Baseball Today
SCOREBOARD
Monday, May 26
Arizona at Atlanta (1:05 p.m. EDT). The Diamondbacks' Brandon Webb (9-1) tries for a major league-best 10th win against the Braves and rookie Jair Jurrjens (5-3).
STARS
- Carlos Quentin, White Sox, led off the ninth inning with his second homer of the game to give Chicago a 3-2 victory over the Los Angeles Angels.
- Adrian Gonzalez, Padres, hit a three-run homer with two outs in the 18th inning for a 12-9 win over Cincinnati.
- Aaron Cook, Rockies, pitched a four-hitter in Colorado's 4-1 victory over the New York Mets.
- Luis Rivas, Pirates, hit a pair of solo homers in a 6-5, 11-inning victory over the Chicago Cubs.
- Geoff Jenkins, Phillies, homered, drove in two runs and scored three more in a 15-6 rout of the Houston Astros.
GRAND ENTRANCE
Jason Kubel hit a tiebreaking grand slam with two outs in the eighth inning on his 26th birthday to help Minnesota beat the Detroit Tigers 6-1. It was Kubel's fourth career slam and second this season. - Eric Byrnes hit his first major league grand slam in Arizona's 9-3 win at Atlanta. Byrnes was 15-for-67 (.224) with the bases loaded in his career before the homer. It was only the second grand slam allowed by Tom Glavine in his 22-year big league career.
OOPS
The Indians' Ben Francisco misplayed a simple single into a costly error in the 10th inning, enabling Jarrod Saltalamacchia to score from first base and give Texas a 2-1 win. The outfielder knelt down to play the ball safely, but it bounced between his legs and went all the way to the wall.
OOPS, AGAIN
Elijah Dukes gave the Nationals a 7-6 victory over Milwaukee when he raced home from third on a wild pitch from Guillermo Mota, which bounced short of the plate and squirted toward first base. Making it more embarrassing, Dukes had reached on a walk from Mota.
NOT SO UGGLA
Dan Uggla hit one of four homers by the Marlins in an 8-6 victory over the Giants in the opener of their doubleheader, then delivered the winning hit in the ninth inning of the second game. Uggla is the first Marlins player to hit 12 home runs in May, surpassing Gary Sheffield's previous franchise-best, and has a hit in 18 of 22 games this month.
STREAKING
The Yankees found the perfect salve for their early-season woes: the struggling Orioles and the slumping Mariners. New York beat Seattle 6-5 to run its winning streak to a season-best five games on Sunday, and at 25-25 are at .500 for the first time since May 10. And wouldn't you know it? The Yankees get three more games with the Orioles starting Monday.
SLUMPING
Seattle has lost six straight for the first time this season after a 6-5 loss to the Yankees, falling to an AL-worst 18-33. The Mariners were swept at Yankee Stadium for the second time this month. - Baltimore has lost five straight, their road woes continuing against Tampa Bay. The Orioles are 14-7 at Camden Yards but 10-18 away from home. - The Royals have lost a season-worst seven straight, after a pair of sweeps in Boston and Toronto.
PLAYING EXTRA
The Marlins and Giants knew they'd be playing more than nine innings with a doubleheader, but a lot of other teams got into the act. The Reds and Padres went 18 innings before Adrian Gonzalez's three-run homer gave San Diego a 12-9 win. The Pirates beat the Cubs in 11 innings, the Rangers needed 10 innings to beat Cleveland, and the Dodgers beat St. Louis 4-3 in 10 innings.
SPEAKING
"What happens in the front office, there is nothing we can do about it. We just need to continue to come to the ballpark and play hard and try to win ballgames. Whatever happens, happens. We're employees here. We just need to basically forget about this road trip, it was a horrible road trip for us." - Mets outfielder Carlos Beltran on the fate of embattled manager Willie Randolph after New York lost for the sixth time in seven games.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Chicago White Sox (27-22) at Cleveland (23-27)
The White Sox kick off a seven-game road trip with a three-game series at Progressive Field, as Javier Vazquez (5-3, 3.43 ERA) is set to take the hill for Chicago opposite Cleveland’s Paul Byrd (2-4, 4.10).
Chicago has won four straight against the Indians, including sweeping a three-game set last week at home, But the Indians have won four of Byrd’s last five home starts against the White Sox, the one loss coming last week.
The Indians are in the midst of a 1-8 slide after losing to the Rangers 2-1 in 10 innings Sunday, dropping two of three to Texas over the weekend. Meanwhile, the White Sox avoided a three-game sweep against the Angels with last night’s 3-2 home victory. Chicago is on a 9-2 roll.
The White Sox trends include 5-0 against teams with a losing record and 5-1 against right-handed starters but just 2-5 on the highway against teams with a winning home record and 1-4 on Mondays. Meanwhile, the Indians are 6-2 in their last eight at home against right-handed pitchers, 18-5 in their last 23 at home against teams with a winning record, but just 1-4 in their last five on Mondays and 0-5 in their last five against A.L. Central competition.
