Cubs 10, Dodgers 8

- the Cubbies reached double digits without hitting a home run, instead scoring their runs the old fashioned way - they earned them. Starlin Castro went 4-for-5 with three RBI, two runs, a double and a steal. Darwin Barney was nearly as good, with a 3-for-5, three RBI, two run day that also included his first steal of the season. Jeff Baker went 2-for-5 with a double and two RBI. In fact every Chicago starter got a hit, and five of them had multi-hit games.
- LA's hitters were a little more modern and manly, as Jeff Kemp, Rod Barajas and Casey Blake all going yard. Kemp's now pushed his slash line to .402/.484/.659. Andre Ethier also extended his hitting streak to 20 games with a double.
- all that damage had to get charged to somebody's ledger. Ryan Dempster got tagged for seven runs in 5.2 innings (including all three homers) but at least he made it to the sixth inning. Ted Lilly coughed up five runs on 11 hits in just 4.1 frames.
- Jerry Sands looked decidely uncomfortable in left field, making a couple of defensive miscues that didn't get rung up as errors simply out of charity. Meanwhile, James Loney was the only starter on either team other than the pitchers to go ohfer.

W: Jeff Samardzija (2-0) SV: Carlos Marmol (5) HR: Kemp (5), Barajas (4), Blake (2) SB: Sands (1), Castro (3), Barney (1), Marlon Byrd (1)

Rays 6, Jays 4

- David Price had a little trouble with his usual nemesis but was otherwise in control, giving up four runs on eight hits and two walks over eight innings while striking out five to get the win.
- Brandon Morrow got saddled with the loss in his first start since coming off the DL but arguably pitched better than Price, striking out 10 batters over 5.1 innings while getting charged with three runs on three hits and two walks.
- oh, Price's nemesis? That would be the utterly ridiculous Jose Bautista, who saw seven pitches from Price over his first two at-bats and deposited two of them over a wall somewhere. Needless to say Price walked him on four straight in their final matchup of the day. Bautista new lifetime record against the young Tampa ace: 8-for-19 with a double, three home runs and three walks. That's a .421/.500/.947 line.
- more Bautista: he's reached base in 10 straight plate appearances, a streak that features three walks, two singles, a double, a triple, and three homers. Tampa manager Joe Maddon, who was the Angels' bench coach for the 2002 World Series, compared him to the Barry Bonds of a decade ago, and Bautista's slash stats (.371/.506/.774 on the season) back up what should by all rights be outrageous hyperbole.
- both of Bautista's blasts were solo shots, by the way. Maybe Toronto might want to re-think having Corey Patterson (0-for-4 on the day, .196/.245/.348 since coming off the DL) hit right in front of him.
- Sam Fuld did his usual: one hit, two walks, two runs, one stolen base. That act's getting old, Sam, unless of course you own him, or are a Tampa fan, or are from New Hampshire.
- Mr. Automatic for the Rays, Kyle Farnsworth, got the save but also came up favoring his left knee a bit (the one he had minor issues with in the spring) while trying to field a Travis Snider bunt. He stayed in the game and seemed fine, but it's something to be aware of.

W: Price (3-2) SV: Farnsworth (5) HR: Johnny Damon (4), Ben Zobrist (4), Bautista 2 (7) SB: Sam Fuld (10), B.J. Upton (5) CS: Casey Kotchman (1)

Mets 6, Diamondbacks 4

- the Mets finally have something resembling a heart of their batting order, as the newly-returned Jason Bay and Ike Davis went back-to-back in the third inning.
- both shots came off Barry Enright, who never got on track after an 80-minute rain delay. His final line was five runs allowed on 12 hits over 5.2 innings.
- Dillon Gee wasn't bad in giving up four runs (only two earned) on five hits and a walk over six innings while striking out five. He may not be heading back to Triple-A any time soon.

