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.
STARS
Tuesday
-Tom Gorzelanny, Pirates, allowed one run on four hits over 8 1-3 innings in a 6-1 victory over the Cardinals.
-Geoff Blum, Padres, doubled in the go-ahead run in the 14th inning and San Diego defeated the Chicago Cubs 4-3.
-Carlos Lee, Astros, hit a two-run homer and drove in two more runs to lead the Astros to a 6-1 win over Florida.
-Torii Hunter, Twins, hit a grand slam to help Minnesota to an 11-2 victory over the Mariners.
-Juan Pierre, Dodgers, doubled, tripled, and scored three runs to lead Los Angeles to a 6-4 victory over the Diamondbacks.
BROKEN WINGS
After losing 6-1 to Pittsburgh on Tuesday, St. Louis (6-7) is off to the worst start by a World Series winner since the 1998 Florida Marlins were 1-11. After going 49-31 last season – the NL’s second-best home record – the Cardinals are 1-6 at Busch Stadium.
STREAKS
David Wright extended his career-best hitting streak to 24 games in an 8-1 win over the Phillies on Tuesday night, tying the Mets’ franchise record. Hubie Brooks in 1984 and Mike Piazza in 1999 also had 24-game hitting streaks for New York. … Houston ace Roy Oswalt tied a career high by winning his ninth straight decision dating to August in a 6-1 win over Florida Tuesday night.
TRIBUTE
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Washington Nationals wore Virginia Tech baseball caps during Tuesday night’s game against the Atlanta Braves as a tribute to the victims of the shooting rampage at the school. Nationals players wore a few different versions of the hats; most were burgundy with “VT” in orange or white.
SLUMPING
Kansas City lost its sixth straight, 7-6 at Detroit on Tuesday. The Royals are now 1-7 on the road.
BRUISED
Minnesota Twins center fielder Torii Hunter left Tuesday’s night win over the Seattle Mariners with a bruised left shoulder, and is considered day-to-day. Hunter, who earlier had hit his seventh career grand slam to highlight an 11-2 victory, charged Jose Vidro’s sinking line drive with two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Hunter tumbled to the ground after failing to make a shoestring catch, then quickly got back to his feet and did not appear to be injured.
STRONG IN DEFEAT
David DeJesus had four hits with a homer and scored three runs for Kansas City in a 7-6 loss at Detroit.
SPEAKING
“That’s a big man on a horse.” – Houston’s Roy Oswalt on teammate Carlos Lee. Lee, nicknamed “El Caballo” or “The Horse,” received a stick horse from the fans who call themselves “Los Caballitos” before Tuesday’s game and rode it through the dugout after a 6-1 win over the Marlins.
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.