Full schedule of games yesterday – though Braves-Mets ended up getting rained out – including a battle of first-place teams in New York.
Nationals 4, Brewers 3 (10 innings): Rickie Weeks had a heck of a game for Milwaukee – three hits, including a double and his 4th home run of the season – but it was Jayson Werth who was able to help manufacture a run in extra innings, reaching on an error by Yuniesky Betancourt, stealing third, and scoring on a fielder’s choice.
Marlins 4, Phillies 3: Roy Oswalt outpitched Javier Vazquez – who walked 4 batters and only struck out 1 in his 5 innings of work – but the Phillies’ bullpen wasn’t able to hold to lead once Oswalt left the game with a back spasm. Danys Baez seemed to take the brunt of the blame from fans on Twitter and was saddled with the loss after giving up a two-run single to pinch-hitter (and former Phillie) Greg Dobbs. Florida’s win brings them to within a game of first place in the NL East.
Indians 8, Orioles 2: Young lefty Zach Britton struck out 6 batters, but the Indians strung 6 hits together in putting up a four-spot in the 3rd inning. Fellow groundball pitcher Justin Masterson didn’t have any such problems, dropping his season ERA to 1.33 while moving his record to 3-0.
Rangers 5, Yankees 3: New York made a bit of a comeback in the last couple innings, but Ivan Nova had put them in too much of a hole, giving up 5 runs and walking 5 in just 4.1 IP. Matt Harrison scattered 10 base-runners – helped by a whopping 6 double play balls – and was able to hand the ball off to Neftali Feliz for the 9th (which usually turns out pretty well for Texas).
Blue Jays 7, Red Sox 6: The Red Sox actually scored some runs, with Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis both giving deep in the 3rd inning. Toronto just scored more – and not even using the longball (though they did steal 4 bases off of Salty). Bobby Jenks was the main victim, getting one out in the 7th but giving up 4 runs. Boston’s still a good team, but man is this a tough start. At 2-10 they have half as many wins as the M’s and Astros. Half! Astros!
Pirates 6, Reds 1: Charlie Morton went the distance, giving up only a Jay Bruce solo home run. I’m surprised the Pirates only scored 6 times, given their 2 longballs (Neil Walker and Garrett Jones) and 16 other baserunners. Every Pittsburgh position player had a hit, except Andrew McCutchen (0-5, 4 K’s).
Rays 5, Twins 2: The Rays have won four in a row, and Sam Fuld continues to be awesome (3-4 with a double, though he did get caught stealing twice). Joe Maddon used four different relievers in the 9th inning, but it worked out well enough in the end. The Twins, on the other hand, have dropped five of the last six and are not in great shape in the short term with Joe Mauer on the DL.
Padres 4, Astros 2: Vintage Aaron Harang was on display (6 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 8 K), and he moved to 3-0 on the season with a 1.50 ERA. Chris Denofria showed off both the speed (stolen base) and the power (double, homer) for the Padres.
Royals 6, Mariners 5: Break up the Royals? Jeff Francoeur batting clean-up sounds like kind of a joke, but he picked up 3 hits (including a home run) against lefty Eriik Bedard, who’s been healthy enough to pitch but perhaps not enough to be effective (now 0-3 with an 8.56 ERA). KC’s bullpen was shaky; everyone’s favorite diminutive left-hander Tim Collin walked a pair of batters and didn’t record an out, while Joakim Soria also walked two and barely closed the door in the 9th. It was enough to move the team to 9-4 though, and keep them tied with the Indians for first place in the upside down AL Central.
Angels 4, White Sox 3: Jered Weaver became the majors’ first four-game winner, making the 4 runs the Angels dropped on Chicago in the 4th inning stand up. Adam Dunn hit his second homer of the year; he’ll need to pick up the pace if he wants to get to 50+ bombs.
Rockies 5, Cubs 0: Did you know Jhoulys Chacin pitched 137.1 innings for Colorado last year with a 3.28 ERA? I sure didn’t. And he’s picking up where he left off, twirling a complete game shutout – at Coors no less – to move to 3-0 on the season. Matt Garza didn’t pitch poorly for the Cubs, but four hits in the span of five batters in the 2nd inning gave Chacin more than enough of a cushion to work with.
Giants 5, Diamondbacks 2: Daniel Hudon K’ed 10 batters for Arizona; he also walked 3 and gave up 5 runs in 6 IP. Matt Cain was less flashy (3 strike-outs) but more effective overall (1 R in 6 IP). Kung Fu Panda’s three-run bomb in the first inning gave the Giants all the runs they’d need. Also, Aubrey Huff stole a base. I thought that merited an auto-win for his team, but Huff actually went a perfect 7-0 last year on the bases. And 0-6 the year before.
Tigers 8, A’s 4 (10 innings): This was a pitchers’ duel – tied 1-1 – going into the 10th inning. The Tigers hung a crooked number on Brian Fuentes and Brad Ziegler. The A’s tried to come back with three straight hits off of Brayan Villarreal in the bottom of the frame, but Joaquin Benoit came in and managed not to give up 7 runs. Daric Barton made his 4th error already at first-base, after having 10 last year.
Cardinals 11, Dodgers 2: The Cardinals offense may be heating up. Well, Albert Pujols may be heating up (2 HR, plus one the game before); Lance Berkman is staying hot (2 HR, 6 in the last 5 games). Kyle Lohse had a fine start for St. Louis, not that it ended up mattering much.
