Baseball roundup: Sunday's action on the diamonds
The Detroit Tigers continue to frustrate expectations. Fresh off a three-game sweep at Yankee Stadium, the Tigers leave the Metrodome on the other side of a sweep.
Joe Mauer capped a Minnesota rally from a six-run, first-inning deficit, slapping a two-run single up the middle in the seventh to lift the Twins past the Tigers 7-6 on Sunday for their fifth straight win.
"I think that's huge for our pitching staff, to show that we're still going to go out there and try to put up runs for 'em," Mauer said.
The Tigers tricked Kenny Rogers into thinking he was getting that kind of support. He retired the first 11 batters he faced and should've been out of the seventh with a 6-3 lead, but third baseman Carlos Guillen let a routine two-out groundball hit by Nick Punto roll off his glove and through his legs.
Four runs scored after that, an RBI single by Carlos Gomez and an RBI double by Brendan Harris against Zach Miner (1-2) followed by Mauer's big hit off Bobby Seay.
The Tigers had only four hits after the opening frame.
"We're swinging at bad pitches. Maybe we're pressing," Guillen said. "We've got to be consistent, and we're not consistent. We've been giving too many bats away."
Bothered by that inconsistency, Jim Leyland promised before the game to drastically shake up the lineup beginning Monday at home against Boston. After the game, he declined to specify.
"I'm not talking about that. There will be changes tomorrow," Leyland said.
Though the Tigers were fourth in the league in runs entering the game, their star-stacked offence is still underperforming. One of their limitations, frustrating Leyland, has been the lack of speed and small-ball executions like hit-and-run plays.
Elsewhere in the AL it was: New York 8, Seattle 2; Boston 7, Tampa Bay 3; Toronto 4, Chicago 3; Kansas City 2, Cleveland 0; Los Angeles 6, Baltimore 5; and Oakland 3, Texas 1.
At Minneapolis, Curtis Granderson started the game with a home run. No fundamentals necessary there.
As Bonser struggled through a 45-pitch first inning - four consecutive singles followed Granderson's shot - the Tigers built their big lead and padded it on a wild pitch on strike three to Ivan Rodriguez that allowed him to reach.
Magglio Ordonez, Guillen and Edgar Renteria each drove in runs with singles in the inning, and Mauer's short throw skipped over second base while Rodriguez was trying to steal - allowed another one to score.
Matt Guerrier (2-1) earned the victory with two scoreless innings in relief of Bonser, who recovered nicely after the six-run first to complete six innings with five strikeouts and no walks. One of the runs against him was unearned.
Joe Nathan picked up the save, his 11th in as many attempts, with a scoreless ninth to give the Twins a sweep of this homestand of five intradivision games. They moved into first place in the AL Central on Saturday and now lead the White Sox by 1 1/2 games. They play three games in Chicago this week.
Yankees 8 Mariners 2
At New York, Derek Jeter had four hits and the Yankees got consecutive homers from Melky Cabrera and Robinson Cano during a six-run outburst to finish a lopsided three-game sweep.
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Red Sox 7 Rays 3
At Boston, Kevin Youkilis had four RBIs and Jon Lester pitched six innings to lift the Red Sox past Tampa Bay, spoiling the return of Rays ace Scott Kazmir.
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Blue Jays 4 White Sox 3
At Toronto, Roy Halladay won for the first time in four starts, Matt Stairs scored twice and drove in two runs as the Blue Jays handed Chicago its season-high fifth straight loss.
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Royals 2 Indians 0
At Cleveland, Gil Meche pitched seven shutout innings, a throwing error by third baseman Casey Blake broke a scoreless tie and Kansas City beat the Indians.
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Angels 6 Orioles 5
At Anaheim, Calif., Gary Matthews Jr. and Torii Hunter homered in the first inning and Los Angeles beat Baltimore despite a poor outing by still-unbeaten Joe Saunders.
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Athletics 3 Rangers 1
At Oakland, Calif., Jack Cust's two-run homer in the seventh inning helped the Athletics end Texas' four-game winning streak.
National League:
Hunter Pence's 12th-inning homer leads Houston past Milwaukee, 8-6
It took six visits to the plate for Hunter Pence to get a hit, but he only needed one.
Pence, 0-for-5 as he went to the plate in the bottom of the 12th with the game tied at 6, hit a two-run homer to lead the Houston Astros to an 8-6 win over the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday.
"It was time. I thought that was the perfect spot for him," Astros manager Cecil Cooper said. "It was beautiful."
The home run to left field by Pence, in his second season, scored Lance Berkman and completed Houston's comeback for its third straight win. The Astros trailed by as many as four.
Mitch Stetter (1-1) gave up Pence's homer, his fourth of the season.
Berkman had four RBIs and tied his career high with four hits, including a homer and a pair of doubles.
