Blue Jays 6 Rangers 4 – A year ago, Jose Bautista hit four home runs in April and that seemed like a scorching hot pace for a guy who’d never hit more than 16 in a season. After last night’s bomb off of Colby Lewis, he’s got eight this year and suddenly his 54 last year doesn’t seem so crazy. Juan Rivera and Corey Patterson also homered off of Lewis in the Blue Jays six-run fifth last night and that’s all Kyle Drabek needed to pick up his second big league win.
Padres 5 Braves 3 (13 innings) – Ryan Ludwick doubled his 2011 home run total with two home runs last night, the second of which was a just-barely-over-the-fence walkoff blast in the bottom of the 13th inning. The unfortunate goat for the Braves (all 13 inning games have goats) was reliever Cristhian Martinez. After Nate McLouth’s leadoff single in the top of the 13th, Martinez was forced to bat for himself and he laid down an awful bunt that got McLouth forced out at second. One play later, he got doubled off of first base by Chris Denorfia after his fantastic diving catch to rob Martin Prado of a hit when he should’ve been easily back safely. In the bottom of the inning, he served up Ludwick’s homer.
White Sox 2 Yankees 0 – For a little while, it looked like Philip Humber was going to ascend from “One of the busts in the Johan Santana trade” to “One of the more unlikely guys to throw a no-hitter ever.” Then A-Rod singled off him in the seventh and instead he’ll have to settle for seven shutout innings and spearing the White Sox to just their second win since April 12th. Even with the win tonight, the Sox have only scored five runs in their last four games. At least Humber made sure that one of those five was a win.
Rockies 5 Cubs 3 – Starlin Castro is going to be an awesome player, a real star in Chicago. He just turned 21 and he’s already making big strides over his impressive 2010 rookie campagin. Unfortunately, even the most talented 21 year olds are going to hit rough spots and that’s what happened to Castro last night. After the Cubs sprinted out to a 3-0 lead, Castro made three second-inning errors and the Cubs coughed that lead right back up. Another error (by the otherwise excellent Matt Garza, who struck out seven in six innings) in the sixth led to two more Rockie runs. If it seems like that’s a great way to lose a baseball game, well, the Cubs did.
Reds 9 Brewers 5 – Is it too early in the year for big division wins? The Reds had a rough weekend against the Cardinals, but Jay Bruce’s two-run homer started a huge third inning rally and that coupled with a strong Bronson Arroyo start helped Cincy to an easy win. The Brewers, meanwhile, only managed three wins against the Reds last year and will need to do better if they’re serious about contending in the 2011 NL Central. Obviously, they’re not off to a great start.
Diamondbacks 4 Phillies 0 – In seven innings Cliff Lee struck out 12, walked one, and only gave up five hits. Two of those five were home runs (by Chris Young and Gerrardo Parra), though, and Lee left the game with a 4-0 deficit. That’s because Ian Kennedy was equally good for the Diamondbacks. In tossing his first career shutout, Kennedy struck out 10, walked none, and only allowed three hits (two by Placido Polanco). How many times can you watch a baseball game where the two teams combine to strike out 23 times and only walk once?
Marlins 5 Dodgers 4 – Over a big league career that’s spanned parts of five different seasons, Emilio Bonifacio has only drawn 72 walks in 880 plate appearances. His career OBP is just .310. When he stood in the batters box with two outs in the bottom of the ninth and Jonathan Broxton looking to close out a 4-3 Dodger win, the last thing Broxton wanted to do was walk him. That’s what happened, though, and it lead to a pinch-hit single by Hanley Ramirez, an error by Jamey Carroll, and eventually Omar Infante’s walkoff single. Don’t walk guys like Emilio Bonifacio.
Pirates 4 Nationals 2 – Brandon Wood made an auspicious debut in black and gold after being plucked off of the waiver wire on Friday. He doubled in two runs and scored a third in the Pirates four-run fourth inning. Paul Maholm did the rest for the Bucs. After allowing two runs in the first, Maholm gave up just one more hit. The Nats went down in order from the fourth inning through the eighth against Maholm and Evan Meek, and the Pirates wrapped up their first home series win of 2011.
Angels 5 A’s 0 – Ubaldo Jiminez proved last year that you can’t win a Cy Young Award before the All-Star Break, but that hasn’t stopped Jered Weaver from trying. The Angels have 13 wins thus far in 2011, and six of them have come in Weaver’s six starts. With last night’s complete game shutout of the A’s, Weaver’s ERA dipped below 1.00 (just barely: 0.99) and he’s got 49 strikeouts to go with just 10 walks in 45 2/3 innings. For all intents and purposes, he’s picked up right where he left off last year, except that this year he’s picking up the wins that eluded him in 2010. The Angels only mustered two extra base hits all night, but that was all Weaver needed.
Links of the day
Is Jose Bautista the best hitter in the AL?
Tom Schieffer, former president of the Rangers, has been appointed to run the Dodgers
Back in 1992, Tom Verducci predicted Nintendo would ruin pitching forever
What to watch tonight:
Royals at Indians (7:05 ET): Look, I’m a small-market, Central Division kind of guy. How can I not recommend that you watch the first place Cleveland Indians battle the second place Kansas City Royals? If that’s not enough for you, watch for Justin Masterson. In his four starts in 2011, Masterson’s getting a ton of ground balls (63.8%), which has let him keep the ball in the park (zero homers in 26 1/3 innings) and helped him to his 1.71 ERA.
Mariners at Tigers (7:05 ET): Felix.
Rays at Twins (8:05 ET): If Francisco Liriano can find his 2010 form, he and Wade Davis make the most compelling pitching matchup of the night.