Tonight’s pitching matchup is a rematch from Wednesday when Vazquez shut down the Tribe, allowing two runs on four hits over seven innings of a 7-2 victory. Byrd gave up five runs on five hits in 5 1/3 innings.
Vazquez is 2-0 with a 3.72 ERA in his last three outings, and the White Sox have won all three. Against Cleveland, he is 6-4 lifetime in 13 starts with a 3.94 ERA in 77 2/3 innings of work.
Byrd is just 1-2 with a 4.74 ERA in his last three outings, but at home he’s been tough to hit, going 2-0 with a 1.35 ERA. For his career, Byrd is 8-3 with a 4.45 ERA in 14 career starts against Chicago.
Chicago is on streaks of 12-2 when Vazquez faces A.L. Central rivals, 7-0 when he opens a series and 11-3 in his last 14 starts overall. Meanwhile, the Indians are on runs of 24-9 when Byrd starts at home, 9-2 when he faces A.L. Central foes and 4-0 on Mondays.
When Vazquez toes the rubber, the over is on runs of 8-1 versus losing teams, 11-3 overall and 5-2 on the highway. For Byrd, the under is 6-1 in his last seven overall but the over is 5-1-1 in his last seven on Mondays. Finally, the over is 4-1 in Vasquez’s last five starts against the Tribe and 5-2 in Byrd’s past seven battles with the ChiSox.
The under trends for Chicago include 21-7 overall (5-0 last five), 32-13-1 on the road against losing teams, 8-1 in series openers, 5-1 on the highway and 12-3 on the road against right-handed pitching. For Cleveland, the under is 23-6 in its last 29 overall (3-0 last three), 21-6 in its last 27 against right-handed starters and 7-1 in its last eight at home.
ATS ADVANTAGE: UNDER
Detroit (21-29) at L.A. Angels (30-22)
The Tigers send veteran southpaw Kenny Rogers (4-4, 6.66) to the mound at Angel Stadium to take on L.A.’s Jon Garland (5-3, 4.34) in the first of three West Coast battles between these two.
Detroit is coming off a 4-2 homestand that ended with Sunday’s 6-1 loss to the Twins. But it’s on the road where the Tigers have struggled this year, going 9-15 away from the Motor City, including 1-8 in their last nine. Los Angeles returns home off a seven-game road trip that saw Mike Scioscia’s club go 4-3, including Sunday night’s 3-2 loss in Chicago.
The Angels took two of three in Detroit a month ago and have won five of the last six between these two dating back to last season. In fact, Los Angeles is 23-6 in the last 29 series meetings out west and 39-14 in its last 53 clashes with the Tigers regardless of venue.
Rogers got roughed up in his last road start, giving up seven runs on 11 hits in four innings of an 8-4 loss in Kansas City, but he bounced back and got the win over the Mariners on Wednesday when he allowed four runs on eight hits in 5 1/3 innings. For his career, Rogers is 17-15 with a 4.07 ERA in 44 starts against the Angels.
Garland allowed three runs on eight hits in six innings of a 4-3 win over the Blue Jays on Wednesday and he’s had four straight outings of allowing three earned runs or less. Against Detroit, he is 13-6 with a 4.08 ERA in 24 career starts.
Detroit is 35-17 in Rogers’ last 52 starts and 9-4 in his last 13 when opening a series, but he’s just 2-6 in his last eight on the road. Overall, the Tigers are on runs of 9-2 against the A.L. West and 4-1 against right-handed pitching, but they’re just 4-11 in their last 15 on the road against teams with a winning record and 6-18 in their last 24 on the road against right-handed starters.
Los Angeles is on positive rolls of 4-1 on Mondays, 14-7 against A.L. Central squads and 8-1 against southpaws, but it is just 1-6 in its last seven home games against losing squads.
With Rogers on the hill for the Tigers, the over is on runs of 11-5-3 overall (7-0-1 last eight), 4-0-1 on the road and 10-1-1 when he gets four days of rest. On the opposite end, the under is 4-0 in Garland’s last four outings.
Detroit’s “over” streaks include 5-1 overall, 8-3-2 in the opening game of a series and 11-5-3 on Mondays, but the under is 5-1 in its last six on the road and 5-1 in its last six against right-handed starters. Meanwhile, the Angels have stayed under the total in 11 of their last 12 games, including the last six in a row. The under is also 22-8-2 in the Angels’ last 32 overall, 21-7-2 in their last 30 against the A.L. Central, 5-1 in their last six at home, 10-1-1 against teams with a losing record and 6-1 in series openers.
Conversely, in head-to-head meetings, the over has been in play in eight of 11 overall and five straight in Angel Stadium.
ATS ADVANTAGE: L.A. ANGELS
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