Admit it: you’re happy interleague play is over. You don’t know why and you know you can’t do anything about it, but you’re happy that dumb first island weekend with classic Pirates/Tigers matchups is over. I’m happy to, and I’m also happy to give you last night’s recaps in today’s Dugout Digest.
Indians 3 Red Sox 2
OK, this Asdrubal Cabrera thing is getting out of hand. Last night he hit his tenth homer (previous career high: six) and drove in two runs to get to 34 on the season, half of his career high of 68. He had a heck of a promising year as a 23-year old that hit 42 doubles in 2009, but this is ridiculous. Justin Masterson and Clay Buchholz locked horns in a rain-soaked pitchers’ duel for most of this one (Masterson allowed two runs in 7 2/3, Buchholz allowed two in 7 1/3) and the difference wound up being Cabrera’s RBI double off of Daniel Bard in the bottom of the eighth. With the win, the Indians become baseball’s first 30-win team.
Mariners 8 Twins 7 (in 10 innings)
A classic see-saw game: the Mariners ran out to a 2-0 lead after scoring in the first and second, the Twins then built up 7-2 after scoring twice in the seventh, but the Mariners scored twice in the eighth, once in the ninth to tie it, and again in the tenth to pull out their sixth straight win. On offense for the M’s, it was Carlos Peguero who tied it with a single in the ninth and Luis Rodriguez who drove in Jack Wilson with a sac fly in the tenth. For the Twins, Denard Span homered and Jim Thome homered twice, but Matt Capps and Anthony Swarzak couldn’t come through out of the bullpen and that’s what saddled them with the league-leading 31st loss.
Rangers 4 White Sox 0
With the surprising Angels and the red hot Mariners bearing down on the defending AL Champs, the Rangers have been looking forward to the return of Nelson Cruz and Josh Hamilton for a while. The duo played Bash Brothers in their first game back last night, with Hamilton homering in his first at bat back off of the disabled list and Cruz hitting a two-run homer in the sixth to ice the cake. Alexi Ogando show his appreciation by tossing his first career complete game shutout, striking out six White Sox and only allowing five hits. John Danks also pitched a complete game and was reasonable good besides the home runs. Unfortunately for him and the White Sox, who are now a whopping 10 games behind the Indians, that wasn’t good enough.
Phillies 10 Reds 3
The Rangers weren’t the only team to get help in the form of a star returning to the field on Monday. Chase Utley played his first game of 2011 for the Phillies and even though he went 0-for-5, his teammates made sure to pick up his slack. Placido Polanco, Jimmy Rollins, and Raul Ibanez all homered for the Phils. Rollins totaled three RBIs on the evening while Ibanez, Polanco, and John Mayberry all had two. Cole Hamels went six strong to pick up his sixth win for the Reds, while much of the Phillies’ damage came against Bronson Arroyo, who gave up 10 hits and nine runs in 2 2/3 innings. The Reds, who seemed to be on top of the NL just a few weeks ago, fall to 25-23 and have some serious pitching issues that need addressed.
Cardinals 3 Padres 1
It’s weird, but Albert Pujols homered last night and it’s big news. Pujols hit his first bomb last night since April 23 (105 at bats) in the sixth inning last night to break a scoreless tie. After the Padres tied the game back up, the Cardinals added two against Heath Bell in the ninth on the strength of a Skip Schumaker double, a Daniel Descalso single, and a Ryan Theriot single. Kyle Lohse was strong for the Cards, giving up one run in eight innings while striking out five and walking just one. The Padres wasted a great start by Dustin Moseley, who limited the Cards to just one run over seven innings.
Blue Jays 7 Yankees 3
Guess what? Jose Bautista homered last night! He hit his 19th blast of the season off of Bartolo Colon in the first inning last night to give him a three homer lead on Curtis Granderson and a seven homer lead on everyone else in baseball. The big hit for the Jays, though, was JP Arrenciba’s bases loaded double in the top of the sixth that capped a five-run rally that inning and provided the Blue Jays’ bullpen with plenty of cushion to hold on to the lead. Colon struck out eight in his six innings, though he was tagged with six of the Jays’ seven runs. With the win, the Blue Jays are just a game and a half behind the AL East leading Rays.
Tigers 6 Rays 3
Speaking of the AL East leading Rays, they had trouble with some young Tigers in Detroit last night. Charlie Furbush made his big league debut in relief last night, tossing 3 2/3 scoreless innings after Phil Coke left with an ankle injury. Furbush struck out three, walked one, and only allowed two hits while earning the win in his first appearance. Andy Dirks added his first big league homer in the form of a game-tying solo shot off of Jeremy Hellickson in the fifth inning. Hellickson had some control troubles (four walks in 6 1/3), but pitched fairly well before JP Howell and Juan Cruz allowed four runs in the eighth inning, clinching the win for the Tigers.
