11 games yesterday and most of them were pretty good, so go ahead and pour the milk on your cereal and catch up on all the action you may have missed last night while you mourned the death of two great American soap operas:
Rays 4, Twins 3 (10 innings): For the second straight game, the Twins were without their star catcher Joe Mauer, and for the second straight game the Twins — now 4-8 — lost. It wasn’t exactly Mauer’s absence that cost the Twins, though. Carl Pavano – who threw eight scoreless – reached his pitch max, so Gardy decided to go with their normally lights out closer Joe Nathan for the 9th. However, Nathan was far from lights out, as he walked one and gave up two hits, including a game-tying, two-run double to Matt Joyce. Danny Valencia put the Twins back on top in the 10th with an RBI single, scoring Matt Tolbert. But with one out in the bottom half, Matt Capps, in relief of Nathan, gave up a single to Sam Fuld and then history to Johnny Damon — a walk-off home run. With that, Damon became the first player in MLB history to hit a walk-off home run with five different teams (Royals, Red Sox, Yankees, Tigers, and now the Rays). The extra kick in the cup for the Twins? Joe Mauer was placed on the DL after the game due to weakness in his legs.
Yankees 6, Orioles 5 (10 innings): Joe Girardi said before the game he wasn’t worried about Phil Hughes’ first two sub-subpar starts. He’ll probably reiterate that it’s a long season to stave off the pesky NYC media, but it’s certainly reasonable to believe Girardi is feeling a tad bit concerned about Hughes now. Hughes was miserable again, allowing five runs in 4.1 IP, raising his season ERA to 13.94 through three starts and earning boos from his hometown crowd. The Yanks trailed 5-0 heading into the fifth, but were kept in the game by the unlikeliest of famine – Bartolo Colon. He threw three scoreless, while the Yankee bats chipped away. Joba Chamberlain added another 1.2 innings and survived a scary play at the plate during which Felix Pie slid into his ankle. In the bottom of the 9th, with the Yankees down a run, Jorge Posada took Kevin Gregg deep to tie it. In the 10th inning, after a scoreless frame from Mariano Rivera, Mark Teixeira drew a 3-2 walk, A-Rod doubled him over to third and, after Cano lined out, Nick Swisher earned pie in his face by hitting a game-winning sacrifice fly. Nick Markakis led the way for the Orioles, collecting three hits including a two-run dinger early off of Hughes.
Phillies 4, Nationals 0: Garrett wondered in yesterday’s Daily Digest if we should just hand Josh Johnson the NL Cy Young now. Well, a premature designation didn’t work out so well for Ubaldo Jiminez last year and Cliff Lee officially started his case for another Cy Young on Thursday night by outdueling youngster Jordan Zimmermann. After a rocky first start back in a Phillies uniform, Lee went the distance in this one, giving up just three hits and one base on balls, while striking out 12. How good was Lee? Really good. Lee faced 30 Nationals hitters in all and fell behind in the count 2-0 on ZERO of them. Makes one almost forget that the Nationals’ Zimmermann had a perfecto through five innings before Lee’s battery mate Carlos Ruiz broke it up with a lead off home run in the 6th inning. One run was all the cushion Lee needed, but the Phils wound up scoring three more thanks to two Nats errors.
Astros 1, Padres 0: Small ball. The Astros backed up Bud Norris’ six shutout innings by getting him the game-winning run in his final frame — an RBI single from Michael Bourn, who knocked in Humberto Quintero, who Bud Norris actually bunted over. Dustin Mosely was once again a tough-luck loser for the Padres, as he went 6.2 innings and gave up just one run, but his team couldn’t find their bats. Mosely now has an 0-3 record on the season, but touts a 1.83 ERA. That 0-3 record isn’t going to help him win any Cy Youngs in the 1990s.
Rockies 6, Mets 5 (Game 1): Carlos Gonzalez and Troy Tulowitzki went back-to-back in the top of the 7th inning to give the Rocks a 6-2 lead, but the back-end of their bully nearly blew it, man. Matt Lindstrom had to relieve Huston Street in the 9th inning after Street walked a guy and gave up three straight hits, including a two-run homer, and had the lead cut to one. Luckily for the Rockies, Lindstrom closed it out. Knuckleballer R.A. Dickey got the “L” for the Mets.