W: Gee (2-0) SV: Francisco Rodriguez (4) HR: Miguel Montero (3), Bay (1), Davis (4) SB: Justin Upton (3), Gerardo Parra (2), David Wright (4)

Twins 10, Indians 3

- after teasing competency in his last few starts Fausto Carmona reverted to type, allowing six runs on seven hits and four walks in five innings while striking out only one.
- Brian Duensing on the other hand was sharp, throwing seven strong frames and giving up just one run on five hits and a walk, striking out three.
- the top four batters in the Twins order each rapped out two hits and combined for five runs scored and seven RBI. Jason Kubel got the biggest share of the spoils with a run and the RBI.
- Joe Nathan threw a perfect ninth and struck out two, but still couldn't top 92 mph with his fastball. He might work his way back into the closer mix with another couple of clean outings, but he's not all the way back yet.
- Grady Sizemore stayed hot since coming off the DL, smoking his second homer.

W: Duensing (2-0) HR: Sizemore (2), Danny Valencia (2) SB: Orlando Cabrera (1), Denard Span (2), Michael Cuddyer (1)

Braves 5, Giants 2

- Tim Hudson couldn't quite finish the job, surrendering two run on nine hits over 8.2 innings while striking out four. Craig Kimbrel then came in and got the cheap save, retiring Buster Posey on five filthy fastballs.
- Tim Lincecum fought his control all game, finall leaving after 6.1 ugly innings having allowed five runs on six hits and six walks. He did strike out six as well, which is some consolation for his 5x5 league owners at least.
- Martin Prado went 2-for-4 with a run scored and three RBI, while Jason Heyward reached base four times out of the two hole.
- Pat Burrell was the only San Fran hitter to do much off Hudson, going 3-for-4 with two doubles and two runs scored.

W: Hudson (3-2) SV: Kimbrel (6) CS: Prado (1)

Tigers 9, White Sox 0

- Brad Penny became the latest pitcher to stifle a moribund White Sox offense, giving up just one hit (and a disputed one at that) and two walks over seven shutout innings.
- six different Tigers had multi-hit games, with Alex Avila (3-for-4, two RBI) and Ryan Raburn (2-for-3, three RBI) swinging the biggest bats. Will Rhymes was "that guy" though, going 0-for-3 in the middle of the hit parade.
- most of that damage came off Edwin Jackson, who gave up eight runs (seven earned) on 12 hits and four walks over just 5.2 innings.
- Adam Dunn and Alexis Rios each went 0-for-3, seeing their averages drop to .154 and .160 respectively. They aren't the only Chi-Sox batters struggling right now of course, just the worst offenders.
- in addition to his struggles on the base paths this season, Juan Pierre also committed his fourth error of the season, an appalling number for an outfielder. Something is clearly wrong with Pierre right now, but whether it's physical or mental is impossible to say.

W: Penny (1-2) And no homers, no steals, no nothin'.

Reds 5, Cardinals 3

- Chris Carpenter needed 103 pitches to get through six strong innings, with the only blemish on his line coming on a two-run shot by Joey Votto. Once Carpenter left the mound the ballgame was as good as over, as Miguel Batista, Trever Miller and the inevitable Ryan Franklin then handed the game to the Reds.
- Travis Wood wasn't bad, giving up three runs on eight hits and a walk over 6.1 innings while striking out five.
- Jay Bruce went 0-for-3 but arguably had the biggest at-bat of the game, drawing a bases-loaded walk off Miller (the Cards' LOOGY) to tie the game. Bruce, incidentally, has a slightly better OPS against lefties (albeit in a miniscule sample) than righties so far this year, as he keeps teasing signs of a breakout.
- Aroldis Chapman got two outs relieving Wood, topping out at a mere 98 mph. Tyler Greene, who saw five straight fastballs before flailing away at a slider, thinks he looks OK.

