Baseball roundup: Thursday's action on the diamonds
Published Friday August 29th, 2008
As soon as Cristian Guzman stepped into the on-deck circle in the eighth inning, his Nationals teammates started to call for a triple.
He gladly obliged, sending a pitch from Joe Beimel past centre-fielder Matt Kemp and to the wall - and Guzman wasn't about to stop running. He slid into third base to complete just the second cycle by a Washington player, highlighting an 11-2 romp over the struggling Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday night.
Brad Wilkerson had the club's first cycle after its move from Montreal on April 6, 2005.
"It feels great," Guzman said. "Everybody said, 'Hit the triple, hit the triple.' I said, 'OK. I'm trying."'
The Dodgers have lost seven straight, and their nine consecutive road losses are the most since dropping 11 in a row in June 1992. The Nationals earned their first series sweep of Los Angeles since long before the move to Washington - the last came on the Montreal Expos' homestand from Aug. 4-6, 1998.
Guzman started his night with a solo home run in the first inning, a shot that started a five-run burst for the Nationals. He tried to stretch a single into a double in the second and was thrown out, but added the double while driving in a run in the sixth.
What seemed to be a baserunning blunder turned out to work in Guzman's favour, and it certainly didn't enter into his mind as he dug for the final leg of the cycle.
"I'm going to go all the way," Guzman said. "I knew I need a triple, so as soon as I hit the ball I'm going to go to third."
Elsewhere in the NL it was: Houston 3 Cincinnati 2; Chicago 6 Philadelphia 4 and Atlanta 4 Florida 2.
At Washington, the triple also scored pinch-hitter Aaron Boone from first for Guzman's third RBI of the game. Before the hit, when the Nationals were exhorting Guzman to go for the triple, Washington manager Manny Acta was thinking about Boone's health. He had come off the disabled list on Aug. 14 after missing 14 games with a calf strain and has a history of leg injuries.
"They were going all crazy, and I was just thinking about Boone a little bit," Acta said. "But as soon as he hit the ball, everybody was, 'Go three, go three, go three,' all the way."
Guzman's feat relegated Elijah Dukes' first multi-homer game to an afterthought. But it was Dukes who gave Washington the biggest boost with a three-run homer to finish the five-run first inning. He added a solo shot in the seventh to give the Nationals a 9-2 lead.
Dukes was playing his second game after his own stint on the disabled list for a calf injury that caused him to miss 19 games. It was his third trip to the DL this season.
Unlike most of the Nationals, Dukes was unaware Guzman had a shot at the cycle before his final at-bat.
"I didn't know what was going on, until everybody went to screaming," Dukes said. "I was just trying to sit there and get some air or whatever, and I look at the board because everybody was screaming in the dugout, and I was like, 'Oh, that's why.' So I went to screaming too."
The Nationals' offence provided the highlights, and starter John Lannan made sure the Dodgers didn't have any of their own.
He gave up a two-run homer to Manny Ramirez in the first inning but did not allow another run. Lannan (8-12) lasted six innings, and gave up four hits and three walks.
Los Angeles starter Clayton Kershaw (2-5) allowed five runs and five hits and issued three walks in 2 1-3 innings, all the runs coming in a span of five at-bats in the first inning. After the game, Kershaw was optioned to triple-A Las Vegas.
"You get that two-run lead in the first inning, it's kind of the last thing you want to do is give up runs, especially that many," Kershaw said. "Everything went wrong tonight."
Astros 3 Reds 2
At Houston, Ty Wigginton homered twice off Aaron Harang, Brandon Backe was sharp into the seventh and the Astros beat Cincinnati.
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Cubs 6 Phillies 4
At Chicago, Aramis Ramirez's grand slam off Chad Durbin capped a five-run eighth inning as the Cubs won their sixth straight game in dramatic fashion, rallying for a victory over Philadelphia.
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Braves 4 Marlins 2
At Atlanta, Brian McCann hit a three-run homer, Charlie Morton finally figured out how to pitch at home and the Braves beat slumping Florida.
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The Tampa Bay Rays clinched their first .500 season in franchise history, and they did it with over a month still to go in the season. All they need is for the fans to actually show up and their unexpected playoff drive would be truly impressive.
Edwin Jackson took a shutout into the eighth inning, Cliff Floyd and Willy Aybar each homered, and the Rays beat the Toronto Blue Jays 3-2 on Thursday night to guarantee they will finish no worse than even for the first time.
"Hopefully getting past these barriers, mentally and numbers-wise, we can put that in the past and become the organization we're envisioned on becoming," Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said.
Tampa Bay, 81-51 and an AL-best 49-19 at home, took two of three from Toronto and is 11-0-1 in series play since the all-star break. The Rays extended their lead in the AL East over Boston to 4 1/2 games. The Red Sox lost 3-2 to the New York Yankees.
"It's just another day at the office," Floyd said. "Everyday, someone's doing something to win a ballgame."
Thursday's announced attendance was 14,039, making it the sixth consecutive Rays' home game with a turnout under 20,000. Wednesday's crowd was 12,678.
"I'm really proud of the fact that we've really raised the level of our intensity despite only having 12,000 people in the stands," Maddon said before the game. "They've been very professional about this. That's the part I really appreciate about it also. You'd like to see 36,000 every night, but for right now, the way our guys are going about our business, I'm very proud of them."
Elsewhere in the AL it was: New York 3 Boston 2; Oakland 3 Minnesota 2 and Los Angeles 7 Texas 5.
At St. Petersburg, Fla., Jackson (11-8) gave up one run and six hits over seven-plus innings in winning for the sixth time in his last seven starts. He departed after allowing Alex Rios' double to start the eighth.
"I think you have to give those guys some credit over there," Toronto manager Cito Gaston said. "They've got a pretty good pitching staff that will shut you down."
Rios scored on Adam Lind's infield single and Rod Barajas added a two-out RBI double later in the eighth, cutting the Toronto deficit to 3-2. Jose Bautista, mired in an 0-for-24 slide, struck out to end the inning.
Dan Wheeler pitched the ninth for his 10th save in 12 opportunities.
Floyd put Tampa Bay up 2-0 with a first-inning sacrifice fly and a solo homer in the third.
Tampa Bay extended the lead when Aybar homered off Jesse Litsch (9-8) in the sixth. Aybar, who entered in an 1-for-16 slide, had three hits in four at-bats.
Litsch allowed three runs and 10 hits in 6 2-3 innings. He had a 13-inning scoreless streak end in the first.
"I made a couple of mistake pitches and they hit them over the fence," said Litsch, who was a Rays' bat boy in 2002-03.
Toronto had at least one baserunner in each of the first six innings, but failed to score.
After the game, Toronto designated outfielder-designated hitter Matt Stairs for assignment and purchased the contract of OF Travis Snider from triple-A Syracuse. Stairs, a native of Fredericton, expects to be traded to be traded to a "contender" by Saturday.
Yankees 3 Red Sox 2
At New York, Jason Giambi came off the bench to hit a tying homer in the seventh inning and the winning single in the ninth, giving the Yankees a victory over Boston.
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Athletics 3 Twins 2
At Oakland, Calif., Pinch-hitter Kurt Suzuki doubled in the winning run with one out in the ninth inning and the Athletics beat the Minnesota to win back-to-back games for first time since July 10-11.
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Angels 7 Rangers 5
At Anaheim, Calif., pinch-hitter Juan Rivera doubled off the wall in right-centre to drive in three runs in a five-run eighth inning and help Los Angeles rally for a victory over Texas.
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