A tweet by ESPN’s Keith Law summed up Friday night thusly: “If you enjoy watching one baseball team beat the absolute crap out of another team, this is your night.” It wasn’t a pretty evening for those who love pitching duels – seven of the 15 games on the slate were decided by five or more runs. Five teams put double digit runs on the board. Of course, that doesn’t mean the night was completely devoid of great pitching, but we’ll get to that later.
Game of the Night: Marlins 8, Mariners 4. This game gets the nod simply because of how it ended. Going into the bottom of the ninth, it was all locked up at four. Yoervis Medina allowed a leadoff single to Reed Johnson, and Christian Yelich followed up by reaching on an attempted sacrifice bunt. A Marcell Ozuna bunt attempted resulted in an error on Kyle Seager to load the bases for Giancarlo Stanton. Stanton fell behind 1-2 before taking a pitch from Medina and depositing it over the left center field wall to give Miami a win on a walk off grand slam – are you kidding me?!
Pitching Lines of the Night: Martin Perez threw a complete game shutout for the Rangers in their 12-0 thrashing of the White Sox, allowing three hits, walking one, and striking out eight. Tyson Ross pitched incredibly well for the Padres in their 2-1 win over the Giants, giving up four hits over eight shutout innings, walking one and punching out nine. He outdueled Matt Cain, who gave up one unearned run on four hits in seven innings, walking two and striking out eight. Aaron Harang had an oddly effect start for the Braves in their 6-0 win over the Mets, throwing seven no hit innings, walking six and punching out five. Tyler Chatwood baffled the Phillies in Colorado’s 12-1 stomping, giving up one unearned run on two hits in seven frames, punching out six and walking one.
Hitting Lines of the Night: In the Angels’ 11-6 win over the Tigers, Howie Kendrick went 3/5 with two homers and four RBI. Troy Tulowitzki spurred the Rockies offense in their smashing of the Phillies, going 3/3 with a double, a homer, a walk, two runs, and five RBI. The aforementioned Giancarlo Stnaton was a force against the Mariners, going 3/3 with that grand slam, two runs, five RBI, and two walks. Leonys Martin had a nice game in Texas’ win over Chicago, collecting three hits in five at bats while also hitting a triple, a homer, scoring twice, and driving in four. Yoenis Cespedes helped the A’s smash the Astros 12-3, going 3/4 with a double, a homer, a walk, two runs, and three RBI. Orioles rookie Jonathan Schoop played well in their 8-4 win over the Red Sox, going 4/5 with two doubles, a run, and two RBI.
Other Games: The Blue Jays edged the Indians 3-2. The Reds beat the Cubs 4-1 behind the arm of Alfredo Simon. The Nationals beat the Cardinals 3-1. The Rays rallied late to beat the Yankees 11-5. Kyle Lohse once again baffled the Pirates in Milwaukee’s 5-3 victory. Jason Vargas and the Royals shut out the Twins 5-0. The Diamondbacks beat the Dodgers 4-2 in 12 innings, their first victory over Los Angeles this season.
What You Missed: Longest homers of the week, featuring that Stanton guy over and over again. Bryce Harper was digitally inserted into vintage MLB video clips as part of a new ad campaign. The Mets finally traded Ike Davis, sending him to the Pirates for a pair of minor leaguers. Martin Maldonado of the Brewers literally hit the cover off of a ball.
Today’s Games: Mark Buehrle starts for the Blue Jays in Cleveland. Jordan Zimmermann and the Nationals host the Cardinals. C.J. Wilson and Max Scherzer will duel in Detroit. Scott Kazmir and the A’s host the Astros. Matt Garza gets the nod for the Brewers in Pittsburgh. Ervin Santana and Bartolo Colon will be matched up at Citi Field. Chris Archer and the Rays host the Yankees. Jose Quintana starts for the White Sox in Texas. Tim Hudson gets the nod for the Giants in San Diego.
National TV: Angels-Tigers (1 PM, Fox Sports 1), Astros-Athletics (4 PM, MLB Network), Diamondbacks-Dodgers (8 PM, MLB Network)
MLB.tv Free Game: Cardinals-Nationals (1 PM)
Enjoy your day of baseball, everyone.
