Tuesday, April 17, 2012
And That Happened
Posted by Craig CalcaterraOrioles 10, White Sox 4: Matt Wieters homered twice, the first one coming in the eighth, which kicked off the O's comeback after finding themselves down 4-1. The second one: a 10th inning grand slam which put the game out of reach.
Twins 7, Yankees 3: Joe Mauer had three hits and Justin Morneau played in the field and had a home run. That should make the Twins fans happy. Carl Pavano allowed three runs in seven innings, which should make the Yankees fans mad.
Phillies 5, Giants 2: The battle of the aces doesn't quite live up to its billing, but Halladay beats Lincecum, who is still struggling mightily. Indeed, Lincecum gave up five runs and eight hits in six innings and it actually represented a clear improvement over his last outing.
Mets 6, Braves 1: I guess the Mets own the Braves now. Ike Davis -- three run homer -- and Dillon Gee -- four hit ball over seven innings -- led New York to its fourth straight win over Atlanta.
Rays 1, Red Sox 0: As mentioned yesterday, Bobby V. stuck with Daniel Bard a bit too long and he walked the ballpark. And Fernando Rodney should have walked Cody Ross in the ninth, but Larry Vanover had other ideas. None of which takes away from James Shields' day (8.1 IP, 4 H, 0 ER). The Rays avoid the sweep.
Nationals 6, Astros 3: Stephen Strasburg cruised through five innings, was beat up a bit in the sixth, but had plenty of margin for error to get the win. And check out this throw home on a pop fly by Rick Ankiel. You'll never see a better one in that situation. If the dude stood out there and threw it like that 10 years ago instead of on the mound he'd still be a pitcher.
Tigers 3, Royals 2: Speaking of nice throws, check out this one by Jeff Francoeur nailing Jhonny Peralta at third base. Tigers still won, though, because Verlander dealt for eight innings and then survived -- just barely -- for the ninth, after loading the bases and going 2-2 to Alex Gordon. Struck him out looking, though, with all five pitches to him being 100 mph fastballs. Brandon Inge had a two-run homer. Which probably bought him two more years in a Tigers uniform, what with the sliding performance scale to which he is subject.
Padres 7, Rockies 1: Nick Hundley drove in three, Chase Headley had three doubles and scored three times and Corey Luebke allowed one run on six hits in seven innings.
Angels 6, Athletics 0: Kendrys Morales hit his first homer since the one that led to his ankle injury nearly two years ago. Mike Scioscia actually said this after the game: ""I was happy he got around the bases in one piece." Pujols went 2 for 4 with a double. Jered Weaver got his 1,000th career strikeout. The A's were shut out for the third time in six games.
Diamondbacks 5, Pirates 1: Chris Young continues his torrid start. He had three hits, including his fifth homer of the year. Joe Saunders gave up one run on six hits in seven innings.
Craig writes the HardballTalk blog for NBC Sports.com