a july dog day
It was a good day to be a Bulldog in the big leagues. Six Mississippi State alumni played on Wednesday and all six celebrated a win. None was bigger than Baltimore’s 8-5 victory against the Los Angeles Dodgers that moved the surging Orioles into first place in the American League East. Jordan Westburg went 2-for-4 for the O’s and contributed an RBI and a run in a four-run first inning. Rookie Westburg is batting .276 with seven RBIs and nine runs in 16 games since his June 26 call-up. The Orioles begin a series at second-place Tampa Bay today. The slumping Rays fell behind Baltimore in the standings after a 5-1 loss to streaking Texas; Nathaniel Lowe was 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI for the Rangers, who’ve won six straight and lead the AL West. Lowe is hitting .280. The Los Angeles Angels completed their first three-game sweep of the last-place New York Yankees in 14 years, winning 7-3 as Hunter Renfroe drew a couple of walks and scored a run. The Angels climbed over .500 at 49-48. Brent Rooker was 0-for-2 for Oakland but did get to watch the lowly A’s beat Boston 6-5. In the National League, Dakota Hudson pitched three innings (two runs allowed) in his first start of the season for St. Louis and Chris Stratton pitched the ninth (one run) for his first save of 2023 as the Cardinals beat Miami 6-4 for their fifth straight win. Hudson has a 2.77 ERA in five games since being recalled from Triple-A; Stratton has a 4.17 in his 38 appearances. P.S. Former MSU standout Cade Smith has signed with the Yankees, becoming the fifth of the 14 players drafted out of Mississippi this year to sign. The right-hander was a sixth-round pick. … Former Southern Miss star Chuckie Robinson went 3-for-4 with four RBIs for Triple-A Louisville (Cincinnati system) and is batting .338 (sixth in the International League) with 52 RBIs. … Ole Miss product Mike Mayers gave up four runs in three innings and took the loss in his first game with Triple-A Charlotte; Mayers, an MLB veteran, was traded from Kansas City to the Chicago White Sox last week. … Jackson Prep’s Konnor Griffin has been invited to USA Baseball’s 18U national team tryout camp set for Aug. 21-25 in California. Those who make the final roster will compete for Team USA in the U-18 World Cup in Taiwan in September. … The Mississippi Baseball Congress (semi-pro) state tournament will be played this weekend at Mississippi College’s Frierson Field. Five teams, including the top-seeded Hattiesburg Black Sox and the Meridian Benchwarmers, are in the tournament, which starts Friday. Black Sox coach Trey Aby will be inducted into the state’s Semi-Pro Hall of Fame during the weekend.