MLB Week 7 Hot or Not: A week of epic walk-offs and go-ahead games!

Last week was a whirlwind filled with exciting finishes from old and new faces. This week’s Hot or Not summary reviews the best and worst in MLB from May 11-17.

AL West
Hot: Angels stun the Padres in epic fashion
Heading into the ninth, the Angels had a 1.9% chance of winning. But then Luis Rengifo singled, Logan O’Hoppe and Zach Neto and Nolan Schanuel and Yoán Moncada walked, tying the Padres and raising Los Angeles’ likelihood of winning to 66.7%. On their final out of the game, Taylor Ward delivered a beautiful, go-ahead grand slam to lift the Angels 9-5 over the Padres.

Not: Luis Severino gets blown away by the Yanks
Severino has had a few patchy starts this season, but none of them were as bad as his recent outing against the Yankees. He allowed nine hits, eight runs, and two walks over four innings. Although he didn’t give up a home run, Severino only struck out two batters in all 97 pitches. New York didn’t take it easy on their old teammate, and Severino certainly didn’t make it difficult for them.

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AL Central
Hot: Javier Báez returns to peak form
Before this year, Báez has been in a senior slump ever since he left the Cubs. But things are turning around for him. He has a .300 batting average with 28 RBIs and six home runs, three of which came from Detroit’s 10-9 win over Boston that went into extras. Báez’s best dinger came in the 11th, when he took Greg Weissert’s middle-low sweeper 371 feet over the left field wall to walk the Tigers off.

Not: Royals rotation is unraveling
Kansas City’s rotation has been hit hard with injuries: Cole Ragans and Seth Lugo were placed on the 15-day IL, leaving only Michael Wacha, Kris Bubic, and Michael Lorenzen to sustain it for the rest of May. Losing their top two pitchers right now is far from ideal. The Royals have lost their last two series and are on a three-game skid, causing them to drop behind the red-hot Twins in the AL Central.

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AL East
Hot: Toronto comes alive
For the first week this season, Toronto’s bats have awoken from their slumber. The Blue Jays lineup held a .274 batting average and a .517 slugging percentage while hammering 12 home runs, achieving the third-most slugging percentage and home runs in the league. Though the Jays only won three of their games, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette did what everyone’s been waiting for: Took the reins.

Not: Kristian Campbell faces his first MLB slump
It’s not surprising that Campbell finally faced his first setback, but it’s alarming how hard the brakes slammed. His only hit of the week came from a solo home run. In 21 at-bats, he struck out eight times and drew one walk. This won’t be the first slump in the Red Sox rookie’s career, but it can’t last much longer.

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NL West
Hot: Fernando Tatís Jr. earns his first walk-off HR
It’s hard to believe Tatís hadn’t hit a walk-off home run in his six years in the league until last week, but the 26-year-old got his first in a revenge win against the Angels. The day after Taylor Ward spoiled San Diego’s 5-3 lead, Tatís mashed a two-run homer deep to center, helping San Diego recover from their embarrassing loss the day before.

Not: Arizona’s relievers rack up runs
The Diamondbacks bullpen has done a poor job at run prevention, especially last week. Arizona’s relievers allowed 21 runs in 21 ⅓ innings, earning the second-highest runs and ERA in the league. While the Diamondbacks still managed to win most of their games due to their active offense, having the fourth-worst bullpen ERA in the league this season will likely hurt their playoff push down the road.

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NL Central
Hot: Pittsburgh’s rotation carries the team
The Pirates rotation kept the team in close games against two winning teams in the NL East. Combined, the starters maintained a 2.35 ERA and only gave up eight runs over 30 2⁄3 innings. Although the rotation posted 4.11 walks per nine, Mitch Keller, Paul Skenes, Carmen Mlodzinski, and Bailey Falter strung together five quality starts despite having little to no run support.

Not: Milwaukee’s bats take a break
The Brewers lineup has been asleep at the wheel lately. It failed to produce a run in more than half of their games and slashed .193/.267/.289. Roughly half of the lineup has been struggling since the beginning of the month, including Brice Turang, Sal Frelick, and Christian Yelich. With only a couple of veterans to keep morale up and plenty of young, inexperienced guys who need more than just a nod of encouragement, the Brewers have quickly fallen to fourth in the NL Central.

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NL East
Hot: Zack Wheeler shuts down Cleveland
Wheeler was lights-out against the Guardians. He pitched seven shutout innings that featured eight strikeouts, while allowing three hits and two walks. With his fourth win of the year, Wheeler lowered his ERA to 2.95 and upped his strikeouts to 74, the second-most strikeouts of any starter in the league.

Not: Clay Holmes struggles against the Pirates
The reliever-turned-starter didn’t impress for the Mets against Pittsburgh. He took the loss after granting the Pirates four runs off seven hits in six innings, which included two home runs. Holmes still looks solid all around with a 5-2 record and 3.14 ERA, but his rough outing against a 15-win team may bode trouble in the future.