There was a full set of fixtures played in MLB on Saturday starting in Pittsburgh where the Pirates shutout the Braves whilst scoring some late runs to win 10-0. Starting on the mound for the Pirates was Ian Snell who completed 7 innings giving up only 4 hits and striking 3 out to earn the win. To show how comfortable Pittsburgh’s win was Atlanta only left 4 batters on base and three of those were walks by Snell. Lights out pitching was the order of the day but the game was won in the 6th innings when, with the Pirates leading 2-0, right fielder Craig Monroe homered to center field to score himself, Nate McLouth and Ryan Doumit in a 3 run jack. After this the Pirates looked comfortable but to make sure the game was put to bed Monroe did exactly the same thing again in the 7th innings to make the score 9-0. Atlanta and the rest of the NL East won’t want to keep dragging their feet early in the season because before long they could see a large gap between themselves and the
1st placed Florida Marlins.
In Washington the aforementioned Florida Marlins improved to 10-1 after Jeremy Hermida saved them twice late on. The Marlins were trailing for most of the game after the Nationals scored 6 runs in their first two innings and were behind 6-3 going into the 9th before Ross Gload (pinch hitting for pitcher Josh Johnson) hit an RBI single into left field before Hermida hit a home run to tie the game. This took the game into extra innings and while the Marlins couldn’t do anything in the 10th they did prevail in the 11th when Hermida hit a 3 run homer scoring Wes Helms and Ross Gload again to win the game 9-6.
In Toronto the Blue Jay fought back after a disappointing loss on Friday to tie their 3 game home series with Oakland after a walk-off win in extra innings. This one was 2-2 after 9 and the next 2 innings saw nothing from either side offensively before Toronto first baseman Lyle Overbay hit a 2 run homer to win the game. Jason Frasor was given the win for Toronto after he got the last two outs of the Oakland 12th innings and way before him Brian Tallet started the game for the ‘Jays and gave up 4 hits, 1 earned run (2 overall) and a walk in 5 and 1/3 innings. Toronto will hope to take the series on Sunday when Ricky Romero is starting for them to stay high on top of the AL East.
In a pitcher’s battle at Citifield Johan Santana emerged victorious and in doing so handed victory to the New York Mets in a tight game. The Mets beat the Milwaukee Brewers 1-0 in a game with only 12 hits. The most important one came when Jose Reyes grounded out into a fielder’s choice to score Omir Santos from third in the 7th innings, this gave the loss to Brewers reliever Carlos Villanueva, who had come on for Yovani Gallardo in the 7th, and gave up 1 hit and the all important run. Johan Santana’s numbers looked much better though, he pitched through 7 and struck out exactly the same number whilst giving up only 5 hits in the process. He’s only started 3 games but of those 3 games he’s only collected an E.R.A of 0.46 and is 2-1.
Over on the pinstriped half of the Big Apple the Cleveland Indians had a field day off of the pitching of Chien-Ming Wang who started for the Yankees and only managed 1 and a third innings before he was pulled off of the field. This was because in his brief period on the mound he gave up 8 hits, 8 runs and 1 home run, all of these were in the 2nd innings when the Indians amassed 14 runs to effectively take the game from New York in one swoop. They didn’t stop there though and scored another 8 runs in the game to win this one 22-4 in a game when the Yankees went though 5 pitchers before the game ended.
In another game that went to extra innings the Chicago Cubs recorded their 7th win of the season against the St. Louis Cardinals in a game that went 11 innings. With the game tied at 5 going into the overtime the Cards were shut out twice before Aramis Ramirez hit a 2 run homer to earn the walk-off victory for Chicago. Angel Guzman earned the win on the mound for the Cubbies after giving up nothing and striking out one batter in the top of the 12th while Ryan Dempster started for the Cubs and pitched 6 innings, giving up 4 runs and striking out exactly the same number of Cardinals batters.
The L.A Dodgers carried on their good run of form at home after beating Colorado 9-5 in the second game of their 3 game series. L.A are still unbeaten at Dodger Stadium after 5 game and are tied at the top of the NL West with San Diego. They won this game at a canter and were ahead early after a pair of Manny Ramirez home runs in the 1st and 3rd innings before right fielder Andre Ethier hit a 3 run homer to make it 5-0 in the 4th. They exploded in the 7th inning to score 4 more to wrap up the game and were assisted by starting pitcher Chad Billingsley who pitched through 6 innings and struck out 6, giving up 4 hits and 3 earned runs in the process, he’s now 3-0 in his 3 starts for Los Angeles.
