Dugout Digest – 4/24/11

dugoutdigest

Full slate of games, with a few impressive offensive outbursts yesterday.

Cubs 10, Dodgers 8: After hanging 5 runs and 11 hits on Ted Lilly, it took a 5 run 8th inning off reliever Matt Guerrier to get Chicago the W over LA after their own starter (Ryan Dempster) gave up 7 runs on 3 home runs in 5.2 IP. Casey Blake, Matt Kemp, and Rob Barajas went yard for the Dodgers, who had every starting position player other than James Loney (now OPS’ing a lovely .403 – a great mark for a first-baseman) had a hit. No starting position player went hitless for the Cubs, with Starlin Castro (4 including a double, plus a steal) leading the way.

Rays 6, Blue Jays 4: Jose Bautista homered twice (and stole a base) for Toronto, but Johnny Damon and Ben Zobrist countered with longballs for Tampa Bay. Jays’ pitcher Brandon Morrow got the loss in his first start of the season despite striking out 10 batters in 5.1 IP. David Price only struck out 5 in 8 IP, but retiring the batters ahead of Bautista (and thus limiting his homers to solo shots) was enough to get the ball to the Farnz for his 5th save of the season.

Twins 10, Indians 3: One of baseballl’s worst offenses thus far blew out the AL Centrals first place team, though I imagine Cleveland fans can take some solace in having Grady Sizemore hit his second home run of the season in just his 6th game back. Fausto Carmona didn’t have his best control (4 walks in 5 IP), and the Twins just knocked out hit after hit – 13 total, with only three going for extra bases (two doubles and a Danny Valencia homer).

Mets 6, Diamondbacks 4: Young right-hander Dillon Gee now has two wins in as many 2011 starts for the Mets, after giving the team 6 decent innings (5 H, 4 R but only 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K) and having the pen pitch three scoreless in relief. New York pounded out 12 hits – including homers by Jason Bay and Ike Davis – against Barry Enright in just 5.2 IP.

Braves 5, Giants 2: Tim Hudson didn’t walk a batter and scattered 9 hits before giving way to Craig Kimbrel for the final out after giving up a run in the 9th. Tim Lincecum, on the other hand, almost doubled his season walk (from 7 to 13) and runs allowed (6 to 11) totals.

Tigers 9, White Sox 0: Both Detroit relievers gave up more hits (two in one inning of work, each) than Brad Penny did (one in 7 IP). No such luck for the White Sox, with starter Edwin Jackson allowing a 5 run inning and a 3 run inning on 12 total base-knocks. The loss actually drops the Pale Hose below the Twins in the AL Central standings, which still look upside-down for the moment.

Reds 5, Cardinals 3: Back into a tie for first in the NL Central, as Travis Wood matched up pretty well with Chris Carpenter (6 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 6 K,1 HR) in everything but the hit category (he allowed 8), and Joey Votto and Albert Pujols traded home runs. The Reds scored 3 runs in the top of the 8th off of Miguel Bautista – all unearned due to a David Freese throwing error – and the was the comeback victory.

Yankees 15, Orioles 3: Yikes. The Yankees had almost as many home runs (5 – Alex Rodriguez, Jorge Posada, Russell Martin twice, Brett Gardner) as the O’s had hits (6). Baltimore starter Brad Bergesen had the team’s best single game ERA, and he gave up 6 runs in 6 innings. The floodgates actually opened after that, not that CC Sabathia needed so much help (8 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 7 K).

Pirates 7, Nationals 2: Pittsburgh scored 5 in the first inning – single-double-single-K-double-single-GO-single – and Jeff Karstens (6 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 3 K) and a trio of relievers (all pitching hitless frames) made it stand up. Jayson Werth hit his 3rd home run of the season for Washington, edging his OPS up above .700 – probably not quite the level the Nat’s expected from him after committing $126 M, though he should pick things up sooner or later.

Astros 9, Brewers 6 (10 innings): Neither Brett Myers nor Shaun Marcum were particularly effective (though the latter did K eight), but Houston was able to touch up Milwaukee’s pen (and the Astros managed 9 runs on 14 hits in total, which is pretty impressive considering the struck out 14 times). Brandon Lyon got the win despite blowing the save in the 9th, so fantasy owners were not left completely empty handed when he sent the game to extras.

Rockies 3, Marlins 1: Javier Vazquez walked 5 and struck out 5 – which actually improved his K:BB ratio on the season (from 6:11 to 11:16). His Quality Start wasn’t enough to beat Jason Hammel’s quality start though (6.2 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 4 K). Colorado scored their winning run on a sac fly, and their insurance run on a bunt by the pitcher. Not exactly the Blake Street Bombers of old (even if they were playing in Florida).

Rangers 3, Royals 1: A Kila Ka’aihue solo home run aside, Alexi Ogando was once again very good for Texas (6 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 5 K). His transition to the starting rotation this year seems to be going quite well (3-0 with a 2.13 ERA).

Phillies 4, Padres 2 (11 innings): The Padres scored their first run on a Jason Bartlett triple, then the Phillies countered a few innings later with a Ben Fransisco RBI triple. They traded single runs again, and then things stayed scoreless for several frames. It was, unexpectedly, the San Diego pen that broke first. The lack of scoring deprived Tim Stauffer of his first win this year, even though we pitched a good game (6 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 7 K).

Red Sox 5, Angels 0: LA walked and singled in the second inning, but that was pretty much it on the night for them as Dice-K shut them down (8 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 9 K). Ervin Santana struck out 9 as well – and in only 7 IP – but he gave up all 5 Boston runs on 9 hits, including a Kevin Youkilis home run.

A’s 9, Mariners 1: The nine runs was a season high for Oakland, though Trevor Cahill (6 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 2 K) didn’t need them all by a long shot. Cliff Pennington’s two-run homer would have sufficed. As would Kevin Kouzmanoff’s three-run bomb. Ichiro went 3-4 for the M’s, finally pulling his average above .300 on the year.

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