Josh Donaldson's Huge Night Leads 4 MLB Walk-Offs: Tuesday MLB Takeaways

The 2015 season has been a struggle for the Toronto Blue Jays, as their pitching has been a nightmare and they've spent the majority of their time trying to stay out of the AL East basement.

But hey, at least they have Josh Donaldson.

A day after the All-Star third baseman helped lead the Blue Jays to a 6-0 victory over the Chicago White Sox with a 2-for-3 day that featured a home run on Memorial Day, he was the reason they made it two in a row over the White Sox with a 10-9 win Tuesday.

Donaldson went 4-for-4 with two homers, the second of which was a three-run job off David Robertson in the bottom of the ninth that sent the Rogers Centre crowd home happy:

With that walk-off shot, half of the six hits Donaldson has collected in two games against the White Sox have left the ballpark. He also has his average up to .315 and his home run count up to 12.

And as John Lott of the National Post writes, Donaldson is also fitting in quite well with the Blue Jays in his first year with the team:

"

Seldom does a player come as advertised and then some. Donaldson has done that as a Blue Jay, earning instant respect in February, buoying the spirits of his teammates during a mostly dispiriting season so far, challenging them to try harder and do better, and, without sticking out his chest, serving as the shining example.

"

I'd say the Blue Jays are getting the better end of the winter trade that brought Donaldson over from the Oakland Athletics. The main piece the A's got out of the deal was Brett Lawrie, who has a .658 OPS. While Toronto's new third baseman is showing he still has things figured out, Oakland's new third baseman is still trying to figure out how not to be Brett Lawrie.

Mind you, Donaldson wasn't the only one getting in on the walk-off fun Tuesday. There were more walk-offs elsewhere. To be exact, three more!

In Cincinnati, Reds utility man Skip Schumaker delivered a 2-1 victory over the Colorado Rockies with a walk-off double. In New York, Mets shortstop Wilmer Flores delivered a walk-off single that sealed a 5-4 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies. And on the north side of Chicago, Cubs second baseman Addison Russell made it a 3-2 victory over the Washington Nationals with a walk-off double.

Is there a narrative at work here? No, not really. The takeaway is simply that walk-offs are fun. If there could be as many as four walk-offs every night, we'd all be much happier people. It's science.

But if narratives are your thing, this particular Tuesday had you covered.

Elsewhere Around MLB

The Las Vegas Boys Play to the Narrative

Andrew Nelles/Associated Press

Before Russell swooped in and stole the show, Tuesday's contest between the Nationals and Cubs at Wrigley Field was all about the second showdown between Bryce Harper and Kris Bryant.

You see, they're pretty much joined at the hip. They're not just young sluggers. They're young sluggers who hail from Las Vegas, which is producing power hitters like Tatooine produces Skywalkers.

It was Bryant who won Round 1 on Memorial Day, as he had a two-hit day that included his sixth home run. But in Round 2 on Tuesday, it was a draw.

Harper (unwittingly at first) slugged his MLB-leading 17th home run to left field in the seventh inning:

Not to be outdone, Bryant answered with his seventh home run of the season in the eighth. The only difference is that his, uh, went a little farther:

The tale of the tape on that one? ESPN Stats and Information measured it as a 463-foot blast, easily the longest of Bryant's young career.

Thus did Bryant keep pace with Harper in Tuesday's game, and that's all too fitting. Per another nugget from ESPN Stats and Information, he's the only hitter who's been keeping pace with Harper in the home run department recently:

If you weren't already, there's your cue to get excited about watching Harper and Bryant go head-to-head over the years. Harper's only 22. Bryant's only 23. They both play for teams that should be perennial contenders. And of course, they can both hit the ball a long way.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the realm of talented desert hitters...

Yasmany Tomas, Under-the-Radar Hitting Machine

Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images

You remember Yasmany Tomas, right?

No?

Well, he's that guy from Cuba who signed a $68.5 million contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks over the winter. If you forgot about him, that's probably because he had a mediocre spring that resulted in him starting the season in the minors. At that point, he didn't look like a candidate to follow in the footsteps of fellow Cubans Yoenis Cespedes, Yasiel Puig and Jose Abreu.

