MLB Game Recaps: Detroit Tigers lose five straight

New York Yankees 7, Detroit Tigers 6

The New York Yankees were able to defeat the Detroit Tigers 7-6 and hand them their fifth straight loss. Ivan Nova allowed 11 hits and six runs in 5.1 innings, and even Justin Verlander pitched poorly on this day. He surrendered four earned runs and seven hits in six innings. Mariano Rivera was awarded the victory, while Joaquin Benoit blew the save by allowing a run on two hits in one inning.

Austin Jackson had a monster game against his former team, as the CF and lead-off hitter went 4-5 with two runs, two RBIs, and two doubles. Alex Rodriguez was 3-4 with two runs, two RBIs, and a homer, and Nick Swisher smashed two doubles for the Yankees.

Athletics 5, Orioles 2

Josh Reddick paced the A’s offensive attack with his third homer of the season, two hits, and two RBIs. Four batters in this game saw at least 20 pitches, with two hitters of this sort coming from each team. Yoenis Cespedes is usually good for one big hit, but the Cuban product went 0-4 in four quick outs. Good old Mark Reynolds struck out twice and walked twice in his four plate appearances.

Starting pitcher Brandon McCarthy hasn’t been lucky with the wins and losses this year, but he turned in his first win of the season after a quality start. The right-hander tossed 97 pitches in seven innings while allowing five hits, three walks, two runs, and striking out four. Closer Grant Balfour struck out two and walked one in the ninth to notch his sixth save of the year (1.38 ERA).

Indians 3, Angels 2

The Angels are now 6-14 overall and 2-8 on the road after this narrow loss, with the difference between both aces being the difference. Jered Weaver threw seven scoreless innings and stuck out eight, but he also allowed seven hits and four walks. He pitched well, but Justin Masterson was slightly better with his line of 8.1 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 5 BB, 5 K. Vinnie Pestano is now 1-0 on the season after striking out both of the batters he faced in the final frame.

The game ended on a single to right field from Asdrubal Cabrera to score Aaron Cunningham, and it came off of David Carpenter. The reliever is now 0-1 on the season with a 4.05 ERA after allowing five hits and a run while just notching one out in the inning. The Angels took a 2-0 lead in this game before the Indians rallied to tie it with two runs in the seventh. Those two runs came courtesy of Torii Hunter‘s first homer of the season (solo shot to right) and an RBI single to score Albert Pujols in the first.

Cubs 5, Phillies 1

Center fielder Tony Campana had two hits and two runs for the victorious Cubs, as the away team moved to 7-13 overall in this 5-1 victory. Former Pittsburgh Pirates de facto ace Paul Maholm has a 6.20 ERA this year, but he had a quality outing for the Cubs in this one. He had as many strikeouts as homers (one), but he didn’t walk anybody and allowed just one run and five hits in 6.1. Roy Halladay was still solid, but he was a little worse and allowed six hits and three runs with five strikeouts in seven innings for his second loss of the year (1.95 ERA). Ryan Howard‘s replacement Ty Wigginton went 2-4 with a homer to provide all the offense for the struggling Phillies (.500 slugging this season for Wigginton).

Mariners 9, Blue Jays 5

The Seattle Mariners went crazy and put up nine runs on the Blue Jays, with four of them coming off of Luis Perez who was pitching very well up to this point. Ricky Romero‘s quality outing was wasted, although it did take him 117 pitches to get through 28 batters.

Edwin Encarnacion continues to tear the cover off the ball, and he doubled for the seventh time this season and also hit a homer. Michael Saunders is turning it up, and the Mariner smacked two homers for the away team (8-4 on the road). In fact, his second homer was the game-winning grand slam homer in the tenth. Saunders also hit a 452 foot monster shot in the ninth to draw within one, and John Jaso tied it up with an RBI single.

Encarnacion hit a towering homer of his own in the 2nd that traveled 446 feet. In the third, Michael Saunders scored after a rare error from young 3B Brett Lawrie. Fellow young star Jesus Montero followed that up with a solo smash in the seventh in an eventful game for Seattle.

Astros 6, Reds 4

Mike Leake struggled through 3.2 innings for the Reds, as he allowed three earned runs (six unearned) and seven hits without just one strikeout. The only bright spot was the fact that he never walked a batter, but he was definitely outdone by Wandy Rodriguez (2-2, 1.72 ERA). Brett Myers got the last two outs of the game on a strikeout and flyout to move his saves total up to four.

Diamondbacks 5, Marlins 0

Of all the pitchers on the Arizona Diamondbacks, it was Joe Saunders who thoroughly shut down the Miami Marlins in a 5-0 victory for the club. He has a 0.90 ERA this season and is off to a surprisingly scorching start. He allowed just three hits in his complete game shutout while walking out just two and striking out four for a Game Score of 83. Marlins starter Carlos Zambrano is now 0-2 on the year after allowing ten hits and three runs in six innings. It took him exactly 100 pitches to get through his outing.

For the D’Backs, Jason Kubel went 4-4, and former Blue Jays Aaron Hill (homered) and Lyle Overbay had three hits apiece. Emilio Bonifacio and Donnie Murphy did their jobs at the top of the order for the Marlins by looking at 46 pitches between them, but nobody else in the order saw at least five pitches. The No. 5, No. 8, and No. 9 slots all saw less than ten pitches each.

