Just go ahead and ignore the first two months of the season. The Toronto Blue Jays are back in the playoff picture in the American League. The Jays thrashed the Orioles 13-5 on Sunday to sweep the three game series, their third straight sweep and 11th win in a row. After going into June ten games under .500, the Jays are now two games over and are just five games out in the AL East and three games behind the Orioles for the second wild card slot. That five game deficit in the division is smaller than that facing the Nationals, Phillies, and Dodgers in the NL, and smaller than that facing the Angels and Royals in the AL. Through 74 games last year, the A's were nine games out of the division lead. I think you know how that turned out.
PIC OF THE DAY
Yasiel Puig lays out for a fly ball while Andre Either…supervises? (Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports)
Game of the Day: Pirates 10, Angels 9 (ten innings). This game. My god, this game. The Angels jumped all over Charlie Morton early on, and led 5-1 after two innings. The Pirates got pair back in the third to make it 5-3, but Anaheim tacked on another run to make it a three run game. Joe Blanton pitched in to the eighth inning for the Angels in his finest start of the season, and a victory looked to be on solid ground when Ernesto Frieri came in for the ninth. But…never trust Ernesto Frieri. He began the ninth by walking Neil Walker and allowing a single to Gaby Sanchez, bringing up the tying run in the form of Travis Snider. He popped out for the first out, but Andrew McCutchen then stepped in, pinch hitting for rookie Tony Sanchez. McCutchen grounded into a fielder's choice, bringing a run in but giving the Angels their second out of the inning. Russell Martin then doubled McCutchen home to make it a one run game, and panic took over for the Angels. Starling Marte then singled in Martin to tie the game, and cause our own Garrett Wilson and Scott Allen to kick holes in their walls.
After Mark Melancon shut down the Angels in the ninth, the Pirates didn't waste any time jumping on Kevin Jepsen in the tenth, as Pedro Alvarez led off with a double and Clint Barmes bunted him (sigh) over to third. Walker and Sanchez both drew walks to bring up Snider, who singled to left to bring in a run…but the ball skipped by JB Shuck, allowing two more runs to score. McCutchen and Martin followed up with singles to bring in Snider and give the Pirates a four run lead. Jason Grilli came on to shut the door in the tenth, and started by striking out Mark Trumbo. Howie Kendrick followed with a triple, and he scored on an Alberto Callaspo single. Still a three run lead for the Pirates, but Erick Aybar then singled to bring up the tying run in Hank Conger. Conger flew out for out number two, but Shuck redeemed himself by singling in Callaspo to make it a two run game. Brendan Harris, who pinch hit for Josh Hamilton in the tenth, then singled in Aybar and moved to second on the throw to be 180 feet away from winning the game with Mike Trout at the plate. But Grilli struck Trout out to end the game, handing the Pirates a sweep in Anaheim and the *first ever* road interleague sweep in club history.
Pitching Lines of the Day: Mat Latos utterly dominated the Diamondbacks in the Reds' 4-2 win, allowing one run on six hits in 7 2/3 innings, walking two and striking out 13. Matt Harvey had a Matt Harvey start in the Mets' 8-0 romp over the Phillies, giving up just two hits in six shutout frames, punching out six and allowing one free pass. Andrew Cashner pitched well for the Padres in their 3-1 loss to the Dodgers, allowing one run on five hits in eight innings, walking one and striking out two. Chris Capuano matched him for five innings, allowing four hits and no runs, while striking out five and walking none.
Hitting Lines of the Day: In that Mets win in Philly, David Wright went 4/5 with two runs, two RBI, two doubles, a triple, and a homer. Anthony Rizzo and Ryan Sweeney combined to lead the Cubs to a 14-6 win over the Astros, with Rizzo going 3/3 with four runs, four RBI, a double, and a homer and Sweeney going 3/5 with two runs, six RBI, two doubles, and a homer. Edwin Encarnacion powered the Blue Jays' offense in their win over the Orioles, going 3/5 with two runs, four RBI, a double, and a homer. Finally, Jordan Schafer got Atlanta's offense back on track in their 7-4 win in Milwaukee, collecting four hits in five at bats, scoring two runs, stealing a base, doubling, and homering.
Other Games: The Twins beat the Indians 5-3. The Rockies hung on to beat the Nationals 7-6 and earn a series split. The Tigers rallied late to top the Red Sox 7-5. The Rays split their series in the Bronx, besting the Yankees 3-1. An eighth inning bout with sloppy baseball gave the Royals a 7-6 win over the White Sox. The Marlins pummeled the Giants 7-2. Kendrys Morales led the Mariners to a 6-3, ten inning, walkoff win over the Athletics. The Rangers completed a three game sweep of the Cardinals at Busch Stadium by winning 2-1. Now, if only they won consecutive games at Busch in 2011…
Today's Games: This is stupid: there are four games on the schedule today. Two are on the east coast, and two are on the west coast. Ubaldo Jimenez starts for the Indians in Baltimore against Zach Britton (remember him?), while Esmil Rogers and the Blue Jays look for win #12 in a row in Tampa Bay against Jeremy Hellickson and the Rays. On the west coast, Madison Bumgarner and the Giants travel to LA to take on Hyun-Jin Ryu and the Dodgers, while Cliff Lee and the Phillies limp in to San Diego to take on Eric Stults and the Padres.
National TV: Giants-Dodgers (10 PM, ESPN2)
Enjoy your light slate of baseball, everyone.