But if that's when you turned away from Tomas, you'd better look again.

Albeit in a losing effort, Tomas collected two doubles in five at-bats against the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday night to run his hitting streak to 10 games. Eight of the 10 games have featured multiple hits, and he's batting .435 in the streak.

The immense power that was billed as Tomas' best talent has yet to show up, but he's certainly shown he can handle major league pitching. Overall, he's hitting .349 with an .827 OPS.

"You see a different guy than the one we saw in spring training," Arizona manager Chip Hale told Jack Magruder of Fox Sports Arizona, adding: "The growth is there and the confidence is there. ... What we always look at is good at-bats, and he seems to have good at-bats against good pitchers."

Two months ago, it looked like Arizona's $68.5 million was in danger of going down the drain. Now it looks like money very well spent.

Speaking of money well spent, the Texas Rangers have an investment of their own they should probably be gloating about right now...

Prince Fielder Has Stopped Making Outs, Rangers Have Stopped Losing Games

Phil Long/Associated Press

OK, so, the first part of the above subheadline isn't entirely accurate.

But it's not much of a stretch either.

If you haven't been paying attention to recent affairs, Prince Fielder is suddenly back with a vengeance. In going 3-for-5 with a home run and three RBI in the Texas Rangers' 4-3 win over the Cleveland Indians on Tuesday night, Fielder now has five straight games with multiple hits and multiple RBI.

These five games also feature five home runs. The latest one looked like this:

Thanks to his recent hot stretch, Fielder now has his average up to an AL-best .371, and he ranks third in the AL with a 1.018 OPS. He's also doubled his home run total, from five to 10. Not bad for a guy who was pretty much left for dead after season-ending neck surgery in 2014.

Fielder looks like he's back, all right. And for now, so do the Rangers.

All of a sudden, they've won seven in a row to reach the .500 mark at 23-23. They still have their problems, most notably a lack of proven arms, but they have the look of a dangerous offensive team. And in this year's American League playoff picture, merely having that much could be good enough.

So, there's hope for the Rangers. And on that note, we turn to a ray of hope in Miami...

Rejoice! For Jose Fernandez Is on the Comeback Trail

Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images

The 2015 season has been a good one so far, but there's no ignoring its glaring lack of Jose Fernandez.

However, this problem may soon be solved. According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, the young Miami Marlins right-hander is making progress in his return from Tommy John surgery:

To borrow from Monty Python, this is a cause for much rejoicing.

They don't make many players as exciting as Fernandez. His combination of a blistering fastball, a wicked curveball and pinpoint control allowed him to post a 2.25 ERA in his first 36 big league starts. He also had lots of fun along the way, at times even going a little crazy.

Will Fernandez be the same pitcher upon his return? Probably not, no. But the Marlins may need him to be the same pitcher if they want to save their season. They're well out of the race at 18-29 and are going through all sorts of turmoil.

In light of all that, Fernandez looks like more than just a missing piece. He looks like Miami's only hope.

But let's wrap things up on a less ominous pitching note...

Suddenly, Clayton Kershaw Appears

Harry How/Getty Images

You didn't seriously think Clayton Kershaw was going to struggle forever, did you?

Of course not, for you know who he is and what he can do. And for the first time all season, Kershaw reminded us that he's still himself Tuesday night against the Atlanta Braves.

In leading the Los Angeles Dodgers to an 8-0 victory, Kershaw pitched seven shutout innings with only four hits allowed, no walks and 10 strikeouts. It was his third double-digit strikeout game of the year, but his first of at least seven innings and one run or fewer. He had 15 such games in 2014, which ended with a National League MVP and his third Cy Young in four years.

Before the game, Kershaw's ERA was 4.32. Now it's 3.86. Still way too high for a guy with four straight ERA titles in his pocket, granted. But if what happened Tuesday night was Kershaw finally getting in a groove, you can expect his ERA to start resembling a countdown.

For fans of good pitching, a happy thought. For all MLB hitters, less so.

Note: Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted/linked.

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