Tampa Bay 7 – Cleveland 4
W: James Shields (4-1), L: Justin Masterson (5-1)
HR: Asdrubal Cabrera (6)
SB: Evan Longoria (1)
CS: Sam Fuld (4), Casey Kotchman (2 – now 1-for-3 in the SB department)
- James Shields once again put in a quality start, allowing only two runs in seven innings of work. He struck out seven, walked only one and picked off two base runners for a Major-League leading fifth pickoff. Reid Brignac recorded his first extra base hit in 105 ABs, a double. This is a team record you don't want. The Rays as a team had eleven hits and two doubles total accounted for both of their extra base hits. Does everyone realize that Casey Kotchman is now batting .360 and Matt Joyce is batting .358?
- Justin Masterson had his first bad start in his seventh outing. He should be fine going forward. Asdrubal Cabrera now has six home runs and now has more home runs than all of 2010 (381 at-bats). Will he be asked to pee in a cup soon?
Los Angeles – Pittsburgh PPD
San Francisco 3 – Arizona 2
W: Matt Cain (3-2) L: Daniel Hudson (3-5), S: Javier Lopez (1)
SB: Justin Upton (5), Nate Schierholtz (3)
CS: Aubrey Huff (1)
- Outside of Andres Torres, none of the starting lineup for the defending champions are hitting north of .281. Nate Schierholtz is a very interesting player to keep an eye on, provided he gets semi-regular playing time.
- I still like Daniel Hudson. Better days will be ahead of him.
New York 9 – Colorado 5
- W: Jonathon Niese (2-4), Ubaldo Jimenez (0-3)
- HR: Carlos Beltran 3 (8), Todd Helton (4), Jonathan Herrera (2)
- SB: Jason Bay 2 (2)
- CS: Jose Reyes (3)
- Carlos Beltran adapted nicely to the high altitude and hit a career-high three home runs. Given age, injury history, etc. I'd be shopping him if I owned him as I would if I owned Lance Berkman.
- I'm not sure what to think about Ubaldo Jimenez. My knee-jerk reaction is that he's the perfect "buy-low" candidate. His stats are totally out of whack – his HR/FB ratio is way higher than normal, GB rate is down, K rate is up, velocity is down, BB rate is double the norm and his BABIP is right where it is usually.
St. Louis 9 – Chicago 1
- W: Jaime Garcia (5-0), L: Casey Coleman (1-3)
- HR: Matt Holliday (5)
- News came out Thursday that while there is a committee in St. Louis, Eduardo Sanchez appears to be the lead horse. I'm not sure if Matt Holliday falls below the .330 line seeing as he's at .390.
- Jaime Garcia continues to be unhittable, running his record to 5-0. I'm beginning to think of him as the Jose Bautista of pitching considering most wrote off last year as a fluke and thought regression was on the horizon.
- Needless to say, Chicago's pitching staff is struggling. Andrew Cashner and Randy Wells can't get back soon enough.
Atlanta 6 – Washington 5
- W: Craig Kimbrel (1-1), L: Doug Slaten (0-1)
- HR: Danny Espinosa (4), Ivan Rodriguez (2), Martin Prado (5), Chipper Jones (4)
- SB: Roger Bernadina (3), Ian Desmond (13)
- For as good as he appeared, the wheels seem to have fallen off the Sean Burnett hype train. He suffered his third blown save (albeit in the seventh inning) and his ERA now sits at 6.46. Jordan Zimmermann was filthy, striking out 11 and walking only two.
- If you're looking for steals, take a flier on Roger Bernadina. It looks like he'll be a fixture at the top of the lineup for time being and has a green light on the basepaths.
Baltimore 2 – Seattle 1
- W: Jim Johnson (2-1), L: Brandon League (0-3)
- CS: Luis Rodriguez (2)
- An excellent pitcher's duel as both Jason Fargas and Zach Britton went nine frames without allowing a run or extra base hit. Defense has been the key lately for Seattle who now has at least two double-plays in their last five games.
- Brandon League looks terrible lately and the Mariners may turn to Jamey Wright for the next save opportunity. League has given up seven earned runs over his last 2.1 innings.
Kansas City 11 – New York 5
- W: Sean O'Sullivan (2-2), L: Ivan Nova (3-3)
- HR: Melky Cabrera (5), Eric Hosmer (2), Robinson Cano (9), Alex Rodriguez (6)
- Not a great game defensively by the Yankees who committed two errors and Francisco Cervelli allowed two passed balls. Throw in a couple of ground balls that were either beat out by hustling down the line or not turned into double plays and it spells disaster.
- Trying to figure out who likes hitting at Yankee Stadium better, Melky Cabrera or Eric Hosmer. Both homered for the second time in the series. Hosmer ran his batting average to .333 and has looked solid defensively at first base.
Follow me on twitter @KCPayne26