Good night to revisit the concept of “Mulligan ERA”….

@Rangers 12, White Sox 0 — Slightly contrasting starts: Seven in the 2nd off Felipe Paulino, all with two outs; 10 runs, 13 hits in 3.2 IP, his third straight disaster (13 IP, 28 hits, 22 ER, 10 walks, 8 whiffs, 6 HRs). Meanwhile, Martin Perez: first career CG, a 3-hitter. His last go was 8 scoreless in a 1-0 win.

• Was it just yesterday I said Chicago was the last team not involved in a shutout yet?

Searchable starts of 13 hits or more without finishing the 4th:

• Two other ChiSox, both with “just” 9 runs: One was the Goose’s first start ever; in 37 career starts, he went 9-22, 4.49. The immortal Shovel Hodge dredged up the other in 1921, “dueling” Walter Johnson. (Barney had his own in 1914, the only one of the dead-ball era.)
• Last in the majors was this James Shields melt-down last September, the only one with 14 hits. That one game added 0.35 to his season ERA.
• No such starts in 30 years from mid-1936 until Jack Fisher, ’67.

__________

@Athletics 11, Astros 3 — One & done for Jarred Cosart: four walks, two trots, 7 runs, and Houston’s shortest start since a year ago this week, when Philip Humber and Erik Bedard both had one-out wonders. Even ice-cold Josh Reddick (4-41, all singles, 1 RBI through Thursday). Reliever Paul Clemens also entered walking, but finally got them through. “Just 21 more outs, guys, and we can quit this dump … until tomorrow.”

• Houston had to take a stand on something, so they chose Jed Lowrie’s bunt that brought the early outburst to an end. My problem with the bunt is not some tacit “rule” of sportsmanship, but principles of smart baseball: Man on 1st and 2 outs. Lowrie had 62 extra-base hits last ear. Swing the bat.
• At least 7 runs, no more than 8 batters faced: Only Jim Clancy ever did this as an Astro before. Ever seen 14 runs on 16 hits … in the 1st inning? The 2nd through 8th hitters each had 2 hits in the inning — HR and single for Ken Griffey, Sr., 2 infield hits for Rolando Roomes. Luis Quinones had a shot at 3 hits in the inning, but he left the bases loaded.

__________

@Rockies 12, Phillies 1 — Bad to the ‘bone: Four in the 1st, three in the 2nd, and 8 runs total in 4 IP by Jonathan Pettibone. And Tyler Chatwood was just that good: two singles and a walk in his 7-inning cruise. Tulo came in just 3 for 14 with RISP this year, then went 3-3 with 5 ribs, his first since Saturday.

• Drew Stubbs’ 3 hits doubled his season total, but still no extras. He slugged .444 in 2010, his first full season, but .350 since.

__________

Angels 11, @Tigers 6 — Drew Smyly’s long-awaited first start of the year … Can we get a do-over? (Against some other team, perhaps. The Haloes have won 10 straight off the Bengals, back to September 2012, half those by 5 runs or more.) But hey, next to the evening’s worst starts, Smyly’s 3-IP, 4-run outing looks almost passable.

• Howie Kendrick started 25 prior games in Motown, never hit a homer. So his overindulgence is forgivable.
• Albert, on the other hand: 15 games in Comerica, 28 for 60.
• Trout & Pujols were pulled in the 7th, Angels up 11-1. Detroit scored 5 that frame, and left two in scoring position.
• Last year, the Dodgers sent down Josh Wall in April after a game of 7 runs in 2 innings. Sent to Miami in the Nolasco trade, waived at year’s end, landed with the Angels, and tonight his first game back: 5 batters faced, no outs, 4 runs. He’s now allowed 21 ER in 12.2 career innings; his career minor-league ERA is 4.93, in almost 800 IP. I’m just not sure he’s going to make it.

__________

Braves 6, @Mets 0 — Aaron Harang dug deep to finish seven no-hit innings with a 1-0 lead, ending on a full-count whiff with pitch #121 after a brace of two-out walks. Freddie & friends let the air out in the 8th, amply assisted by the Mets’ misdeeds. David Wright fended off full-bore failure, busting the combined gem with four outs to go. If it had been completed, this play would have been food for thought.

• NL pitcher of the month? Harang’s four-start totals: 2 runs, 9 hits, 25.2 IP.
• You wouldn’t know from Jon Niese’s 0-2 record, but he’s looked darn good for a guy who was consulting Dr. Andrews just a month ago.
• What percentage of rushed throws to third go wild, you think? Of course, we notice those that do.
• Boos are bubbling up for Curtis Granderson after 0-4, 2 Ks, and a misjudgment in RF.
• So long, Ike, and best wishes. The time had come. Dad can relate to the experience.