Brewers 11 Nationals 3
Corey Hart blasted his first three homers of 2011 and drove in seven runs to lead the Brewers to an easy win over the Nationals. Hart had two two-run dingers off of Tom Gorzelanny and a three-run shot off of Doug Slaten in the eighth. Prince Fielder added his 11th homer of the year and Ryan Braun doubled twice in the offensive onslaught against Gorzelanny (he allowed six runs in five innings) and Drew Storen, who had an uncharacteristically bad outing in mop-up duty. All of those runs were plenty for Yovani Gallardo, who struck out nine Nationals in his seven innings of work, allowing just one walk, five hits, and one run.
Astros 4 Dodgers 3
With a 3-1 lead and two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, the Dodgers had a win expectancy of 96.1% (Bill Hall was on first for the Astros, which is why it wasn’t even higher). From there, Kenley Janson walked pinch-hitter Angel Sanchez and then Sanchez and Hall executed a double steal (Editorial break: Why in the hell would the Astros be trying a double steal there? That makes, like, no sense.). That put them in position to be doubled in by Michael Bourn, who in turn scored on a Hunter Pence single to end the game. There’s just not a whole heck of a lot going right for the Dodgers right now, is there? Clayton Kershaw’s excellent but wasted line was 6 IP, 7 K, 2 BB, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER while Bud Norris turned in a strong start for the Astros.
Angels 4 A’s 1
The Angels rallied for three runs against Brian Fuentes and Michael Wuertz in the eighth inning, sparked by a tie-breaking RBI double by Torii Hunter. Fuentes is somewhat hilariously now 1-7, despite only pitching 21 1/3 innings on the season. It’s not like he’s a hard luck 1-7, either: his ERA is 5.06 and his strikeout rate is at a career low. Why Bob Geren keeps using him in high leverage situations, I don’t know. For the Angels, Hunter also had a key assist from the outfield when he gunned Andy LaRoche down at the plate in the seventh. Jered Weaver went seven strong innings, allowing just one run and striking out five. Josh Outman was just as good for the A’s, holding the Angels to five hits and one run in his seven innings. Unfortunately for Outman, it was his bullpen that couldn’t hold up their end of the bargain.
Tonight’s best games:
Braves vs. Pirates, 7:05 PM ET: You know what? I don’t care if you think I’m a Pirate homer for putting this game on here. Charlie Morton, fresh off of a complete game shutout of the Reds at Great American faces his old club, who’s sending Jair Jurrjens and his 1.80 ERA out to the mound. The Braves have dropped four of five against the Diamondbacks and Angels and need a win to stay in the thick of the NL East, while the Bucs rolled off four wins before Sunday’s loss to the Tigers and are trying to stay in the periphery of the NL Central race.
Royals vs Orioles, 7:05 PM ET: I’m gonna keep rolling with solid off-the-radar pitching matchups here with the Zach Britton/Danny Duffy duel that should have you paying attention even if it is an Orioles/Royals game. Britton’s been excellent so far in his rookie year (5-2, 2.14 ERA, 1.74 K/BB) while Duffy’s making his second big league start after a dominating run at Triple-A Omaha to open 2011.
Rays vs. Tigers, 7:05 PM ET: Justin Verlander is must-see TV right now. In his last three starts (25 innings), he’s thrown a no-hitter, struck out 20, walked four, and only allowed 8 hits to go with his 1.44 ERA. Throw in Wade Davis and the first place Rays, and this is a game certainly worth turning on.
Also tonight (all times Eastern): Diamondbacks (Saunders) at Rockies (De la Rosa), 3:10 PM — Red Sox (Beckett) at Indians (Carmona), 7:05 PM — Reds (Cueto) at Phillies (Worley), 7:05 PM — Blue Jays (Romero) at Yankees (Sabathia), 7:05 PM — White Sox (Peavy) at Rangers (Holland), 8:05 PM — Dodgers (Billingsley) at Astros (Happ), 8:05 PM — Mets (Niese) at Cubs (Dempster), 8:05 PM — Mariners (Fister) at Twins (Blackburn), 8:10 PM — Nationals (Hernandez) at Brewers (Narveson), 8:10 PM — Diamondbacks (Collmenter) at Rockies (Chacin), 8:40 PM — A’s (Moscoso) at Angels (Haren), 10:05 PM — Cardinals (McClellan) at Padres (Harang), 10:05 PM — Marlins (Nolasco) at Giants (Cain), 10:15 PM
