15 games, 15 recaps. Some walk offs, some snoozers. Let’s get right into it, shall we?
Red Sox 4, Tigers 3: Carl Crawford hit his third walk off of the month, this one coming with the bases loaded and one out in the 9th off of rookie Al Aburquerque. The 4-3 loss for the Tigers wasted Justin Verlander’s eight-inning, nine-K (zero walk) performance and back-to-back homers in the 8th inning that tied the game at three apiece. Jonathan Papelbon mean-mugged his way out of a bases loaded, one-out jam in the 9th to get his second win of the season. The Red Sox also homered twice. Note: Josh Beckett had to leave after six innings (83 pitches) due to stiffnes in his neck.
Royals 2, Rangers 1 (10 innings): Jeff Francoeur walked it off for the Royals with an RBI single in the 10th, ending the Royals’ five-game losing streak. Royals trailed 1-0 going into the 9th, facing Rangers’ Derek Holland, who was going for a complete game shutout. However, after Eric Hosmer led the inning off with a single, Ron Washington called on his closer Neftali Feliz, who blew a save last night. Feliz got two outs after another single, but — with the runners now on 2nd and 3rd — gave up a slow, game-tying chopper up the middle to Mike Aviles. Rangers’ SS Elvis Andrus nabbed the ball before it went into center, probably saving the game-winning run, but had no other play on it. Darren Oliver then gave up the game-winning run an inning later.
Mariners 2, Angels 1: 24-year-old rookie Carlos Peguero, hitting .143/.172/.530 entering tonight’s game, was the hero for the Mariners, singling in Jack Cust in the bottom of the 9th for the win off of Scott Downs. Oh, yeah, Torii Hunter lost the ball in the sun and that’s why it dropped in…
Padres 1, Brewers 0: A sacrifice fly off the bat of Orlando Hudson scored pinch runner Corey Patterson, winning this bad boy for the Padres in walk off fashion. Heath Bell got the win, tossing an inning in relief of Aaron Harang, who threw eight scoreless.
Blue Jays 3, Rays 2: 25-year-old rookie J.P. Arencibia hit a game-winning two-run home run, his 7th of the season, to give teammate Rick Romero all the run support he would need. Kelly Shoppach homered in the 8th for the Rays to cut the lead to one, but Frank Francisco slammed the door on this pitcher’s duel in the 9th.
Cardinals 4, Astros 2: Kyle McClellan was dominant en route to his MLB leading sixth win of the season (8 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 5 K). Allen Craig was 3-for-4 with the game-winning homer in the 6th inning. Fernando Salas struck out two in the 9th to pick up his 5th save of the season.
Mets 1, Nats 0: Dillon Gee and the Mets three-hit the Nationals, needing just one run – a Justin Turner single in the 4th – to get the win. Turner, as you know, is replacing the DL’d David Wright at third base. The Mets have now won two straight!
Rockies 7, Phillies 1: 40-year-old Jason Giambi, hitting .115/.258/.489 coming into this game, hit THREE home runs, partying like it was … 2011!? Surprisingly, in the 379 different games he has homered in during his lengthy career, this was Giambi’s first 3-HR game, the second oldest player in big league history to hit 3-HR in a game (Stan Musial was the oldest). He knocked in all of the Rockies’ runs in doing so, helping Jhoulys Chacin pick up his 5th win of the season.
White Sox 8, Indians 2: White Sox put up six on Fausto Carmona in the first two innings to cushion Gavin Floyd’s quality start. Carlos Quentin, hitting .077 in his last eight games, hit his 9th home run of the season.
Cubs 5, Marlins 1: Cubs picked up their first series sweep of the season behind a two-run homer from Marlon Byrd and a strong start from 23-year-old Casey Coleman. Byrd’s homer was his second in as many games and Coleman’s win was his first since April 16. Mike Stanton homered for the Marlins in the 8th.
Pirates 5, Reds 3: Pirates used a three-run 5th and added another in the 6th to give James McDonald the support he would need to get his third win of the season. The Reds tacked on runs in the 8th and 9th, but Pirates closer Joel Hanrahan settled down after a Bruce homer to close out the win and hand the Reds their second straight loss, dropping them out of first place.
