Baseball roundup: Tuesday's action on the diamonds
Published Wednesday July 1st, 2009
After watching the Baltimore Orioles rally to their biggest comeback in franchise history, Boston Red Sox pitcher John Smoltz was at a loss for words.
"No one would have ever dreamed it would play out the way it did," Smoltz said after the Orioles rallied from a nine-run deficit to win 11-10 Tuesday night. "It's one of those games when you shake your head and can't believe what you just saw."
Nick Markakis hit a two-run double off Boston closer Jonathan Papelbon to complete the comeback before a mixture of delirious hometown fans and stunned Red Sox backers.
Baltimore trailed 10-1 before scoring five runs in the seventh inning and five more in the eighth. The rally was even more shocking because it came against a Boston team that had defeated the Orioles eight straight times, including five this season.
Up by nine runs in the seventh, the Red Sox probably figured the only lamentable aspect of the night was that Smoltz wouldn't get his first win with Boston because of a lengthy rain delay.
The Red Sox had no idea how bad it would get.
"It was a weird game, a terrible loss for us," Dustin Pedroia said. "That's upsetting. Things just kind of spiralled on us."
Previously, the biggest comeback in Orioles history was Sept. 2, 1956, when Baltimore rallied from an eight-run deficit at Boston. In this one, the Orioles got 13 of their 16 hits in the seventh and eighth innings.
"We just had no answer," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "We went through everybody. Nothing we did worked."
Elsewhere in the American League it was: Chicago 11, Cleveland 4; New York 8, Seattle 5; Tampa Bay 4, Toronto 1; Texas 9, Los Angeles 5; Minnesota 2, Kansas City 1; and Detroit 5, Oakland 3.
At Baltimore, Mark Hendrickson (3-4) gave up one run in three innings and George Sherrill got three outs for his 17th save.
"That was probably the best game I've been involved in, right there," Baltimore manager Dave Trembley said. "That was absolutely tremendous. When you talk about playing all 27 outs, that's tonight."
Takashi Saito (2-1) took the loss and Papelbon was charged with his second blown save, one night after he tied Bob Stanley's career record for saves with Boston. The right-hander was 20-for-20 in save opportunities against the Orioles.
Baltimore used seven hits in the seventh inning, including a three-run homer by pinch-hitter Oscar Salazar, to cut a 10-1 deficit to 10-6.
"You sit on the bench five hours with the rain delay, but when they told me to hit, I was ready," Salazar said.
In the eighth, Ty Wigginton hit a sacrifice fly and Brian Roberts delivered an RBI single before Papelbon entered. The right-hander struck out Felix Pie for the second out before Markakis stepped in.
Markakis was 0-for-7 with four strikeouts against Papelbon, but this time he hit a double to left-centre.
"Give the other team credit. They put pressure on our bullpen tonight and we pretty much imploded," Papelbon said. "I can't think of any other word that describes it better."
It had been 438 days since the 42-year-old Smoltz won a game, and it appeared certain the right-hander would end the drought when Boston took a 9-1 lead into the bottom of the fifth. But a fierce storm forced the game to be stopped for 71 minutes.
Thus ended Smoltz's second start with Boston after a 20-year run with the Atlanta Braves. Five days earlier, he gave up five runs over five innings in a loss to Washington.
Kevin Youkilis and Jacoby Ellsbury homered for the Red Sox, and Pedroia had three RBIs. None of it really mattered in the end.
"It happened real fast. We beat them up pretty good and then they beat us up pretty good," Pedroia said.
Before the Red Sox blew the lead, Boston's infielders joined pitcher Justin Masterson in leaving the field with two outs in the sixth inning.
Thinking Pie's grounder to shortstop was the third out, Masterson walked toward the Boston dugout and was followed by his infielders. All of them sheepishly returned after realizing their gaffe.
Rangers 9, Angels 5
At Arlington, Texas, Marlon Byrd homered twice to drive in five runs and Texas again had its way at home against Joe Saunders.
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Twins 2, Royals 1
At Kansas City, Mo., Justin Morneau of New Westminster, B.C., homered for the third straight game and Scott Baker laboured through five tough innings to lift Minnesota.
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Yankees 8, Mariners 5
At New York, Melky Cabrera hit a go-ahead double in the eighth inning and Mariano Rivera tossed out the first ball - and threw the final pitch - as Yankees won its sixth straight.
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White Sox 11, Indians 4 (6 innings)
At Cleveland, Paul Konerko and Jermaine Dye drove in two runs apiece and Chicago chased Indians ace Cliff Lee in the fourth inning of a game called in the seventh inning because of rain.
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Rays 4, Blue Jays 1
At Toronto, B.J. Upton, Carl Crawford and Willy Aybar hit solo homers and Tampa Bay won its seventh straight.
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Tigers 5, Athletics 3
At Oakland, Calif., Armando Galarraga pitched two-hit ball into the seventh inning, and Placido Polanco homered and drove in three runs for Detroit.
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Albert Pujols can hit home runs off Randy Johnson. If only the rest of the St. Louis Cardinals could say the same.
