Just too much exciting baseball going on for me to limit to just one game. An embarrassment of riches from a recap perspective.
Delightful Debuts:
Zach Duke, making his first start of 2011 and his first career appearance for Arizona, shut down the Astros from the mound and beat up on them from the batter’s box. 7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K is his best start since 2009, and the three-run home run he hit was the first of his career. Getting Duke into a rotation that’s not particularly deep is a nice shot in the arm for a Diamondbacks team that’s not just half a game out in the NL West race.
The Rockies’ Juan Nicasio picked up a win in his major league debut, pitching much better than he ended up needing to. Throwing in the mid 90s, with a change and a slider for support, Nicasio shut down the NL’s best offense – 7 IP, 6 H, 1 R (unearned), 2 BB, 2 K. The only thing he really needed to do to get the W was complete 5 innings pitched though, as the Rockies absolutely demolished the Card’s. Jamie Garcia struck out 6 batters in 3.1 IP, and yet still somehow allowed 12 runs on 11 hits (plus 4 walks) – raising his season ERA from 1.93 to 3.28. And the St. Louis pen didn’t go unscathed, as Chris Ianetta hit his second home run of the day to cap the scoring at 15.
Wonderful Walk-Offs (though I guess it depends on which team you’re rooting for):
White Sox at Blue Jays: quite a back and forth slugfest, as Brent Lillibridge and Jose Bautista traded early inning home runs (over the last two years, Bautista has hit 74 home runs – most in the majors – and Albert Pujols is second, with 50). Chicago score a couple of late runs to tie things up and send the game into extras, where no one could push a run across from quite a while. Until the bottom of the 14th, that is, when Corey Patterson led off and lined the first pitch he saw from Gavin Floyd (who had already pitched a scoreless frame) over the right-field fense for the walk-off homer (his 5th hit of the day).
Yankees at Mariners: New York was able to get to King Felix (who ended up throwing 128 pitches over 7 innings), with Robinson Cano and Mark Teixeira both taking him deep, but Seattle came back. Tied at 4-4, this one also went to extra-innings. After a string of Yankee relievers – including Boone Logan and Luis Ayala – had pitched scoreless innings (or more), they turned to Mariano Rivera to get them through the 12th. With one out, a single-double-intentional walk loaded the bases, and Adam Kennedy’s single to short center-field drove in the winning run off of the greatest closer of all time. The M’s are above .500 now, and only a half-game behind the first-place Rangers in the AL West.
Angels at Twins: Jered Weaver vs. Anthony Swarzak (making an emergency spot start) doesn’t sound like it would necessarily be a pitcher’s duel, but those guys traded zeroes for a long time. Weaver probably ended up having the better start overall (9 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 K), but it was Swarzak that took a no-hitter into the 8th innings (finishing at 8 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K). LA took at Weaver going into the 10th (he had thrown 128 pitches), and things (almost) immediately fell apart. After lefty Hisanoir Takahashi struck out Jason Kubel, Justin Morneau singled. Two more singles versus Kevin Jepsen loaded the bases, and a third from Danny Valencia brought in the game’s only run – giving the Twins just their second win in the last eight games.
Giants at Brewers: Lefties Jonathan Sanches and Randy Wolf both pitched well, leaving the game tied 2-2 (with one of Milwuakee’s runs scoring on an inside-the-park home run from Carlos Gomezon a grounder down the first-base line that eluded the right-fielder), but there would be no need for extra innings in this one. The middle of the Brewers’ order started things off, with singles by Raun Braun and Prince Fielder. A groundout put the winning run at third with just one out, so Yuniesky Betancourt got the intentional walk. Catcher Jonathan Lucroy pinch-hit for catcher Wil Nieves with the bases loaded and one out… and bunted. A suicide squeeze, with Braun running with the pitch and Lucroy just needing to make contact, and it worked to perfection.
A walk-off bomb from a speedy outfielder, and a walk-off bunt from a catcher. How about that?
Also last night: Paul Maholm pitches the complete game shutout as the Pirates demolish the Cubs; five home runs from Texas as they crush the Royals; 10 K’s from Cole Hamels, with the Phils making the late inning come-back; and not much more (it was an interesting day, so I had to inculde most of the games that happened somewhere in the post already).
What to watch tonight: Given yesterday’s game, you should probably be on the safe side and watch all the games. Matt Cain vs. Yovani Gallardo seems like a nice pitching match-up though. And Ricky Nolasco vs. Clayton Kershaw. And Johnny Cueto vs. Jair Jurrjens. Plus Josh Beckett vs. Justin Verlander could be OK. Full schedule with probable pitchers here.
