OAKLAND, CA – After the Rays snapped the Cleveland Indians fourteen home win streak on Wednesday, they were back at it early Thursday. Righty James Shields was on the mound against Justin Masterson, who was 5-0 before this game. The Rays came out on top, 7-4, who took the series two games out of three…
It’s still fairly early in the season yet the injuries as always continue to pile.
On Tuesday night in Colorado, Mets 1B Ike Davis collided with 3B David Wright on an infield pop-up and promptly left the game during a rain delay. Yesterday he flew to NY to undergo an MRI on his sore ankle, and MRIs revealed a bone bruise and a mild ankle sprain, and as of this morning has been placed on the 15-Day Disabled List. He will be replaced by OF Fernando Martinez on the roster. Utility IF Daniel Murphy will start at First Base, and Justin Turner will start at second base.
Prior to his injury Davis was the sole bright spot of the Mets rough start, batting .302 with a .383 OBP, along with 7 home runs and 25 RBIs.
Along with him, the Mets’ Chris Young will undergo surgery to repair a torn capsule in the shoulder of his throwing arm, thus ending his season. Young started 4 games, going 1-0 with a 1.88 ERA striking out 22 batters and walking 11 in 24 innings.
In other injury-related news, Cubs catcher Geovany Soto has been placed on the 15-Day Disabled List with a left groin strain. Replacing his spot on the roster is Triple-A catcher Wellington Castillo. Soto was batting .226 with 8 doubles, 12 RBIs and 3 HR.
Castillo played a few games for the Cubs last year in his first time in the Majors. He batted .300 with 1 home run & 5 RBIs in 7 games.
TORONTO — With one out to go, Justin Verlander cracked a smile on the mound.He could afford to enjoy the moment, he’d seen this before. So had baseball fans — real recently, in fact.Verlander threw his second career no-hitter and the second in the big leagues this week, leading the Detroit Tigers to a 9-0…
NEW YORK — Justin Turner was the latest Mets role player to come through with a big hit. His long, pinch-hit single snapped an eighth-inning tie and the New York Mets stopped Andre Ethier‘s hitting streak at 30 games Saturday night in a 4-2 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers. Source ______________________________________________________ Andre Ethier’s hitting…
TORONTO — With one out to go, Justin Verlander cracked a smile on the mound.He could afford to enjoy the moment, he’d seen this before. So had baseball fans — real recently, in fact.Verlander threw his second career no-hitter and the second in the big leagues this week, leading the Detroit Tigers to a 9-0…
With one month into the season (can’t believe I am saying that already) there have been numerous surprises: first and foremost the Cleveland Indians are at 21-9 while the White Sox, who signed A.J. Pierzynski, Paul Konerko and Adam Dunn, have the worst record in all of baseball. Another huge surprise is Lance Berkman. Ideally…
With one month into the season (can’t believe I am saying that already) there have been numerous surprises: first and foremost the Cleveland Indians are at 21-9 while the White Sox, who signed A.J. Pierzynski, Paul Konerko and Adam Dunn, have the worst record in all of baseball. Another huge surprise is Lance Berkman. Ideally…
The New York Mets are currently tied with the Houston Astros for the worst record in all of the National League with 12 wins and 18 losses. This poor play has resulted in some bad box office numbers for the Mets. According to espn.com the Mets currently rank 14th in Major League baseball when…
Today was a great day in sports for Tampa. The Lightning beat the Capitals to take a 3-0 series lead, and then the Rays won on a BJ Upton walkoff home run.
The Rays trailed in most of the game, including the first inning when Adam Lind delivered a RBI single. Kelly Shoppach tied it in the 2nd with a fly ball single, scoring Sean Rodriguez.
In the 4th, Edwin Encarnacion hit a RBI double, and the scored stayed that way, 2-1, all the way until the 9th inning.
After Ben Zobrist led off the inning with a single, BJ Upton hit a home run to left field, to win the game for the Rays.
After the game, Evan Longoria, who made his first start today since April 2, creamed BJ in the face with chocolate whipped cream, instead of the regular shaving cream. Clubhouse manager Chris Westmoreland decided to use whipped cream instead of shaving cream, because the shaving cream stings they players eyes, and he wanted to switch things up.
