Thursday's streaking and slumping starting pitchers
Streaking
Scott Baker (13-7, 4.34 ERA), Minnesota Twins
The righthander's career-best season just keeps getting better. Having increased his win total for the fourth straight season, Baker is pitching as well as he has all year.
The Twins have won the last five starts made by Baker, who is 4-0 with a 1.31 ERA and a 0.87 WHIP in that span. He has faced Texas and Cleveland twice each during his hot streak.
Baker has not lost in his last 11 starts.
"You want to see him out there. He's been our hottest pitcher," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire told the team's web site.
Kip Wells (1-3, 4.85), Cincinnati Reds
Pressed into the rotation due to injuries, the righthander has made the most of his opportunities.
The Reds have won all three starts made by Wells, who has two no-decisions but has posted a 2.65 ERA while getting stronger with each outing.
Wells allowed three runs and seven hits in his first start, two runs and two hits in his next start and tossed six scoreless innings in his last outing, giving up just one hit.
Wells has walked 11 in 17 innings as a starter and needs to develop more command.
Returning
Lenny DiNardo (NR), Kansas City Royals
The journeyman lefthander will be making his first major league appearance since Aug. 9, 2008, when he was with Oakland. He debuted in 2004 and spent three seasons with Boston, primarily as a reliever.
DiNardo was signed as a minor league free agent and pitched for Italy in the World Baseball Classic before pitching five scoreless innings in spring training.
He was sent to the minors and was 10-5 with a 3.32 ERA and two saves in 29 games at Triple-A Omaha, including 23 starts.
Slumping
Brett Cecil (6-4, 5.46), Toronto Blue Jays
As the season winds down, the rookie lefthander appears to be fading.
Cecil is 1-3 in his last four starts, but that hardly tells the whole story. He has not lasted more than five innings in any of those outings and has been hit very hard.
In 17 innings, Cecil has allowed 28 hits, including seven homers. Throw in nine walks and he has a 2.18 WHIP to go with a 10.06 ERA.
Seattle (72-68) at L.A. Angels (83-55)
The Mariners conclude a 10-game, three-city A.L. West road trip at Angel Stadium, with lefty Ryan Rowland-Smith (3-2, 3.88 ERA) trying to halt a four-game Seattle losing skid when he starts opposite Angels veteran John Lackey (9-7, 3.74).
Los Angeles jumped on Seattle early Wednesday, scoring four first-inning runs en route to a 6-3 victory. The Angels have won seven of their last 10, giving up a total of just 21 runs in the process. However, despite putting up a six-spot last night, the Angels’ once-red-hot offense has been held to three runs or fewer in six of its last eight games. Mike Scioscia’s club is on runs of 55-25 overall, 38-18 against southpaw starters and 27-10 on Thursday.
Seattle has lost four in a row following a four-game winning streak and it is now 19-42 in its last 61 games as an underdog, 2-6 in its last eight on the road and 1-5 in its last six on Thursday. On the bright side, the Mariners are on upticks of 7-5 against A.L. West foes and 5-2 versus right-handed starters.
These teams have split the season series, 9-9, but the Mariners are just 9-22 in their last 31 games at Angel Stadium.
Rowland-Smith has gone eight innings in each of his last two starts, allowing an identical three runs in eight innings each time out, losing 3-0 to the Royals in K.C. and then beating the A’s 6-3 on Friday. The southpaw made two starts against the Angels last September, losing them both despite allowing just four earned runs over 13 1/3 innings of work (2.70 ERA).
The Mariners have won four straight games that Rowland-Smith has started against A.L. West foes. Also, including his two starts against L.A., he’s appeared in eight games versus the Halos, going 0-1 with a 3.10 ERA in 20 1/3 innings.
Lackey is just a mediocre 5-5 with a 3.71 ERA in the friendly confines of Angel Stadium. However, Lackey has been brilliant in his last two, holding the A’s to one run on five hits of a 9-1 win back on Aug. 30, and throwing a one-run, complete-game, six-hitter in a 2-1 win in Kansas City on Saturday.
Los Angeles has lost five of Lackey’s last six starts versus teams with a winning record, but it is 20-9 in his last 29 starts versus divisional rivals and 7-1 in his last eight outings versus the Mariners. For his career, the burly right-hander is 11-9 with a 4.12 ERA in 24 starts against Seattle, including 1-1 with a 6.57 ERA in two outings this season
With Lackey on the mound, the “under” is on runs of 9-4 on Thursday and 5-2 against Seattle, but five of his last seven home starts have topped the total and five of his last six starts at Angel Stadium versus the M’s have gone over. Also, both of Rowland-Smith’s starts against L.A. have stayed low.
The under is 20-6-1 in Seattle’s last 27 games versus the A.L. West, but the over is 7-4-2 in the M’s last 12 roadies and 5-0 in their last five on Thursday. Meanwhile, the under for the Angels is on stretches of 6-0-1 overall, 5-2-1 at home and 7-3-1 against the A.L. West. Lastly, the under is 7-2-1 in the last 10 Mariners-Angels battles, including 4-1-1 in Anaheim.
