Braves 7, Marlins 0: Brandon Beachy: the best pitcher you haven’t heard of. He shuts out the Marlins on five hits and ups his record to 5-1 with a 1.33 ERA.
Giants 7, Cardinals 5: Bad Cardinal defense and a little more offense than usual gave the Giants some runs on a day when Matt Cain wasn’t at his best. But let’s not totally blame the D. Adam Wainwright continues to be shaky, walking four and allowing six hits in five and two-thirds.
Pirates 5, Nationals 3: Two solo shots for Andrew McCutchen and a two-run job for Rod Barajas. James McDonald struck out 11 in five and two-thirds. The Nats struck out 14 times overall, adding a nice breeze to what was already a beautiful evening in our nation’s capital.
Blue Jays 4, Yankees 1: AP headline said this win gave the Blue Jays the “sweep” over the Yankees. Bull. I don’t recognize anything as a sweep in a series that is less than three games. Just one of my rules. Maybe I’ll call it a “dusting,” but we have to be conservative when it comes to broom metaphors. Anyway: Jose Bautista hit a homer. Yan Gomes went 2 for 3 in his major league debut, making him the all-time Brazilian hits leader. Congratulations, Yan.
Twins 4, Tigers 3: I told people last night that I’d allow one exception to the “no sweeps in a two-game series” rule, and that’s for the Twins, who can claim it. Really, it’s all they have.
Red Sox 5, Rays 3: My friend Jason of DRaysBay posted the cutest little picture of his little daughter on Facebook last night with the caption “getting ready to watch the Rays beat the Red Sox.” Poor girl will now never trust her father. This is why I always tell my children to prepare for inevitable, crippling disappointment and despair. In other news, Bobby Valentine used five relievers to pitch three and a third innings.
Diamondbacks 9, Rockies 7: Justin Upton hit a two-run homer in the ninth that proved to be the game winner. But the best part of this game was when a bunch of bees swarmed the stadium, taking over a camera bay next to the Rockies’ dugout in the fifth inning necessitating the calling of a beekeeper to vacuum them up. Which is better than dogs, I guess. And much better than the dogs with bees in their mouths and when they bark they shoot bees at you.
White Sox 6, Angels 1: Wait, I thought Chris Sale (5 IP, 5 H, 1 ER 7K) was supposed to be closing now or something? Gosh, I’m so confused. In my defense, outside of Adam Dunn and Paul Konerko, the White Sox sort of bore me, so I don’t play too close attention. I bet if you go back, Gleeman has done 75% of the White Sox posts on this blog. Sorry, don’t mean to seem mean or biased or anything, just being honest.
Mets 9, Reds 4: Saw this described as “the Mets score nine unanswered runs.” I’ve never liked that phrase. Such run binges are always answered. Just with lots of expletives and groans as opposed to opposing team runs. Also, saw yesterday a New York writer saying that Bobby Parnell doesn’t have the closer’s mentality. But he does, apparently, know how to win, getting the decision in this one. I wonder if that’s a related skill.
Orioles 5, Royals 3: Just gonna say how much I love that the Orioles are 4.5 up on the fourth place Yankees and 6.5 up on the last place Red Sox. Viva chaos.
Athletics 5, Rangers 4: The A’s won it in extra innings. But they should have had it in regulation. They didn’t thanks to a blown call in the sixth where the ump said that Brandon McCarthy trapped a popup rather than caught it which turned a would-be double play with McCarthy doubling off Craig Gentry at third into Gentry scoring. The AP wrote this in its game story:
Every single beat writer who was there and people I knew watching the game live -- Texas fans included -- thought McCarthy caught the ball. So chalk up Brian Fuentes’ Ryan Cook’s win and everything else that happened in the 10th to the Human Element.
Indians 6, Mariners 5: The M’s lost a 4-0 lead in the seventh and a 5-4 lead in the 11th. Carlos Santana had the walk-off single.
Phillies 8, Cubs 7: Closer than it should have been. When Roy Halladay left, it was a 5-run lead. The Cubs scored four in the ninth of Jacob Diekman, though, to make it at least moderately interesting and to force Jonathan Papelbon to come in for the save. Carlos Ruiz continues to be a beast, going 4 for 5 with three RBI.
Astros 4, Brewers 0: J.A. Happ and the pen combine for a shutout. Jed Lowrie homered and Jose Altuve rapped out three hits.
Dodgers 8, Padres 1: Aaron Harang shut out the Padres for seven innings. A rejuvenated-looking Bobby Abreu had an RBI triple and a double last night. He’s now 11-for-35 (.314) with six extra-base hits in 12 games since signing with the Dodgers.
