You know what would be better than a no-hitter? Two no hitters in a row!
Cubs 11, Giants 4: Just a relentless assault from Chicago, with 11 singles and 4 walks (to go along with a couple doubles and a triple). the top of the line-up – Starlin Castro and Darwin Barney – did most of the damage (each had 3 hits). Not like Ryan Dempster needed all that support, given that he K’ed 11 in 6 IP (allowing 2 runs).
Tigers 3, Royals 1: Terrible game by Justin Verlander. He gave up two hits. Two! Get that guy out of the rotation. Couldn’t even complete the game (8 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 7 K). Homers by Austin Jackson and Jhonny Peralta helped provide the necessay run support.
Indians 5, Mariners 4: 7 of the game’s 9 runs scored on home runs (Justin Smoak and Carlos Peguero for Seattle, Michael Brantley, Shin-Soo Choo, and Travis Hafner – a walk-off blast – from Cleveland).
Marlins 6, Nationals 5 (11 innings): Washington starter Tom Gorzelanny gave up three home runs (Gaby Sanchez, John Buck, Mike Stanton), but the Nat’s made a comeback (helped by a Laynce Nix homer). When Logan Morrison went deep to put Florida ahead in the 8th, the Nat’s countered with a run. They couldn’t manage one more response in extras though.
Red Sox 5, Yankees 4: Clay Buchholz (7 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 7 K) pitched well for Boston, and the pen managed to hold the lead despite Daniel Bard and Jonathan Papelbon each giving up a run. Adrian Gonzalez homered for the 5th time in his last 5 games (his 8th of the season), and Kevin Youkilis and Russell Martin each went deep as well.
Reds 6, Cardinals 5 (10 innings): Three more hits for Matt Holliday, who pushes his batting average up to .398 (after dipping down below .400 about a week ago). It wasn’t enough, though, as the Reds tied the game in the bottom of the 9th and then won it in the 10th on Joey Votto’s walk-off single.
Rays 3, Orioles 0: Jeremy Hellickson (9 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K) with the complete game shutout, while Johnny Damon and Matt Joyce provided more than enough run support with a home run each. Jeremy Guthrie takes the tough loss, and falls to 1-6 despite a 3.98 ERA.
Phillies 5, Braves 4: Cole Hamels gave up 4 runs on 8 hits despite 7 K’s (and only 1 walk) in 6 IP. His offense bailed him out by getting to the Atlanta pen, which had a lot of innings to cover when Brandon Beachy left after two innings with an oblique injury (though not before Ryan Howard hit a three-run bomb off of him).
Mets 6, Astros 4: It looked like Houston would be picking up their 15th win, but then Jason bay homered in the 7th inning. Then (pinch-hitter) Fernando Martinez and David Wright homered in the 8th inning (to give the Mets a 5-4). They tacked on an extra run in the 9th, and with their third straight win New York is just two games under .500.
Rangers 4, Angels 1: LA’s only run came on a solo shot by Eric Aybar, with Texas getting a pair of longballs (Elvis Andrus and Adrian Beltre) and an extra couple runs on top of that. Jered Weaver losses his third in a row, and his ERA (2.26) is now higher than Rangers’ starter Alexi Ogando’s (2.06).
Blue Jays 2, Twins 0: Ricky Romero (8.2 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 8 K) doesn’t always get the credit, but he’s one of the better young lefties in baseball. Jose Bautista (3-4, with his MLB leading 12th home run) has been getting plenty of credit though.
Brewers 5, Pirates 2: A Ronny Cedeno home run was the only major damage Yovani Gallardo allowed. Even though they struck out 11 times, the Milwaukee offense was able to push across enough runs to move within a game of the Pirates for 3rd place in the NL Central.
Rockies 12, Padres 7: Now this is the kind of game we had learned to expect at Coors Field. 27 total hits, runs scored in almost every half inning (11 of the 17, actually), a starter (Jorge De La Rosa) giving up 5 runs in 5.2 IP and still getting the W.
White Sox 4, A’s 3: Here, on the other hand, each time only scored in exactly one inning. Chicago’s 2nd beat Oakland’s 7th, with the eventual winning run coming in to score on a throwing error by A’s starter Brandon McCarthy (who’s now 1-4 even with a 3.34 ERA).
Dodgers 4, Diamondbacks 3: Clayton Kershaw might have had the start of the night (7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 11 K). Arizona made a valiant comeback in the last couple innings, but it wasn’t enough as Kenley Jansen came in to get that 27th out via a K.
