MLB Daily: Lance McCullers Goes the Distance; Masahiro Tanaka Dazzles in Return

Welcome to MLB Daily on a Thursday … 

Oversights: In the process of writing this daily post, occasionally some things that happen across 15 Major League Baseball games will be overlooked. Trust me, this isn’t intentional and I’ll fully admit my focus is more on the American League than the National League most of the time. Anyways, in yesterday’s edition I started off talking about the rookie class and somehow forgot to mention Houston starter Lance McCullers Jr., which is doubly bad since I added him to my roto team two weeks ago. D’oh.

Last night vs. Baltimore, McCullers tossed a 107-pitch, 11-strikeout, complete game. He’s now 2-0 with a 1.88 ERA. This statistical quirk is impressive:

McCullers is only 21. Per the Tigers broadcast a couple weeks ago after his call-up, he says he modeled his delivery after … Max Scherzer, himself only 30. I’m not sure if this quote from Houston manager A.J. Hinch goes along with GM Jeff Luhnow’s thinking — or smart baseball logic when it comes to young hurlers and pitch counts. Even so, I liked it.

From the Chronicle’s Ultimate Astros Blog:

"“I went out wanting to leave him in and asked him how much he had left in his tank and he said he had plenty,” Hinch said. “I told him, ‘Good, because this was his hitter to get. This was his game to get.’ He had earned it. It was going to be a good step for him, because I wanted him to shake hands after that at-bat. “He looked me dead in the eye and said, ‘I’m good to go.’”"

Houston is a contender, so it will need to be judicious with McCullers innings going forward, either way.

Speaking of Rookies: Joey Gallo followed up his social-media friendly debut with another home run. He is clearly the second-coming of George Brett or Mike Schmidt. Clearly.

The Rangers lost 9-2 and Gallo’s homer came in the bottom of the ninth, but it still counts on his baseball-reference page.

Strange situation: The Rockies beat the Dodgers last night, although Joc Pederson smashed another home run. There was some mystery afterward about the availability of Los Angeles’ closer Kenley Jansen as the Dodgers led 6-4 going into the ninth. Per Fox Sports ESPN announcer Rick Sutcliffe offered “prayers” to Jansen via Twitter, which added to the mystery. Jansen’s status to pitch appeared to change during the game itself.

Reports say Jansen was at his locker after the game but didn’t talk to the media. Manager Don Mattingly said, per the OC Register, “he wasn’t available.” Jansen had a procedure to correct an irregular heartbeat in 2012, but reports say whatever happened last night isn’t tied to that. Expect more clarification as to what happened later today.

Welcome back: Masahiro Tanaka struck out nine Marines in seven innings of work in his return from a forearm injury. The Yankees righty only threw 78 pitches. Even so, expect plenty of people in New York — sans medical degrees — to speculate on the future health of his right arm.

The Yankees are up a game on on the Rays in the AL East and should contend deep into the season. They’ll be cautious with Tanaka’s workload, but if he’s healthy he remains one of the best strikeout guys in the sport thanks to his splitter. His fastball looked good yesterday, too:

This & That: Mark Buhrle threw a six-hit shutout vs. the Nationals. I assume it was 2005 tonight in our nation’s capital. … Seattle acquired Mark Trumbo from Arizona, presumably to try to upgrade over Logan Morrison at first or Justin Ruggiano in the outfield. I’m more impressed the Mariners traded Wellington Castillo, who’s now been dealt twice in less than a month. Hopefully he didn’t lease a condo in Seattle. … Boston rookie Eduardo Rodriguez was good again in his second start, but the Red Sox and Twins split a doubleheader. … Out-dueled might not be the way to put it, but Jason Vargas and the Royals pen held the Indians in check, while Corey Kluber struck out nine but gave up four runs over eight innings for the hard-luck American League complete game. … The Josh Hamilton good news express hit a bump — he’ll miss four weeks with a hamstring injury. … It’s going to be a long summer in Philly, but Maikel Franco might inspire some optimism. The rookie third baseman hit a walk-off winne vs. the Reds last night. … ICYMI the Cubs and Marlins got mad at each other after a Junior Lake homer. Dan Jennings wound up getting tossed later on. Perhaps the other 29 managers wont’ hate him so much anymore.

[Joke Goes Here]