Wednesday

Royals 1, @Braves 0: It had to be Frenchy, right? The ex-local hero had hacked at Mike Minor‘s first 2 offerings with 2 on and 2 out in the 4th, then got an inexplicable 0-2 fastball down the pipe — nearly the target set by Evan Gattis — and lashed it into left for the game’s only run.

Atlanta’s best chance to score was this slow-motion play in the 7th, ending with Juan Francisco’s exhausted slide into a waiting tag. 2B Chris Getz chased the blooper down the line, missed on the belly-flop, tracked it down behind the tarp, stepped out for an angle, and still had time to beat Francisco with an unhurried throw. Poor Juan was hustling; he’s just dead slow.

• Who called that pitch to Francoeur? 0-and-2 on him calls for a curve in the dirt, and if one doesn’t get him, throw it again.
• One’s a coincidence, two is a trend: Atlanta is 12-0 with any HR, 0-2 with none. The trick first turned by Cliff Lee was matched Wednesday by Wade Davis (7 IP, no walks), Kelvin Herrera (back on the horse!) and Greg [gulp] Holland, who minced the meat of the order with 3 quick whiffs.
• Lorenzo Cain enabled Francoeur’s RBI with an infield hit. But then, although he was already in scoring position with 2 outs with Francoeur on behind him, Cain lit out for third and was cut down, ending the inning.

@Athletics 7, Astros 5: O, happy schedule! The A’s are 6-0 against their new divisional neighbors, thanks to an early eruption against Bud Norris that knocked Houston’s starter in the 1st inning for the 2nd time in this series. Bartolo Colon beat them for the 2nd time this year, recovering from an opening stumble to go 6 innings on 1 run with no walks, as is his wont.

• From his debut through age 31, Colon averaged 3.36 walks per 9 innings. Starting abruptly in 2005, he slashed that rate by over 40%, and has averaged 1.95 BB/9 since then.

@Pirates 5, Cardinals 0: Shelby Miller was good (2 runs and 6 Ks in 6 IP), but A.J. Burnett was dealing. The grizzled vet was perfect through 5 and allowed no hits through 6, pitching with just a 1-0 lead. Carlos Beltran broke it up with 2 outs in the 7th. Burnett finished with 8 Ks, extending his NL lead and lifting the Pirates back to .500. Starling Marte‘s triple ran his hitting streak to 10 games.

• Eight months ago, but for an ump’s missed call, Beltran would have spoiled Johan Santana’s no-no.
• It was such a banner night for the Bucs, even Pedro Alvarez got a taste, with his first RBI since Opening Day. He’s 4 for 45, all singles; last year he started 4 for 41.

@Reds 11, Phillies 2: With his 4-3-3-1 batting line, Mike Leake is a .283 career hitter (49-173). In his day job, the diminutive righty phlustered the Phils through 7 innings on 3 hits — one by reliever Raul Valdes, who’s now 5 for 11 with 2 doubles. Zack Cozart, who started the winning rally in the suspended game, has scored 3 for the second time in his career.

@Yankees 4, Diamondbacks 3: It was CC over JV that pulled the Yanks from their early funk, and tonight CC to Mo made them 7-1 since. Thanks to Paul Goldschmidt’s HR in the 1st — a liner to right that landed before the bleacherites were good and settled, and the first off Sabathia this year — Wade Miley was cruising with a 3-0 lead in the 7th, 2 outs and a man on 1st. A double and back-to-back walks got New York on the board and finished Miley. With a 2-2 count, lefty Tony Sipp aimed for the corner but missed, and Brett Gardner spanked the thigh-high meatball into left. A.J. Pollock played it on a hard hop in good form with a chance to nail Eduardo Nunez, but his throw was about 30 degrees off-line and the game was tied.

With 2 outs in the 8th, Travis Hafner hit for Ben Francisco and drilled a no-doubter on the first pitch from David Hernandez, and Mariano did the rest.

• It was Hafner’s 4th pinch-HR in 74 tries, and raised his OPS to 1.005 in that role.
• Hernandez has allowed 4 HRs in 53 PAs in the new Stadium. Before becoming Arizona’s setup ace, he endured a brutal rookie year in Baltimore’s rotation, serving 27 gopher dogs in just 101 IP.
• First one-run game of the year for the Bombers, who were 22-25 last year.

