You will have to excuse the fans in Cleveland who have decided to extend the June calendar into July, if you were them you wouldn’t want to turn the page either. The Indians tied their franchise record when they ended June with their 13th straight win. In fact, in June the Indians went 22-6, the Cavaliers won the NBA championship, the Lake Erie Monsters won the Calder Cup, and their Arena Football League team has gone undefeated.
If you don’t think turning a calendar page doesn’t make any difference, just ask Daniel Murphy of the Nationals. Murphy was hitting .397 at the end of May, but in June he hit .265.
So please excuse the folks in Cleveland who will be setting off fireworks this year on June 34.
Let’s go to the numbers of June:
At the start of play on June 1, the Red Sox led the AL East but they went 10-16 in June and the Orioles (19-9) are in first on the first of July. In the AL Central, the Tribe now leads by 6.0 games over the Royals who were in first place at the start of the month (13-14 in June). In the AL West, Texas led by a half-game over the Mariners as the month began, but the M’s went 10-19 while the Rangers went 20-8 and now hold an 8.5 game lead over the Astros.
In the NL East, the Nationals (16-11 in June) increased their first place lead over the Mets (12-15 in June) from two games to six games. In the NL Central, the Cubs calmed down a bit in June (if you call a 16-12 record calm), they lead the Cardinals (12-13 in June) by 11 games and the Pirates by 13.5 (they suffered through a 9-19 month of June). In the NL West, the Giants extended their first-place lead in June by having the best record in the NL going 17-10. SF has a six game lead over the Dodgers who went 16-12 in June, but ended the month losing Clayton Kershaw to the DL.
It’s really good that Jose Altuve led all hitters with 42 hits (he hit .420!), but it’s really bad that Ricky Nolasco led all pitchers allowing 51 hits. Speaking of bad, Byung Ho Park hit .136 (9-66 AB) in June.
On the subject of good, Kendrys Morales was 11-22 AB (.500) with 14 RBI with runners in scoring position. Back to bad, Asdrubal Cabrera was 0-12 AB with RISP.
Wei-Yin Chen and Jordan Zimmermann each allowed 21 extra-base hits. As the trade deadline approaches, pay attention to Wil Myers who led all of baseball with 21 extra-base hits in June including a team-record 11 homers.
In addition to Myers, good for Kris Bryant, Edwin Encarnacion, and Adam Jones, who each hit 11 homers in June. On the other hand, Ian Kennedy allowed 11 homers in June which was not so good.
Speaking of Kris Bryant, he had the game of the month when he became the first player ever to hit three homers and two doubles in a game (June 27). No pitcher topped Clayton Kershaw’s effort on June 1 when he shut out the Padres 1-0, allowing three hits while striking out 14 and walking no one.
The Orioles set an MLB record with 56 homers in June. The Braves hit only 18 dingers, the fewest in the majors in June, but it was their most productive month of the season.
It should be noted that Orioles were the only team in baseball without a triple in June. The Indians led all teams with 10 three-baggers.
There were 141 triples hit in the month and the Tigers allowed 17 of them (12.0%) eight more than any other team and more than the combined total of the Reds, Dodgers, Rangers, Red Sox, Nationals, Cubs, Rays, Cardinals, and Royals.
Brandon Belt brandoned (c’mon everyone says “belted”) an MLB-leading 13 doubles in June. Evan Gattis had one double in the month, but he homered seven times. Julio Teheran allowed just one double to the 134 batters he faced, but Baltimore’s Tyler Wilson allowed 12 doubles to the 128 batters he faced.
Max Scherzer led the majors with 58 strikeouts although Clayton Kershaw had an amazing 10.00 strikeout to walk ratio striking out 40 and walking just four.
Francisco Liriano
led the majors walking 20 batters in the month. He did it in just 24.1 IP. Drew Smyly has 20 walks on the season, doing it in 89.2 innings.
The White Sox staff led the majors with 120 walks in June exactly twice as many as the Astros, who walked the fewest with 60. The White Sox were 12-14 in the month while the Astros were 18-8.
Joey Votto, who has led the league in walks four times in his career, led the majors in June walking 24 times in 116 PA. Alcides Escobar had 123 PA and walked just once. The Blue Jays led everyone drawing 116 walks (KC walked just 59 times).
Tigers’ starter Michael Fulmer threw 29.2 innings and allowed just two ER and finished the month with a 0.61 ERA. BTW: he’s a good case study in why we don’t look at pitcher’s won-lost records. In June, with that amazing ERA, Fulmer went 3-1. In May, his ERA was a very mediocre 4.03 and he also went 3-1.
In six starts in June: Jon Lester had a 1.41 ERA and Cole Hamels had a 1.51 ERA. But, Edinson Volquez had a 7.03 ERA and Gio Gonzalez had a 6.95 ERA.
In five starts in June: Michael Fulmer had a 0.61 ERA and Carlos Martinez had a 1.31 ERA. But, James Shields had an 11.07 ERA and Aaron Nola had a 10.42 ERA.
Hats off to these relievers: Cam Bedrosian of the Angels made 13 appearances in June (11.2 IP) and did not allow a run. The O’s Zach Britton in 12 appearances pitched 12.1 innings and did not allow an earned run. The Dodgers’ Adam Liberatore pitched 9.0 innings (over 12 appearances) as did the Pirates Mark Melancon (in nine appearances) and neither allowed a run.
Hats on to these relievers: In 10 games, the Yankees’ Kirby Yates allowed 13 runs in 8.1 innings (14.04 ERA). In 10 games, Houston’s Tony Sipp, in 4.1 IP, allowed seven runs (6 earned) and had an ERA of 12.46.
Jeurys Familia and Sam Dyson each earned 10 saves in June, while Zach Britton and Jeremy Jeffress each had nine saves.
In June, Rajai Davis led the majors with 10 steals (and wasn’t caught even once) and Noah Syndergaard led the majors allowing 13 steals (in five starts).
Nelson Cruz has grounded into 11 double plays this season, leading the league in June with eight. Mike Pelfrey induced nine GIDP in June. The Blue Jays hit into 30 DPs, more than any other team.
Fascinating Miscellany: In June, Marcus Stroman threw five wild pitches, Erasmo Ramirez, walked four batters intentionally, Freddie Freeman was walked intentionally five times, Julio Urias picked off four batters, five batters reached on errors off of James Paxton, Steven Wright, and Zach Eflin, while Mike Trout reached on errors five times, and Gio Gonzalez hit five batters in June and Derek Dietrich was hit seven times..
Let’s end where we began, with the Cleveland Indians. The average pitching team left on base rate was 72.3%. The Twins, who were 10-17 with an MLB-worst 5.50 ERA, also had the worst left-on-base rate of 65.4%. The 22-6 Tribe had an MLB-best 2.42 ERA and also had the best LOB rate of at 83%.
In closing off the month of June, just remember the words of George Carlin who said, “The day after tomorrow is the third day of the rest of your life.”
GALLERY: PHOTO OF THE DAY
