Pudge Drives Detroit to Victory; McLouth Rallies Bucs Past Dodgers

Players of the Day for Monday, April 14 American League Though the Tigers are off to the worst start of any team in the majors, they still possess a lineup capable of hammering opponents into submission. Such was the case last night as Detroit won for only the third time in 13 games this season, rallying past Minnesota, 11-9, thanks to the late-inning surge by Ivan Rodriguez and his teammates. Down 9-4 in the bottom of the seventh, Rodriguez connected on his first home run of the year, a leadoff solo shot off reliever Matt Guerrier. Though the Twins' reliever retired the next three batters, the 8th inning would be his - and the Twins - undoing. The Tigers unleashed an offensive assault which sent 10 men to the plate in a six-run eighth-inning, highlighted by Pudge's 2-run triple which tied the game. Rodriguez scored the go-ahead run on Jacques Jones' sac fly and the Tigers added one more for good measure. Pudge finished the night 2-for-4 with 3 RBI and 2 runs scored. National League The Pittsburgh Pirates may want to reconsider batting Nate McLouth in the leadoff spot, especially after his 3-run, 9th inning home run sent the Pirates to a 6-4 comeback win over the Los Angeles Dodgers Monday night. McLouth, a part-time player over the last three seasons with the Pirates, has been their leadoff man all of 2008. His dramatic home run - his only hit of the night - extended his season-long hitting streak to 13 games, and despite batting leadoff, leads the Pirates with 14 RBI. He's tied with teammate Xavier Nady for second in the league RBI standings, both trailing Arizona's Mark Reynolds by one.

Pedroia Leads BoSox; Pudge, Tigers Flatten Phillies

Note: During interleague play, home teams are reported under their respective leagues. American League NY Mets 2 NY Yankees 0 - Two streaks ended last night in New York. The Mets stopped their losing streak at 5 and ended the Yankees' winning streak at 9 straight as Oliver Perez outdueled Roger Clemens. Perez worked 7 1/3, allowing just 5 hits and 3 walks while fanning 6. Clemens struck out 8 over his 6 1/3 innings, but gave up the game's only runs on an RBI single in the 3rd by Jose Reyes and Reyes' 3rd home run of the season in the 5th. The speedy shortstop finished the night 3-3 and added 3 more stolen bases to his major league leading total. He now has 35. The Mets attempted 7 steals and were successful on 5 of them. Boston 10 San Francisco 2 - Usually, it's David Ortiz or Manny Ramirez getting the headlines in a big Boston win, but on Friday, it was rookie 2nd baseman Dustin Pedroia (right) who stole the spotlight. Pedroia went 5-5, with a double and his 3rd home run of the season, amassing 5 RBI and scoring twice. The Giants, mired in the NL West cellar, again were let down by their ace, Barry Zito (6-7), who allowed 6 earned runs on 5 hits and 4 walks over 5 1/3 innings. Boston's win, coupled with the Yankees' loss put the Red Sox' lead back at 8 1/2 games. Milwaukee 11 Minnesota 3 - The Brewers won their 3rd straight to remain 5 1/2 clear of the Cubs in the NL Central. Prince Fielder clubbed his 24th home run, drove in 2 and scored 3 times. Fielder leads the NL in homers and his 53 RBI are just one behind Houston's Carlos Lee. Oakland 14 St. Louis 3 - Danny Haren (8-2) won his 8th straight after starting the season with a pair of losses. Haren worked 7 innings, giving up 2 earned runs on 6 hits and 3 walks, striking out 8. The dependable righty has not lost a decision since April 7. All 9 starters for the A's had at least one hit in overwhelming the Cardinals, who dropped to 28-36, 7 1/2 games behind Milwaukee. Oakland trails the Angels by 4 games in the AL West. Other AL Scores Arizona 7 Baltimore 3 - O. Hudson, PH HR (7), 3 RBI Atlanta 5 Cleveland 4 Toronto 7 Washington 2 - R. Halladay (W, 7-2) Kansas City 6 Florida 2 National League Detroit 12 Philadelphia 8 - Jimmy Rollins (left) hit two home runs and Ryan Howard added his 14th for the Phillies, but it was the Tigers' Ivan Rodriguez (right) who broke the game open with a three-run shot in the 5th inning. Pudge's 7th of the season made the score 7-1, and the Tigers added 4 more in the 6th - two on a Rodriguez RBI single - and another run in the 7th to overwhelm their hosts. With Cleveland losing to Atlanta, the Tigers closed to within a game of the first-place Indians, while the Phillies fell 1/2 back of Atlanta and 3 behind the NL East-leading Mets. The two teams go at it again on Saturday and conclude the short series on Sunday in Philadelphia. Texas 7 Cincinnati 6 - Sammy Sosa changed the game with a 5th inning grand slam - his 11th of the season and 599th of his career - that quickly turned a 4-3 Reds lead into a 7-4 Rangers' advantage. In the bottom half of the inning, Adam Dunn launched a 2-run shot - his 16th - to complete the scoring as two of the weakest bullpens kept both teams off the scoreboard for the remaining 4 innings. Colorado 12 Tampa Bay 2 - Matt Holliday doubled twice, singled, scored a run and drove in 4 in 5 at-bats to lead Colorado to their 3rd straight win and keep pace in the ultra-competitive NL West. Holliday's .358 batting average leads the National League and his 52 RBI are the 4th best in the league.

