It took four starts, but Zack Greinke finally won his first start as an Angel in a 9-6 win over the Indians. However, aside from his first start, Greinke really hasn't been overly impressive with his new team. Last night, Greinke allowed four runs on eight hits in seven innings, walking one and striking out five. He's allowed 16 runs in 26 innings since the deal, and quite frankly, he hasn't been worth the prospects given up…yet. We'll see what happens with this over the final two months of the season.
Game of the Night: Mariners 3, Rays 2. This one really hurt for the Rays. Tampa Bay led 2-1 going into the bottom of the ninth, and after an amazing start from Matt Moore, Fernando Rodney came in to close things out. Kyle Seager immediately reached on a single, and Chone Figgins attempted to bunt him to second. He succeeded, but an error on Carlos Pena pushed Seager to third and let Figgins reach second safely. A sac fly from Justin Smoak tied the game, and after a Miguel Olivo flyout, Eric Thames singled in Figgins to give the Mariners a big win, and crush the dreams of the Rays.
Pitching Lines of the Night: There were *quite* a few great performances last night. Hiroki Kuroda no hit the Rangers over six innings, and ended up throwing a complete game shutout on two hits, walking two and striking out five in a 3-0 Yankees win. Josh Johnson allowed one run on three hits over eight innings, walking one and striking out seven…but his counterpart Kyle Kendrick threw seven shutout frames while allowing five hits, striking out six without a walk in Philly's 1-0 win. Madison Bumgarner dominated the Nationals in a 6-1 Giants win, throwing a complete game and allowing one run on five hits, striking out six and walking one. Jeremy Guthrie shut out the A's over seven innings as the Royals topped them 5-0, allowing three hits, two walks, and tallying eight strikeouts. In an 11-0 Dodgers blowout win over the Pirates, Chad Billingsley threw eight shutout innings and gave up five hits, one walk, and struck out five.
Hitting Lines of the Night: In a 7-1 Orioles win over the tumultous Red Sox, Mark Reynolds went 2/4 with four RBI and a pair of homers. The Astros blew out the Cubs 10-1, and Scott Moore went 3/5 with two runs, two RBI, two doubles, and a homer. In that Indians loss to the Angels, Michael Brantley went 3/4 with three runs, two RBI, and his fifth homer of the year. The Rockies beat the freefalling Brewers 8-6, and Eric Young Jr went 3/5 with two runs, two RBI, a double, and a homer.
Other Games: Tim Hudson and the Braves shut out the Padres 6-0. The White Sox edged the Blue Jays 3-2. Jay Bruce hit a walk-off homer in the ninth as the Reds beat the Mets 3-0. The Tigers beat the Twins 8-4. The Cardinals crushed the Diamondbacks 8-2.
Today's Games: Half of our slate today is day games. Woohoo! Roy Halladay starts in Miami against Mark Buerhle. Jeremy Hellickson and Felix Hernandez will duel in Seattle. Stephen Strasburg will take on Tim Lincecum in San Francisco. Clayton Kershaw and Wandy Rodriguez will battle in Pittsburgh. Brandon McCarthy starts for the A's in Kansas City. Edinson Volquez and Paul Maholm will go at it in Atlanta. Roberto Hernandez makes his Indians debut in Los Angeles against the Angels. RA Dickey starts for the Mets in Cincinnati. Adam Wainwright takes on Joe Saunders in St Louis.
Enjoy your day of baseball, everyone.
