77-60. It's a pretty solid record. It's the record held by both the Orioles and Yankees after Thursday's games, too. Baltimore smashed New York 10-6, coming back in the eighth inning after blowing a 6-1 lead. Nine of Baltimore's ten runs came via the home run, including a pair by the white hot Mark Reynolds. Awesome Yankees set-up man David Robertson faced three batters in the eighth. All three scored, and two of those three hit homers. Jason Hammel's return to the mound for the Orioles was a resounding success. And to the delight of Baltimore's fans, they'll have a great chance to take sole possession of first place tomorrow, when their second best starter, Wei-Yin Chen, will hop onto the hill to face Phil Hughes.
Game of the Night: Rangers 5, Royals 4 (ten innings). The Royals got three early runs off of Scott Feldman, but starter Luke Hochevar couldn't hold the lead, and the game was tied after the fourth. The teams traded runs in the seventh, with Kansas City tying the game on a homer by the struggling Eric Hosmer, who's actually been demoted to hitting below Jeff Francoeur in the Royals' lineup. The Rangers would get a run in the tenth courtesy of a Michael Young RBI single against Kansas City closer Greg Holland, and Joe Nathan didn't throw a ball in a ten pitch tenth to seal up the Texas victory.
Pitching Lines of the Night: With only five games on the slate, there's not a lot to talk about here. Jordan Zimmermann allowed two runs on five hits over seven innings, striking out nine and walking one, in Washington's 9-2 win over the Cubs. The big story in DC was the pair of bench clearing incidents, though. The Braves beat the Rockies 1-0 on an unearned run, but Tim Hudson was good for Atlanta regardless, throwing seven shutout innings and allowing six hits, walking two and striking out two. Finally, Josh Johnson led the Marlins to a 6-2 win against the Brewers, allowing two runs on four hits over seven frames, walking three and striking out seven.
Hitting Lines of the Night: Mark Reynolds went 2/3 with three RBI, a walk, and a pair of homers for the Orioles. Kurt Suzuki went 3/5 with two runs, three RBI, and his third homer of the year with the Nationals. Matt Wieters helped Reynolds on the offensive front for the Orioles, going 2/4 with two runs, three RBI, and his 19th homer of the year. Anthony Rizzo went 3/4 with a solo homer for the Cubs in their blowout loss in DC. Charlie Blackmon of the Rockies went 4/4, but had just one double, no runs, and no RBI.
Other Games: Got em all.
Today's Games: Jacob Turner and the Marlins travel to Washington to take on Stephen Strasburg in his second to last start this year. Cliff Lee and the Phillies host the Rockies. Derek Holland and the Rangers go to Tampa to take on Jeremy Hellickson and the Rays. AJ Burnett looks to help the Pirates out, leading the charge against the Cubs. Francisco Liriano and the White Sox host the Royals. Max Scherzer and the Tigers take on Ervin Santana and the Angels in a must-win series for both teams. Yovani Gallardo starts for the Brewers, looking to play spoilers, in St Louis against Kyle Lohse. Tyler Skaggs starts for the Diamondbacks in San Diego against the returning Andrew Cashner. Josh Beckett takes on Tim Lincecum in San Francisco in a possible last gasp series for the Dodgers.
Enjoy your day of baseball, everyone.
