Two weeks after winning the College World Series, LSU achieved a feat never accomplished before by any baseball program.
Tigers pitcher Paul Skenes was taken by the Pittsburgh Pirates with the first overall pick of Sunday's 2023 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft, one spot ahead of teammate Dylan Crews' selection by the Washington Nationals.
Skenes and Crews are the first set of teammates to be taken with the first two picks in the draft's history. Skenes also becomes the first college pitcher to go No. 1 overall since the Detroit Tigers took Auburn's Casey Mize in 2018.
The 21-year-old Skenes went 13-2 with a 1.69 ERA and 209 strikeouts in 122 innings this season as the ace of the LSU staff. The hard-throwing right-hander capped his tremendous junior campaign by being named the College World Series most outstanding player during the Tigers' run to the national title.
"He had an incredibly special season this year at LSU," Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said of Skenes. "I think we saw a really good pitcher at the end of the College World Series who has all the weapons to go on and succeed in pro ball but may still have more."
Crews, an outfielder, earned the Golden Spikes Award honouring the best amateur player in the United States in 2023. The Florida native hit .426 with 18 home runs and 70 RBIs in 71 games as a junior and concluded his college career having reached base safely in 75 straight games.
“He’s got a whole bag full of tools; he does everything well,” Nationals general manager and president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo said. “His baseball IQ is terrific. He’s a great baserunner -- he’s a fast runner, but he’s a great baserunner also. He plays both sides of the ball, defensively and offensively. He’s got a propensity to barrel up baseballs. He’s an on-base percentage machine."
Franklin, Indiana outfielder Max Clark, the national high school player of the year, was selected third overall by the Detroit Tigers. The Texas Rangers took University of Florida outfielder Wyatt Langford at No. 4, while North Carolina high school outfielder Walker Jenkins went fifth to the Minnesota Twins.
MLB: Darvish dominates as Padres blank Dodgers
Yu Darvish tossed seven scoreless innings and was backed by three San Diego homers as the Padres earned a series win over the Los Angeles Dodgers with Sunday's 4-0 victory.
Fernando Tatis Jr., Jake Cronenworth and Xander Bogaerts all had solo homers to support a third straight winning start for Darvish (3-1). The veteran right-hander yielded just two hits and a walk while striking out seven to extend his streak of consecutive scoreless innings to 18.
The Padres also got three hits from Jackson Merrill as they took two of three games from the National League West-leading Dodgers and improved to 8-3 over their last 11 contests.
Darvish retired the first 14 Los Angeles hitters and was staked to a quick 2-0 lead on back-to-back homers from Tatis and Cronenworth off Walker Buehler in the first inning.
Buehler (0-1), making his second start since returning from Tommy John surgery performed in August 2022, ran into more trouble in the fourth as the Padres loaded the bases with one out on a Merrill single, a walk and a hit batter. Ryan Yarbrough then relieved the right-hander and got Luis Arraez to ground into a fielder's choice that brought home Merrill.
Bogaerts' homer off Gus Varland in the fifth extended San Diego's lead to 4-0.
Buehler was removed after 3 1/3 innings and was charged with three runs allowed on five hits and two walks.
Yankees belt five homers to take series from Rays
The New York Yankees hit a season-high five home runs, including two from Jose Trevino, before holding on for a 10-6 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays in the rubber match of a three-game series between the American League East rivals.
Gleyber Torres added a three-run homer, while Aaron Judge and Jahmai Jones also went deep as New York bounced back from Saturday's 7-2 loss and won for the seventh time in nine games.
The Yankees also received six scoreless innings from Luis Gil (4-1), who allowed just three hits and two walks to win his third consecutive start.
Tampa Bay lost for the third time in four games despite Jose Siri's grand slam and a solo homer from Yandy Diaz.
New York built a 6-0 lead through six innings, with Anthony Volpe starting the scoring by leading off the game with a triple and crossing the plate on Juan Soto's sacrifice fly.
Jones' homer off Tampa Bay starter Tyler Alexander in the third inning extended the margin to 2-0, and Trevino took Alexander's pitch over the left field wall with Anthony Rizzo aboard in the fourth to increase the lead further.
Soto singled in front of Judge's 10th homer of the season to put New York up 6-0 in the fifth, but the Rays got back in it with five runs against the Yankees' bullpen in the seventh.
Tampa Bay loaded the bases against Caleb Ferguson on Richie Palacios' single, a double from Jonny DeLuca and a walk before Siri connected on his first career grand slam.
Nick Burdi then replaced Ferguson and walked the first two hitters he faced before hitting Randy Arozarena to load the bases again. Luke Weaver was then summoned from the bullpen and promptly hit Isaac Paredes with a pitch to force in a run and cut the lead to 6-5.
The Yankees answered, however, by scoring four times in the eighth.
A Giancarlo Stanton single and Rizzo's double put two on for Torres, who blasted a pitch from Shawn Armstrong into the left field seats for a 9-5 lead. Two batters later, Trevino took Erasmo Ramirez deep for his second career two-homer game.
Ian Hamilton served up Diaz's homer in the ninth before closing out the contest.
Rockies complete stunning sweep of defending champ Rangers
Ty Blach's five solid innings and a two-run homer from Ezequiel Tovar helped the Colorado Rockies finish a three-game sweep of the defending World Series champion Texas Rangers with Sunday's 3-1 win.
Blach (1-1) scattered seven hits while allowing one run in his second start of the season before turning things over to the Colorado bullpen, where relievers Victor Vodnik, Tyler Kinely and Jalen Beeks combined for four scoreless innings to close out the Rockies' season-high fourth straight win.
Colorado had compiled an MLB-worst 8-28 record prior to its current streak.
