American League
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| Evan Longoria |
Still, Tampa has gotten itself into a contending position since the return of their all-star thrid baseman, Evan Longoria, who missed much of April, and has struggled to regain his award-winning form.
In Monday's 8-4 win at Milwaukee, some of that old spark showed up, as Longoria singled in a run and scored in the 7th inning, then proceeded to belt a three-run homer that completed Tampa's scoring and put the game out of reach.
The homer was only Longoria's 6th of the season and just his second in June. The power outage has been a concern for the Rays, because Longoria average 27 homers in his first three seasons.
National League
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| Kershaw's 2-hitter tamed Tigers |
Kershaw didn't allow a hit after the 4th inning, setting down 17 of the last 18 batters he faced, walking one. He ended the game with a flourish, striking out the side in the 9th. Kershaw fanned 11 for the game, giving him the NL lead in Ks, with 117, leading Roy Halladay (114) and Cliff Lee (111), but his was only one of two impressive performances by National League starters.
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| Hudson's 2-run homer won the game |
While Hudson's mound heroics were worthy of note, his plate appearance in the bottom of the 7th inning provided the winning runs for the Braves, as he blasted a two-run homer for the 2-0 Atlanta win.
Hudson retired 20 straight batters from the 2nd inning through the 8th, but walked the leadoff hitter, Mike McCoy, in the 9th and then gave up his second hit of the game, a single by Yunel Escobar. That's when closer Craig Kimbrel was summoned from the bullpen. He promptly struck out the next three batters, getting his 20th save of the season, tying him with Brian Wilson of the Giants for the second most in the league. Colorado's Huston Street leads with 21.
INTERLEAGUE TALLY: The National League managed to pick up four wins on Monday, but fell further behind as the AL teams won six, expanding their lead to 54-40.
but has pitched well enough to win a number of times this season. Note to fantasy players, Lieber is 129-119 with a 3-1 strikeout-walk ratio lifetime. The Phillies are 5 behind New York and trail Atlanta by just 1 1/2.
Washington 3 Minnesota 1 - Washington probably isn't going anywhere this season, but Minnesota has definitely gone south in June. The Twins lost for the 6th time in their last 7 games, scoring just 11 runs in the losses. Starter Johan Santana took another tough loss, surrendering just 2 earned runs over 7 innings.
Other AL Scores
Houston 3 Chicago White Sox 2 - Sox' 5th straight loss
Colorado 3 Baltimore 2, 10 innings
Detroit 8 NY Mets 7 - J. Bonderman (W, 6-0); C. Guillen, HR (8), 3 RBI
Texas 4 Milwaukee 3 - Rangers score 4 in bottom of 9th
National League
Oakland 6 San Francisco 0 - Oakland hammered former teammate Barry Zito for the second time this season and Dan Haren (right) won his 7th straight decision with a masterful performance, shutting out the Giants on 5 hits over 7 innings. Zito (6-6) lasted only 4 innings, allowing 3 earned runs on 9 hits. In a previous meeting between the two Bay Area teams (May 18), Zito gave up 7 earned runs on 6 hits and 7 walks and was also lifted after 4 innings.
Haren (7-2) struck out 6 without walking a batter, lowering his ERA to a major league-best 1.58 and his WHIP to 0.86. The A's kept pace with Seattle and the first place LA Angels in the AL West. The Mariners trail LA by 5 1/2 games. Oakland is 6 back.
Cleveland 8 Cincinnati 6, Final 11 innings - Grady Sizemore singled, doubled, homered and scored 3 times, including the final run of the game, as the Indians rallied past the Reds. The Indians are being dogged by the Detroit Tigers, who also won on Saturday and remain 2 1/2 back.