In a game between two misfiring teams the Arizona Diamondbacks won the second game of their 3 game road series with the San Francisco Giants 2-0, to tie the series up at 1. Both starting pitchers got through 8 innings and Giants’ starter Tim Lincecum will be disappointed not to have got the win after a stellar performance that saw him strike out 13 and give up only 5 hits. On the other side Doug Davis improved his record to 1-2 this season after giving up 8 hits and striking out 6. Chad Qualls earned the save in the bottom of the 9th after center fielder Chris Young hit a 2 RBI double to win the game in 9th.
In Houston the Astros tied the 4-game series at 1 with a 7-0 win over the Cincinnati Reds thanks to some great pitching coupled with a poor Reds offense. Wandy Rodriguez improved his record to 1-1 after pitching 7 complete innings during which he struck out 10 and allowed only 2 hits (the only hits Cincinnati were able to muster all game). The Astros signalled their intent to win this game from the off and took a 2-0 lead after right fielder Hunter Pence and third baseman Geoff Blum hit consecutive RBI singles to left field in the 1st innings. They didn’t have to do much to wrap up the win, although they did in the 7th with a string of RBI doubles, against a Cincinnati line-up that only had one player that was batting over .300 on the season.
In Philadelphia the San Diego Padres made sure they stayed at the top of the NL West with a late comeback against the Phillies. San Diego took the lead 4-3 in the 8th innings thanks to a Nick Hundley RBI single but Philadelphia hit straight back with 2 runs of their own, a Chase Utley home run followed by a Pedro Feliz sac fly to right field to make it 5-4. The Padres however, had the last laugh and after Brian Giles grounded out to 1st which let a run in, 3rd baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff hit a 3 run homer to make the game 8-5. Heath Bell then earned the save by getting the last 3 outs including a strikeout in the bottom of the 9th.
In Tampa the rapidly improving Chicago White Sox offense beat the Rays 8-3 with designated hitter Paul Konerko going 3 of 5 on the night. Konerko had 3 RBIs including a 2 run jack that scored Jermaine Dye in the 5th to make the game 6-0 and despite an immediate rally from the Rays that scored 2 runs they didn’t have enough to fight back. Mark Buehrle earned the win for Chicago as the starter and pitched 6 innings and 2/3rds and in the process struck out 5 but gave up 8 hits and 3 earned runs, he improved his record to 2-0.
Boston recorded their fifth win of the season at Fenway Park with a 6-4 win over Baltimore thanks to an early surge of runs. The Red Sox were up 6-0 after 4 innings thanks to a Jason Varitek RBI double in the 2nd, a Kevin Youkilis 3 run homer in the 3rd followed by a Mike Lowell RBI single before another Youkilis RBI in the 4th. The Orioles hit back with 4 runs in the bottom of the 5th but Boston held on for the win. Josh Beckett won his second game of the season after pitching 6 whole innings during which he struck out 5 and gave up 4 runs, he’s now 2-1 for the season.
A solid outing from Twins starter Kevin Slowey meant that Minnesota have won their 3 game home stand with the second win out of two games against the Angels. Slowey pitched 7 complete innings, striking out 5 and only gave up 2 runs, the only runs Los Angeles were able to get. On the offensive end after going behind 2-0 in the 2nd the Twins halved the lead in the 4th before taking the lead on a Jason Kubel 2 RBI double in the 4th, Kubel himself scored later that innings along with another run to make it 6-2 and Minnesota never surrendered that lead eventually winning 9-2.
In Texas the rapidly improving Kansas City Royals won their second game in a row against the Rangers to take the 3 game series with one game to go. A Billy Butler RBI double saw Coco Crisp home in the 6th before catcher Miguel Olivo homered in the 7th for the second run. Zack Greinke was able to pitch out the whole game and got the win due to that. Greinke struck out 10 Rangers batters and gave up only 7 hits without walking a single batter and after 3 starts he is 3-0 with an E.R.A of 0.00 and will be a big part in the Kansas City Royals’ season.
Finally in Seattle the Detroit Tigers shutout the Mariners to win 2-0 and tied the 3 game series at 1. Edwin Jackson started on the mound for the Tigers and pitched 7 and 2/3rds innings without much trouble and in doing so struck out 6 and only gave up 5 hits. Fernando Rodney came into pitch the 9th innings to get the save despite walking 1 batter. The winning runs were hit off the bat of third baseman Brandon Inge who hit an RBI single which soon turned into a 2 RBI triple after a throwing error by Ichiro, Seattle’s right fielder.
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