Rockies 9, Mets 4 (Game 2): Rockies scored six in the 6th inning, three coming off the bat of Jonathan Herrera, pacing them to a much more comfortable win in the second game of a double-dip. De La Rosa struck out seven in 6.2 innings on his way to his second win of the season and Tulo had another jack for the Rocks.
Marlins 6, Braves 5: Another great game from Thursday’s slate: Chris Coghlan made a diving catch in the 6th inning to save the Braves from scoring two runs. The very next half inning, John Buck singled in Gaby Sanchez with one out to give the Marlins a 6-5 lead for good. Brian McCann and Dan Uggla homered for the Braves, and Hanley Ramirez was 3-3. Nunez picked up the save in the 9th for the Marlins after allowing a lead off single to Alex Gonzalez.
Royals 5, Mariners 1: The Royals improved to 8-4 thanks to another strong start from Bruce Chen (8 innings, six hits, zero runs). Chen has now thrown 13 straight scoreless innings. Royals got two RBIs apiece from Wilson Betemit and Alex Gordon. The game was called after a 47-minute rain delay following the top of the 8th inning.
Brewers 4, Pirates 1: The BrewCrew have now won four straight. Beer and cheese should go to Randy Wolf this game time around; he threw 6.2 innings, gave up just three hits and struck out 10. Prince Fielder’s RBI single in the first inning gives him 15 over his last seven games. Paul Maholm turned in another quality outing for the Pirates, but he and his 2.33 season ERA fall to 0-2.
Cardinals 9, Dodgers 5: The Cardinals banged out 16 hits, 10 coming from the top five hitters, who also knocked in five of the nine runs. Only one of those hits came from slumping Albert Pujols, but it was his second home run of the season. Matt Kemp provided pretty much all of the Dodgers offense with three hits, a home run, two RBIs, and a stolen base.
Tigers 3, A’s 0: The Athletics pitching staff — supposed to be really good, right? — walked 11 (ELEVEN) batters. They were more erratic than Coco Crisp’s hair. Somehow, though, the Tigers only scored three runs; the first run coming off the bat of Ryan Raburn, who doubled in the run in the top of the 7th inning with two outs. There were only seven total hits in the game and roughly the same number of fans at the game on a chilly night. Phil Coke turned in his second quality start in his new role as a Tigers rotation member, going seven scoreless and allowing just three hits, while striking out two. Conor Jackson and Ramon Santiago each had two hits for the A’s and Tigers, respectively. Jose Valverde got the save (and danced) for the Tigers.
Lines of the Night:
Pitching:
Cliff Lee, Philadelphia: 9 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 12 K’s
Randy Wolf, Milwaukee: 6.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 10 K’s
Carl Pavano, Minnesota: 8 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 K’s
Bud Norris, Houston: 6.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 7 K’s
Phil Coke, Detroit: 7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K’s
Hitting:
Troy Tulowitzki, Colorado: 5/8, 2 BB, 2 R, 3 RBI, 2 HR
Nick Markakis, Baltimore: 3/5, 2 R, 3 RBI, 1 2B, 1 HR
Matt Kemp, Los Angeles: 3/5, 2 R, 2 RBI, 1 HR, 1 SB
Matt Holliday, St. Louis: 3/3, 2 R, 3 RBI, 2 2B
Alex Rodriguez, New York: 3/3, 1 BB, 1 R, 1 RBI, 2 2B
Daily Links:
White Sox going with Bobby Thigpen at closer
Red Sox skipping John Lackey’s start
The best of the not-quite-a-no-hitter club
Easy outing: 1 out, no pitches
What to Watch For Tonight:
I think everybody knows the answer, but how Baltimore responds from a tough loss to the Yankees on Thursday could reveal about as much as any April 15 game possibly could about their team. The Indians, similarly, are coming off a wake-up-you’re-not-supposed-to-be-this-good loss, as well. Britton (2-0, 0.66 ERA) vs. Masterson (2-0, 1.35 ERA).
Rematch of last year’s ALCS! Matt Harrison is 2-0 with a 1.29 ERA, too.
Jared Weaver, Chris Narveson (?!?), and Matt Cain are all pitching tonight.
