I didn’t get Raptured away on Saturday, so my schedule was free to watch and recap as much baseball as humanly possible yesterday.
Brewers 3, Rockies 1: Oh Ubaldo Jimenez, you and all your crazy walks. When will you ever learn? Thanks in large part to five free passes from Jimenez, the Brewers needed a mere two hits to plate three runs and steal a victory from Colorado even though Jimenez was able to noth a complete game.
Rays 4, Marlins 0: Remember how there were all those rumors that the Rays were going to try and pawn off James Shields last winter after he had a tough 2010. Yeah, good thing they didn’t do that. Shields continued his fantastic rebound in 2011 yesterday by striking out 13 Marlins on his way to his third complete game and second shutout of the season.
Angels 4, Braves 1: Some interesting stuff happened in this game, but really, the important takeaway is that Nate McLouth somehow managed to injure himself in the very first at-bat of the game without ever actually swinging. McLouth successfully checked his swing, but somehow managed to injure what appeared to be his left oblique in the process. Good work, Nate. Oh yeah, Bobby Abreu also doubled and is now tied with Lou Gehrig at 32nd on the career doubles list, so he’s got that going for him.
Rangers 2, Phillies 0: Matt Harrison won for the first time in over a month while coming out just two outs shy of a complete game shutout. I’d be more impressed if the team he nearly shutout had scored over three runs just once their previous eight games.
Indians 12, Reds 4: Asdrubal Cabrera must really like the number five. He had five at-bats in this route of the Reds and collected five hits while driving in five runs. He also made two errors in the game, which gives him five total errors on the season. Cabrera also smacked two homers and become the, wait for it, fifth shorstop since 1920 to have five hits and two homers in the same game. I can only hope that he watched the 1986 film Short Circuit after the game so he could hear the catchphrase “Johnny Five is alive!”
Tigers 2, Pirates 0: It took eight innings of one-hit ball from Rick Porcello to halt the Tigers five-game losing streak and avoid a sweep at the hands of Pirates. However, Porcello was robbed of the chance of starting what he finished despite the fact that he only had thrown 84 pitches. Jim Leyland tried to blame the heat of the day for pulling Porcello despite his low pitch count, but it seems more likely that he wanted to get Valverde some work since he had made just one appearance since May 14th.
Yankees 9, Mets 3: This game was a lot more tense than the score suggests. Thet Mets led 3-1 entering the seventh inning, but the Yankees busted loose for eight runs in the inning with the big blow being delivered by A-Rod. And by big blow, I mean dinker of an infield hit that gave the Yankees the lead.
Mariners 6, Padres 1: Don’t look now, but the Mariners have won five games in a row and moved into third place in the AL West, just 1.5 games out of first. Felix Hernandez, like the Mariner starters before him, owned the Padres, limiting them to one run over eight innings while striking out a career-high 13 batters.
Astros 3, Blue Jays 2: Hunter Pence would go on to complain after this game about the heckling he received during the game, but it was the Jays who should be complaining about Pence who won the game for Houston with his two-run homer in the fifth. The real question though was what kind of self-respecting Canadian spends their day harrassing someone like Hunter Pence when there was hockey on TV back at home?
Giants 5, Athletics 4 (11 innings): A’s fans are probably praying that Andrew Bailey’s rehab stint goes well, because they’ve probably had just about enough of Brian Fuentes. The interim closer for the A’s entered the game in the eleventh inning only to give up the game-winning walk-off single after getting just one out in the inning. That made Fuentes the losing pitcher for the third Oakland game in a row and was Fuentes’ sixth loss of the season. There is no truth to the rumor that he reached out to Brandon League after the game to see if there was some sort of support group he could join.
Orioles 2, Nationals 1: This game featured a rare occurrence, a manager getting ejected from the game for arguing a call that he admits was correct. Jim Riggleman apparently got all bent out of shape that the umpires were good at their job and called Roger Bernadina out for making contact with the ball outside the batter’s box on his bunt attempt. Riggleman acknoweldged it was the correct call, he just didn’t think the umpire should have made the call because he thinks he is special or something.
Diamondbacks 3, Twins 2: For the first time ever, the D’Backs swept a home interleague series and for the first time in over a month Arizona is back at .500. Daniel Hudson starred in the game, going eight innings and fanning six Twins without issuing a single walk.
White Sox 8, Dodgers 3: The Dodgers got their shortstop Rafael Furcal back, but it was the opposing shortstop, Alexei Ramirez that did them in. Ramirez busted loose for five RBIs on four hits, including two doubles and a homer. To add injury to insult, the Dodgers lost star outfielder Andre Ethier in this game due to injury after Ethier forgot that solid matter can’t pass through other solid matter and he slammed into the outfield wall. A bruised Ethier ended up leaving the game with an assortment of minor injuries and his availability is not currently known.
Cardinals 9, Royas 8 (10 innings): It is a darn shame that Yadier Molina didn’t hit a homer during his four-hit game yesterday as he missed the cycle by a homer. Considering that the lead-footed Molina brothers have combined for a total of 10 triples in their careers, Yadier may never get another chance to hit for the cycle. Still, Molina’s big day helped the Cards pull out the victory in extra innings, even though it was Yadier taking a walk to force in the game-winning run.
Red Sox 5, Cubs 1: Tim Wakefield and his knuckleball may never go away. Starting only because John Lackey and Daisuke Matsuzaka are on the DL, Wakefield’s knuckler kept the Cubs baffled and gave the BoSox the series victory.
Pitchers of the Night:
Felix Hernandez, Mariners: 8 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 13 K
Ubaldo Jimenez, Rockies: 8 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 5 BB, 4 K
James Shields, Rays: 9 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 13 K
Rick Porcello, Tigers: 8 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K
Matt Harrison, Rangers: 8.1 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 3 K
Hitters of the Night:
Asdrubal Cabrera, Indians: 5/5, 2 R, 5 RBI, 2 HR, 1 SB
Alex Rodriguez, Yankees: 4/5, 1 R, 1 RBI
Jerry Sands, Dodgers: 4/4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 SB
Alexei Ramirez, White Sox: 4/5, 2 R, 5 RBI, 2 2B, 1 HR
Yadier Molina, Cardinals: 4/5, 2 R, 3 RBI, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 BB
