Saturday night was a fantastic night of baseball all around the Major Leagues. We had walkoffs, grand slams, extra innings, shutouts, pitchers duels, one run ball games, ejections and just about everything else a baseball fan could ask for:
Boston 9- Oakland 8 (14 innings)- Jon Papelbon was originally going to be the focus of my post today after he surrendered the game tying four runs in the 9th inning while only getting one out before getting tossed for arguing balls and strikes. Instead, I got a ton of great games to write about. Jason Varitek also got ejected in the 9th of this one during the Pap’s meltdown. The Red Sox even fell behind in the 11th after a Ryan Sweeney sac fly but tied it up in the bottom of the frame with back to back 2 out doubles. The Sox then won the game in the bottom of the 14th on a JD Drew walkoff single.
Tampa Bay 3- Seattle 2- Jeremy Hellickson went 7.1 innings, surrendering only 3 hits to earn his 7th win of the year.
Los Angeles 11- Cincinnati 8 (11 innings)- The Dodgers needed 1 in the 7th and 5 in the 8th to send this one to extras. Matt Kemp hit a game tying, 1 out grand slam in the 8th to cap off the LA rally. Kemp drove in another run in the 11th as the Dodgers added 4 to go up 11-7. Cincy got one back in the bottom of the inning but it wasn’t enough as they blew a 7-2 lead in the 8th to drop this great game.
St. Louis 5- Chicago 4- Albert Pujols showed why he’s the best hitter in the pros in this heated rivalry game. He drove in 4 of the 5 Cardinal runs including a 2 out walkoff blast in the bottom of the 12th. Oh yeah, it was his second of the game.
Colorado 2- San Francisco 1- Madison Bumgarner went 7 innings and gave up only 1 earned run. He took the loss.
Texas 4- Cleveland 0- Derek Holland twirled his second career complete game shutout, giving up only 5 hits and earning his 5th win of the year. This one was in front of his friends and family in Cleveland. The Indians have now lost 3 in a row and 7 of their last 10. (Called it!)
New York 5- Atlanta 0- Dillon Gee is now 6-0 after allowing no runs on 4 hits over 7. (You read that right)
Milwaukee 3-Florida 2- The Brewers put up 2 in the 7th with help from a Prince Fielder homer to snag this close one on the road.
Arizona 2- Washington 0- Joe Saunders gave up only 2 hits over 7 to win this one.
New York 3- Los Angeles of Anaheim 2- CC Sabathia went 8.2 to win it after the Yankees scored 3 off of homers by Robinson Cano and Alex Rodriguez. Ervin Santana pitched well and was the hard luck loser. Mariano Rivera retired the only batter he faced to earn the save (and we wonder why sabermatricans hate that stat?).
If only all nights could be as fun and entertaining as Saturday.
-Max Frankel
