Week 22: Dakota Hudson

Dakota Hudson did this on Monday, August 19:



That's right, before he was pulled from the game, Hudson had a no-hitter going through 6.2 innings. You can argue that his stats were not that great that game--the 7 strikeouts were good, but he gave up 4 walks and the ball was put into play 13 times against him. Still, pitching a no-no in 6+ innings is impressive.

Then, on Saturday, August 24, Hudson threw another gem:



That's right, Hudson pitched 6.0 scoreless innings.

In less than a week, Hudson pitched12.2 innings, gave up just 2 hits, and 7 walks, while throwing 9 strike outs, He had a 0.00 ERA and 0.71 WHIP for the week and had 2 wins in 2 quality starts. That's a very good week for a pitcher.

As if his stats last week weren't enough to win the MLBoyfriend title, Dakota Hudson has several other qualifications for the title.

Week 21: Gleyber Torres

Let's all welcome Gleyber Torres back to MLBoyfriend. He definitely had a noteworthy week last week with 10 runs, 6 home runs, 11 RBIs, a .323 average, and 1.318 OPS.

Torres managed to set a couple of records along the way. On Monday, August 12, he hit his 11th, 12th, and 13th home run against the Baltimore Orioles this season. Thirteen is the most any player has hit against one team in a season since the divisional era began in 1969. It's the second most in MLB history after Lou Gehrig's 1936 record of hitting 14 homers against Cleveland; however, Gehrig had 23 games against Cleveland to hit his 14, and the Yankees have only played 16 games against the Orioles this year.

Then, on Saturday, August 25, Torres hit two solo homers against Cleveland, making him the youngest player ever to hit multiple home runs in 7 games in one season. For the record, he was 22 years and 247 days old the day he set that record. Even in this season of young hitters dominating at the plate, that's really young.

Week 20: Cody Bellinger

 

I chose Cody Bellinger to be my MLBoyfriend on Monday simply because it was bizarre that I hadn't done so earlier. He didn't have a particularly good week last week, but he has been having an amazing season--especially in the spring.

Then, life got in the way, and I didn't get around to writing this post until tonight which is Thursday. I'm glad I waited because he made a good case for himself just a couple of hours ago: Cody Bellinger became the first player to hit 40 home runs this season.  He did it style with a monster, three-run blast.



Not entirely coincidentally, this happened:

Cody Bellinger is the new MLB home run leader, setting a career high with his 40th of the year. The Dodgers are also the first team since at least 1908 to hit 4+ homers in four straight games. https://t.co/46MuOs89N0

— Dodger Insider (@DodgerInsider) August 15, 2019

I don't really have much to add to that except to say that I really enjoyed doing my "photo research" on Cody Bellinger. So, now, I'm just going to post some pics of Bellinger with little-to-no comment.

Cody Bellinger is really pretty.

He also has a really pretty swing.

Bellinger is an outfielder,
and I'm a sucker for pics of leaping catches.

It took two security guards to pry this teen girl off Bellinger
after she got onto the field and hugged him. Even though she
was arrested, she said it was the best day of her life.
She is my new hero.

I mean... come  on...

Week 19: Nelson Cruz

It may seem that I'm a little late in selecting Nelson Cruz as my MLBoyfriend since he was named the American League Player of the Week last week. His stats may have been a bit better the week before, but his 5 runs, 4 home runs, 10 RBIs, .500 average, and 2.267 OPS last week are still really great numbers.

On Saturday, August 3, Cruz had a hell of a game that showed why he's the head of the Twins Bomba Squad. He hit 3 home runs in the Minnesota's win over Kansas City.



That was not only Cruz's second 3-home-run game of the season, it was his second 3-home-run game in 10 days.

Cruz big night was historic for a few reasons. He is the first Twin to hit 3 home runs in two games in one season, and, at 39, the oldest player to do so in MLB history.

On top of all that, his 3rd home run that night was the 30th Cruz hit this season. The Twins tweeted out this fact about his pretty amazing career.

Nelson Cruz has 6 straight seasons with 30 home runs. Only 3 other active players are on the list:

Albert Pujols (12, 2001-12)
Miguel Cabrera (7, 2007-2013)
Edwin Encarnacion (8, 2012-present) #CruzControl pic.twitter.com/sZwVqQ2anZ

— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) August 4, 2019

So, yeah, that was a pretty great night for Nelson Cruz.