AMERICAN LEAGUE
Orioles-Red Sox
BALTIMORE: Nick Markakis and Melvin Mora combined to go 0-for-8 with four strikeouts Saturday one day after each had four hits and went 8-for-9 with no strikeouts. … The Orioles are in second place in the AL East, ahead of the injury-plagued New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays. “It’s easy to figure out when you look at all the injuries,” manager Sam Perlozzo said of his team’s spot in the standings. … Baltimore pitchers issued seven walks, increasing their total to 161 in 37 games. Of that total, 53 runners have scored, including five on Saturday. … Miguel Tejada stole his first base since Aug. 7 at Toronto.
in Monday. “Unfortunately, he is where he was. The symptoms are still there,” manager Terry Francona said.
—
Devil Rays-Blue Jays
TAMPA BAY: B.J. Upton started in the outfield for the first time this season. … INF Josh Wilson, who was claimed off waivers Thursday from Washington, started at third base and went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts. … Twenty-six of the Devil Rays’ 36 games this season have been decided by three runs or fewer. Tampa Bay is 14-12 in those games.
TORONTO: RHP Roy Halladay was released from the hospital Saturday, one day after an appendectomy. He’s expected to miss four to six weeks. Toronto has not yet named a replacement starter for Tuesday’s game against Baltimore but the candidates include minor leaguers Josh Banks, Jesse Litsch, David Purcey and Ty Taubenheim. … INF Ryan Roberts was recalled from Triple-A Syracuse to take Halladay’s spot on the roster. It’s his second stint with the Blue Jays this season. … 3B Troy Glaus, who left Friday’s game after re-aggravating his sore left heel, was held out of the lineup Saturday as he underwent tests. Manager John Gibbons said Glaus isn’t likely to play Sunday. … LHP Gustavo Chacin (shoulder) played catch for the first time since going on the DL on April 28. He reported no problems.
—
Angels-Rangers
LOS ANGELES: RHP Bartolo Colon allowed three runs over six innings Saturday in winning his 12th straight start against Texas. Angels starters have given up three earned runs or fewer in 15 of the last 18 games. … By winning each of the first two games in their four-game series at Texas, the Angels have a 52-51 series lead in games played at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.
TEXAS: RHP Kevin Millwood is on track to start Monday against the Angels after being on the disabled list since April 29 with a strained left hamstring. Manager Ron Washington said Millwood has been cranky about being on the DL, but is ready to return to the rotation. … Washington, who stresses defensive fundamentals, says there’s a simple explanation for 2B Ian Kinsler having seven errors in 34 games. “Careless. … Once he’s able to get past that, there’s something real grand there,” Washington said. Kinsler had 18 errors in 119 games as a rookie last season. “The plays that he messes up? Routine. It’s usually the last thing that comes to a young infielder.”
—
Tigers-Twins
ries, the Tigers built a big lead in the division last year only to fade and lose it on the final day to the Twins. With that in mind, they’re trying hard not to get comfortable. “They are going to continue to fight, and be ready to go again tomorrow. We have to keep battling,” CF Curtis Granderson said.
MINNESOTA: The Twins are struggling to score, and manager Ron Gardenhire has been tweaking the lineup. His options are limited, with several regulars hurting and no minor-league position players ready for a call up. Lew Ford made his first start Saturday after coming off the disabled list, and he went 2-for-4 in the No. 2 spot. “I don’t know about a spark, but he’s been working pretty hard to get back,” Gardenhire said. … After another rough start by Sidney Ponson on Saturday, Gardenhire – who earlier stressed the need for Ponson to improve – wasn’t ready to assess the right-hander’s status in the rotation. “He had a bad day,” said Gardenhire, who was more concerned about other areas with his team. Ponson’s sinker was moving well, but that wasn’t enough against the hot-hitting Tigers. “His stuff is really good,” CF Curtis Granderson said. “Guys were just locking in and looking for one pitch that they could finally handle and drive – and getting it and not missing.”