Texas, which has dropped three straight for the second time this season, did take an early lead when Corey Seager singled in the top of the first inning and later scored on Adolis Garcia's base hit.
The Rockies answered in the bottom of the inning, however, when Charlie Blackmon reached on a lead-off single and Tovar followed with his fourth homer of the season.
Those were the only runs allowed by Texas starter Jose Urena (1-3), who threw a season-high 6 2/3 innings and permitted six hits and one walk.
The Rangers couldn't generate any further offence, though, and Colorado tacked on an insurance run in the eighth when Ryan McMahon doubled and later crossed the plate on a bases-loaded walk issued to Brenton Doyle.
Beeks worked around a pair of hits in the ninth to record his third save of the season.
MLB: Braves lose combined no-hit bid on homer with 2 outs in 9th
Max Fried and two relievers combined on a no-hitter for 8 2/3 innings before J.D. Martinez homered to spoil the bid and the Atlanta Braves defeated the New York Mets 4-1 on Saturday.
Fried pitched seven no-hit innings but was pulled after throwing 109 pitches. Joe Jimenez walked two in a hitless eighth and Raisel Iglesias retired the first two batters in the ninth.
Martinez then homered just over the wall in right field on the next pitch off Iglesias, who walked Jeff McNeil and allowed Harrison Bader’s infield single before getting Brett Baty to fly to center.
The Braves fell just shy of their first no-hitter since Kent Mercker against the Dodgers on April 8, 1994. The no-hitter drought is the fourth-longest in the majors.
Orlando Arcia hit a two-run homer and Michael Harris II added three hits for the Braves, who won their fourth straight following a three-game skid.
Skenes debuts as Pirates outslug Cubs
Paul Skenes struck out 7 over four-plus innings in his major league debut and Yasmani Grandal hit a go-ahead three-run homer to give the Pittsburgh Pirates a 10-9 win over the Chicago Cubs.
Skenes, the first overall pick in the 2023 draft, reached 100 mph on 17 of his 84 pitches. He allowed at least one runner in every inning and was pulled after yielding a pair of hits to open the fourth. He was charged with three runs on six hits with two walks and a hit batter.
Pirates relievers Kyle Nicolas, Josh Fleming and Colin Holderman threw 26 balls in a span of 31 pitches sandwiched around a 2 hour, 20-minute rain delay in the top of the fifth.
The Cubs drew six bases-loaded walks in the fifth, the most by a major league team in a single inning since the Chicago White Sox had eight in the seventh on April 22, 1959.
Connor Joe, Oneil Cruz, Andrew McCutchen and Michael A. Taylor homered as Pittsburgh snapped a three-game skid.
Blue Jays rally to cool Twins
Ernie Clement snapped a seventh-inning tie with an RBI single and the Toronto Blue Jays erased a six-run deficit in a 10-8 win over the Minnesota Twins.
Danny Jansen hit a two-run homer and Bo Bichette and Davis Schneider added solo shots for the Blue Jays, who set season highs in runs and hits (16) to send the Twins to just their third loss in 19 games.
Carlos Santana had a three-run home run and Ryan Jeffers also went deep as Minnesota’s seven-game road winning streak was snapped one win shy of matching the team record.
The Twins opened a 7-1 lead headed to the bottom of the third, but the Blue Jays got two runs back in the bottom half and scored three more in the fifth on homers by Schneider and Jansen. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had a two-run single in the sixth to tie it and Clement and Schneider had RBIs in the seventh.
MLB: Phillies' Suarez becomes majors' first 7-game winner
Ranger Suarez continued his stellar start with seven scoreless innings and was backed by home runs from Nick Castellanos and Johan Rojas in the Philadelphia Phillies’ 8-2 win over the Miami Marlins on Friday.
Suarez allowed three hits with nine strikeouts and two walks to become the first seven-game winner in the majors. His 1.50 ERA is the second lowest in MLB.
Rojas and J.T. Realmuto each had three of Philadelphia’s 15 hits, while Bryce Harper had two with an RBI double.
The major league-leading Phillies have won 12 of their last 14 games.
Castellanos took Trevor Rogers deep in the second inning and Rojas added an RBI single later in the inning. He homered off reliever Eli Villalobos in the seventh to make it 7-0.
The Marlins dropped to 10-30 on the season and 1-6 since trading second baseman Luis Arraez to San Diego.
Arraez lifts Padres with walk-off hit
Luis Arraez singled home the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the San Diego Padres a 2-1 victory, ending the Los Angeles Dodgers’ seven-game winning streak.
Playing his first home game since he was acquired from Miami last Saturday, Arraez lined a single to center to score pinch-runner Tyler Wade with one out.
Padres starter Michael King struck out 11 and held the Dodgers to just two hits in seven scoreless innings.
Counterpart Tyler Glasnow was nearly as good, yielding his only hit over seven innings on Luis Campusano’s third-inning home run and striking out 10 for the third time in four outings.
The Padres have won seven of nine to move back over .500 (21-20).
Twins defeat Blue Jays to stay hot
Carlos Santana homered to snap a fifth-inning tie and Joe Ryan pitched one-run ball over seven innings to lead the surging Minnesota Twins to a 3-2 win over the Toronto Blue Jays.
Carlos Correa had two hits and two runs to help the Twins win for the 16th time in 18 games.
Ryan limited the Blue Jays to one hit without a walk and struck out seven for his first victory in three starts. Jhoan Duran worked the eighth and Griffin Jax pitched the ninth for his fifth save.
Santan’s home run off Yusei Kikuchi gave Minnesota at least one in 18 consecutive games in Toronto, extending the second-longest such streak in team history.
Isaiah Kiner-Falefa had a home run among his three hits as Toronto lost for the sixth time in eight games.
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