Nationals vs. Tigers

The Tigers beat the Nationals in a score of 8-3.  Alex Avila doubled in 2 runs in the 2nd scoring Carlos Guillen and Brandon Inge.   In the 5th and 6th inning they tacked on 5 more runs thanks to hits by Carlos Guillen, Miguel Cabrera, and Ramon Santiago.   The Nationals scored in the 6th when Christian Guzman singled home Ian Desmond.  In the 7th they added another run from an Adam Dunn homer and again in the 8th when he singled home Christian Guzman.  Magglio Ordonez added the 8th run for the Tigers in the 8th inning when he singled home Ramon Santiago.

Jeremy Bonderman got the win pitching 7 innings giving up 5 hits, 2 runs, and 7 strikeouts.  The lose went to Luis Atilano who pitched 4.1 innings giving up 9 hits, 5 runs, with 1 strikeout.

Mets vs. Indians

The Mets beat the Marlins in a score of 8-4.  The Mets scored 3 runs in the first thanks to singles by Ike Davis, Henry Blanco, and a sac fly by Jeff Francoeur.  The Indians scored 2 runs in the 2nd and 3rd  but the Mets countered with 2 more runs in the 4th.  Travis Hafner grounded in runs from both the 5th and 7th inning.  Jose Reyes added the 8th run for the Mets when he tripled home Ruben Tejada.

R.A Dickey got the win pitching 6 innings giving up 7 hits, 3 runs, with 5 strikeouts.   Jake Westbrook  took the loss pitching 7 innings, giving up 11 hits, 5 runs, and 5 strikeouts.

Phillies vs. Yankees

The Phillies beat the Yankees in a score of 7-1.  Ryan Howard singled home Shane Victorino in the 4th to score the first run of the game.  In the 5th Shane Victorino hit a homerun with Carlos Ruiz on base.  The Yanks scored the only run of the game in the 6th when Robinson Cano singled home Mark Teixeira.  The Phillies added 4 more runs thanks to Wilson Valdez, Plácido Polanco, Ryan Howard, and Raul Ibanez.

Kyle Kendrick got the win pitching 7 innings, 4 hits, 1 run with 3 strikeouts.  Andy Pettitte got the loss pitching 7 innings, 6 hits, 3 runs with 7 strikeouts.

Braves vs. Rays

The Braves beat the Rays in a score of 3-1.  Carlos Pena singled home Carl Crawford in the 4th to score the 1st run of the game.  Jason Heyward hit a solo shot in the 4th to tie the game.  In the 6th Troy Glaus doubled home Tim Hudon and Martin Prado.

Tim Hudson got the win pitching 7 innings giving up 4 hits, 1 run and 5 strikeouts.  James Shields got the loss pitching 6 innings giving up 5 hits, 3 runs with 2 strikeouts.  Billy Wagner got his 12th save of the season with 1 strikeout.

Marlins vs. Rangers

The Rangers beat the Marlins in a score of 6-4.  The Marlins struck 1st scoring 3 runs in the 2nd from hits by Ronnie Paulino and Chris Coghlan.  Guerrero put the Rangers on the board with a solo shot in the 4th.   The Rangers added 3 more runs in the 5th thanks to Elvis Andrus and Ian Kinsler and 2 more runs in the 7th when Michael Young singled home David Young and Ian Kinsler hit a sac fly to score Elvis Andrus.  The Marlins added another run in the 8th when Cody Ross doubled home Dan Uggla.

Dustin Nippert pitched 3 innings giving up 7 hits, 4 runs, and 4 strikeouts.  Alexi Ogando got the win pitching just 2.1 innings with 4 strikeouts.  Ricky Nolasco got the loss pitching 6 innings with 7 hits, 4 runs, and 4 strikeouts.  Neftali Feliz got his 18th save of the season including 1 strikeout.

Phillies vs. Red Sox

The Phillies hoped for a better outcome as they took on the Red Sox in game two of their series at Fenway.  Instead, Philadelphia’s starter gave up nine runs for the second game in a row, and the Red Sox cruised to a 10-2 victory.

Boston starter Daisuke Matsuzaka was scratched just before game time due to a strained forearm, and the Phillies took a 2-0 lead in the top of the second off of emergency starter Scott Atchinson thanks to a Brian Schneider two-run double.   However, the Red Sox jumped on pitcher Joe Blanton in the bottom of the inning.  JD Drew started off the scoring with a solo home run, and Daniel Nava hit a grand slam in his first major league at bat to give Boston a 5-2 lead. 

The Sox added three runs in the third and one more in the fourth off of Blanton (1-5), who gave up 13 hits in addition to nine runs in his four innings of work.  Boston reliever Manny Delcarmen (2-2) pitched two scoreless innings in relief and earned the victory.

 

Mets vs. Orioles

The Mets won back-to-back games on the road for the first time since last July as they defeated the last place Orioles 3-1 Saturday night in Baltimore.

Jose Reyes led off the game with a home run off of Baltimore starter Brian Matusz.  The Orioles tied the game at 1 in the bottom of the first off of Hisanori Takahashi on a Nick Markakis RBI double.   The game remained 1-1 until the top of the sixth, when the Mets took the lead.  The Orioles failed to turn a double play on a David Wright comebacker, allowing the Mets to score the go-ahead run.  Jeff Francoeur added a solo home run in the eighth inning to cap the scoring. 

Takahashi (5-2) gave up just one run and six hits over seven innings to earn the victory, while Matusz (2-7) took the loss.  Francisco Rodriguez pitched a scoreless ninth for his 13th save.

