SCOREBOARD
Wednesday, April 18
New York at Florida (7:05 p.m. EDT). Dontrelle Willis goes for his fourth win of the year for the Marlins.
Monday
STARS
– Ivan Rodriguez, Tigers, had a grand slam and six RBIs in Detroit’s 12-5 victory over Kansas City.
– Morgan Ensberg, Astros, singled in the game-winning run in the ninth inning to lift Houston to a 4-3 victory over Florida.
– Bill Hall, Brewers, hit his first career grand slam to lead Milwaukee to a 10-6 victory over Cincinnati.
– Ian Snell, Pirates, threw seven innings of three-hit ball in a 3-2 victory over St. Louis.
GRAND-STANDING
Bill Hall broke out of a slump with his first career grand slam Monday night, a seventh-inning shot that powered Milwaukee to a 10-6 victory over Cincinnati. The Brewers hadn’t hit a grand slam since J.J. Hardy connected off reliever Chris Booker in Cincinnati during a 14-5 victory on Sept. 7, 2005. That game featured the same two starting pitchers. … Ivan Rodriguez had a grand slam and six RBIs to back Justin Verlander’s first win of the season in the Tigers’ 12-5 victory over the Royals.
SECOND CHANCE
Florida right fielder Joe Borchard crashed into Dan Uggla, knocking Morgan Ensberg’s ninth-inning, bases-loaded foul pop out of the second baseman’s glove. Given another chance, Ensberg singled to left on the next pitch, giving the Houston Astros a 4-3 win over the Marlins on Monday night.
RARITY
The Indians are the first team in nearly 55 years to win a game with their only hit coming in their first at-bat. Grady Sizemore led off Cleveland’s 2-1 win over the Chicago White Sox on Sunday with a double. On April 23, 1952, the only hit for the St. Louis Browns in a 1-0 win over Cleveland was a first-inning leadoff triple by Bobby Young off Bob Feller. Young later scored on an error by Al Rosen, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
NOT THIS TIME
Salomon Torres refused to let the St. Louis Cardinals beat him again. The Pittsburgh closer, who had a loss and a blown save during St. Louis’ three-game sweep in Pittsburgh last week, got Albert Pujols to foul out with the bases-loaded for the final out in a 3-2 victory on Monday night.
SPEAKING
“I’m one guy who basically lives for this. And I don’t know if I would have made it to the ballpark today as a fan. I was surprised at the amount of people who showed up. The plan was, hey, we’ve got to be out there, so we might as well give it all and win the ballgame.” – Washington manager Manny Acta on the weather during the Nationals’ 5-1 win over Atlanta. He called it a 40-40 night – 40 degrees, 40 mph winds.
SEASONS
April 18
1899 – John McGraw, only 26, made his managerial debut with the Orioles. He led them to a 5-3 victory over the New York Giants, a team he later managed for more than 30 years.
1916 – Philadelphia’s Grover Alexander pitched his first of 16 shutouts of the season with a win over the Boston Braves.
1923 – In the first game played in Yankee Stadium, a record crowd of 72,400 watched Babe Ruth lead the Yankees to victory over the Red Sox with a home run.
1945 – In his major league debut, one-armed outfielder Pete Gray got one hit in four at-bats in the St. Louis Browns’ 7-1 victory over the Detroit Tigers.
1950 – The first opening night game was held in St. Louis. The Cardinals, behind a complete game by Gerry Staley and home runs from Red Schoendienst and Stan Musial, beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-2.
1982 – The Atlanta Braves defeated the Astros 6-5 in Houston to set a National League record as they won their 11th straight game to start the season.
1987 – Philadelphia’s Mike Schmidt hit his 500th home run with two outs in the ninth to rally the Phillies to an 8-6 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates at Three Rivers Stadium.
1997 – Roger Pavlik of the Rangers became the first AL pitcher to walk the first four batters of the game in a 6-5 loss to Toronto.
2000 – Adam Kennedy tied a club record with eight RBIs and came within a double of the cycle as the Anaheim Angels defeated Toronto 16-10. A hot dog promotion at the SkyDome went awry as fans got splattered with bits of wiener when they fell apart in midair after being shot from the “Hot Dog Blaster.” Although the hot dogs repeatedly disintegrated, promoters continued shooting them into the stands.
2005 – The New York Yankees scored 13 runs in the second inning of a 19-8 win over Tampa Bay. The last time New York scored 13 runs in an inning was June 21, 1945, in the fifth inning of a 14-4 victory at Boston.
2005 – Tim Hudson outpitched Roger Clemens, and rookie Ryan Langerhans had a pinch-hit homer in the 12th inning to lead the Atlanta Braves to a 1-0 victory over the Houston Astros.
Today’s birthdays: Miguel Cabrera, 24; Brady Clark, 34.