W: Chapman (1-0) SV: Francisco Cordero (3) HR: Votto (4), Albert Pujols (7) SB: Colby Rasmus (2) CS: Lance Berkman (1)

Yankees 15, Orioles 3

- apparently the Yankees don't just hit home runs at home. They went deep five times on Saturday, with Russell Martin homering twice and Alex Rodriguez blasting his 22nd career grand slam, putting him one back of Lou Gehrig for the all-time major league record. Even Brett Gardner popped one.
- Martin, by the way, already has more home runs this year than he did all of last year.
- C.C. Sabathia, who had apparently been battling some sort of bug before his scheduled start Friday (which got rained out) looked just fine, cruising through eight innings with a 7:1 K:BB ratio. The only damage off him was a too little, too late three-run homer by Adam Jones.
- Mark Reynolds went 0-for-3 with a walk and, of course, one of Sabathia's K's. He's now hitting .177/.268/.306 through his first 19 AL games.

W: Sabathia (1-1) HR: Martin 2 (6), Rodriguez (5), Jorge Posada (6), Gardner (1), Jones (4)

Pirates 7, Nationals 2

- Livan Hernandez didn't have his best stuff and didn't get very good defense behind him, resulting in an ugly line on the night: seven runs on nine hits and four walks over six innings with two K's, although only four of the runs were earned.
- Ian Desmond stole his eighth base but it was otherwise a forgettable night, as he went 0-for-3 and screwed up two throws from Wilson Ramos on Pirate stolen base attempts. He's expecting the birth of his first child and his focus clearly isn't 100|PERCENT| on baseball right now, so Jim Riggleman's probably doing the smart thing by sitting him down on Sunday.
- Jeff Karstens had a solid outing for Pittsburgh, allowing two runs on six hits and a walk over six innings while striking out three.
- given how inept the Nationals were at gunning down base stealers in this game (Ramos also had a throwing error of his own) Ryan Doumit's caught stealing is either a completely understandable bit of overenthusiasm, or totally unforgiveable depending on your perspective.

W: Karstens (2-0) HR: Jayson Werth (3) SB: Desmond (8), Jose Tabata (9), Andrew McCutchen 2 (3) CS: Doumit (1)

Rockies 3, Marlins 1

- Jason Hammel was sharp, getting touched for just one run on seven hits and a walk over 6.2 frames, striking out four.
- Javier Vazquez was not, also he did limit the damage this time. Vazquez gave up three runs on four hits and five walks over six innings, but ruined the progression by only striking out five instead of seven.
- Troy Tulowitzki led the Rockies attack as usual, going 2-for-4 with an RBI and a steal.
- Mike Stanton is heating up, going 2-for-4 Saturday and 7-for his last-19 to raise his average to .261. The walk rate is way up, the strikeouts are down a bit, over half his hits this year have gone for extra bases... be afraid, opposing pitchers. Be very afraid.

W: Hammel (2-1) SV: Huston Street (7) SB: Tulowitzki (2)

Astros 9, Brewers 6

- chaos reigned in this one. Houston nearly turned a triple play on what would have been three successive rundowns and a scorekeeper's ultimate nightmare. The winning runs in the 10th scored on a Humberto Quintero double, followed by his first ever career steal of third base and then a Brandon Lyon double. Not a double offBrandon Lyon, but a double byBrandon Lyon, who was batting for himself after blowing the save in the ninth (and needing 32 pitches to do it). Naturally, Lyon was untouchable in the 10th as he ran his pitch count up to 48.
- Shaun Marcum came from his father's hospital bed to gut his way through six innings, giving up four runs on eight hits and a walk while striking out eight. His dad, by the way, is doing well after triple bypass surgery.
- Ryan Braun homered again, going 2-for-5 with two runs scored and three RBI. He's now reached base safely in all 20 of Milwaukee's games this year.
- Angel Sanchez continues to do well as the Astros' default option at shortstop, going 2-for-5 with two doubles, two runs scored and an RBI. Brett Wallace also collected two doubles and scored two runs, while Hunter Pence went 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBI.

