Baseball roundup: Thursday's action on the diamonds
The Boston Red Sox got a great performance from Jon Lester and hammered their biggest rival. What a way to end a five-game losing streak.
Lester pitched a sharp five-hitter as the Red Sox hammered the New York Yankees 7-0 Thursday night, prompting Yankees manager Joe Girardi closed the clubhouse for a 30-minute meeting. "I think everybody is embarrassed," losing pitcher Andy Pettitte said. "We walked through it tonight. It was extremely disappointing.
"Absolute, horrible game," he said.
It looked a little better from the Boston side.
Lester (7-3) made his most impressive start since pitching a no-hitter against Kansas City on May 19. That was his only complete game in the majors until this gem.
"Stuff-wise, I don't think it was any different," he said.
A throwing error by shortstop Derek Jeter gave the Red Sox a quick lead. Coco Crisp came back from a five-game suspension to score twice, and it was 6-0 by the fifth inning.
That was plenty for Lester to send the Yankees to their fourth loss in five games.
Girardi declined to give details on the late-night session. He got into a brief, testy exchange with one reporter over exactly what he told his players.
"That's between my team and me," he said. "We did not play a good game. We didn't do anything. We didn't hit, we didn't pitch. We didn't play a good game."
Elsewhere in the AL it was: Kansas City 10 Baltimore 7; Oakland 3 Chicago 2; and Detroit 8 Seattle 4.
At New York, Lester struck out eight and walked two, and used three double plays to win his fourth straight decision.
Lester became the first Boston pitcher to throw a complete-game shutout against the Yankees since Pedro Martinez in 2000. And, this came in Lester's first appearance at Yankee Stadium.
"It was cool. It was definitely a different experience," he said. "You watch the game and it seems big, but when you're out there on the mound, it's a pretty big stadium and a lot of people."
Both AL East powers went into the opener of this four-game series in the rare position of chasing Tampa Bay. There was no scoreboard watching - the division-leading Rays were off.
The last time Boston and the Yankees played after Memorial Day with neither team in first place? September 1997, the Elias Sports Bureau said.
For now, the Yankees are simply interested in winning games, against anyone.
"It's not just tonight," Jeter said. "We need to play better. Everyone realizes we're capable of playing better."
The lefty's lone problem came when he walked Johnny Damon and Jeter to start the game, but Lester escaped by getting Bobby Abreu on a grounder and striking out Alex Rodriguez and Jason Giambi.
"He used his two-seamer, his cutter, his four-seamer, got a lot of first-pitch strikes, got some double plays," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "He really looked like a six-foot-five major league left-hander."
New York went quietly after that. A day after the Yankees scored 18 runs, the sellout crowd had little to cheer - Rodriguez, whose friendship with Madonna has made for tabloid headlines, heard scattered boos after striking out.
Pettitte (9-6) never looked comfortable and lasted just 4 2-3 innings as his six-game winning streak came ended.
Pettitte shouted at himself as he walked off the mound after giving up two runs in the first inning. He slipped to 15-7 against the Red Sox - even minus injured David Ortiz, the starters in Boston's lineup were hitting a combined .359 lifetime against him.
"I was terrible," Pettitte said. "
Almost from the get-go, he was in trouble.
Dustin Pedroia and J.D. Drew singled with one out in the first and Manny Ramirez hit a grounder that could have been an inning-ending double play. But Jeter's relay skipped into the stands, scoring a run, and Mike Lowell followed with an RBI single.
A sacrifice bunt by Julio Lugo set up Jacoby Ellsbury's bloop, two-run double in the second for a 4-0 lead.
Lugo added a sacrifice fly in the fourth, Lowell had a sacrifice fly in the fifth and Jason Varitek snapped an 0-for-19 slump with an RBI single in the eighth.
Crisp hit leadoff singles in his first two at-bats and scored both times in his first action since serving a five-game suspension for his part in a Tampa Bay-Boston brawl last month.
Royals 10 Orioles 7
At Baltimore, Mark Grudzielanek went 4-for-5 and played a key role in a seven-run sixth inning for Kansas City in a win over the Orioles.
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Athletics 3 White Sox 2
At Chicago, Justin Duchscherer pitched seven solid innings and Jack Cust and Donnie Murphy homered as Oakland snapped the White Sox seven-game winning streak.
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Tigers 8 Mariners 4
At Seattle, Justin Verlander threw six strong innings and Michael Hollimon hit his first big league home run for Detroit. r
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The Arizona Diamondbacks only managed one good inning in their game against Milwaukee. Unfortunately for the Brewers, it was the ninth.
In one of the more improbable victories in team history, Conor Jackson singled home the winning run and the Diamondbacks overcame a five-run deficit in the final inning to defeat the Brewers 6-5 on Thursday.
