The Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees,Detroit Tigers and San Diego Padres all got weekend series sweeps as baseball closed in on its first month of the season.
So what if the Yankees roster looks like a M*A*S*H unit. Despite missing injured All-Stars Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira and Curtis Granderson, the Yankees are 14-5 following a 1-4 start.
The achilles’ heel for the Tigers supposed to be the bullpen, but after adding Jose Valverde and some “stability” to the mix, the Tigers humbled the Atlanta Braves , who are off to a hot start of their own (15-9), in a three-game series in Detroit.
The Padres were involved with their fifth sweep of the season. After losing three games at home to Colorado two weekends ago, the San Diego turned around and beat the Dodgers in three straight at Los Angeles and then three against the San Francisco Giants this weekend.
The Yankees get their own shot at the Astros starting tonight, while the Tigers in the Red Sox get an off day to enjoy the spoils of victory. The Padres visit the Cubs in Chicago.
American League Scores
Boston 6 Houston 1 John Lackey pitched six strong innings in the Red Sox’s 6-1 win over the Astros. Stephen Drew hit a two-run triple and David Ortiz drove in two runs with two hits, extending his hitting streak to 20 games dating back to last season. Ortiz has 11 RBIs and is batting .516 in eight games since returning to the lineup last weekend.
New York 3 Toronto 2 Brennan Boesch and Lyle Overbay homered on knuckleballs from R.A. Dickey, and New York rallied past the Toronto Blue Jays 3-2 Sunday for a four-game sweep.
Detroit 8 Atlanta 3 Austin Jackson and Miguel Cabrera each hit three-run home runs in Detroit’s 8-3 win against Mike Minor and the Atlanta Braves
Tampa Bay 8 Chicago 3 David Price earned his first victory in 2013 after throwing seven innings and striking out nine. The 2012 AL Cy Young Award winner accused Tom Hallion of using an expletive after Price threw his last pitch. “I’ll come right out bluntly and say he’s a liar,” Hallion told a pool reporter. “I said, ‘Just throw the ball.’ That’s all I said to him.” Matt Joyce and Jose Lobaton homered for the Rays ,and Paul Konerko had a two-run shot for Chicago.
Minnesota 5 Texas 0 Justin Morneau hit a home run and Kevin Correia tossed eight shutout innings in Minnesota’s 5-0 win against Texas.
Kansas City 9 Cleveland 0 Jeremy Guthrie threw 6 2/3 innings of shutout to baseball to lead the Royals past the Indians 9-0.Guthrie (3-0) allowed six hits over 6 2/3 innings for his 16th consecutive start without a loss. Justin Masterson (4-2) allowed seven runs in 6 1/3 innings for the Indians.
Cleveland 10 Kansas City 3 Mike Aviles hit a three-run homer and finished with a career-high five RBIs, and the Indians beat the Royals 10-3 to salvage a split. Carlos Santana had four hits and drove in a run in Game 2 for the Indians, while the Royals committed three errors that helped lead to four unearned runs.
Oakland 9 Baltimore 8 Yoenis Cespedes‘ two-run homer in the ninth sent the game to extra innings, where Coco Crisp‘s sac fly in the 10th helped the A’s to a 9-8 win over the Orioles.
National League Scores
Philadelphia 5 New York 1 Cole Hamels struck out eight batters, Freddy Galvis homered, Chase Utley had and RBi single and the Phillies beat the Mets 5-1. Ryan Howard broke a tie in the seventh inning with a two RBI double. Two
Miami 6 Chicago 4 Giancarlo Stanton hit two home runs in Miami’s 6-4 win against Chicago. “It was just a matter of time,” manager Mike Redmond said. “This guy is a special player. He’s a game-changer.”
Cincinnati 5 Washington 2 Rookie pitcher Tony Cingrani struck out 11 batters in six innings as the Reds beat the Nationals 5-2.
Pittsburgh 9 St. Louis 0 Russell Martin hit two home runs to lead the Pittsburgh Pirates over the St. Louis Cardinals 9-0. Garrett Jones had three hits and John McDonald had a key bloop RBI double for Pittsburgh, which ended rookie Shelby Miller‘s streak of 14 scoreless innings at home to start the season
Los Angeles 2 Milwaukee 0 Carl Crawford hit two home runs to provide all the runs the Dodgers would need as Clayton Kershaw retired 18 consecutive batters and struck out 12/8 innings of work to beat the Milwaukee Brewers 2-0.
San Diego 6 San Francisco 4 Chase Headley, Nick Hundley and Alexi Amarista homered off Ryan Vogelsong to lead the Padres to a 6-4 victory Sunday. The Padres completed this three-game sweep of the Giants for the first time since May 2010
Arizona 4 Colorado 2 Patrick Corbin allowed two runs over 6 2/3 innings and Arizona beat the Colorado Rockies 4-2. Gerardo Parra tripled and scored twice, and Josh Wilson had a run-scoring double for the Diamondbacks. Rockies All-Star shortstop Troy Tulowitzki was lifted in the bottom of the third inning because of a strained left shoulder.