Yankees 13, Orioles 2: Yankees jumped all over Brad Bergesen and the Orioles from the start, putting up a crooked five-spot in the top of the first inning at Camden. Teixeira had three ribs and Swisher had four, making things easy as post-game pie on a platter for CC Sabathia (8 IP, 7 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 9 K).
Twins 11, A’s 1: The Twins methodically picked apart the Athletics, scoring a run in the first two innings and two in the fourth, before they executed the finishing move with six runs in the 8th inning. Despite three errors on defense, the bats banged out 16 hits, helping the Twins win their third straight. Justin Morneau led the way with three hits, including a two-run homer.
Giants 3, Dodgers 1: Madison Bumgarner nearly made it a complete game shutout, the Giants’ first since Tim Lincecum’s last summer, but Bumgarner gave up two two-out hits in the 9th inning to cut into the Giants lead and force Manager Bruce Bochy to go get Brian Wilson and the beard for the final out. Bumgarner, more like Bummergarner, amirite? Wilson walked two straight pinch hitters, loading the bases, but ultimately got the final out to “save” Bumgarner’s W… thanks to a diving catch by Nate Schierholtz.
Box score numbers of note (in no particular order):
Hitting:
Jason Giambi, Colorado Rockies: 3-for-5, 7 RBI, 3 R, 3 HR !
David Ortiz, Boston Red Sox: 3-for-4, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 HR (his pinch-runner scored game winning run)
Carlos Quentin, Chicago White Sox: 2-for-3, BB, 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 HR
Matt Laporta, Cleveland Indians: 2-for-3, BB, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 HR
Marlon Byrd, Chicago Cubs: 2-for-4, 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 HR
Jeff Francoeur, Kansas City Royals: 3-for-5, GW RBI (Melky Cabrera & Eric Hosmer both went 3-for-5 with a R)
Chris Davis, Texas Rangers: 2-for-4, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 HR
B.J. Upton, Tampa Bay Rays: 2-for-4, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 HR
J.P. Arencibia, Toronto Blue Jays: 2-for-4, 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 HR
Juan Rivera, Toronto Blue Jays: 2-for-3, BB, 2 R, 1 RBI, 1 HR
Justin Morneau, Minnesota Twins: 3-for-5, 2B, 1 HR, 2 RBI
Allen Craig, St. Louis Cardinals: 3-for-4, 2 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI
Jason Bay, New York Mets: 3-for-4, 2B
Pitching:
Justin Verlander, Detroit Tigers: 9 innings, 6 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 9 K, 2 HR
Gavin Floyd, Chicago White Sox: 7 innings, 3 H, ER, 1 BB, 3 K
Casey Coleman, Chicago Cubs: 5.2 innings, 4 H, 0 R, 5 BB, 7 K
Derek Holland, Texas Rangers: 8 innings, 9 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K
Luke Hochevar, Kansas City Royals: 8.2 innings, 6 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K
Ricky Romero, Toronto Blue Jays: 7 innings, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K
Jhoulys Chacin, Colorado Rockies: 7 innings, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 9 K
CC Sabathia, New York Yankees: 8 innings, 7 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 9 K
Kyle McClellan, St. Louis Cardinals: 8 innings, 5 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K
Dillon Gee, New York Mets: 7.2 innings, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 2 K
Livan Hernandez, Washington Nationals: 7 innings, 7 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K
Madison Bumgarner, San Francisco Giants: 8.2 innings, 6 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K
What to watch tonight:
– INTERLEAGUE BASEBALL STARTS…
– CJ Wilson vs. Roy Halladay
– Cubs (Doug Davis) vs. Red Sox (Jon Lester) on MLB Network
– Trevor Cahill vs. Ryan Vogelsong (who is coming off of 6.2 shutout innings in rain shortened win)
– Braves vs. Angels in the nightcap – Tim Hudson vs. Ervin Santana
