Shutouts, shutouts everywhere….
@Yankees 3, Rangers 0: Hiroki Kuroda lost his no-no on an infield single in the 7th when the game was scoreless, but he went the route on 2 hits for his first 9-inning shutout since his rookie year, 2008. Nick Swisher got the party started once again, with a 2-run HR in the 7th, and “Me-too” Mark Teixeira followed with his 23rd — the first 2 batters faced by Alexi Ogando.
- Ogando started twice against the Yanks last year and was hammered both times, totaling 11 ER in 8 IP.
- New York had gone 13 months since their last 9-IP CG shutout — July 2011, by CC Sabathia.
Phillies 1, @Marlins 0: Jimmy Rollins drilled 2nd pitch into the 2nd deck for the game’s only run. Kyle Kendrick went 7, departing for a PH with a man in scoring position; his only CG shutout came this May.
- Josh Johnson gave up just 3 hits and a walk in 8 IP, but fell to 7-9. Ten times in his 24 starts Miami scored 1 run or less; his run support per inning ranked 64th out of 71 NL SPs before tonight.
- First time in club history that the Marlins were blanked in 3 straight.
- Two straight Philly shutouts; their last time with 3+ was 1969 (4 straight, by Jerry Johnson, Woodie Fryman, Grant Jackson and Rick Wise).
- Philly’s last 1-0 win was on Opening Day, when the world was young.
- Rollins has 184 HRs, 12th in franchise history, just 1 behind Johnny Callison and 11 shy of Bobby Abreu.
@Braves 6, Padres 0: Tim Hudson breezed through 6.1 innings, Michael Bourn started the offense with a leadoff triple and scored twice, and Atlanta stopped their first 2-game skid since July 22-23.
- Hudson is 193-101 career and 5th on the Atlanta Braves career wins list with 101. I don’t think he’ll be moving up that list, though; next is Greg Maddux with 194.
- Chipper (4-0-2-1) tied Craig Biggio for 31st on the Total Bases list, one behind Rogers Hornsby. Career double #545 (27th), extra-base hit #1,047 (24th).
@Reds 3, Mets 0: Well, at least we didn’t have to face Chapman. Cincinnati left 14 men aboard and went 0-9 with RISP through 8 innings, but New York couldn’t break through against Mat Latos (3 runs in his last 4 starts), and they’re not built to win a battle of the bullpens. Rookie southpaw Josh Edgin had held lefties to 4 for 31 with 14 Ks and got to 1-and-2 on Jay Bruce 1-and-2, whence the slugger had a .134 BA with 1 HR this year. But Bruce fouled off 3 in a row and then rocked it over the LF wall. That bought some redemption for Bruce, who had stranded 3 in scoring position.
- Wish I had seen this play: With men on the corners and 1 out in the 3rd, Ryan Ludwick’s fly to right advanced the trail runner to 2nd, but the lead man stayed put.
Royals 5, @Athletics 0: “… and that’s why they play the games.” Jarrod Parker vs. Jeremy Guthrie was a mismatch on paper, but the veteran with the 6.10 ERA threw blanks for the 2nd straight game. Oakland mustered just 3 singles all night and fell a game-and-a-half back in the wild-card race.
- KC has 9 shutouts this year, with 4 in 7 games against Oakland.
Dodgers 11, @Pirates 0: Chad Billingsley went 8 to win his 5th straight start, and Pittsburgh fell 6 back in the division for the first time since May 11.
- As goes Andrew…: The Bucs are 4-9 in starts when their star hasn’t reached base; he was 0 for 4 tonight.
Tigers 8, @Twins 4: After Detroit gave away its lead (Doug Fister should have had 8 shutout innings), Andy Dirks got it back with a solo HR; his 3-2-2-1 (with 2 IBBs) raised his slashes to .339/.390/.526 in 189 PAs.
- Haven’t we seen this before? Fister is 5-1, 1.52 in 7 starts since the Break, averaging almost 8 IP.
- Miguel Cabrera (5-1-3-2) is the first player with 100 RBI this year, reaching that standard for the 9th straight year.
- The early 4-0 lead was wiped out by infield miscues in the home 3rd: Three errors (two on one play by Prince Fielder) brought in a run, and with 2 outs, Josh Willingham‘s 30th HR scored 3 to tie it.
- When historians assess the 2012 Tigers, a team that expected (and was expected) to win its division, they’ll wonder just how it came to pass that, with this particular collection of talent, Delmon Young wound up as the regular DH. Detroit’s designated “hitters” rank next-to-last in OBP, Runs and RBI, and 12th in OPS.
@Orioles 7, Red Sox 1: Eight of 10 for the resurgent O’s. Mark Reynolds, who had 13 multi-HR games in the past 4 years, finally got one this year, driving in 4.
- Baltimore is 7-3 against the Sox this year; they haven’t won that season series since 2004.
- Manny Machado‘s XBH streak ended at 4 games.
Astros 10, @Cubs 1: Houston had gone 57 games since their last double-digit outburst (45 losses). But if you think that streak is long, the 1981-83 Astros went more than 2 calendar years without scoring 10+ in a game — 284 games, including the entire ’82 season. (They only scored 9 once that year.)
- It ain’t Carlton ’72, but Lucas Harrell is 10-8, the rest of the team 29-71.
Giants 2, Nationals 1 (8th): Bumgarner outworked Zimmermann , who left in the 6th. Brandon Belt drove in both runs with a pair of hits, after 1 RBI in his previous 15 games.
Rays 2, @Mariners 1 (t-8th): Six outs to go for 8 straight wins….