Not much in the way of heroic finishes in the NL on Saturday, but there are always interesting tidbits in the boxes.
The Saturday game summary follows the jump.
Diamondbacks 6, Mets 3 – Chris Young took the loss for the Mets, his second disaster start in his last 4 appearances. Young has now allowed a HR in 5 straight starts (27 IP, 6.00 ERA), after allowing only one HR total in his first 5 outings (30 IP, 3.30 ERA).
Braves 2, Phillies 1 – Mike Minor went 8 strong innings for the win, allowing only a Chase Utley solo shot, his league-leading 22nd HR allowed. If Minor maintains his rate of 1.8 HR/9, his will be only the 14th season (min. 162 IP) with a rate that high, all since 1996. Eric Milton and Jose Lima have two such seasons, with Lima’s 2000 mark of 2.20 HR/9 the highest ever.
Cubs 3, Cardinals 2 – Hard-luck rookie Joe Kelly (1-4, 2.96) took the loss for the Cardinals. In the first 9 starts of his career, Kelly has yet to allow more than 3 runs in a game, becoming just the 10th pitcher in the game-searchable era to achieve that distinction over his first 9 career games. Others to have done so include Jered Weaver, Steve Rogers and Dave Righetti.
Reds 9, Rockies 7 – The re-born Big Red Machine rolls on with its 9th straight win and 13th in 15 tries since the All-Star break. The Reds had 4 players go yard for the 3rd time this season, and 24th time since 2006 (the 1970-76 Reds did this only 9 times). Aroldis Chapman converted his 13th straight save chance, and logged a save in his 9th straight appearance. Only Francisco Cordero has a longer conversion streak for the Reds this century.
Pirates 4, Astros 3 – Houston’s losing streak reached 12 games as Wandy Rodriguez faced his old team for the first time. A trio of Pirate relievers retired 9 of the last 10 batters, and Rod Barajas drove in the winning run with a 2 out, 8th inning single. On May 25th, Houston was 22-23. Since then, they’re 12-45, a 0.211 clip. In that stretch, the Astros have scored 2 or fewer runs 25 times (1-24 record), and allowed 4 or more runs 39 times (3-36 mark).
Marlins 4, Padres 2 – Nathan Eovaldi got the W in his Marlins’ debut, helping his cause with a lead-off single in the 3rd and a run scored on Jose Reyes‘ 7th HR of the season. The 22 year-0ld Texan looks to be pitching better than his 2-6, 3.94 mark, allowing 2 ER or less in 7 of his 11 starts, and having back-to-back rough outings only once, at the end of June.
Nationals 4, Brewers 1 – After their 6 game win streak was snapped on Friday, the Nats bounced back with a typical victory behind solid pitching (no Brewers reached 3rd base after the 4th inning), stellar defense (no errors, again) and timely hitting (two 2-out HRs). Washington has now allowed 2 runs or less 42 times, posting a 36-6 mark in those contests.
Dodgers 10, Giants 0 – Matt Kemp had a monster game with a 5-3-4-4 line including a HR and two doubles. It was Kemp’s first 4-hit game of 2012 and the 10th of his career. The two starters, Chad Billingsley (6-9, 3.89) and Barry Zito (8-7, 3.89), have had remarkably similar seasons, as suggested by their identical ERAs. Each has had 20 starts and 118 IP, and faced 507 batters (I’m not making this up). Both have allowed over 5 ERs once, exactly 5 ER once, 4 – 5 times, 3 – 3 times, and 2 – 3 times. Zito has the slight edge after that, allowing zero ER 4 times versus twice for Billingsley. The edge, though, goes to Billingsley on K/BB ratio with 3.03 compared to just 1.37 for Zito. Zito has never had a K/BB ratio above 3 and was last above 2 (at 2.01) way back in 2004.