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The Rockies' schedule may be working in their favor short term, as they handle the Devil Rays while the Dodgers battle the Angels and San Diego toughs it out with the Cubs this weekend. Colorado is 5 games behind Los Angeles. LA Dodgers 2 LA Angels 1 - The Dodgers got a win from their cross-town rivals thanks to another strong performance from starter Derek Lowe who shut out the Angels for 6 innings, finally surrendering the lone run in the 7th. Lowe (7-6) struck out 11 while allowing just 4 hits. Other NL Scores Chi Cubs 4 San Diego 1 - T. Lilly (W, 5-4) 8 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K Pittsburgh 4 Chi White Sox 2 Houston 5 Seattle 1 - C. Biggio, 3-5, needs 12 more for 3000 hits Interleague Scoreboard: Friday (6/8): AL 8, NL 6 Saturday (6/9): AL 10, NL 4 Sunday (6/10): AL 9, NL 5 Monday (6/11): AL 0, NL 2 Tuesday (6/12): AL: 8, NL: 6 Wednesday (6/13): AL: 6, NL: 8 Thursday (6/14): AL: 7, NL: 5 Friday (6/15): AL: 6, NL: 8

Pudge Fattens Up on Royals; Penny Turns Up Another Win

Monday's Peak Performers and Fabulous Flops American League Detroit's Ivan (Pudge) Rodriguez crashed a 1st inning grand slam and added a 2-run double in the 2nd as the Tigers sent the visiting KC Royals to their 5th straight loss, 12-5. Rodriguez and Carlos Guillen did the bulk of the damage. Pudge totaled 6 RBI while Guillen drove in 4 with a solo homer in the 4th and a bases-loaded double in the 8th inning. The woeful Royals have the worst record in the majors at 3-10 and are near the bottom of the American League in most team batting and pitching stats. National League Cliff Floyd didn't even expect to play, but when Alfonso Soriano injured himself in the fifth inning, Floyd answered the call with an RBI single and a 3-run home run which helped the Cubs defeat visiting San Diego, 12-4. Floyd is likely to get more playing time with Soriano on the shelf, at least for now. The extent of his injury - originally diagnosed as a strained hamstring - is not yet known and the star center fielder has not been placed on the DL. After 6 innings, the Milwaukee Brewers were up 4-3 at Cincinnati, but center fielder Bill Hall put the game away in the top of the 7th

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with a grand slam, his 2nd homer of the season. The 10-6 win launched the Brewers into 1st place in the NL Central at 7-5, 1/2 game ahead of the Reds. Following a couple of shaky outings against San Diego and Colorado, in which he gave up 13 hits and 10 earned runs in 11 innings combined, Barry Zito shook off the past and got his first win for the Giants, shutting out the Rockies over 6 innings on 3 hits and 3 walks. Zito improved to 1-2 as the visiting Giants beat up on 4 Colorado pitchers, winning 8-0. Shortstop Omar Vizquel stroked 4 singles, drove in a pair and scored twice in 4 at-bats. The Dodgers' Brad Penny might become known as "bad Penny" to NL West opponents because he just keeps showing up and beating them. Penny turned in his third straight strong performance last night in Arizona, allowing just 1 earned run on 5 hits and 3 walks over 7 innings. Penny, 3-0, has already beaten the Giants and Rockies, and just needs a win against the Padres to give him wins over all division opponents. The lonely run scored by the D=Backs in the sixth inning was only the second against Penny in 20.1 innings pitched. His ERA is 0.89 and hasn't given up a home run. He's tied with Florida's Dontrelle Willis for the NL lead with 3 wins.