Saturday's streaking and slumping pitchers
By JUSTIN BANKS
Streaking
Adam Wainwright, St. Louis Cardinals (9-3, 2.85)
Wainwright is 2-0 and has a solid 1.86 ERA and 1.03 WHIP in his last three starts and has relinquished more than two earned runs just three times in his last 10 overall.
Wainwright, who cracked the rotation last season, has just two setbacks in his last 10 outings. He also has 14 strikeouts against three walks in his last three and is 3-1 on the road in his last 10 overall.
The Cardinals are 9-3 in their last 12 road games against a club with a losing record and are 49-19 in their last 68 road games against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Slumping
Kenny Rogers, Detroit Tigers (9-13, 5.49)
Rogers has lost three straight and is 1-4 in his last five road starts. He has also surrendered 18 earned runs and four homers in his last 14 IP.
Rogers has struggled on the road, posting a 6-7 record with a shaky 5.57 ERA. He is 0-2 in his last three starts against the division leading Chicago White Sox.
The Tigers are 4-10 in their last 14 on grass and are 1-4 in their last five visits to U.S. Cellular Field.
Baseball Today
SCOREBOARD
Saturday, Sept. 13
Milwaukee at Philadelphia (3:55 p.m. EDT). Cole Hamels (12-9) and the Phillies try to gain ground on the NL wild-card leaders. Philadelphia trails the Brewers by three games in the wild-card race.
STARS
Friday
- Nate McLouth, Pirates, homered and had a career-high five RBIs in a 10-2 victory over St. Louis.
- Cliff Lee, Indians, allowed four earned runs in 8 1-3 innings of a 12-5 victory over Kansas City to win his eighth straight start and improve to 22-2.
- Brandon Webb, Diamondbacks, pitched eight shutout innings in a 3-2 victory over Cincinnati to become the NL's first 20-game winner.
- Mike Napoli, Angels, hit a two-run homer with two outs in the ninth inning to lift Los Angeles to a 5-3 victory against Seattle.
- Hank Blalock and Matt Hairston, Rangers. Blalock hit a homer for the third straight game and Harrison pitched a five-hitter for his first career shutout and complete game in a 7-0 victory at Oakland.
- James Loney, Dodgers, had two hits and three RBIs in a 7-2 victory over Colorado.
- Tim Wakefield, Red Sox, allowed three hits and struck out four in eight innings of a 7-0 victory over Toronto.
SOGGY
Storm systems throughout the country wreaked havoc on the baseball schedule, postponing six games Friday night and creating a weekend full of doubleheaders. It was the most major league postponements in one day since six games were wiped out on April 15, 2007. Prior to that, there hadn't been that many since April 12, 1997, when eight games were postponed, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The weather also set up an unusually full slate of games for Saturday. If the schedule holds, there will be 12 games in the American League for the first time since Aug. 8, 1985, and 20 games in the majors for the first time since Aug. 4, 1974, according to Elias.
INFIELD SLUGGERS
Jorge Cantu hit his 25th homer in Florida's 2-1 victory over Washington on Friday night, making the Marlins the first team in Major League history to have four infielders hit at least 25. Mike Jacobs (32), Dan Uggla (30), Hanley Ramirez (29) and Cantu have accounted for 116 of the Marlins 188 homers this season.
UNBEATABLE
Cliff Lee won his 11th straight decision and moved a remarkable 20 games over .500 with his 22nd victory, leading the Cleveland Indians to a 12-5 win over the Kansas City Royals on Friday night. Unbeaten in 12 starts since July 11, Lee (22-2) allowed four earned runs in 8 1-3 innings to win his eighth straight start. He's 5-0 in five outings against Kansas City. Lee's 11-game winning streak is the longest by an Indians pitcher since Gaylord Perry won 15 in a row in 1974.
STUCK AT 57
Los Angeles closer Francisco Rodriguez remained tied with Bobby Thigpen for the single-season record of 57 saves one day after tying mark the former White Sox closer set in 1990. Rodriguez still has 15 games remaining to break and extend the record.
SETTLING UP
The Arizona Diamondbacks sent pitcher Micah Owings to the Cincinnati Reds on Friday to complete the August trade for slugger Adam Dunn. Owings did fine at the plate this season, hitting .288 with a home run, two doubles and three RBIs in 22 games with the Diamondbacks. But the 25-year-old struggled on the mound, going 6-9 with a 5.93 ERA and was sent down to Triple-A Tucson on July 29.
SIDELINED
Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips had two pins inserted into his broken right index finger on Friday and will be evaluated in four to six weeks. Phillips broke the finger on a bunt attempt in the 11th inning of Tuesday's 5-4 win at Milwaukee. - Cardinals right-hander Chris Carpenter will miss the rest of the 2008 season because of continued weakness from a muscle strain in his pitching shoulder. Carpenter last pitched in relief at Arizona on Sept. 2. After missing almost all of 2007 following Tommy John surgery, Carpenter didn't make his season debut until July 30. The 2005 Cy Young Award winner finished 0-1 with a 1.76 ERA in four appearances, making three starts. - Pirates starter Tom Gorzelanny will miss the rest of the season because of an injury to his left middle finger. Gorzelanny, who went 6-9 with a 6.66 ERA in 21 starts, left his outing against Houston in the third inning Wednesday night with an irritation in his finger.
RARE
Jake Peavy allowed five runs and a season-high 11 hits in eight innings of San Diego's 5-2 loss to San Francisco on Friday night. It was the first time in 14 home starts that Peavy (9-11) allowed more than three earned runs.
BOUNCING BACK
Tim Wakefield pitched eight innings of shutout ball to bounce back from his shortest start in 15 years to help the Boston Red Sox stop their AL East slide with a 7-0 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday night. Four days after lasting just 1 2-3 innings against Texas, the 42-year-old knuckleballer allowed three hits and walked none while striking out four. Kevin Cash hit a three-run homer, David Ortiz and Jed Lowrie each drove in a pair of runs to help the Red Sox pull to two games behind Tampa Bay in the AL East.
SPEAKING
- I got it done and it's a great thing, too, that we won. When they look back a hundred years from now we're the first team to do it. - Florida's Jorge Cantu, after hitting his 25th home run in a 2-1 victory over Washington on Friday night, making the Marlins the first team in baseball history to have four infielders hit at least 25 homers.