W: Lyon (1-1) HR: Carlos Lee (2), Pence (3), Braun (7) SB: Quintero (1), Carlos Gomez (5)

Rangers 3, Royals 1

- Alexi Ogando continues to be amazing, giving up one run over six innings with a 5:1 K:BB ratio and his only real mistake being a solo shot by Kila Ka'aihue.
- Kyle Davies wasn't bad either, allowing three runs (two earned) on four hits and a walk over six innings.
- Alex Gordon extended his hitting streak to 17 games, and now has a .360/.409/.535 line. Jeff Francoeur is trying to keep up, and has a 13-game hitting streak of his own.
- 40-year-old Darren Oliver became the oldest Rangers to ever record a save, topping Goose Gossage by 150-odd days. Of course he may not hold that record for long, with Neftali Feliz on the DL and 41-year-old Arthur Rhodes also in the Texas 'pen.

W: Ogando (3-0) SV: Oliver (1) HR: Ka'aihue (2) SB: Alcides Escobar (5), Michael Young (3)

Phillies 4, Padres 2

- Tim Stauffer and Joe Blanton traded strong two-run efforts, with Blanton lasting a little longer (seven innings with a 3:2 K:BB ratio) and Stauffer being more dominant (7:1 K:BB ratio in six innings). Neither one saw a decision as the game dragged on to the 11th.
- Ryan Howard very nearly had an awful night, trying on the Golden Sombrero through his first four at-bats before tossing it aside and cranking out a two-run double in the top of the 11th to win it.
- Cameron Maybin went 2-for-4 with a walk and two runs scored, boosting his slash line on the season to a respectable .260/.341/.493. I think it's nearly safe to say the Marlins gave up on him too early.
- with Jose Contreras unavailable, Ryan Madson nailed down the save in the 11th. Contreras has been great, but he's also as old as the San Juan Hills and needs his rest.

W: Howie Kendrick (1-1) SV: Madson (2) SB: Wilson Valdez (2)

Red Sox 5, Angels 0

- what the heck has gotten into Dice-K? After a miserable start to the season that had most folks all but writing him off, Daisuke Matsuzaka has been dazzling in his last two efforts including Saturday's seven one-hit innings with a 9:3 K:BB ratio. In fact, he's the first Boston pitcher to have back-to-back starts of at least seven one-hit (or less) innings since Pedro Martinez in 2002. Not bad company.
- Ervin Santana got roughed up for nine hits and five runs in seven innings, but he also struck out nine and walked one. In fact his K:BB ratio right now (28:8) is his best since 2008, but it's camouflaged behind a ugly .350 BABIP and 5.51 ERA. I'd trade for him in a heartbeat.
- Jacoby Ellsbury got his turn in the leadoff spot and acquitted himself well, going 2-for-5 with two runs scored and two steals. Jed Lowrie hit sixth but kept hitting, going 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored. Even Carl Crawford got a couple of hits.
- Hank Conger went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts, and the Sawx ran semi-wild on him. In fact opposing baserunners are now 7-for-9 against him. You know Mike Scioscia is just dying to scratch his Jeff Mathis itch right about now.

W: Matsuzaka (2-2) HR: Kevin Youkilis (4) SB: Ellsbury 2 (5), Dustin Pedroia (2)

A's 9, Mariners 1

- tired of seeing his rotation-mates rag-dolled by a Triple-A lineup, Trevor Cahill manned up and held Seattle to one run on seven hits over six innings.
- Cahill's opposite numbers, Jason Vargas, just had a miserable night from the get-go, as his second pitch of the night was drilled back up the middle by Coco Crisp and ricocheted off his ankle. He stayed in the game and made it through five innings, but they were five bad innings: six runs on six hits (including a home run to Cliff Pennington of all people) and three walks, with three K's.
- Josh Lueke continues to prove that Karma is a baseball fan, giving up three runs on four hits and a walk in an inning of work to boost his ERA up to a rosy 17.05.
- Kevin Kouzmanoff also homered as part of a 2-for-4, four RBI night.
- Ichiro Suzuki was about the only bright spot for the M's, going 3-for-4.

W: Cahill (3-0) HR: Pennington (1), Kouzmanoff (2) SB: Pennington (4), Mark Ellis (2), Kurt Suzuki (1) CS: Michael Saunders (1)