Nationals 6, @Marlins 1: With 2 potential wins blown by Washington’s surprisingly leaky bullpen, Ross Detwiler finally scratched a W, and no one who saw the foe could profess great shock. The Nats shook off Dan Haren’s Tuesday implosion with a big game from Kurt Suzuki (HR, 3B) and a quiet 4 hits by Bryce Harper, the 2nd of his career, while the Fish fell to 2-7 at home and 1-4 against the Nationals.

Rays 6, @Orioles 2: An Adam Jones screamer marred Matt Moore’s perfect ERA and tied the game, but Tampa struck right back behind James Loney, who had a perfect night and keyed their last 4 runs, ending their 4-game skid. The O’s had 9 men reach 1st base; one scored on the HR, one reached 3rd with 2 outs, and the rest stayed put.

• Moore is the 3rd Ray ever to win 3 starts this quickly, joining Matt Garza (2010) and — yes, Mets fans — Victor Zambrano (2004).

White Sox 7, @Blue Jays 0: Jose Quintana‘s 2nd straight scoreless start, and this time his mates didn’t leave him hanging. His co-pilot, C Tyler Flowers, gave him all he needed with a 3-run drive in the 2nd, and the Jays could never mount a threat, going 0-for-4 with RISP.

• Quintana had 4 prior starts with 7+ IP and no runs allowed, but had no wins to show for it.
• Through Tuesday, the MLB position leader in home runs was … catcher? I’ll just guess that’s never happened over a full season.

Tigers 1, @Mariners 0 (7th): 3 hits through 6 IP for Scherzer and Hernandez, with 19 Ks combined and just 1 walk.

• Detroit’s last 5 starts: 34 IP, 7 runs, 4 wins.
• King Felix in 12 starts against the Tigers: 9-2, 2.65 ERA.

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Tuesday/Wednesday

@Reds 1, Phillies 0: Eleven straight Reds had made out before the game was suspended. When it resumed, four straight reached base against Phillippe Aumont, with Ben Revere’s drop loading the bases and making the Jay Bruce game-winner a fait accompli.

• Before it was halted, Homer Bailey fanned 10 with but two singles, facing one over the minimum in 8 innings while logging his 2nd-best Game Score.
• Kyle Kendrick was almost as good in his 7 stanzas. It was his 6th scoreless game of 7+ innings in his last 23 starts; in the NL, only Clayton Kershaw has more since the start of 2012.
• 2nd game this year with no extra-base hits, both ending 1-0.

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Tuesday

@Braves 6, Royals 3: Streaks fell left and right, but the big one steamrolled onward. Atlanta clubbed 5 solo HRs, with 3 jacks in a 4-man span (7 pitches) during their go-ahead 8th. Juan Francisco launched a pair, with the 7th-inning leveler atoning for his error that led to the Royals’ lead.

Kelvin Herrera came in with the longest active homerless streak, 81 innings over his last 75 games since April 2012. In 312 pro innings, he’d allowed just 14 HRs. He hadn’t allowed 3 runs in any of the 83 games after his MLB debut. And then came J-Hey and J-Up and Dig-d’Ugg. Oh, my. Ten straight for the Bravos, their longest since 2000.

• KC’s Chris Getz homered for the first time since 2009, ending the 2nd-longest active drought (by PAs). His last HR came off Jeremy Guthrie, the teammate he supported last night. Ben Revere has the longest active HR drought, covering 1,127 career PAs. (He’ll probably hit one to win that suspended game.)
• Not all good news for Atlanta, as lefty Luis Avilan left abruptly with a painful hamstring injury. As a result, Craig Kimbrel inherited a runner for the first time this year, just the 12th IR of his career.
• 7 out of 8 Upton HRs are solo shots. Atlanta’s top 2 spots in the order have a sub-.300 OBP, combined. (I had to find a wart somewhere.)
• Guthrie has allowed 5 HRs in 20 innings, but all with the bases empty. He has a 3.20 ERA and 17/3 SO/BB in 3 starts.
• The last time Herrera gave up a HR, it was just a double-dip.

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@Yankees 4, D-backs 2: New York had just 1 hit in 8 RISPortunities, but it streaked across the sky and vanished into the night.