Pujols hit two homers off Johnson, but the Giants ace worked over St. Louis to earn his third straight decision and 303rd of his career in San Francisco's 6-3 victory on Tuesday night.
"He's doing what he does and we won the game, that's the bottom line," Johnson said of Pujols, who is 11-for-24 with five homers, 14 RBIs and four strikeouts against the Big Unit.
"My individual battles are obviously there, but I'm facing eight or nine hitters and if one guy has his day against me but we win, I feel like I did my job."
The Cardinals couldn't overcome Chris Carpenter's shakiest outing since 2006, which left them trailing 6-1 after five innings. St. Louis has lost three straight since acquiring Mark DeRosa, who is a quiet 0-for-9 thus far, and has dropped six of seven overall.
Elsewhere in the National League it was: Pittsburgh 3, Chicago 0; Arizona 6, Cincinnati 2; Atlanta 5, Philadelphia 4; Florida 7, Washington 5; Milwaukee 6, New York 3; San Diego 4, Houston 3; and Colorado 3, Los Angeles 0.
At St. Louis, DeRosa was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the sixth after injuring his left wrist on a swing, and will have X-rays taken Wednesday.
The 45-year-old Johnson (8-5) allowed three runs and four hits in 5 1-3 innings and evened his record at 7-7 against the Cardinals with his first victory over St. Louis since June 11, 2005.
That left him with a losing mark against only three teams - the Mets (6-7), the Yankees (6-8) and the Rays (3-5). All the hits he allowed were for extra bases with Ryan Ludwick adding a double and triple.
"It hasn't been a lot of great history," Johnson said. "I've pitched a lot of bad games against them. I don't think I got hit too hard other than Albert's home run balls."
Pujols leads the major leagues with 30 homers and 77 RBIs after his third multi-homer game in the last 10 games, his seventh this season and the 30th of his career. His 35 RBIs in June is a career best for any month and his 14 homers in the month matched his career best in April 2006.
"It's a great accomplishment," Pujols said. "But my job is to go out there and do everything I can to help my team win every night and obviously it hasn't happened the last couple of games."
Pujols' three-month total is the Cardinals' best since Mark McGwire had 37 homers and 87 RBIs at the end of June 1998 during his then-record setting 70-homer season.
The last player in the majors to hit 30 before the all-star break was the Yankees' Alex Rodriguez in 2007.
Carpenter (5-3) lasted five innings and allowed six runs and 11 hits - one off his career high. He hadn't allowed more than three runs in any of his first 10 starts before getting knocked around by the Giants, resulting in a 64-point earned-run average hike to 2.42.
It was his worst effort since he gave up six runs on 12 hits on Sept. 26, 2006 against the Padres, also landing him with consecutive losses for only the third time with the Cardinals.
"I'm not a guy to make excuses," Carpenter said. "I felt like there were a few balls hit hard but not many other ones.
"When you're facing a club that likes to swing the bat and you get balls up a little bit, those balls fall in."
The Giants didn't hit Carpenter hard in the first, but managed four singles for a 2-0 lead including RBIs by Bengie Molina and Edgar Renteria.
They hit him harder in a four-run, five-hit fifth, opening with three straight hits by Aaron Rowand, Randy Winn and Pablo Sandoval and capped by Travis Ishikawa's RBI double for a 6-1 lead.
Pujols' first homer came in the fourth, a drive estimated at 445 feet to left on an 0-2 count.
He homered again in the sixth after pinch-hitter Chris Duncan walked with one out and the Cardinals chased Johnson two hitters later but missed a chance for more on Tyler Greene's double play ball against Jeremy Affeldt.
The Cardinals stranded two more in the eighth when pinch-hitter Skip Schumaker grounded out against Brian Wilson for the third out. Wilson finished for his 21st save in 25 chances.
Five of Wilson's saves have required more than an inning.
Rockies 3, Dodgers 0
At Los Angeles, Jason Marquis pitched a two-hitter to become the first 10-game winner in the National League.
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Braves 5, Phillies 4 (10 innings)
At Atlanta, Martin Prado singled in the winning run in the 10th inning to finish with a career-best four hits and four RBIs, helping the Braves to their first home win over Philadelphia since 2007.
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Brewers 6, Mets 3
At Milwaukee, Ryan Braun hit a three-run double and scored on Johan Santana's throwing error and the Brewers extended New York's losing streak to a season-high five games.
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Diamondbacks 6, Reds 2
At Cincinnati, Dan Haren held the Reds scoreless into the seventh inning and hit his first career homer as Arizona snapped its longest losing streak of the season.
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Pirates 3, Cubs 0
At Pittsburgh, Ross Ohlendorf pitched seven innings and Freddy Sanchez scored from second base on a ball that bounded only a few feet from home plate in the fourth inning for the Pirates.
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Marlins 7, Nationals 5 (7 innings)
At Miami, Hanley Ramirez homered and drove in four runs, and Florida erased a four-run deficit to beat Washington in a game called in the seventh inning because of rain.
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Padres 4, Astros 3
At San Diego, David Eckstein drove in the go-ahead run to cap a three-run rally in the seventh inning for the Padres.
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