Rookie Brandon Gomes made his first career relieve appearance, going 2 strong innings only allowing a walk. Wade Davis had a solid start, only allowing 2 runs, but he didn’t have much offense.
CHICAGO — Francisco Liriano was running low on energy in the ninth inning. A no-hitter within reach but his pitch count climbing, he relied on teammates to help him complete the best game of his career.
When shortstop Matt Tolbert grabbed Adam Dunn’s liner for the final out, completing the Minnesota Twins’ 1-0 win over the Chicago White Sox, Liriano was mobbed on the mound.
“To be honest I was running out of gas,” he said. “I just thank my teammates that they made some great plays behind me tonight.”Liriano (2-4) walked six and struck out two in his first complete game in 95 major league starts. The 27-year-old left-hander, who reached the big leagues in 2005, matched his career high with 123 pitches.”I can’t explain it. I feel so nervous and so happy right now,” Liriano said. “I can’t explain my feeling right now.”He survived a rocky ninth inning that began when Brent Morel grounded to shortstop and Matt Tolbert made a one-hop throw that first baseman Justin Morneau scooped. Juan Pierre walked and Alexei Ramirez popped to shortstop.Liriano fell behind Adam Dunn 3-0 in the count, then got a pair of strikes. After a foul ball, Dunn lined out to Tolbert.”I thought it was a base hit,” Liriano said. “When I saw him catch it I was so excited.”
Dunn dropped to 0 for 16 against left-handers this season.”As soon as I hit it, I saw him, and it was right to him,” Dunn said. “That’s pretty much the story of the day. There were some balls that, again, they made some great defensive plays.”Liriano, the reigning AL comeback player of the year, was backed by Jason Kubel’s fourth-inning homer. He threw just 66 pitches for strikes but kept Chicago off-balance in a game that took just 2 hours, 9 minutes.In his previous start, he lasted just three innings in an 8-2 loss to Tampa Bay. The shutout lowered his ERA for the season from 9.13 to 6.61.Liriano, 3-0 against the White Sox last season, walked Pierre leading off the first and Carlos Quentin with one out in the second, but both were erased on double plays. Chicago put two on in the fourth, and center fielder Denard Span raced into left-center to grab Quentin’s long drive.With two outs in the seventh, third baseman Danny Valencia went behind the bag and into foul territory to grab Quentin’s hard hopper and then made a strong throw to first.
Minnesota turned its third double play in the eighth, when Morneau took an offline throw from second baseman Alexi Casilla and umpire Paul Emmel called Gordon Beckham out — replays appeared to show Morneau missed the tag.Ramirez hit two of the hardest balls off Liriano. He lined out to third in the first and sent a hard liner foul past third in the sixth.Edwin Jackson (2-4) lost his fourth straight start despite allowing six hits in eight innings. Then with Arizona, Jackson no-hit Tampa Bay last June 26 despite walking eight.It was the seventh no-hitter for the Twins-Washington Senators franchise and the first since Eric Milton’s against the Angels on Sept. 11, 1999. It was the first no-hitter in the major leagues since Philadelphia’s Roy Halladay’s against Cincinnati in last year’s NL division series.The White Sox were no-hit for the 13th time, the first since they were beaten by Kansas City’s Bret Saberhagen on Aug. 26, 1991.Liriano was acquired in 2003 in the famously lopsided trade that also brought Joe Nathan to Minnesota in exchange for A.J. Pierzynski
He burst onto the scene in 2006, going 12-3 with a 2.16 ERA and dominating overmatched hitters with an untouchable slider. But the violent delivery caused him to develop arm problems toward the end of that season and had elbow-ligament replacement surgery that November.His road back has been a long and difficult one. He missed all of 2007, then struggled to regain his form over the next two years, leading some to wonder if he ever would make it all the way back after going 5-13 with a 5.80 ERA in 2009.Game notes
The Twins moved Casilla, who had four errors in 21 games at shortstop, to second base. … Twins DH Jim Thome was a late scratch. Seven players with batting averages under .200 started the game — four for the Twins and three for the White Sox.