Daily Briefing: Join us for the Dodgers at Pirates Watch-Along, 12:30 ET

The FanGraphs Newsletter, June 10, 2021 [READ IN BROWSER]( By Jeffrey Bellone - June 10, 2021 🟢 CAPTAIN AMERICA After helping Team USA qualify for the Olympics on Saturday, Luke Williams became a hero in America's former capital city with a two-out, walk-off home run for the Phillies on Wednesday. Making his first career start in the big leagues, Williams went 2-4 at the dish, with his two hits the only two Philadelphia could muster against Atlanta pitching between the fourth and ninth innings. His final at-bat came with two outs, a runner on first, and the Braves nursing a 1-0 lead. He turned the second pitch he saw from reliever Will Smith into a game-winning home run. It was the first time a Phillies player had hit a walk-off home run in their first career start. “[We kind of spoke it into existence]( said teammate Zach Eflin, who watched the heroics in the trainer’s room after starting and pitching six innings. “We were like ‘He’s going to do it right here. Captain America is going to end this right here.’ The next pitch, he clubbed it. It was awesome.” ⚫️ WHAT ELSE HAPPENED? ▫️ Mets first baseman Pete Alonso said he has "[no problem]( with pitchers using foreign substances to help them control the baseball and shifted the blame on MLB for "manipulating" the baseball. "The biggest concern is MLB manipulates the baseball year in and year out depending on free-agency class, or guys being in an advanced part of their arbitration," Alonso told reporters on Wednesday. ▫️ The Arizona Diamondbacks lost their seventh consecutive game yesterday in Oakland. They have now lost 18 of 20, and extended their losing streak away from Chase Field to 19 games, matching a dubious mark previously met by the 1985 Pirates. Arizona is only three losses away from setting the all-time longest road losing streak (22). 📺 [FanGraphs Live: Dodgers at Pirates Watch-Along, 12:30 ET]( Join us for some day baseball as Jay Jaffe, Jason Martinez, and Ben Clemens hang out live on Twitch while watching the Dodgers take on the Pirates at 12:30 ET/9:30 PT. The matchup is [MLB’s Game of the Week Live on YouTube]( so everyone can tune in alongside while we chat on our [Twitch channel]( and the FanGraphs homepage. Dodgers lefty Julio Urías draws the start for LA, and you can bet that his [middling bunting skills]( will come up. On the other side, Mitch Keller is looking to get his year back on track. What’s troubling the talented righty? You can bet we will puzzle over that, too, in addition to discussing the Dodgers, Pirates, and the general state of the league. Pull up your desk chair, grab your daytime beverage of choice, and welcome the return of the [FanGraphs Live Watch-Along](. This newsletter is made possible due to the generous support of our members. If you are reading this email or use FanGraphs in your daily baseball routine, please consider supporting us. [BECOME A FANGRAPHS MEMBER]( YESTERDAY'S MOST PIVOTAL PLAY Besides Luke Williams' clutch hit, Brock Holt's single in the bottom of the 11th inning to give the Rangers a walk-off 4-3 victory over San Francisco was yesterday's most pivotal play. SCORES (HOME TEAMS IN CAPS) RANGERS 5 Giants 3 (11) ANGELS 6 Royals 1 REDS 7 Brewers 3 Mets 14 ORIOLES 1 Rockies 4 MARLINS 3 Astros 8 Red Sox 3 PHILLIES 2 Braves 1 Blue Jays 6 White Sox 2 Dodgers 2 PIRATES 1 Mariners 9 TIGERS 6 (11) CARDINALS 8 Cleveland 2 Yankees 9 TWINS 6 Cubs 3 PADRES 1 ATHLETICS 4 D-Backs 0 Nationals 9 RAYS 7 (11) Track every game using our [LIVE SCOREBOARD](. 📝 RECENTLY PUBLISHED [Baseball's Latest Sticky Situation]( by Brendan Gawlowski [John Curtiss, Now with Control]( by Ben Clemens [A Conversation with Dodgers Pitching Prospect Clayton Better]( by David Laurila [More Spin, More Problems: Hitter Performance Against High-Spin Fastballs]( by Devan Fink [Keeping Up With the KBO: May, Part Two]( by Justin Choi [Scripting the Reach-Out Calls: American League]( by Kevin Goldstein [Future Minor League Callups? Triple-A Hitter HR/FB Leaders - NL]( by Mike Podhorzer [Bullpen Report: June 10, 2021]( by Jason Martinez 🔝 TOP PERFORMERS Some additional performances not noted above. 🔺 LANCE LYNN (SP/CHW): 7 IP, 1 ER, 9 SO (9 swinging strikes), 0 BB, 4 H. 🔺 TAIJUAN WALKER (SP/NYM): 7 IP, 1 ER, 9 SO (10 swinging strikes), 1 BB, 5 H. 🔺 BILLY MCKINNEY (RF/NYM): 3-5 (2 HR, 5 RBI, 3 R) 🔺 GIANCARLO STANTON (DH/NYY): 3-5 (2 HR, 5 RBI, 2 R) Check out our [Live Daily Leaderboards]( to track each day's top performers in real-time. ⚾️ ROSTER REPORT For the latest roster information, please visit our [RosterResource]( pages. 📚 [Meet MLB photographer Danielle Cortez, who is hoping to help make baseball a more welcoming place for transgender people]( by Zach Buchanan, The Athletic ($): On Friday, Danielle Cortez will have a moment she never would have predicted. She’ll stand in front of the Chase Field mound, her fingertips gripping the seams of a baseball. The stands will be filled, at least by COVID-19-era standards, with Diamondbacks fans in a celebratory mood. It will be Pride Night, the Arizona Diamondbacks’ celebration of the LGBTQ+ community, and Cortez will be throwing out the ceremonial first pitch. 📚 [DJ LeMahieu is looking like his old, average self]( by Kenny Kelly, Beyond the Box Score: If LeMahieu was better and lucky in 2019, in 2021, he’s been worse and unlucky. His xwOBA of .331 is over 30 points higher than his actual wOBA, but it’s also more than 30 points lower than it was in the previous two seasons. His BABIP is a career-low .306 (line drives and Coors are a heck of a combination), but he’s also putting fewer balls in play by way of striking out a higher clip than he has since 2014. His wOBA on hard-hit balls (95+ mph) is nearly 100 points lower than it’s been in any other year of the Statcast era, but his hard-hit rate is also lower its lowest since 2016. 📚 MORE READS: [MLB Walk-up Song Tiers: The 30 greatest entrance songs in baseball history]( by Richard Dodd, The Athletic ($) [Staying Patient with Bobby Dalbec]( by Jai Correa, Pitcher List [Spider Tack, goo cops and an open secret: Answering 20 questions about MLB's foreign-substance mess]( by Jeff Passan, ESPN Insider [@fangraphs]( [FanGraphs]( [FanGraphs]( [RSS]( [FORWARD]( [SUBSCRIBE]( Copyright © 2021 FanGraphs Inc, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you subscribed to the FanGraphs Newsletter. Our mailing address is: FanGraphs Inc 1200 N Hartford St. Apt 312Arlington, Va 22201 [Add us to your address book]( Want to change how you receive these emails? You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe from this list](