• Starts of 100+ pitches in 4 innings or less (a la Brandon McCarthy) aren’t so rare — there were 8 last season, and Dylan Axelrod did it last week. Cliff Lee once did it with just one run scoring.
• The Yankee bullpen retired 12 of 13, including Mariano’s first clean inning.
• Speaking of first clean sides … Heath Bell has quietly fanned 9 of his last 16 batters, with no walks or HRs. He probably won’t have a .435 BAbip all season.

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Tigers 6, @Mariners 2: Miggy‘s squeezing in a few last raps and ribbies before his odometer turns over. He’ll be 30 on Thursday, and Hisashi Iwakuma gets the lucky task of halting the party express. Cabrera is 16 for 36 on his birthdays, with 12 runs and 1 HR, which came in Seattle 4 years ago. It’ll be the 4th time in 5 years that Detroit’s in Seattle for Miggy’s cumpleaños. Iwakuma has allowed just 6 hits in 21 IP, so it should be a worthy matchup.

• My twist on Jim Caple’s “CSI: Box Score” feature: What’s the significance of Detroit’s pitching line?

• Before his 30th birthday, Cabrera has 1,140 RBI (#6 since 1916) … 725 extra-base hits (#8) … 323 HRs (#11).
• “Have we got contact?” Action Jackson leads the bigs in hits and runs, and (I’m actually afraid to write this) has whiffed just 5 times in 67 trips. Last year, he cut his K rate from 26% to 22%, and hit .300 for the first time. (By the way, all those wags who said his .396 rookie BAbip was unsustainable were right. He’s down to .372 career, #2 to Hornsby in the live-ball era (min. 2,000 PAs). One of these days, he might even be an All-Star.
• Answer: It’s the first game this year where 2 Tigers relievers worked a clean inning. (It only felt like the first game where any Detroit reliever got off unscathed.) But their bullpen still has a 5.31 ERA, nearly double that of their starters.

@Twins 8, Angels 6: Piranhas, or just mosquitoes? Minny nibbled away at Jason Vargas and Jason Williams with 14 singles and one ground double — the first team past 12 hits this year with no more than one for extras. Joe Mauer had 4 of those bingles and is 18 for 39 in a 9-game hit streak.

• Sixth time an Angel starter allowed 5+ runs in less than 6 IP, all losses.
• You play this game long enough … That’s the 67th time that Albert’s made the last out of a game, and the 25th with high leverage.

White Sox 4, @Blue Jays 3: Middle-man Hector Santiago has faced 31 batters and gotten 29 outs. He was drafted in the 30th round out of Okaloosa-Walton College in Niceville, FL.

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Monday

Padres 6, @Dodgers 3: After freezing Andre Ethier to end the home 1st with the bags full, SD starter Eric Stults hit the club’s first 3-run HR (they had 5 solos and a deuce), and the first that Chad Billingsley had ever allowed to a pitcher.

@Athletics 11, Astros 2: Nate Freiman‘s first big-league HR was a 3-run shot that ended Erik Bedard’s shift with a resounding thud. A 6-run overture was more than enough for Tommy Milone to reach 3-0, allowing 8 hits in 6.2 IP, but no walks or HRs. Jed Lowrie’s 4 RBI gave him 12 after 14 games. From 1998-2007, 8 different shortstops totaled 21 seasons of 100+ RBI. But from 2008-12, there were just 2 such seasons, the last by Tulowitzki in 2011. By the way, Lowrie has never played 100 games in a season.

• At 6′ 8″, Freiman is tied with Tony Clark for the tallest listed height of any non-pitcher in MLB history. Oakland grabbed Freiman on waivers in late March, so it’s fitting that the first team he hurt was the team that cut him loose.
• The last A’s pitcher to win his first 3 starts (while beginning the year in the rotation) was Kevin Appier in 1999. The last to win more than 4 was Dave Stewart, 1990.
• Run support leaders after 3 starts: (1) Jon Niese, 34 runs; (2) Tommy Milone, 28 runs. Houston had scored 16 runs in Bedard’s prior start.
• Milone’s 3.80 SO/BB ratio ranks 4th among active starters with 200+ innings.
• Sean Doolittle has stranded 21 of 24 inherited runners in his 53 MLB innings, with 63 Ks and 12 walks. Not bad, for a converted first baseman. But don’t call him a LOOGY — 82% of his outings have been 1 inning or more.

