Rays 2, @Red Sox 1 — In a game rescheduled by rain, 8th-inning showers stalled David Price’s bid for the first 5-win July in Tampa history, and twice his relief nearly blew the lead. But Fernando Rodney escaped his self-imposed jam by striking out Mike Napoli, and the Rays nipped back into 1st place by a half-game.
Price retired 22 of 24 batters on just 90 pitches, yielding a Papi double in the 2nd and Brandon Snyder’s 6th-inning solo. He came back from the short delay to fan Jonny Gomes, ending with 8 Ks. Ryan Lavarnway greeted Joel Peralta with a two-bagger, but he only reached 3rd on Stephen Drew’s double, then was called out trying to score on Snyder’s fly to LF Sam Fuld — the 3rd Ray to man that position, inserted for defense at the start of that frame. In the 9th, Rodney gave up a leadoff hit and a 1-out steal to Ellsbury. After a 2-out pass to Papi, a wild pitch moved the winning run to 2nd base and ran the count full on Napoli. But he swung through the next one, and Rodney had his 17th straight save.
- Five wins is the most in any month by a Rays pitcher; they’ve had one in April (Matt Moore this year), one in May (Scott Kazmir 2008), two in June (Jeremy Hellickson this year and Price last season).
- Boston southpaw Drake Britton, who debuted recently, is the first MLB player ever known by that first name, although it’s actually his middle name. (There have been 7 last-name Drakes, but none since Sammy Drake with the 1962 Mets.) Britton is a starter by trade, but has filled the team’s need for a lefty reliever.
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@Pirates 9, Cardinals 2 — Francisco Liriano’s second test against a really potent offense, and he aced it: 1 run on 4 hits over 7 innings, with 8 Ks and walks, improving to 11-4 with a 2.16 ERA. The Bucs took the first of a 5-game set in PNC Park in front of a healthy Monday crowd, and edged to a half-game back of the misfiring Cardinals, who’ve dropped 4 in a row for the first time this year. Pedro Alvarez launched a 3-run missile in the 1st off Jake Westbrook, his NL-high 27th, and they filled out the lead with 5 in the 7th off Marc Rzepczynski and Fernando Salas.
- Liriano has allowed 1 run or none in 10 of 15 starts.
- The Cards came in #3 in MLB scoring. Liriano lost to Detroit, now #1, back in May (5 IP, 4 ER, 10 runners). The next best offensive teams he’s faced are the Angels (8th), A’s (9th), and Reds (11th, 3 games). The rest of his opponents all average 4.1 R/G or less — Cubs 3 times, Brewers twice, Mets, Giants and Nats.
- The Big Redbird Machine has sputtered of late: no more than 3 runs or 8 hits in 5 straight games, their longest streak in either respect this year. They have one homer in their last 10 games, and 9 HRs in 22 July contests, next-to-last in the NL.
- Pittsburgh is 33-18 at home, and have 10 more on this homestand.
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@Rangers 4, Angels 3 — Texas trailed 3-0 in the 6th, staring at a 3rd straight whitewash. But Ian Kinsler’s RBI single snapped the 26-inning drought, and after Jered Weaver departed, his sac fly in the 8th drew them closer. A.J. Pierzynski led off the 9th with a tying home run, on 1-and-2 from Ernesto Frieri, and although a DP grounder seemed to drain the momentum, Geovany Soto got hold of a full-count pitch for their first walk-off blast in over a year.
Matt Garza kept the Angels down early, but they scored 3 in the 5th, capped by Josh Hamilton’s 2-run single with 2 away. Hamilton hit the previous game-winning clout for Texas, last May 26, against Toronto’s Jason Frasor. It was Frasor who picked up the win tonight, his first as a Ranger, after serving a 3-run game-winner in his last appearance.
- In their 41-year Texas tenure, the Rangers have never been shut out 3 games in a row.
- Jered Weaver has never had 3 straight scoreless outings, and no pitcher this year has done so with 6+ IP in each.
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@Braves 9, Rockies 8 (10 inn.) — Andrelton Simmons tripled home Dan Uggla with no outs in the 10th, converting a seesaw game into Atlanta’s 4th straight win, which pushed them to season highs of 16 games over .500 and a 9-game lead in the East. Craig Kimbrel got a night off after 3 straight workdays, and the Braves suffered their first blown save in the 9th since May 7. Brandon Beachy’s season debut began as a wrong-way rout, but Jorge De La Rosa spit up the 5-0 lead in a 6-run 3rd, where Beachy made two of the outs, and Simmons hit a go-ahead double. The teams traded jabs from there, with each SP getting another lead and giving it back, before Carlos Gonzalez’s 5th single tied it up off Jordan Walden, the stand-in closer.
- CarGo owns two 5-hit games, both this year. It’s the 3rd game this year with 5 singles in regulation, and the 2nd with no extra-base hits.
- Atlanta is 35-15 at home. On the road, they won their first 7 this year, but are 19-30 since then.
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@Indians 3, White Sox 2 — Jason Giambi’s 436th career HR was a pinch-hit game-winner, his late-career specialty, lifting the Tribe to a 5th straight win. Cleveland had 4 hits on the night, and only Giambi’s blast drove in a run. Chris Perez picked up the win with a scoreless 9th; he’s allowed 1 run in 15 innings since coming off the DL.
- As reported by ESPN, Giambi is the oldest player in MLB history with a game-ending home run.
- Since 2008, Giambi has 5 pinch-hit walk-off HRs; no one else has more than one, and all others combined have 19.
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Brewers 5, @Cubs 0 — The other cleat finally dropped on Pedro Strop. The Oriole castoff had 12 scoreless outings since joining the Cubs, but his work in the 9th of a scoreless game was disastrous, and he was charged with all 5 runs. Carlos Gomez drove in the first one, cashing a leadoff walk. Chicago had 2-on chances in the 1st and 3rd (Nate Schierholtz struck out both times), and the 4th and 6th (Jeff Samardzija went down). Junior Lake bunted aboard in the 7th, but was cut down on a SO/CS, caught for the 3rd time in 4 steal tries this year. Samardzija worked 7 scoreless innings, and Kyle Lohse went 6 for his 5th QS in July (2.25 ERA in 6 starts).
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NL West Note
On the morning of June 22, the Dodgers were 30-42, last in the NL West, 9.5 games out of 1st and 5.5 games out of 4th. Over the next 31 or 32 games for each team, L.A. went 26-6 (14-4 in the division), while the other four teams combined for 44-79 — ranging from 14-17 for the Rockies, to 9-22 for the Giants. The Dodgers have gained an average of 14 games on each other team, and a whopping 16.5 games on the defending champs.
