Missed Monday night’s baseball action? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered!
A’s 5 Rangers 4 (10 innings)
The tenth inning in this game alone is exciting enough to write more about than most other games. A’s reliever Grant Balfour walked the bases loaded with two outs in the top of the inning when Ron Washington elected to pinch-hit for Taylor Teagarden (who’s hitless in 2011) with Yorbit Torrealba. Torrealba struck out swinging. In the bottom of the tenth, Washington went to Darren Oliver with Neftali Feliz still on the comeback trail. Hideki Matsui promptly crushed Oliver’s first pitch into the right-center stands for the walkoff win. The win tightens the already-close AL West; Oakland is now a game behind the leaders in Texas and Los Angeles and the last place Mariners are only three games off the pace.
Dodgers 5 Cubs 2
The biggest news here is that Andre Ethier’s hitting streak is still alive and at 28 games, he stands halfway to Joe DiMaggio’s immortal 56-game streak. Ethier’s one base knock was timely, too: it was an RBI single in the bottom of the fifth that gave the Dodgers their third run of the inning and fifth of the game. Clayton Kershaw cruised through seven innings on the mound, striking out four Cubs, walking none, and scattering eight hits so that the Cubs only pushed two runs across the plate. For the Cubs, James Russell seemed to be cruising towards a solid start before the Dodgers rallied in the fifth and Alfonso Soriano blasted his 11th homer of the year.
Nationals 2 Giants 0
Good news for the defending champs: Madison Bumgarner finally looked like the pitcher that helped the Giants win the World Series last year. He struck out seven in seven innings tonight and only allowed four hits. Unfortunately for him, three of those hits came in the Nationals’ two-run seventh and Tom Gorzelanny was a little better than Bumgarner. He threw eight shutout innings, striking out four, walking none, and scattering three hits. Drew Storen finished off the shutout. With the win, the Nats pull to an even 14-14 on the season.
Yankees 5 Tigers 3
This is weird, but I feel like the Indians’ hot start is getting way more press than the Yankees’. With their win tonight, the Yanks are a scorching 17-9 with seven wins in their last 10. Tonight, Bartolo Colon turned back the clock to 2000 with a seven-strikeout performance. Still, when he left the game, the score was tied at three thanks to two homers for Alex Avila and a strong start from Justin Verlander. Jose Valverde had his share of trouble in the ninth, though (he walked leadoff hitter Curtis Granderson, then walked Mark Teixeira after Granderson got throwng out trying to steal second) and he coughed up two runs. You don’t need me to type this next part, but with a two-run lead, Mariano Rivera had no trouble picking up his 570th career save.
Red Sox 9 Angels 5
Shh … here come the Red Sox. Carl Crawford continued his recent tear with two hits (including a double) and Jacoby Ellsbury scored three times out of the leadoff spot as the Sox dealt Jered Weaver his first loss of the season. Weaver didn’t pitch poorly; he struck out six, walked just one, and gave up three runs on six hits in his six innings. He hit 118 pitches after six, though, and as a result the Angels had to turn to Hisanori Takahashi and Not That Francisco Rodriguez and they promptly served up six runs in the seventh inning and that was pretty much that.
Braves 6 Brewers 2
It’s always easy to second guess a manager, but it’s hard not to wonder if Ron Roenicke had a little too much faith in Yovani Gallardo tonight. With a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the sixth (thanks to a two-run Yuniesky Betancourt triple), Gallardo walked leadoff man Chipper Jones, gave up a single to Dan Uggla, then walked Freddie Freeman. To that point in the sixth, he’d thrown 13 pitches with only four strikes. Roenicke left his ace in to face the bottom of the Braves’ lineup, though, and Alex Gonzalez quickly cleaned the bases off with a double and Nate McLouth sent him in with a single. That was plenty for Jair Jurrjens, who only allowed the runs on the Betancourt triple through 7 2/3, and the the Braves bullpen.
Marlins 6 Cardinals 5
Mike Stanton had a big night for the Marlins, homering in the top of the fifth to tie the game at five and tripling in the eighth to eventually score the game’s winning run. Both starters got dinged pretty badly in this one; Chris Volstad gave up a three-run homer to Lance Berkman in the third (his ninth!) and Kyle Lohse gave up both the homer to Stanton and a grand slam to Gaby Sanchez in the top of the third. The difference in the end was the bullpens; the Marlins bullpen only allowed one hit over their four innings of work. The Cardinals gave up Stanton’s triple and the following sac fly, and that was the difference.
White Sox 6 Orioles 2
Mark Buehrle had a Mark Buehrle night (6 2/3 innings, four strikeouts, four walks, no runs … he just keeps on going and going and …) and Paul Konerko hit two homers as the White Sox slowly built a 6-0 lead one or two runs at a time. Alex Rios also added a homer. And Juan Pierre had an RBI, which is something that’s probably also worth mentioning. He didn’t have an extra base hit though, which is why the world is still currently spinning on its axis.
Pirates 4 Padres 3
The Pirates did their best to give this game away. After two two-run homers in the first inning by Garrett Jones and Chris Snyder, the Bucs’ bats went silent. They even managed to score in an inning where they drew four walks because someone (stare at Clint Hurdle) tried a hit-and-run with Snyder at the plate and Lyle Overbay on first base. The Padres managed to get the tying run into scoring position and the go-ahead run on base in both the eighth and ninth innings, but Chris Resop and Joel Hanrahan escaped the jams and somehow, the Pirates are on their first two-game winning streak since mid-April and only one game below .500.
Today’s reading:
The Rays have 10 of the first 60 and 12 of the first 89 picks in this year’s draft.
Former Deadspin boss Will Leitch argues that Bud Selig is a much better commissioner than you think.
What to watch tonight:
Giants at Mets (7:05 ET) – I love the pitching matchup of RA Dickey and Ryan Vogelsong. Dickey’s been taking his knuckleball to anyone that will have him in recent years, while Vogelsong took a three-year sojourn to Japan and went seven years between big league starts before dominating the Pirates last Wednesday. Hooray, itinerant pitchers!
Angels at Red Sox (7:05 ET) – Danny Haren vs. Jon Lester. Maybe a little bit more classical pitchers duel if you’re looking for something to go out of your way to watch tonight. Haren has been all kinds of excellent this year, while Lester’s starting to turn it on after an iffy start.
Indians at A’s (10:05 ET) – If you’re a West Coaster or a night owl looking for a game to watch, why not check out the Indians? Fausto Carmona’s on the hill for the Tribe, Tyson Ross goes for the A’s. The Indians look to keep baseball’s best record intact while the A’s need a win to try and crash the Rangers/Angels party at the top of the AL West.