@Red Sox 3, Rays 2: Andrew Bailey let in the tying run in the 9th, but he kept it tied after the lead run reached 2nd with no outs. Dustin Pedroia, a superb 2-strike hitters, worked a full-count walk from Joel Peralta with 1 out in the home 9th, then raced around on Mike Napoli’s tin-toucher. And thirty minutes later, that was all just a footnote.

• Full marks to Naps & Pedey, but a D-minus to Matt Joyce in LF: First, he set up too far from the wall, so the ball bounced onto the track and then rebounded above his head before he could glove it. Then he couldn’t get the ball out of his glove on the first try. Finally, he heaved it over the cut-off into no-man’s land, when a relay still might have nailed Pedroia. That was his 11th game in that field; he should know that fly balls usually die off that wall.
• Pedroia’s .320 OBP with 2 strikes ranks 4th among nearly 200 actives with at least 1,000 PAs in that situation — tied with his longtime teammate, Kevin Youkilis.
• Lowest WHIP by an active pitcher with 200+ IP: (1) Sergio Romo, 0.88. (2) Koji Uehara, 0.91. Uehara is #1 in BB/9 (1.24) and SO/BB (7.87).

@Reds 4, Phillies 2: With 2 outs in the 8th, Chase Utley batted for Cliff Lee, representing the tying run. Dusty Baker declined to bring in Aroldis Chapman, who had thrown 5 pitches to 2 batters the day before (after a week’s rest) and has allowed just 1 career HR and an .096 BA to lefties, while whiffing nearly half. Dusty stayed with Bronson Arroyo, who had pitched great to that point, but over the past 2 years had allowed more HRs to lefties than any other pitcher, and had the 3rd-highest OPS against them. Gee, I wonder how this happened?

But Brandon Phillips, who had keyed their 2-run 7th by doubling on an 0-2 pitch from Cliff Lee, rode to the rescue again. Phillips screwed up Philly’s strategy by driving in 2 after an IBB to Votto. And then, at last, Aroldis.

• In 48 ABs pinch-hitting, Utley has 5 HRs and a .333 average.
• Philly’s new CF Ben Revere has swung a weak stick, but this eye-popper was his 3rd DP of the year. Last year’s OF leader had 6.
• By now, Chapman-Howard isn’t even fair.
• Sept. 19, 2012, 7th inning, Ruben Tejada on a full count. April 15, 2013, 7th inning, Jay Bruce on a full count. In between, 169 batters faced Cliff Lee without drawing a walk.
• Losing pitcher Jeremy Horst was a revelation last year. This year, hide your eyes — 6 runs in 5.2 IP, plus 3 of 4 inherited runners.

@Twins 8, Angels 2: “Momentum is tomorrow’s starting pitcher.” Momentum is not Joe Blanton, who fell to 0-3, 8.59, with 26 hits and 6 HRs out of 74 batters faced. Since leaving the A’s, Blanton has 11 starts against AL teams, with a 6.08 ERA and 18 HRs in 67 IP.

• Joe Mauer got his twentieth 4-hit game — 4th in Minnesota Twins history — but his first since last May.
• Ignoring the absurdity of Peter Bourjos batting leadoff: When he starts the game with a HR, and you get another from Brendan Harris — you really need to win that game.

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Sunday surplus

Michael Bowden was the 3rd pitcher since 1916 to uncork 3 wild pitches and face 3 batters or less. He joins Scott Williamson (1999-06-08), who had the highest rate of wild pitches per batter in modern history (min. 400 IP), and Eddie Fisher (1965-08-29), who was just then developing his knuckleball under Hoyt Wilhelm’s tutelage. The latter two both did it in just 2 batters. Fisher’s inning is a riot: After a leadoff single in the 8th against the SP, Fisher came in with a 1-run lead and threw a wild pitch, then walked Tony Conigliaro. Another wild pitched moved the runners up. A grounder to 2B led to an out at the plate, leaving men at the corners with 1 away. Fisher’s 3rd wild pitch advanced the trail runner only, then he was replaced by Bob Locker. A grounder to 1B produced another out at the plate, and then Yaz made the 3rd out.