'Oh, he's nasty,' but Gallo undefeated no longer
Juan Toribio
@juanctoribioThe 1972 Miami Dolphins can pop the champagne; Rangers slugger Joey Gallo lost to Dodgers infielder Gavin Lux on Thursday and won¡¯t go undefeated in the MLB The Show Players League.
Gallo came into Thursday¡¯s play sporting the only 8-0 record, becoming the talk of the digital-baseball world and the clear favorite to win the league. Through the first eight games, Gallo has been calling out pitches, hitting dingers with himself and building a plus-40 run differential entering Thursday's action.
The night began with Gallo cruising to a 2-0 win against Ryne Stanek (Marlins), before moving on to a much-anticipated battle against Bo Bichette (Blue Jays), who came into the game with an 8-1 record.
After his stream earlier this week, Gallo ended it by saying, ¡°We¡¯re coming for Bo,¡± setting up a juicy matchup. On the other hand, Bichette was looking forward to squaring off against Gallo just to make sure that he¡¯s worth the hype. It took two batters for Bichette to figure out that Gallo is just an absolute savage in the game.
¡°Oh, he¡¯s nasty. Yup. He¡¯s good,¡± Bichette said. ¡°What do we have, man. I don¡¯t know what to do here. I don¡¯t really know what to throw. Can I throw him in? Is that a thing you can do against him?¡±
Bichette lost to Gallo, 6-4, pushing the Rangers outfielder to 10-0 in the league. Now, at least Bo knows.
But as it looked like Gallo was going to cruise to another 4-0 night, he ran into Lux and the Dodgers. Lux surprised Gallo with two homers in the first inning, giving him a 4-0 lead. Gallo rallied in the last inning, but it was too little, too late, and down went Gallo.
¡°At least I lost to the Dodgers,¡± Gallo said. ¡°That¡¯s a good team.¡±
Snell stays hot with four more wins
In a slate that was packed with the top players battling it out, it was Rays pitcher Blake Snell who came out with a perfect 4-0 record for the day, beating Lux, Carlos Santana (Indians), Bichette and Stanek. Snell is now 10-2 and has won nine consecutive games.
Snell needed some late-inning magic with Austin Meadows to tie the game in the third. He then used Meadows again in the fifth inning, connecting on a game-winning double. Snell and Meadows had an Instagram Live session earlier in the day, and they talked about how cute dolphins were, so maybe that¡¯s the major key.
Gallo REALLY loves to hit with ¡®Big Willie¡¯
Part of the reason that Gallo is off to an 11-1 start is because Willie Calhoun absolutely rakes in the game. So much, in fact, Gallo said he wouldn¡¯t trade ¡°Big Willie¡± in MLB The Show for anyone, including Mike Trout -- well, maybe for Mike Trout.
¡°I wouldn¡¯t trade Willie for Mike Trout in this game,¡± Gallo screamed as he hit another home run. ¡°Well, maybe Mike Trout.¡±
Gallo said that he can¡¯t wait until he¡¯s a general manager, which is interesting, but not trading for Trout would be very, very bad. We¡¯re glad future GM Gallo realized that.
#PitchersWhoRake
Bichette pitched an inning with a position player earlier this week, so of course he had to give a pitcher an at-bat on Thursday. Bichette used Ken Giles against Lux, and he definitely got an RBI knock with him. Lux was just sick as he watched the ball get into center field.
Earlier in the night, however, Bichette was on the wrong end of a pitcher getting on base. Bichette wasn¡¯t paying much attention against Gallo -- which is absolutely not what you want -- and walked Corey Kluber on four pitches. Gallo was hyped, but also slightly confused.
¡°Does he know something about Kluber that I don¡¯t?¡± Gallo asked. ¡°Does Kluber rake?¡±
Friday¡¯s games to watch
Dwight Smith Jr. isn¡¯t getting a lot of love for what he¡¯s doing, but the Orioles outfielder has his team at 6-2 despite having a 69 overall rating. He¡¯s back in action on Friday and is set to face Amir Garrett (Reds), Josh Hader (Brewers), Jon Duplantier (D-backs) and Ian Happ (Cubs).
Lucas Giolito (White Sox), Eduardo Rodriguez (Red Sox), Jeff McNeil (Mets), Niko Goodrum (Tigers) and Hunter Pence (Giants) are also set to play. It should be another big night with 12 players scheduled for action.
Where to watch
Over the next few weeks, the league will be livestreamed on MLB social media accounts (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Twitch), MLB Network's Twitch site, "MLB The Show" social media (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Twitch), the clubs¡¯ social media accounts and MLB.com. Each player will also stream it from their individual Twitch or YouTube accounts.
Aside from those streams, in order to provide a full gameday experience, MLB Network will provide a live stream in which it will select the best one-on-one matchups and look into other game results and friendly banter.