Okay, so I had a fairly exhaustive recap of yesterday’s games typed up and the editorial logged me out when I went to publish and I lost all of it. Here’s the cliff notes’ version:
Braves 6, Nationals 5 (10): Braves’ Martin Prado hit a grand slam in the 7th inning to tie the game and set up a dramatic finish. Alex Gonzalez pimped a ball off the wall in the bottom of the 9th, causing him to be thrown out at second base and blowing a chance for the Braves to win it. Luckily, the Braves plated one in the bottom of the 10th on a game-winning single by Brian McCann.
Orioles 2, Mariners 1 (12): Dueling shutouts lasted until the 12th inning when the Mariners scored one in the top of the 12th and the Orioles walked it off with two in the bottom half off of struggling interim M’s closer Brandon League. League now has three straight losses and has given up seven runs in 2.1 IP.
Three games where crooked numbers in the second inning paved the way to wins…
Royals 11, Yankees 5: Royals used six second inning runs to pace themselves over the Yankees. Eric Hosmer hit his second homer in as many games and Billy Butler added four hits for the surprising Royals.
Rays 7, Tribe 4: Rays used a pair of two-run hits from Eric Brignac and the legendary Sam Fuld in the second inning to help James Shields en route to his fourth win of the season. Shields struck out seven in seven strong.
Cardinals 9, Cubs 1: Cardinals put up five in the second inning and let Jaime Garcia take care of the rest, as the 24-year-old left-hander improved to 5-0 on the season and lowered his ERA to 1.89. Before the game, Kyle Lohse provided some laughs as he took the lineup card to homeplate dressed as the ill Tony La Russa.
Mets 9, Rockies 5: After a two-plus hour rain delay, Carlos Beltran hit not one, not two, but THREE two-run home runs (to save you time from calculating, that’s six RBI). Ubaldo Jimenez walked six batters in 3.2 IP and continues to not be the same pitcher we saw a year ago.
Giants 3, Diamondbacks 2: Matt Cain in your face. Actually, a ball almost hit Cain in the face, but he caught it with his bare hand and threw it twice as hard back to the pitcher … Okay, that didn’t happen, but Cain did prevent a ball from hitting him in the face as he turned to lay down a sac bunt, and wound up staying in the game to throw 7.2 gem innings while striking out seven. Javier Lopez picked up the save for the Giants and Brian Wilson mulls retirement. No, not that Brian Wilson.
Pirates/Dodgers PPD
Best of the Box Scores:
Hitting:
Carlos Beltran, New York Mets: 3-for-6, 3 R, 6 RBI, 3 HR
Nate Schierholtz, San Francisco Giants: 3-for-4, 1 RBI, 1 SB
Billy Butler, Kansas City Royals: 4-for-6, 1 R, 2 RBI, 2B
Eric Hosmer, Kansas City Royals: 3-for-5, 1 R, 2 RBI, 2B, HR
Martin Prado, Atlanta Braves: 2-for-4, 2 R, 4 RBI, Grand Slam
Asdrubal Cabrara, Cleveland Indians: 2-for-3, 1 BB, 2 R, 1 RBI, 3B, HR
Jeff Baker, Chicago Cubs: 3-for-4, 1 RBI
Jon Jay, St. Louis Cardinals: 3-for-6, 3 RBI, 1 R, 2B
Pitching:
Zach Britton, Baltimore Orioles: 9 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K
Jason Vargas, Seattle Mariners: 9 IP, 7 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K
Jordan Zimmermann, Washington Nationals: 6.2 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 11 K
Matt Cain, San Francisco Giants: 7.2 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 K
James Shields, Tampa Bay Rays: 7 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 K
Jaime Garcia, St. Louis Cardinals: 7 IP, 9 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K
What to watch for tonight:
— Yankees/Red Sox if ESPN doesn’t make you sick of it by ramming it down your throat…
— Verlander makes his first start since throwing his second career no-hitter. He suggested on PTI earlier this week that he’s capable of throwing a second consecutive no-hitter tonight.
— Hamels vs. Beachy in Atlanta.
