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Wednesday’s Scores
Reds 1, Cubs 0 - Mat Latos out-dueled Jeff Samardzija, tossing seven scoreless. According to Wikipedia, Latos "owns a hilariously named cat named Cat Latos." I wonder if Samardzija owns an anteater named Jeff Samaardvark. The only run Wednesday day came when Todd Frazier hit a ball into the stratosphere. Pretty sure it hasn't landed yet.
Blue Jays 6, Orioles 5 (F. 11) - The O’s rallied for three in the seventh to take spot starter Josh Stinson – who surrendered four long balls – off the hook, but couldn’t get that elusive sixth run. The extra-inning loss is Baltimore's first since 2011, back when they weren't defying odds.
Cardinals 4, Nats 2 - Stephen Strasburg put the Nats in an early 3-0 hole that the club’s struggling offense couldn’t climb out of. Washington has now lost four straight and nine of its last 12. Matts Carpenter and Holliday had three-hit days for the Cards.
White Sox 3, Indians 2 - Only 10 hits were had betweens the two clubs on Wednesday. One of those was a two-run blast from Alex Rios in the fifth, which proved to be the game-winner. Not all 162 can be memorable, I guess.
Astros 10, Mariners 3 - Leave it to Joe Saunders to ruin a good thing. Houston got the elusive series win on Wednesday, walloping 14 hits to take two of three from the flailing M's. Robbie Grossman had two knocks for the Astros in his big-league debut.
Rockies 6, Braves 5 (F. 12) - Lots of goodies here. Craig Kimbrel allowed his first runs since August 2012, blowing a two-run lead in the ninth and denying Tim Hudson his 200th career win. Yorvit Torrealba came through with the walk-off single in the 12th.
D’Backs 3, Giants 2 (F. 10) - Two straight wins in extras for the D'Backs. Coincidentally, also two consecutive extra-inning losses for the Giants. J.J. Putz had the night off so David Hernandez coughed up Arizona's lead in the ninth this time. Wil Nieves hit the game-winning lazy fly ball.
Red Sox 6, A’s 5 - Well, so much for a pitcher's duel. Boston sent Brett Anderson packing early, plating six and rapping out eight hits in his four-plus innings. Jon Lester wasn't great either, but was good enough to get the win Wednesday.
Pirates 5, Phillies 3 - The Bucs couldn't do much of anything against Roy Halladay, who destroyed easy narratives across the country by putting together his third straight quality start. The Doc couldn't pass his success to the bullpen, however. Pittsburgh rallied for four unanswered in the final three frames to seal the win.
Tigers 7, Royals 5 - Detroit took the first of 19 against its division rival. Jose Valverde made a triumphant return with a 1-2-3 ninth inning. Someone should really let him know that he spilled cheese all on exactly half of his beard.
Mets 7, Dodgers 3 (F. 10) - Matt Harvey almost took the loss Wednesday despite allowing just four hits in six quality innings. New York's offense showed up just in time, as David Wright tied it in the ninth with a single and Jordany Valdespin knocked a walk-off grand salami in the 10th.
Rays 3, Yankees 0 - Alex Cobb was dominant Wednesday night, holding the Yankees to just three hits in 8⅓, outshining Andy Pettitte's 10 K performance. I think the Baseball Gods have finally figured out that the bottom half of the Yankees' batting order is terrible.
Rangers 11, Angels 3 - This one was pretty unfair from the get-go. Yu Darvish was stellar again, fanning 11 and allowing just three hits in six innings. Angels spot starter Michael Roth managed to get through the Rangers' order unscathed once, but then all hell broke loose in a nine-run fourth.
Padres 2, Brewers 1 - Milwaukee's win streak is over at nine. Edinson Volquez shut down the Brew Crew's bats over seven scoreless. Huston Street tried to give the game away in the ninth, but the home-plate umpire came to the rescue.
The Big Three
1. The Baltimore Orioles have had a pretty terrible run of luck when it comes to pitching prospects panning out. Any chance that wunderkind Dylan Bundy will break that string of luck seems to hinge on his meeting with Dr. James "Tommy John" Andrews this week. The young right-hander has been sidelined since late March with discomfort in his forearm and elbow (the "flexor mass" area, reportedly), and didn't feel good when throwing from flat ground on Monday, so has scheduled a visit with elbow specialist Andrews down in Florida. If Bundy does get bad news from Dr. Andrews, it won't be the end of the world for him, but it may be the end of the O's playoff hopes for this year. Tsuyoshi Wada alone isn't gonna fix Baltimore's serious rotation issues.
2. The Boston Red Sox optioned struggling right-hander Alfredo Aceves to Triple-A on Wednesday, which is seemingly a precursor to the club sending him away in a trade. Had the Red Sox dealt Aceves in the offseason, they may have gotten someone or something of value in return. Given his ineptitude on the mound in the early-goings this year, however, Boston will be lucky to get peanuts (literal or figurative) in exchange for the right-hander. Teams know that there's no way Aceves can sustain this level of terrible -- giving up 3.1 HR/9 isn't a normal thing -- but that doesn't necessarily mean he'll regress back into the realm of good, or even acceptable. It seems pretty likely that the Sox will end up eating his $2.65 million salary.
3. After a long, hard-fought battle with stress reactions and strains over the last nine months, it seems that Matt Garza's arm has finally died. The right-hander was scratched from his rehab start on Tuesday because of a bout of "dead arm," and could be looking at a June return now rather than mid-May. The Cubs don't expect the injury to be anything serious, and have hopes that Garza will get back on the mound for a bullpen session in a few days, so it'll probably end up being some sort of flesh-eating bacteria that's slowly destroying his arm from the inside out. If Garza ever does toe the rubber for the Cubbies again, he's a pretty good candidate to be traded to a "contender." That is, of course, if he can get back out there before the All-Star break.
In Other News...
1. Justin Maxwell caught a "tough break" on Tuesday, to use his own words. The Astros center fielder fractured his left hand and was put on the 15-day DL Wednesday. Replacement Robbie Grossman got two hits in his MLB debut.
2. Now that Alfredo Aceves is out of the picture (sort of), it's pretty likely that John Lackey will return to the mound for the Sox on Sunday. The start would be against the Astros, so I guess it counts as an extra rehab start. Because they're terrible. This joke still has legs, I promise.
3. The O's called up right-hander Josh Stinson, he got knocked about, they sent him back down. Fun was had all around.