—
Indians-Athletics
CLEVELAND: DH Travis Hafner, in a 4-for-33 slump over his last nine games, was given Saturday off by manager Eric Wedge. … Casey Blake extended his hitting streak to five games and is batting .471 over that span. … Josh Barfield had two triples in Saturday’s win over Oakland, becoming the first Indians player to have two triples in one game since Omar Vizquel against Texas on Aug. 12, 2001. … Jason Michaels is batting just .118 in home games this year but it’s a different story on the road. Michaels went 3-for-5 Saturday to raise his road batting average to .313. … Eight Cleveland players, including Grady Sizemore, Ryan Garko and Barfield, will use pink bats in Sunday’s game as part of a breast cancer awareness campaign on Mother’s Day. “I’ll use it in the game and hopefully be able to take it home,” Garko said.
oaiza has been on the DL since March 25 due to spasms in his throwing shoulder. … OF Chris Snelling (knee) was held out of the lineup for a second straight game and is listed as day to day. … OF Travis Buck started in right field for the first time since May 4. Buck, who has been slowed by sore wrists, went 1-for-3. … A’s pitchers gave up six runs to Cleveland on Saturday, snapping a string of seven games in which they had allowed three runs or fewer.
—
Royals-White Sox
KANSAS CITY: RHP Scott Elarton made his first start since last July 16 after undergoing shoulder surgery Aug. 1. Elarton had nearly a month of rehab starts with Royals farm clubs to get ready for his return Saturday. … Mark Teahen’s transition from third base to right field is going well. He made his major league-leading seventh outfield assist Friday night – his sixth assist in six games. … The Royals lead the majors in one painful category. They had been hit by pitches 28 times entering Saturday night’s game. Alex Gordon’s eight HBPs were tops in the AL. … Royals skipper Buddy Bell managed his 1,118th regular-season game Saturday night, second most in the AL Central behind Tigers manager Jim Leyland.
CHICAGO: DH Jim Thome (rib cage) took batting practice Saturday, hitting against manager Ozzie Guillen, and said he felt much better than Friday and probably will start a rehab assignment Monday with Triple-A Charlotte. … C Toby Hall, on the DL after dislocating his right shoulder while playing first base in a March 25 spring training game, is already in Charlotte to begin a rehab assignment. … OF Scott Podsednik, on the DL since April 16 with a right adductor pull, ran around an obstacle course in the outfield Saturday and hopes to take batting practice in two or three days.
—
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Brewers-Mets
MILWAUKEE: LHP Chris Capuano (5-0, 2.31 ERA) starts Sunday against Oliver Perez (3-3, 3.48) and will try to become the second Brewers starter to open a season 6-0. Bill Wegman did it in 1994. Milwaukee is 7-0 in Capuano’s starts this year. Capuano is 0-2 with a 5.40 ERA in three career starts against the Mets. … Tony Graffanino made his fourth start of the year at 2B and finished 2-for-5 with a double and two runs scored. … Milwaukee is 19-3 when scoring first and 21-0 when leading after seven innings. … The Brewers are 24-42 against the Mets since the teams’ first meeting in 1998. … Milwaukee has homered in eight consecutive games (15 total). … Brewers starters are 15-3 with a 3.05 ERA in the last 25 games.
NEW YORK: SS Jose Reyes, one of the last haircut holdouts on the team, finally succumbed and got his buzz cut. “Every day, somebody came to me and said, `When are you going to do it? When are you going to do it?”’ Reyes said. Now, he’s glad the ribbing from his teammates will stop. “It’s over,” Reyes said with a smile. … The Mets allowed a season-high 12 runs. … David Newhan was 2-for-20 without an extra-base hit in his first season with the Mets before he hit for pitcher Mike Pelfrey in the fifth and delivered a two-run homer off Ben Sheets that cut New York’s deficit to 4-3 and snapped his 0-for-13 skid. “The day had a different feel at that point,” Newhan said. “I wish it would have spring-boarded us to a win, but that’s the way it goes.” It was Newhan’s second career pinch-hit homer. The other came on June 18, 2004, with Baltimore at Colorado. … RHP Joe Smith gave up a grand slam in the eighth inning to J.J. Hardy, ending his streak of 15 1-3 scoreless innings to start his major league career. Smith didn’t allow a run in his first 17 appearances, a club record for rookie relievers. “First time I’ve given up a home run to a righty in a long time,” Smith said. “But these hitters are good up here.”
—
Braves-Pirates
yers in the majors have started more consecutive games with the same team, led by Baltimore’s Miguel Tejada (523).
