Whole lot of close, low-scoring games yesterday, with walk-offs aplenty.
Phillies 2, Mets 1: Roy Halladay is good at baseball (9 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 8 K). He threw 80 of his 107 pitches for strikes, including the first 18 straight of the game. John Mayberry (2-4, HR) and Placido Polanco (2-3, 2B) provided the little offense Doc would need.
Cardinals 3, Braves 2: Brandon Beachy pitched well (7 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 5 K), but letting him come out for the 8th inning with a 2-1 lead didn’t end well. He put a couple runners on, Jonny Venters let one score for the blown save, and then Craig Kimbrel gave up a run the following inning for the loss – the second game in a row the Braves’ pen has blown a late lead. Also for the second game in a row, the Card’s winning run scored on a triple (this time by the slightly more unlikely to hit one Gerald Laird).
Rays 2, Angels 1 (10 innings): Matt Joyce did it all for the Rays on offense; hitting a home run in the 5th inning and then manufacturing a run in the bottom of the 10th, doubling, advancing to third on a groundout, and coming in to score on a wild pitch. James Shields had the pitching performance of the night (8 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 12 K).
Rangers 11, A’s 2: Colby Lewis had a nice start (8 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 6 K), and Brett Anderson… didn’t (5 IP, 13 baserunners, 7 R). Even only counting the home runs, Texas would have won 4-3 on three longballs (Michael Young, Nelson Cruz, Mike Napoli) to two (Kurt Suzuki, Josh Willingham).
Yankees 5, Blue Jays 4: AJ Burnett gave up 4 runs, but he didn’t walk a batter in this one and is now 4-1 on the season with a 3.93 ERA. Quite a difference from last year. Eric Chavez started at third for New York, and went 1-3 with a walk and is hitting an even .300 now (with a .417 OBP).
Giants 2, Nationals 1: San Francisco pitchers walked 9, struck out 11, but allowed only 2 hits (both by starter Jonathan Sanchez, who had the 7:6 K to BB ratio in 5 IP). The Giants’ catcher homered, but it was Eli Whiteside and not Buster Posey (who played first).
Indians 3, Tigers 2 (12 innings): A pair of solo shots (Miguel Cabrera, Ryan Raburn) gave Detroit an early lead, but the Indians came back on homers by Carlos Santana and Michael Brantley. To the bottom of the 12th they went, when Orlando Cabrera delivered the walk-off hit after a single-error-bunt-IBB-IBB loaded the bases. Cleveland remains tied with Philadelphia fir the best record int he majors.
Astros 2, Brewers 1: Both pens gave up a single run, but Wandy Rodriguez (8 IP, 7 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K) had the ‘Stros ahead at that point. Brandon Lyon gave up a Prince Fielder home run to blow the save in the top of the 9th, but was rewarded the win when Jason Bourgeois capped his game (3-5, 2 SB) with a walk-off single. Sure, it was definitely Lyon and not Wandy who deserved the win for their pitching in this one.
Mariners 2, Red Sox 0: Doug Fister walked more batter (5) than he struck out (4) in his 5.2 IP, but Boston could push across a run against him (or Aaron Laffey or Brandon League). Ichiro had a couple hits, a couple steals (perfectly normal), plus a couple walks (the 3rd time this year he’s done that, after combining for only 8 two-walk games in 200 and 2010).
Royals 11, Twins 2: Sean O’Sullivan walked 7 and only struck out 3. And he still only gave up 2 runs (and one of those was unearned). The Twins could take advantage of the free passes, and then the Royals put a few runs across against the Minnesota starter before exploding against the bullpen. Alex Gordon hit his second home run of the season, and Billy Butler hit his third.
Reds 4, Marlins 3 (10 innings): Josh Johnson (7 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K) kept his ERA below 1, and it looked like he was going to pick up his 4th win of the season for a while. Five straight two-out hits in the bottom of the 8th tied the game at 3-3. With the bases loaded with no outs in the bottom of the 10th, it looked like the Marlins would be able to get out of the it after a groundout and a pop-up. Edgar Renteria was the one providing the walk-off hit in this one.
Orioles 6, White Sox 2: Chris Tillman struck out no one, walked two, but only gave up one run in 5 IP. The Pale Hose actually out-hit Baltimore 8-6, but a wild pitch, a passed ball, and an error gave the O’s a hand. Robert Andino, playing short with JJ Hardy on the DL, picked up a couple hits (including a homer) and is batting .348 on the season now, with an OPS close to .850.
Rockies 4, Pirates 1: Good news for Pittsburgh; Andrew McCutchen homered and Daniel Moskos (the guy the team drafted when passing on Matt Wieters) made his MLB debut with a scoreless frame. Less good news; opposing catcher Chris Iannetta can hit the ball far (and did, with a three-run bomb).
Cubs 5, Diamondbacks 3: Matt Garza (8 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 10 K) finally got his first win of the season, even though Ian Kennedy did a decent job matching his performance (7.2 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 6 K). Alfonso Soriano isn’t walking or hitting for average this year, but he did hit his 10th home run in this one (a 461 foot rocket to dead center in Arizona).
Padres 5, Dodgers 2: Another close game early as Tim Stauffer (6.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 7 K) and Hiroki Kuroda (7 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 7 K) dueled. The Padres had the superior pen though (which isn’t exactly new). But hey, Andre Ethier did extend his hitting streak to an April record 26 games.
