MLB Thursday scores, highlights, updates, news: Severino brilliant, Mets win marathon (2024)

Though it's Thursday, we still have a mostly-full slate of games, with 22 of the 30 MLB teams in action. As a bonus, there's plenty of day baseball as well. Let's get to it.

Final scores and games in progress

Twins 11, Tigers5 (box score)
Red Sox 4, Pirates 3 (box score)
Cubs 4, Dodgers 0 (box score)
Rangers 8, Angels3 (box score)
Orioles 2, Blue Jays 1 (box score)
White Sox 10, Indians 4 (box score)
Yankees 3, Rays 2 (box score)
Brewers 5, Reds 1 (box score)
Royals 3, Athletics 1 (box score)
Mets9, Marlins 8 in 16 innings (box score)
Rockies3,Giants1 (box score)

Mets outlast Marlins

The Mets and Marlins game started around 7 p.m. ET. It ended near 1 a.m., following 16 innings of action that saw the two sides combine to use 17 pitchers -- that included the Marlins burning Friday night starter Adam Conley and the Mets getting 11 1/3 scoreless innings from their bullpen.

The decisive blow came off Travis d'Arnaud's bat, as he delivered a solo shot in the top of the 16th to give the Mets a 9-8 lead that they wouldn't relinquish. d'Arnaud's home run was the Mets' fourth of the night with Wilmer Flores and Yoenis Cespedes (two) also accounting for homers.

Hey, there's no such thing as too many home runs if the end result is a win.

Severino shuts down Rays

You can never be certain what you're going to get from Yankees right-hander Luis Severino. On Thursday night, however, he dominated the Rays in a victory.

Severino struck out 11 batters in seven innings, issuing just two walks and allowing two runs -- one coming on a Peter Bourjos home run (hey, even beautiful days sometimes have clouds).

Severino leaned heavily on his fastball, throwing 60 of them at an average of 96.8 mph. He also tossed 28 changeups and 16 sliders, per Baseball Savant -- noteworthy given his changeup was his third pitch last season, used roughly 10 percent of the time.

Keep an eye on that development heading forward -- it could help determine whether or not Severino can stick in the rotation.

Almora, Dodgers lineup bail out Anderson

Brett Anderson tallied his first win with the Cubs on Thursday, besting his old Dodgers mates by a 4-0 score. Anderson threw five shutout innings, allowing five hits and walking four batters -- or two more than he struck out. Though the Dodgers had someone reach in four of Anderson's five innings, and even loaded the bases against him in the fifth, they were unable to push a run across.

Blame some of that on Chicago center fielder Albert Almora Jr., who made a few dazzling catches:

Full videos here and here.

The Cubs bullpen then closed things out. Carl Edwards Jr. (two innings), Koji Uehara, and Wade Davis combined to strike out three batters and allow three baserunners over four shutout innings.

The loss dropped the Dodgers to 5-5 on the season. The Cubs, meanwhile, are now 6-3.

Ozuna's tear continues

Last season, Marlins outfielder Marcell Ozuna had a big first half. He hit .307/.360/.533 with 17 home runs before cooling off after the All-Star Break to the tune of a .209/.267/.342 slash line.

It turns out Ozuna might be a fast starter, because he entered Thursday with a 197 OPS+ and 12 of the Marlins' 39 runs batted in. Ozuna added four more to his total with this grand slam:

The Marlins could stand for Ozuna's hotness to rub off on some other hitters. Justin Bour, Dee Gordon, and Christian Yelich entered the game with OPS+ of 70 or worse.

Sano is scorching

The Twins didn't win their sixth game last season until they had 14 losses. In 2017, they are now 6-3, and Miguel Sano is a big reason for that.

On Thursday, it wasn't just Sano, of course. Thanks in part to home runs from Robbie Grossman and Max Kepler, the Twins were already leading 7-2 when Sano put the game out of reach with this colossal shot:

More than anything, the contrast from last season's start to this season's seems to mirror that of Sano. After a great abbreviated rookie year, Sano hit .143 with zero extra-base hits and one RBI through the Twins' first nine games last year. Through nine games this year, Sano is raking. How does a .310/.459/.793 triple slash with three doubles, a triple, three homers and 11 RBI sound? In honor of Larry David's "Curb Your Enthusiasm" coming back soon, we can definitely say it's pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty good.

Quick hitters

• The Indians have activated Lonnie Chisenhall and as a corresponding move, they sent Tyler Naquin down to Triple-A.
• A top Yankees prospect needs Tommy John surgery.
• Shouldn't the Wrigley Field ground rules better address situations like this?
• The Marlins are planning on a Jose Fernandez statue, while the Braves unveiled a Bobby Cox statue and the Mariners did the same for their Ken Griffey Jr. statue.
  
• Josh Donaldson left another game due to injury.
  
• Michael Martinez of the Indians became the first position player to pitch this season. He threw a scoreless inning.
• Rockies starter Jon Gray re-aggravated his toe injury.