ATS ADVANTAGE: L.A. ANGELS
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Baseball Today
SCOREBOARD
Thursday, September 10
Florida at New York Mets (8:10 p.m. EDT). The Mets' Bobby Parnell (3-7, 5.25 ERA) will try to build off his last outing as New York closes out a three-game set with the Marlins, who have crept back into the NL playoff chase.
STARS
Wednesday
-Albert Pujols, Cardinals, homered twice and drove in three runs to lead St. Louis to a 5-1 victory at Milwaukee.
-Adrian Gonzalez, Padres, hit his career-high 37th homer and drove in three runs in San Diego's 4-2 win at San Francisco.
-Jorge Posada, Yankees, connected for a pinch-hit, three-run homer to lift New York to a 4-2 victory over skidding Tampa Bay.
-A.J. Pierzynski, White Sox, hit a game-ending RBI double in the 13th inning to give Chicago a 4-3 win against Oakland.
-Carlos Zambrano, Cubs, pitched six solid innings to earn his first win since July 22, leading Chicago to an 8-5 victory at Pittsburgh.
-Victor Martinez, Red Sox, hit a tiebreaking three-run double in a pinch-hit appearance in the seventh inning, powering Boston to a 7-5 win over Baltimore.
-Jayson Werth and Pedro Feliz, Phillies, hit back-to-back homers in the eighth inning to lead Philadelphia to a 6-5 win at Washington.
-Miguel Tejada, Astros, hit a two-run single in the ninth inning to give Houston a 2-1 victory over Atlanta.
-Kendry Morales, Angels, hit a three-run double to help Los Angeles beat Seattle 6-3 for its fifth victory in six games.
-Cody Ross, Marlins, hit a three-run homer to help Florida to a 6-3 victory over the New York Mets.
-Robinson Tejeda, Royals, matched his career high with eight strikeouts in six shutout innings, helping Kansas City to a 5-1 win over Detroit.
-Scott Feldman, Rangers, allowed five hits in seven innings to win his eighth consecutive road start, leading Texas to a 10-0 win at Cleveland.
NICE COMPANY
Derek Jeter joined Lou Gehrig at the top of the Yankees' hits list, equaling the record with a seventh-inning single in New York's 4-2 victory over Tampa Bay on Wednesday night. Jeter's third hit of the game gave him 2,721 in a Yankees uniform, tying a mark held by Gehrig for more than 70 years. Jeter had a chance to break the record in the eighth inning, but he walked against reliever Grant Balfour. The Yankees are off Thursday, and Jeter will get his next opportunity Friday night at home against Baltimore.
WILD, WILD WEST
Seth Smith and the Rockies definitely had a nice day. Smith's two-out, two-run single in the ninth inning lifted surging Colorado to a 4-3 win over the Cincinnati Reds. The Rockies have won six straight to extend their NL wild-card lead to four over San Francisco, which lost 4-2 to San Diego. Colorado also pulled within 2 1/2 games of West-leading Los Angeles, which lost 4-3 to Arizona when Ramon Troncoso walked in the winning run.
HURTING HOLLIDAY
St. Louis got a scare when Matt Holliday tripped running out a grounder in the third inning of its 5-1 win at Milwaukee. He bruised his left knee and left two innings later. The star left fielder said he'd be back in the lineup Friday.
ONE HARD WIN
Justin Morneau and Orlando Cabrera homered and the Twins finally got the best of Roy Halladay, beating the Toronto Blue Jays 4-1 on Wednesday night. Halladay allowed nine hits, struck out nine and walked one in his major league-leading seventh complete game. The right-hander dropped to 8-1 with a 2.90 ERA in 13 games, 11 starts, against Minnesota, which was the only AL team that hadn't pinned a loss on him.
DOUBLE YOUR FUN
Baltimore's Brian Roberts doubled in the fifth inning of the Orioles' 7-5 loss at Boston to become the fourth player in major league history to have three seasons with at least 50 doubles. Hall of Famers Tris Speaker, Paul Waner and Stan Musial are the others.
DOUBLE YOUR FUN II
Billy Butler doubled three times for a club-record fourth time this season to help Kansas City beat Detroit 5-1 for its first three-game winning streak since July. According to STATS LLC, the 23-year-old first baseman is the first player since at least 1954 to have four games with three or more doubles in a season.
WORTH NOTING
The crowd of 11,159 for Minnesota's 4-1 victory at Toronto was the smallest in the 20-year history of Rogers Centre, eclipsing the previous low of 12,571 against Texas on April 30, 2002. Toronto's lowest attendance ever was 10,074 on April 17, 1979, against the Chicago White Sox. ... Adam Wainwright threw seven scoreless innings in St. Louis' 5-1 victory at Milwaukee to become the first major league pitcher with 18 wins.
SPEAKING
"Madson pitched good last night. I like him, plus I wanted to leave Lidge alone.'' - Phillies manager Charlie Manuel after choosing Ryan Madson to finish a 6-5 victory at Washington, leaving struggling closer Brad Lidge in the bullpen.