After a pair of games in Los Angeles against the Dodgers over the weekend, last night brought about the home debut of Bryce Harper in Washington. Batting seventh and playing left field, things didn’t necessarily go as planned. The Nationals had another anemic offensive game, scoring just one run on six hits during the game. None of those came from Harper, who went 0/3 with a strikeout. Welp, that’s it for him. Close up shop and walk away, his career is clearly over.
Game of the Night: Blue Jays 8, Rangers 7. Texas jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the second inning off of Drew Hutchison, and they did it without homering at all. Of course, the Blue Jays got four in the third off of Neftali Feliz to make it a 5-4 game, highlighted by a three run homer by Kelly Johnson and a solo homer by Jose Bautista. Hutchison and Feliz calmed down after that, with Feliz finishing off five innings without allowing another run, and Hutchison finishing off six innings while allowing just one more unearned run. Going into the seventh, it was 6-4 Texas, but Toronto struck and took the lead, scoring three runs on a pair of groundouts and an RBI single. Francisco Cordero came in to finish the game off in the ninth….and instead blew the lead, allowing a game-tying RBI single to Michael Young. That set the stage for Brett Lawrie in the ninth inning, who hit a walk-off homer off of Mike Adams to win the game for the Blue Jays.
Pitching Line of the Night: Jerome Williams threw a compete game shutout against the Twins (not a difficult task), allowing three hits and just one walk, striking out six in the process. Shaun Marcum threw seven shutout innings for the Brewers, allowing three hits, walking four, and striking out six. He got a no decision thanks to a late Mark Kotsay homer. In the same game, Edinson Volquez did the same thing: seven shutout innings with three hits, two walks, and four strikeouts. He also got a no decision. Of course.
Hitting Line of the Night: Chris Davis continued his hot streak, going 3/4 with three runs, a double, and a homer. Howard Kendrick of the Angels went 3/4 with a triple and a homer. Matt Holliday went 3/5 with two runs, two RBI, and a homer.
Spotlight Series: The Orioles beat the Yankees 7-1 in a game that spiraled out of control quickly for New York. Curtis Granderson hit a solo homer in the first for the Yankees, but then, their bats fell silent. Brian Matusz went 6 1/3, allowed six hits, the one run, just one walk, and four strikeouts. It was his first win since June 1st last year, which was his only win of the season. Phil Hughes didn’t necessarily pitch bad for the Yankees, going 5 2/3 innings and allowing four hits, four hits, one walk, and six strikeouts. It was a pair of homers that ended up doing him in. Perhaps more noteworthy for the Orioles: Nick Johnson got his first hit of the year. Thank god.
Other Games: The Tigers crushed the Royals 9-3. Arizona beat up an offensively deficient Nationals team 5-1. The Phillies used a pair of late runs to beat the Braves 4-2. Jarrod Parker got his first major league win as the A’s beat the Red Sox 5-3. The Astros used a couple of homers to beat the Mets 6-3. The Rays beat the Mariners 3-1 behind a great start from Matt Moore. The Cardinals and the Pirates put a ton of runs on the board, but the Cardinals prevailed 10-7. The White Sox beat the Indians 7-2 after a good start from Chris Sale. The Dodgers nearly blew it, but ended up beating the Rockies 7-6. The Padres shut down the Brewers 2-0. Ricky Nolasco outdueled Matt Cain, and the Marlins won 2-1.
Today’s Games: Justin Verlander goes for the Tigers against the Royals….that’s just not fair. Clayton Kershaw starts in Denver against Drew Pomeranz. Edwin Jackson and the surprising Joe Saunders duel in DC. Brandon McCarthy and Daniel Bard will go at it in Boston. James Shields will start for the Rays against the Mariners. Roy Halladay vs Tommy Hanson is probably the matchup of the night. Jered Weaver will start for the Angels against the Twins.
Enjoy your day of baseball, everyone.