Braves 6, Pirates 1

Alex Presley‘s 2-4 game at the top of the order was one of the lone bright spot for the Pirates, as Tommy Hanson and Kris Medlen had little trouble in this game. Pirates starter A.J. Burnett struck out eight batters and was about as good as Hanson in this game, but he received the loss and the bullpen ahead of him was horrible. Pittsburgh’s pen surrendered four runs in two innings. Both Michael Bourn and Martin Prado had two hits for the Braves at the top of the order, and Chipper Jones also added two hits with two steaks.

Rays 8, Rangers 4

Jeff Keppinger had three hits for the winning team, and Evan Longoria drove in four runs to help propel the Rays to a victory over the Texas Rangers. James Shields is now 4-0 on the season, but that’s misleading as he had a subpar outing. He did strike out eight batters in six innings, but he also allowed eleven hits and four runs despite never walking a batter. Elvis Andrus had three hits, while Josh Hamilton hit (already) his ninth homer of the year. It was a three-run shot, and it was his only hit of the game as he struck out the other three times (.378/.418/.744 triple slash for the superstar this year).

Red Sox 10, White Sox 3

The Boston Red Sox emerged victorious in this battle of the Soxes, and they have now won five straight with the early panic in Beantown coming to a close. John Danks was so bad that there is no point in picking apart his performance. Instead, it was former closer Daniel Bard who delivered the goods and is proving that he is actually a better starter than reliever. He allowed just two earned runs, six hits, and one walk in seven innings with six strikeouts.

Darnell McDonald had two hits and four steaks, as he hit his first homer of the season from the No. 8 hole in the ninth inning. McDonald also scored two runs, and Marlon Byrd added two hits behind him. Cody Ross, David Ortiz (homer, two RBIs, two runs), and Dustin Pedroia all notched two hits for Boston. Paul Konerko‘s solo homer to left was his fifth of the year and one of two hits for the most productive White Sox hitter on this night and the season (1.084 OPS).

Royals 7, Twins 6

Alex Gordon and Billy Butler both homered for the Royals, with Gordon crossing home plate three times and Butler driving in two runs. Gordon also had two steaks, with both hitters contributing two hits each for Kansas City. Gordon also walked twice and currently has a .341 OBP this year.

Joe Mauer doubled and tripled for the Minnesota Twins, and Denard Span and Alexi Casilla (doubled) also had two hits apiece from the No. 1 and No. 9 slots respectively. Neither starter pitched well, and Jonathan Broxton received his third save of the year (2.35 ERA) after striking out two batters.

Cardinals 13, Brewers 1

The defending champs squashed their rivals, as Yovani Gallardo was horrible and allowed eight runs in two innings. The pitcher following him gave up four runs in three innings, while Jake Westbrook pitched seven innings of one-run ball for the Cards and was great.

The Cardinals never hit a homer despite the 13 runs, but Skip Schumaker did triple and contribute three RBIs to the club, as did Jon Jay. Matt Holliday and Jay had three hits each, and three other hitters- including Skip- had two hits. Aramis Ramirez went 2-3 with a double and was the only Brewers hitter with multiple hits and drove in the team’s only run (scored OF Nyjer Morgan)

Rockies 18, Mets 9

Talk about piling it on offensively. Usually nine runs gets you a win in baseball, but that didn’t happen in this game as the Rockies had an 18 run outburst. Scott Hairston went 4-5 with four ribbies, Ruben Tejada added four hits as well, and Hairston singled, doubled, tripled, and hit a homer. Does anyone pay attention to the cycle anymore?

Marco Scutaro had four hits at the top of the order for the Colorado Rockies, while Carlos Gonzalez drove in six runs on three hits. Dexter Fowler had three hits and three RBIs, Todd Helton added three hits, Ramon Hernandez drove in five runs, and Jonathan Herrera scored three times. It was like a video game out there.

Dodgers 3, Nationals 2

The Washington Nationals lost a close one to the Dodgers, and they will be looking forward to watching Bryce Harper play soon. In any case, this game was about star No. 3 and 4 hitters Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier who continue to pace the Dodgers. Both of these top hitters are killing it this year, and Ethier notched his fifth dinger of the year. He and Kemp had two hits each, with Kemp scoring twice and Ethier driving in two runs.

Adam LaRoche‘s two steaks paced the Nats, and Mark DeRosa did throw out Tony Gwynn Jr. at home. Clayton Kershaw mowed down six Nats in eight innings of two-run ball. He allowed just three hits and walked one, and Kenley Jansen closed it out for his first save this year.

Padres 5, Giants 3

Catcher Nick Hundley went 4-4 to lead the way for the San Diego Padres, and Huston Street closed out the contest. Melky Cabrera doubled, and Angel Pagan and Buster Posey both had two hits each and homered (both solo shots) for the only multi-hit games and homers for the team. Posey also had an RBI double to score Cabrera in the fifth, and Pagan was picked off and caught stealing in this game. The Padres won despite never hitting a homer.

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