Baseball roundup: Sunday's action on the diamonds
Published Monday June 22nd, 2009
It's a play Tony Clark has made thousands of times: a routine catch on a throw to first.
Clark, who played his 1,202nd game at first base entering Sunday, dropped a toss from third baseman Mark Reynolds allowing Seattle's Ronny Cedeno to score the winning run for the Mariners with two outs in the ninth inning of Sunday's 3-2 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks. "I missed it. ... I missed it," Clark said quietly. "It's a play I should have made."
Asked if he lost the ball at all as it came zipping from Reynolds' hand, Clark said, "I just missed it. That's my fault."
Chad Qualls got Franklin Gutierrez to ground slowly toward third where Reynolds charged, fielded cleanly and fired a perfect throw to Clark.
With everyone in the stadium assuming the game was headed to extra innings, the ball hit Clark's glove in the palm and popped out, setting off an awkward celebration for the Mariners, who swept the three-game series and climbed above .500 for the first time since May 7.
"It doesn't matter how we won the game. We won the game," Gutierrez said. "I was trying to run hard, and just see what happens. If you run hard, he's probably going to make a bad throw."
Elsewhere in interleague play it was: Toronto 9 Washington 4; St. Louis 12 Kansas City 5; Baltimore 2 Philadelphia 1; Boston 6 Atlanta 5; Florida 6 N.Y. Yankees 5; Detroit 3 Milwaukee 2; Tampa Bay 10 N.Y. Mets 6; Chicago 4 Cincinnati 1; Houston 4 Minnesota 1; Chicago Cubs 6 Cleveland 2; San Diego 4 Oakland 1; San Francisco 3 Texas 2; and L.A. Dodgers 5 L.A. Angels 3.
At Seattle, the slumping Diamondbacks were left stunned by the loss. Clark briefly looked down toward his glove and the ball, before slowly walking off the field. Clay Zavada, who was tagged with the first loss of his career, sat in the dugout with his hands on his head.
While the loss left the Arizona manager A.J. Hinch searching for an explanation, the Mariners were relishing the odd finish that boosted them back to 35-34 and above .500 for the first time since May 7 when they were at 15-14 on a miserable 1-9 road trip.
Following its sweep of Arizona, Seattle has won five of six and nine of its last 14 to close the gap with Texas and the Angels in the meek American League West.
Outside of Clark, Seattle first base coach Lee Tinsley probably had the best view of the final play. Reynolds' throw was on target, but rushed, and Tinsley said it tailed severely in the final few feet before finding Clark's glove.
"I've known Tony for a lot of years; he's a really good first baseman," Tinsley said. "And when that ball rode in and handcuffed, I thought, 'If he can't catch that ball, then most people can't catch it."'
Not that this will make the Diamondbacks feel any better. They were swept for the second time this season and fell a season-worst 12 games below .500.
"It's a miserable ending to a rough road trip," Hinch said.
The ninth inning started when Cedeno walked against Zavada (0-1). Ichiro Suzuki outlasted Zavada on a 12-pitch at-bat, fouling off six straight pitches before a broken-bat roller to short that Suzuki beat out by a step.
Chris Woodward failed to advance the runners, coming up empty on three attempts to lay down a sacrifice bunt in fair territory. Mike Carp tapped to first for the second out as both runners advanced and Sweeney was intentionally walked to load the bases and Qualls was brought in to face Gutierrez.
Seattle came from behind for the 20th time this season, although none has been quite this odd.
"You should have seen me in the clubhouse," said Seattle starter Felix Hernandez.
"I was going crazy."
Arizona took a 2-1 lead in the eighth when Reynolds tagged Hernandez for a two-run homer, his 19th shot this season. It was the only blemish on another strong start by Hernandez, who saw his scoreless innings streak end at 20 on Reynolds' homer.
Hernandez struck out eight and gave up just six hits. He has a 1.00 earned-run average in his last six starts. Mark Lowe (1-4) got the victory pitching the ninth for his first win since April 2008.
Doug Davis was nearly Hernandez's equal. He pitched seven innings, allowing just an RBI single by Yuniesky Betancourt in the fourth inning, one of three hits for the Mariners shortstop. Davis gave up seven hits and struck out three.
His chance at a win was lost in the eighth when Mike Carp scored on Guiterrez's fielder's choice.
"We take a punch in the gut time after time when we have opportunities to win the game and don't," Hinch said.
Blue Jays 9 Nationals 4
At Washington, Toronto avoided the unsavoury distinction of becoming the first team to be swept by the bottom-dwelling Washington Nationals, getting five RBIs from Lyle Overbay and a solid outing by Ricky Romero.
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Cardinals 12 Royals 5
At Kansas City, Mo., Albert Pujols finished off a three-day romp with two homers and six RBIs, helping St. Louis rout the Royals for Tony La Russa's 2,500th win.
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Orioles 2 Phillies 1
At Philadelphia, Brian Roberts had the decisive hit for the second straight game and a tiebreaking single in the eighth inning as Baltimore completed a three-game sweep of the slumping Phillies.
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Red Sox 6 Braves 5
At Boston, Nick Green homered just inside the Pesky Pole in right field on the first pitch of the bottom of the ninth to give Boston a win over Atlanta.
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Marlins 6 Yankees 5
At Miami, Hanley Ramirez and Cody Ross homered, and Florida held off a late rally to beat the struggling Yankees after CC Sabathia left early with an injury.
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Tigers 3 Brewers 2
At Detroit, Brandon Inge hit a three-run homer and Justin Verlander pitched into the eighth to help the Tigers sweep Milwaukee.
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Rays 10 Mets 6
At New York, B.J. Upton homered and matched a career high with four RBIs, Carl Crawford drove in a pair of runs and Tampa Bay broke out of an offensive slumber with a victory over the Mets.
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White Sox 4 Reds 1
At Cincinnati, Mark Buehrle pitched seven shutout innings, his latest impressive showing against the National League, and Chicago added to its run of success against the Reds.
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Astros 4 Twins 1
At Minneapolis, Wandy Rodriguez pitched seven strong innings for his first win in more than a month to lead Houston over Minnesota.
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Cubs 6 Indians 2
At Chicago, Randy Wells pitched into the seventh inning for his first major league win, Geovany Soto homered and Jake Fox drove in three runs to lead the Cubs past Cleveland for their fourth straight victory.
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Padres 4 Athletics 1
At San Diego, Kevin Correia carried a shutout into the seventh inning and Kevin Kouzmanoff hit a two-run homer, leading the Padres over Oakland.
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Giants 3 Rangers 2
At San Francisco, Barry Zito carried a no-hit bid into the seventh inning, Randy Winn hit a go-ahead single and the Giants took advantage of another Texas mistake to complete a series sweep.
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Dodgers 5 Angels 3
At Anaheim, Calif., James Loney hit a two-run homer that was upheld by video review, Clayton Kershaw pitched seven shutout innings and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Los Angeles Angels 5-3 on Sunday night to take two of three in the Freeway Series.
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