With two outs in the 12th, Houston's Tim Byrdak (1-0) loaded the bases with walks but left-fielder Darin Erstad caught J.J. Hardy's pop fly for the final out.
"We had our chances, but we needed to get big hits late in the game," Brewers manager Ned Yost said. "We had runners in scoring position, we just never got those big hits."
Elsewhere in the NL it was: Florida 10, San Diego 3; Washington 5, Pittsburgh 2; Philadelphia 6, San Francisco 5; Atlanta 14, Cincinnati 7; Colorado 7, Los Angeles 2; New York 5, Arizona 2; and St. Louis 5, Chicago 3.
At Houston, the Astros trailed by two entering the ninth and got singles from Erstad and Geoff Blum off closer Eric Gagne of Mascouche, Que., before Michael Bourn walked. Erstad scored on a groundout by Kaz Matsui to make it 6-5.
Miguel Tejada walked to load the bases before Gagne walked Berkman to tie it at 6. Carlos Lee grounded out to send it to the 10th.
"I put myself in positions I shouldn't have been in," Gagne said. "We played a really good game and I came in and messed it up."
Jose Valverde pitched a perfect 10th for Houston and Salomon Torres did the same for Milwaukee. Both allowed a single in the 11th, but neither gave up a run to send it to the 12th.
Ben Sheets was denied his fifth win by Gagne's fifth blown save. Sheets was better Sunday than in his last start when he set a career-high with seven walks. He allowed seven hits and four runs. He walked none and had six strikeouts in 6 1-3 innings.
He looks to be past the tightness in his right triceps that forced him to leave two starts ago in Cincinnati.
Sheets got his first hit of the season, a run-scoring double in the second inning that put the Brewers ahead 2-0.
"I felt good," Sheets said.
Lefty Brian Shouse got the last two outs of the seventh inning for Milwaukee and Guillermo Mota pitched a scoreless eighth before Gagne's terrible ninth inning.
Mike Cameron had two home runs and four RBIs for Milwaukee. The Astros cut the lead to 2-1 before Cameron led off the third inning with his first homer. Houston got within one again before his three-run shot to left centre field in the fourth inning on reliever Dave Borkowski's third pitch.
The three-time Gold Glove winner is in his first season in Milwaukee and played his sixth game Sunday. He's settling into his role on this offence after completing a 25-game suspension for testing positive twice for a banned stimulant while with San Diego.
Cameron's other homer of the season came on Friday against Houston.
Houston's starting pitcher Chris Sampson didn't fare well, allowing five runs and a season-high nine hits in 3 1-3 innings, but the bullpen kept the Astros in it. After Borkowski gave up the homer to Cameron, Houston relievers Geoff Geary, Wesley Wright and Doug Brocail combined for four scoreless innings.
"The bullpen was outstanding today," Cooper said. "They've all really thrown the ball well. The big boy Valverde stepped up a little bit. I think he had some of his best stuff today."
Lance Berkman hit his 10th home run of the season to right field in the second inning for Houston's first score of the game. His double in the third inning scored Matsui and made it 3-2.
Matsui and Berkman both had RBI-doubles in the fifth inning to cut Milwaukee's lead to 6-4.
With two outs in the eighth inning, both Berkman and Matsui ran to catch a foul ball from Prince Fielder. As they both held their gloves out into the first row of the stands a boy did the same and the ball dropped into his glove, drawing a confused look from Matsui.
Houston got out of the inning when Brocail caught a fly from Fielder.
Marlins 10 Padres 3
At Miami, San Diego starter Greg Maddux failed in his fourth bid to reach 350 victories, when he was outpitched by young Andrew Miller in a loss to Florida.
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Nationals 5 Pirates 2
At Washington, Tim Redding allowed one run over 6 1-3 innings, Aaron Boone homered and the Nationals beat the Pittsburgh.
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Phillies 6 Giants 5
At Philadelphia, Pat Burrell had two doubles and two RBIs to lead the Phillies past the Giants for manager Charlie Manuel's 500th career victory.
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Braves 14 Reds 7
At Atlanta, Chipper Jones drove in five runs and the Braves scored seven runs in the second inning and beat Cincinnati to complete a three-game sweep.
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Rockies 7 Dodgers 2
At Denver, Aaron Cook gave the Rockies the strong outing they needed, Matt Holliday had two hits and two RBIs and the Rockies beat the Dodgers to end a four-game losing streak.
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Mets 5 Diamondbacks 2
At Phoenix, first baseman Conor Jackson's ninth inning throwing error allowed Carlos Beltran to score the go-ahead run from second and the Mets went on to beat the Diamondbacks.
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Cardinals 5 Cubs 3
At St. Louis, Albert Pujols reached base for the 32nd consecutive game, one shy of his personal best to start the year, and did it with a key two-run double in the fourth inning that was the go-ahead hit in the Cardinals' victory over the Chicago.
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