 

Nationals vs. Indians

Cleveland rookie catcher Carlos Santana hit his first career home run, and the Indians jumped on Washington starter JD Martin for four runs in the second inning as they defeated the Nationals 7-1 in Cleveland.

Playing in his second major league game, the highly touted Santana drove in three runs to lead the Indians offense.  Indians starter Fausto Carmona (5-5) went nine strong innings, allowing just one run on three hits while striking out seven.  Ryan Zimmerman‘s eighth inning home run spoiled Carmona’s shutout bid.  Martin (0-2) pitched into the eighth inning, but allowed seven runs and took the loss.

The Nationals hope to avoid a sweep when they send phenom Stephen Strasburg to the mound on Sunday.

 

Braves vs. Twins

For the second straight night, two first place teams played a one run game.  After falling in the series opener, the Braves rebounded to defeat the Twins by a score of 3-2 at Target Field in Minnesota.

Braves starter Derek Lowe and Twins starter Nick Blackburn each allowed only two runs, but neither factored in the decision.  After the Twins took a 1-0 lead in the second, the Braves answered with two in the fifth thanks to a Melky Cabrera solo homer and an RBI double from Brooks Conrad.  A Joe Mauer double tied the game in the sixth, and the score remained even at 2 until the top of the ninth.  With runners on the corners, Conrad successfully executed a squeeze bunt, scoring Gregor Blanco with the go-ahead run. 

Atlanta’s Jonny Venters (2-0) struck out Jason Kubel with the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth to earn the victory, while Minnesota’s Matt Guerrier (1-2) took the loss.  Billy Wagner worked around a one out single to nail down his 11th save for the Braves.

 

Marlins vs. Devil Rays

After winning on Friday in Tampa, the Marlins fell 6-5 on Saturday night as the Rays evened the Battle of Florida at one game apiece.

The Rays jumped out to an early 5-1 lead, thanks to home runs by Carl Crawford, Carlos Pena, and Sean Rodrgiuez off of Florida starer Ricky Nolasco (5-5).   However, the Marlins battled back against Tampa starter Matt Garza.  Wes Helms hit a two run homer in the fourth and the Fish scored another in the fifth to cut the lead to 5-4.  After the Rays added a run in the seventh, the Marlins answered back in the eighth with one of their own, but couldn’t bring home the tying run. 

Closer Rafael Soriano pitched a perfect ninth for Tampa to earn save number 16 and preserve the victory for Garza (7-4) and the Rays.

Please feel free to email any recommend questions or comments about the segment to mrose@nleastchatter.com or go to this forum topic and post a reply.  We need questions for our next Chatter Up! sessions, which are for Tuesday’s games of the Nationals @ Phillies and the Mets @ Braves.  Thanks for everyone’s participation!

Werth with a big game

Jayson Werth went four for four at the plate with a walk, three runs scored and three RBI for Philadelphia yesterday on the to a 10-0 victory.  Fueled by two four run innings from the offense, J.A. Happ(5-0) stayed undefeated and went the distance for the win.  Brad Mills(0-1) lasted only four innings while giving up eight earned runs while taking the loss for the Blue Jays.  This was the first time in the five times the teams met so far this year that Toronto did not win.  The interleague schedule ends for these teams today as Jamie Moyer goes up against Brian Tallet for the Jays.

Redding can't do much without offense

The New York Mets “B” team seems to be really getting the effect of playing versus other Major League teams now.  The New York Mets have now gone down in order in eighteen out of twenty-three of their last offensive innings, and scored 1 run in that time on a home run by Gary Sheffield.  Last night A.J. Burnett(6-4) worked seven innings of one hit ball, before being relieved for the final two innings of perfect relief in a 5-0 Yankees win.  Tim Redding(1-3) worked into the sixth inning but it all fell apart in that inning as he gave up five earned runs in the loss.  The Mets hope to salvage a game of this series tonight at 8PM on ESPN when Chien-Ming Wang goes up against Livan Hernandez.

Tampa Bay celebrates a walk off win

J.P. Howell(4-2) is getting used to these wins in relief lately, as he was the benefactor in a 3-2 Rays walk off win in Tampa last night.  Willy Aybar came up big again as he hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth inning scoring Carlos Pena for the Rays sixth win in their last eight games.  Burke Badenhop(5-3) took the loss in the ninth for the Marlins in the game.  The fish will look to salvage the final game of the series today as Andrew Miller takes on David Price at 1:38PM EST.

Braves lose a tough one

The Atlana Braves had a tough offensive game yesterday, as they couldn’t muster up a run while losing 1-0 to the Boston Red Sox.  Three Boston pitchers combined in a four hit shutout, including Tim Wakefield(10-3) pitching six strong for the win and Jonathan Papalbon pitching the ninth inning to get his eighteenth save of the season.  Javier Vazquez(5-7) pitched into the eighth inning while only giving up 6 hits and one earned run and took a tough loss.  The series concludes today at 1:30PM EST with Brad Penny for the Sox taking on Tommy Hanson of the Braves.

Rookie Reimold has a big game

Rookie Nolan Reimold hit his ninth home run of the year and contributed three RBI to help the Baltimore Orioles beat the Washington Nationals 6-3.  Greg Zaun and Aubrey Huff also contributed home runs during the win in Baltimore last night as Jeremy Guthrie(6-7) pitched the minimum five innings for the win.  Sharon Martis(5-3) took his third loss in a row after going five straight decisions in his career without a loss for the Nats last night.  The Nationals will hope to avoid the sweep as John Lannon takes on David Hernandez at 1:35PM EST today.