NBA Games Recap 4/29/09

There was a load of MLB fixtures on Wednesday so we’ll recap some of them starting in Baltimore where the Orioles went down 3-2 thanks to a 2 run 7th innings by the visiting L.A Angels. This loss meant the Angels swept the Orioles 2-0 in the short road series after L.A fought back from going behind early in the ballgame. In the bottom of the first Baltimore first baseman Huff hit a sac fly to center to score Roberts before Morales tied the game for the Angels in the 4th with an RBI triple to deep center field to score Izturis. Los Angeles then had to wait a while before their winning runs, in the 7th Hunter homered to left to make it 2-1 before Morales batted in his second run of the game with a homer to center to make the lead 3-1. In the 8th Nick Markakis pulled one back for the Orioles when he hit a single to right center to score Jones and in doing so extended his hit streak to 16 games. However this couldn’t rally Baltimore to get the tying run and they dropped to 9-
13 after nearly a month has been played in the season.

In a pitching battle in Milwaukee the Brewers’ Yovani Gallardo triumphed over the Pittsburgh Pirates to see his team to a 1-0 win. Not only did he pitch 8 complete innings in which he struck out a career high 11 batters but he only gave up 2 hits and 1 walk. The best however was to come after he had pitched his 7th innings when he came up to bat and hit a home run to left field from a pitch that stayed up and begged to be hit. After this Villanueva earned his 2nd save of the season after pitching out the 9th and striking out one but the plaudits go to Gallardo who won the game with stellar pitching and his second home run of the season.

In New York the Florida Marlins overcame the Mets thanks to a Cody Ross 2 RBI single in the 8th innings to see the Fish to a 4-3 victory and a 2-1 series victory overall. Florida were 2-1 up after one thanks to a Will Helms sac fly and a Jose Cantu home run before Jose Reyes pulled one back for the Mets on a Cora sac to first. Raul Castro then singled to left center to score Tatis in the 4th to pull the Mets level before Tatis himself homered to left to put New York up 3-2 in the 6th. Before the 8th Johan Santana had kept the hot Florida offense relatively quiet striking out 7 and giving up only 5 hits but as soon as he went off the whole thing fell apart. Putz earned the loss for his 8th innings performance that gave Ross the winner and walked 2 in the process while Mike Lindstrom got his 5th save of the season for the Marlins.

In Chicago the White Sox moved to a .500+ record in this early part of the season thanks to a 6-3 win over the Seattle Mariners that also secured them the series win, 2-1. Trailing 3-1 going into their half of the 6th innings Betemit doubled to right to score Paul Konerko before Ramirez hit a sac fly to center to score Pierzynski to tie the game at 3-3. Then in the 7th Carlos Quentin homered to right before Jermaine Dye did exactly the same thing, Quentin then put the icing on the cake in the 8th by singling to left center to score Ramirez to make the game 6-3. In a fairly unspectacular pitching effort by both sides Jenks earned his 5th save of the season after he pitched out the ninth for the White Soxs.

In Colorado the Rockies managed to take 2 games out of 3 from the San Diego Padres after a 7-5 win to move to 8-12 on the season. Colorado raced into an large lead before San Diego could get into gear and by that time the game was just about wrapped up. It all started in the 2nd when Iannetta homered to left field to score Stewart and himself before Helton hit a solo in the next innings. The Rockies then had to wait a while for their next runs which all came in the 6th innings, firstly Iannetta singled back past the pitcher to score Tulowitzki to make it 4-0. Fowler then sac flyed to right to score Barmes before Helton singled to right to see Iannetta and Smith home to make it 7-0. The Padres finally got going in the 7th with a Gonzalez solo jack before Blanco managed one better than that with a 2 run homer and Gonzalez then gave the Padres some more hope with homer to center field that scored himself and David Eckstein. Unfortunately the Padres couldn’t keep it going into
the 9th and eventually lost.

In Arizona the Diamondbacks easily saw off the Chicago Cubs to win their home series 2-1. The D’Backs won this one 10-0 in a shut out of the Cubbies with Doug Davis earning the win after pitching 7 complete innings during which time he gave up only 2 hits and struck out seven to move to 2-3 on the season. On the offense side Arizona were up 4-0 at the start of the 7th before a car crash of an innings, Carlos Marmol had been sent in to relieve Ryan Dempster of his starting duties after Dempster had walked Roberts, Marmol then proceeded to walk the next batter before Ojeda sacrificed to the catcher to move the base runners to second and third. Tracy was then intentionally walked to load the bases before Reynolds was unintentionally walked to score Roberts before the same happened to Jackson that sent Lopez home. Samardzija then entered the game for Marmol, who could only manage one out, and started well by striking out the batter for the second out before giving up a bases cl
earing double to Upton to score 3 runs and put the game beyond doubt.

In Atlanta the Braves carried on their so-so start to the season with a series losing loss to the St. Louis Cardinals 5-3. The Braves were ahead 3-1 going after the 3rd innings and a Francoeur RBI single before Francoeur himself scored on an Adam Wainwright wild pitch. Unfortunately for the home team they gave up the lead in the 5th innings after they gave up, what were to be, the game winning 4 runs. Firstly Adam Wainwright singled to center to score Thurston before Albert Pujols singled to center to score Barden and Duncan hit into left center field to score Wainwright. Finaly Rick Ankiel singled to right to score Pujols to make it 5-3 before the Cards relief pitching kicked in a gave up only 1 hit in the final 3 innings.

In the Motor City the New York Yankees came out of the Tigers’ den with an 8-6 win that gave them a 2-1 series win and took them to 11-10 on the season thanks to a 7 run 4th innings. Earlier in the 3rd the Tigers had opened the scoring with Polanco sac fly that sent Inge home but the Yankees started to swing their bats in the 4th with Nick Swisher homering to left to score Matsui and Posada to give the Bronx Bombers a 3-1 lead. After this Johnny Damon doubled to right to score Miguel Cabrera before Matsui doubled to left to clear the bases and score Jeter, Damon and Teixeira to make it 7-1. Swisher then hit his second homer of the day in the 5th this time a solo to make it 8-1. After that Detroit couldn’t get back in the game and despite scoring 5 in the bottom of the 9th they fell two runs short to fall back to 11-10.

Finally in Cleveland the Boston Red Soxs improved to an impressive 14-7 after a 6-5 extra innings win over the Indians that ended their series with Cleveland, a series that they won 2-1. Cleveland were ahead 5-0 by the 4th thanks to a Victor Martinez RBI triple in the first along with a Choo sac fly, a Mark DeRosa homer in the second and a Kevin Shoppach 2 run jack in the 4th. Then in the sixth the BoSoxs kicked in and scored two to lessen the deficit, these runs came courtesy of a Mike Lowell RBI double that scored Bay and a Jason Varitek double that scored Lowell. In the 8th the Soxs then tied the game with a Ellsbury single to center that scored Bailey after Van Every and J.D Drew each hit RBIs. Van Every then homered to center in the 10th to seal the win.

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