Baseball notes: Meyer a cool cat in win for Angels
Nothing could spoil Alex Meyer’s first big league win. Not even a “The Cat in the Hat” costume the Los Angeles Angels rookie was forced to wear for the team’s final road trip of the season.
Meyer gave up two hits in five innings, Mike Trout and Albert Pujols each scored twice and the Angels beat the Toronto Blue Jays 4-0 on Sunday.
The Blue Jays fell out of a tie with Baltimore for the top A.L. wild-card spot and lead Seattle by two games for the second spot. Toronto has yet to win a series in September.
Meyer, who addressed the media in a costume several inches too short for his 6-foot-9 frame, struck out a career-best seven and walked three in the longest outing of his career.
Meyer worked with pitching coach Charles Nagy and special assistant to the general manager Bud Black over the last few days to move his arm slot higher, closer to where it was when he pitched in college at Kentucky. Meyer watched his younger self on YouTube in an effort to match that same delivery.
“We kind of just tried to pick some things from back then and work on trying to stay a little bit taller on the mound and keep my arm slot up a little bit,” Meyer said. “It was a good change today.”
It led to the success Meyer was seeking.
“It was awesome, it’s something that you think about for a long time,” Meyer said.
Reyes, Cardinals blank Giants, tighten N.L. wild-card race
Alex Reyes arrived in the majors this year already packing some of the best stuff in baseball.
On Sunday, the 22-year-old Cardinals right-hander showed he can handle the spotlight just fine, too.
Reyes pitched seven dominant innings in his third major league start, fellow rookie Aledmys Diaz hit a two-run homer and St. Louis moved up in the tight N.L. wild-card race by winning 3-0 at San Francisco.
The Giants dropped one game behind the New York Mets for the top N.L. wild-card spot. The Cardinals closed within one game of San Francisco.
Reyes has thrived since being called up on Aug. 9 when Michael Wacha went on the disabled list with shoulder discomfort.
“Coming into the series you know it’s going to be a playoff atmosphere,” Reyes said. “Being on the field for the first time here in San Francisco it was fun and it was exciting to be on the mound.”
Clearing the bases
The Diamondbacks are parting with senior vice president of baseball operations De Jon Watson, and chief baseball officer Tony La Russa says he and general manager Dave Stewart may also be fired after the season. … Detroit slugger Miguel Cabrera became the 100th player to reach 2,500 hits of his career. … Home plate umpire Brian O’Nora sustained a concussion when he was hit by a foul ball off the bat of San Francisco’s Hunter Pence and second base umpire Laz Diaz called the rest of the game behind the plate.