PITTSBURGH: The Pirates held a meeting Saturday to address their hitting problems. They were held to one or no runs in four of their previous nine games, and only the Washington Nationals have had a worse offense in the NL. … Jose Bautista had to beat out Jose Castillo to start at 3B, and he doesn’t look ready to give up the job. Bautista has started all 35 games at third. Bautista and LF Jason Bay are the only Pirates players to start every game at the same position. … RHP Ian Snell won’t have to face former Braves 1B Adam LaRoche, now the Pirates’ first baseman, when the teams meet Sunday. When the teams last met in Pittsburgh last season, LaRoche homered twice off Snell. LaRoche is 3-for-5 with three homers against Snell.
—
Diamondbacks-Astros
t since straining a rib muscle on April 19. He’s 2-0 with a 3.24 ERA in seven appearances. The 26-year-old Nippert was 1-0 with a 3.86 ERA in 10 appearances this season out of the bullpen. Melvin said Nippert will stay busy in Tucson, pitching three-to-five innings per outing. “This is a guy that can be a force,” Melvin said. “I think the more he pitches out of the bullpen, in the coming years, this is a guy that has a chance to pitch deeper in games, not just long innings.”
id. “The ball is coming out of his hand good.”
—
Marlins-Nationals
FLORIDA: 1B Mike Jacobs, who’s been out of the starting lineup with a sore right thumb, could be back Sunday. “We’ll see how he feels,” manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “No pun intended: I hope he gives me a thumbs up.” … RF Jeremy Hermida, on the DL all season with a bone bruise in his right knee, is beginning a rehab stint at Triple-A Albuquerque this weekend. Gonzalez wouldn’t put a timetable on when Hermida could return to the Marlins. … OF John Gall started in right Saturday, a day after being called up from Albuquerque. … The Marlins had at least one extra-base hit in each game this season until totaling four singles Friday night in a 6-0 loss to the Nationals. SS Hanley Ramirez led off Saturday night’s game with a double – then was thrown out trying to steal third base.
ainst Atlanta, filling in for right-hander Shawn Hill (sore right elbow). Hill left Friday’s game after five innings, and Acta confirmed Saturday that, “It’s very likely that he’ll end up on the DL. … This guy is a very important part of our present and our future. We’re not going to rush him back.” … OF Alex Escobar (right shoulder surgery) could be ready to play by early June, Acta and Bowden said. … 1B Dmitri Young (left Achilles’ tendon) was out of the lineup again Saturday. “He’s sore. He asked for another day off,” Bowden said.
—
Giants-Rockies
SAN FRANCISCO: OF Barry Bonds won’t be the only Giant regular out of the lineup on Sunday. Manager Bruce Bochy wants 2B Ray Durham and SS Rich Aurilia to take Sunday off as well. “We’ve been through a tough stretch,” Bochy said. … The versatile Aurilia played first base Saturday night after playing third base and shortstop in the first two games of the series. … RHP Brad Hennessey has been experiencing soreness in his right shoulder. … OF Randy Winn was in the starting lineup even though his back has been bothering him. … LHP Jack Taschner has been using his breaking ball and changeup to get right-handed hitters out.
COLORADO: INF Kaz Matsui said his back is close to being healed. He was eligible to come off the disabled list April 30. “I still worry about it when I run,” Matsui said through an interpreter. … Relievers Zach McClellan and Denny Bautista gave up seven hits and four runs between them in Friday’s loss. “We’ve got to continue to encourage them to be aggressive,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “That’s what a bullpen pitcher’s life is all about. There’s little room for error.” … RHP Ramon Ramirez threw 23 pitches in a game with Triple-A Colorado Springs on Friday. “He reported he felt fine,” Hurdle said. Ramirez is on 15-day DL with a sprained right elbow.
—
Reds-Dodgers
CINCINNATI: Ken Griffey Jr. has hit five home runs on Mother’s Day, tying Alex Rodriguez for the most among active players. … LHP Bobby Livingston will be called up from Triple-A Louisville to make his first big league start and fourth appearance. He is filling in for Eric Milton, who went on the 15-day DL on Wednesday. … C David Ross entered Saturday having thrown out seven of 12 baserunners trying to steal. … Ryan Freel didn’t start for the second straight game because of the flu.
w a walk since Sept. 9, 1965, when Sandy Koufax pitched a perfect game against the Chicago Cubs at Los Angeles.
Add A Comment