Since 1993, only three other hitless starts of 7+ IP and less than 9:

• Kevin Slowey, 2010, 106 pitches; he had some injuries that month and missed 3 starts.
• Atlanta’s Damian Moss, 2002, 116 pitches, 7 walks, game scoreless through the 10th. Moss never had a CG.
• David Cone, 1996, 85 pitches, first start after 4 months out with an aneurysm in his arm.

__________

@Nationals 3, Cardinals 1 — Gio Gonzalez was back in form after last Sunday’s pounding, but he was thisclose to getting nothing for seven stout stanzas: Michael Wacha had almost pitched out of bags-full/no-outs to preserve the tie; but with Gio’s pinch-hitter at the plate and two away, Wacha’s pitch got past Jose Lobaton, and then vice versa, two runs scoring on the double-doink.

• Blunt observation on the Nats from David Schoenfield today. Some more stats to back him up: Since 2013, they’re 67-36 against the losing teams, now 29-47 against the winners. OPS splits implicate the offense: The MLB average gap when facing winning teams vs. overall was -.019 in 2013-14, while Washington is -.075. Their pitching gap is near league-average.

__________

Blue Jays 3, @Cleveland 2 — Drew Hutchison fanned 9 without a walk through five, but slumping Carlos Santana flipped a 1-0 ballgame in the 6th with his first homer. The Jays chirped right back, sparked by Melky Cabrera’s 4th straight hit, and Edwin Encarnacion delivered the decider after Joey Bats was politely passed. Toronto’s bullpen bent, but held.

• Hutchison, the lone 15th-rounder from 2009 to reach the majors yet, is back after 2012 T.J. surgery, and reminding folks of the promise he showed that year (age 21) before the injury. Minor-league stats include 2.80 ERA and 4.06 SO/BB.
• Brett Lawrie’s 5 for 16 with RISP, 10 RBI — and 4 for 49 otherwise.

__________

@Marlins 8, Mariners 4 —

“In Panorama City, Cali-for-nigh-ay,
Just north of Van Nuys, by the Golden State Freeway, 
A tiny tater tot who could waggle that wood,
Grew up to be the masher known as Gianni B. Goode.
Tonight his bat of cherry rang out like a bell,
sending a winning slam a-swimmin’ in the sculpture’s well.
Go, Go….”

Yeah, but … a simple fly ball would have done the trick.

• Thirty-one more this year would (a) tie his season high, and (b) put him 10th all-time through age 24. Here’s nos. 1 to 117, or so they claim.

__________

@Rays 11, Yankees 5 — Seemed like another Bombers cakewalk in their second home when they jumped up 4-zip on Erik Bedard in the 2nd. But patient Tampa chipped away at ageless Hiroki Kuroda, and New York’s setup crew had an 8-run cave-in.

• The game was out of hand before Cesar Cabral’s surreal appearance: Single, wild pitch, HBP, HBP, single, HBP, tossed. Just one other searchable stint with 3 HBP and no outs; no one will ever top this Dock “perfecto.“
• Scott Sizemore got a turn at third, and got the scoring started with a 3-run double. That position leads the Yanks with 13 RBI, batting over .350. Some see a sort of cosmic justice; some feel cheated.

__________

Reds 4, @Cubs 1 — Cincy’s coldest hitters (too soon to say worst?) drove in the first runs, in the 5th and 6th. Billy Hamilton’s left-field floater fell with two outs and brought in Devin Mesoraco, after the catcher caught the pitcher napping for a most infrequent theft. Their “big inning” featured catcher’s interference and a tale of two not turned that turned into two tallies.

• Alfredo Simon’s in his second go at starting, and it’s started very well indeed: one run in each of three outings, 0.86 ERA in 21 innings. He went 3-9, 5.15 in 19 prior starts, mostly with the O’s in 2011.
• Five Reds pilfered a sack off Welington Castillo and three different pitchers. Castillo’s done a decent job in that regard in past years, but he’s 1-for-13 this year. He’s not alone: the MLB success rate was 76% through Thursday; the Snakes had nailed just 1 of 19, the Pads none of 14.
• Chicago doesn’t score for any pitcher, but Samardzija is a special favorite: 7 total runs in 4 starts, 6 of those in one game (and 3 after they had blown Samardzija’s lead). He’s gone 7 innings all four times, yielding 4 ER total, but is 0-2.

__________

@Royals 5, Twins 0 — $32 million over 4 years seemed a king’s ransom for 31-year-old Jason Vargas. But so far, so good for the soft-tossing southpaw: Four starts, 4 runs in 29 IP.

__________

Diamondbacks 4, @Dodgers 2 (12 inn.) — It took a little extra time, thanks to Juan Uribe’s tying homer in the 9th, but Arizona finally pulled out their 5th win and stopped a 6-game slide.

• Here’s how ‘Zona got that 9th-inning lead. The run that scored on that Withrow wild pitch had reached on his 4-pitch walk to start the inning. After the IBB, he’d throw another wild one during another 4-pitch walk, before being mercifully pulled.

__________