Strasburg, Jimenez Fail to Win
Stephen Strasburg took his first major league loss in a 1-0 Nationals loss to the Royals despite striking out nine batters in six innings.
Stephen Strasburg lost his major league game in Washington last night despite striking out nine batters. He did allow nine hits to the Royals the best hitting team in the majors but only gave up one run.
The Nationals offense scored 14 runs for Strasburg in his first two starts but have scored one run total over his last two starts. He has not walked a batter in three of his starts. His strikeouts to walks ratio in those three games is 31-0.
Despite having pitched well in his four major league games the Nationals have only won one of those games. The Nationals have drawn 112,553 in home games in which Strasburg started.
He will face Tim Hudson and the Braves in his next start on Monday at 7:10 ET on ESPN2.
Jimenez Pitches Worst Game, Rockies Win on Giambi Homer
Ubaldo Jimenez pitched his worst game of the season a day after going home sick before the Tuesday game. The Rockies staked Jimenez to an early 4-0 after three innings. But the Red Sox countered with two runs in the fourth and two in the sixth to give them a 6-5 lead.
Daniel Nava who had hit a grand slam in his first major league at bat earlier this season showed that he can hit well at the major league level with two doubles off the best pitcher in the majors raising his batting average to .382 while driving in three runs. Darnell McDonald drove in two runs with a home run in the sixth inning to give the Red Sox a 6-5 lead. Marco Scutaro drove in the other run in a game in which the 3-4-5 hitters drove in no runs.
Ian Stewart and Jason Giambi hit ninth inning home runs off of Jonathan Paplebon to give the Rockies a 8-6 come from behind win.
Around the Diamond
Kerry Wood blew his third save in eight chances giving up a ninth inning walkoff two run homer to Jimmy Rollins that gave the Phillies a 7-6 victory. Wood finished the game with a 7.98 ERA….The Marlins won their first game since Fredi Gonzalez was fired yesterday with a 7-5 win over the Orioles. The win moved them to six and a half games behind the first place Braves in the NL East.
Adam LaRoche drove in all five runs for the Diamondbacks but the Yankees won the game 6-5 on a tenth inning home run by Curtis Granderson….Knuckleballer R.A. Dickey is 6-0 after pitching eight shutout innings for the Mets in their 5-0 win over the Tigers and his sixth consecutive win. He had only one winning season back in 2003 for the Rangers with a 9-8 record in his eight major league seasons but he has finally mastered the knuckleball this season.
Chris Carpenter (9-1) had won 51 games in his first three seasons with the Cardinals but has only posted 26 wins in the last four seasons including the 2010 season. He showed again yesterday he is back after defeating the Blue Jays 1-0….The Rangers won their tenth game in a row with a 13-3 pasting of the Pirates behind a 17 hit attack that moved them three and a half games ahead of the Angels in the AL West.
Carlos Quentin led the White Sox to their eighth consecutive win with two home runs and three runs batted in giving him three home runs and six runs batted in the first two games of the series with the Braves. Mark Buehrle took the 4-2 win while posting his third straight win. The win moved the White Sox to within two games of the Tigers and three and a half games of the first place Twins in the AL Central. They are 13-2 in their last 15 games.
Cliff Lee (6-3) scattered nine hits in a complete game win by the Mariners over the Cubs with a 8-1 victory. Lee continued his pinpoint control with no walks giving him a total of four walks with 76 strikeouts. He has walked a batter in only three of his 11 starts.
The Cubs are now tied for third place with the Brewers and haven’t had a winning record all season. Randy Wells was 3-0 on April 30 but hasn’t won since then and is now 3-6.
Ichiro Suzuki with 98 hits is on track to have another 200 hit season with ten games remaining to his 81st game of the season. He has been very consistent this season with a .344 average in April, a .336 average in May and a .333 average in June with a .338 average for the season.
Baseball Notebook 