurgent Detroit 4-2. … Ex-Meridian CC standout Corey Dickerson went 0-for-4 in his Toronto debut, but the Blue Jays got a big win, 7-2, against Cleveland in a contest of two clubs fighting to hang on in the wild card race. Gulfport’s Bobby Bradley went 2-for-4 with an RBI for the Indians. … San Diego beat Oakland 8-1 in an interleague matchup of wild card chasers, but none of the Mississippi college products on the two rosters – Adam Frazier, Drew Pomeranz and Mitch Moreland – got in the game. Game 2 of the series is today. P.S. If St. Louis is still in the playoff race come September, the Cardinals might get a lift from Dakota Hudson’s return. The State alum, who had Tommy John surgery last September, has been throwing to live batters since mid-July. Right-hander Hudson, a former first-round pick, was 3-2 with a 2.77 ERA last year before he was shut down and is 23-10, 3.17 for his MLB career. If he does in fact return, Hudson likely would pitch out of the bullpen, which he did as a rookie for the Cards in 2018. … Worth noting: Ex-Mississippi College star Blaine Crim homered Tuesday in his Double-A debut for Frisco in the Texas system. He had 20 bombs at High-A Hickory (see previous post). … Also worth noting: Last Sunday, Brandon Parker, the Mississippi Gulf Coast CC alum from Saucier, hit a home run for Low-A Augusta (Atlanta system) that was caught by his little brother on a walkway beyond the left-field wall.