After being shut out for eight innings, the Diamondbacks sent seven men to the plate in the ninth, and every one reached base.
"Hopefully this will kind of spark us and get us going," said Chad Tracy, whose three-run, pinch-hit double was pivotal. "That looked like the old Diamondbacks right there, battling back and never giving up."
The victory lifted the Diamondbacks to 43-43 and kept them 1 1/2 games ahead of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Afterward, they still weren't quite sure how they had done it.
"I was almost in shock, basically," Arizona manager Bob Melvin said. "We played possum for eight innings, and in the ninth inning we surprised them. Don't ask me."
For the Brewers, the loss put an agonizing end on a 5-5 road trip to Atlanta, Minnesota and Arizona.
"It was a very tough loss for us today, especially going into the ninth inning 5-0," said closer Salomon Torres (4-2), who blew his third save in 18 chances. "It appears to be the deal was sealed, but apparently it wasn't."
Elsewhere in the NL it was: Los Angeles 5 Houston 2; San Francisco 8 Chicago 3; Philadelphia 4 Atlanta 1; Cincinnati 5 Washington 3; New York 11 St. Louis 1; and Colorado 6 Florida 5 (11 innings).
At Phoenix, the rally began like a dripping faucet but quickly became a flood.
Three Arizona reserves - Robby Hammock, Chris Burke and Augie Ojeda - breathed life into a seemingly moribund team. Hammock led off with a single against reliever Guillermo Mota. Burke drew a walk and then Ojeda loaded the bases with a scratch single to second.
The Chase Field crowd of 23,842, or what was left of it, was suddenly on its feet and cheering. Lefty Brian Shouse came on to face Tracy, batting for the pitcher.
Tracy was hitless in seven at-bats against left-handers this season, but Melvin had no righties on his bench. Tracy said he knew he'd have trouble with Shouse's slider, so he went up looking for a fastball.
Shouse delivered one on his first pitch, and Tracy belted it into the gap in right-centre to clear the bases and make it 5-3.
"Typically, he's started me out in the past with fastballs, and he gave me exactly what I was looking for, and I put a good swing on it," Tracy said.
Brewers manager Ned Yost summoned Torres, who gave up a bloop single to Justin Upton, putting runners at the corners.
Orlando Hudson's double down the left field line made it 5-4, but the crowd groaned when Upton ignored third base coach Chip Hale's green light and stopped at third.
The baserunning blunder didn't matter. With Upton at third and Hudson on second, the Brewers brought the infield in. Jackson bounced a single up the middle and a party broke out at home plate.
"It's just a situation you always dream of being in as a kid," Jackson said. "You want to drive in the winning run, win the game and be the hero."
Torres didn't feel heroic. He had converted 14 straight save opportunities since taking over the closer job, but he'd rather forget this outing.
"I'm sure I'm going to digest the whole thing later tonight on the plane," Torres said. "It's just one of those things you have to shake off and be ready to go at it next time."
While the Diamondbacks mobbed each other, the Brewers trudged off the field in shock.
"It's just one of those innings," Yost said.
Arizona's rally wasted a big day by Milwaukee shortstop J.J. Hardy, who homered, doubled twice and singled. The four hits matched a career high.
Hardy has hit in a team-high 15 straight games, and he went 11-for-18 with three home runs and six RBIs in the four-game series with Arizona.
The Diamondbacks' rally cost Brewers starter Manny Parra his seventh straight victory. Parra blanked the Diamondbacks on four hits over six innings.
Parra has not allowed a run in three of his last four starts. And he has given up one earned run in 13 innings against Arizona this season.
Leo Rosales (1-0) pitched the ninth for Arizona for his first major league victory.
Dodgers 5 Astros 2
At Houston, Chad Billingsley pitched eight strong innings and Andre Ethier homered for the second straight game to lead Los Angeles over the Astros.
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Giants 8 Cubs 3
At San Francisco, Tim Lincecum increased his NL-leading strikeout total to 122 with eight in six innings and singled in a run and scored for the Giants in a win over Chicago.
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Phillies 4 Braves 1
At Atlanta, Cole Hamels came within one out of his second shutout of the Braves this season, capping the Phillies' second series sweep in Atlanta this year.
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Reds 5 Nationals 3
At Cincinnati, Brandon Phillips had three hits and three RBIs and the Reds capitalized on a Washington error for their winning rally.
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Mets 11 Cardinals 1
At St. Louis, Jose Reyes' bases-clearing triple keyed New York's six-run third inning that included pitcher Mike Pelfrey's first-ever RBI.
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Rockies 6 Marlins 5 (11 innings)
At Denver, Ryan Spilborghs' two-run single off Kevin Gregg with one out in the 11th inning rallied Colorado over Florida.
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