Associated Press
The MLB Roundup…
DETROIT ó Alexi Ogando outpitched Justin Verlander before leaving with a finger problem and the Texas Rangers won with a bold strategy, beating the Detroit Tigers 2-0 Monday.
The AL champions improved to 9-1, the top record in the majors and matching the best 10-game start in team history.
Rangers closer Neftali Feliz retired the first two batters in the ninth inning before Ryan Raburn doubled. The Rangers then intentionally walked Miguel Cabrera, bringing Victor Martinez to the plate as the potential winning run. Martinez grounded out on a 2-0 pitch to end it.
Michael Young and Mitch Moreland hit RBI doubles in the seventh inning as Texas equaled the start of its 1989 club.
Rays 16, Red Sox 5
BOSTON ó Sam Fuld went 4 for 6 with a two-run homer, drove in three runs and fell a single shy of the cycle to lead the Tampa Bay.
Johnny Damon had three hits, including a solo homer, and three RBIs, and John Jaso and Reid Brignac also drove in three runs apiece for the Rays. Jeremy Hellickson (1-1) gave up two runs, five hits, walked five and struck out one in 5 1-3 innings to earn the win.
Athletics 2, White Sox 1, 10 innings
CHICAGO ó Kurt Suzuki hit a go-ahead home run in the 10th inning, and Oakland capitalized on Juan Pierreís dropped fly ball in the ninth to tie it.
The White Sox wasted a dominant pitching performance by Mark Buehrle with their second ninth-inning implosion of the season. Buehrle was lifted after eight scoreless innings and 99 pitches. He allowed only three baserunners ó none past first base.
Cubs 5, Astros 4
HOUSTON ó Starlin Castro, Darwin Barney and Marlon Byrd combined for seven hits, five runs and three RBIs and the Chicago Cubs held on for a 5-4 win over the Houston Astros on Monday night.
Castro had three hits and scored three runs, Byrd drove in a pair of runs and Barney hit an RBI triple as the Cubs jumped on the Astros early, building a 5-0 lead by the fourth inning. Alfonso Soriano drove in two runs with a double in the first.
Rockies 7, Mets 6
NEW YORK ó Troy Tulowitzki homered and drove in three runs, Carlos Gonzalez also had three RBIs and the Colorado Rockies took advantage of a struggling New York Mets bullpen in a 7-6 victory Monday night.
Tulowitzki made a terrific jump throw from shortstop to preserve a seventh-inning tie and Seth Smith reached base four times, including on a triple and a double. The Rockies improved to 7-2, with the only two losses coming in extra innings, to match the best nine-game start in franchise history.
Jason Hammel pitched six respectable innings and Colorado took the opener of a four-game series, winning its third straight road game. The Rockies are 4-1 away from Coors Field after going 31-50 on the road last year.
The NL West leaders even found a way to win in New York. They are 5-23 on the road against the Mets since 2003, dropping eight consecutive series.
David Wright hit his second homer and Willie Harris had a two-run double for New York, which has lost four of five following a three-game winning streak. Jose Reyes tripled twice for the fifth time in his career.
Trailing by three, the Mets mounted a rally in the eighth. Wright led off with a homer against Rafael Betancourt and Carlos Beltran doubled. A run-scoring single by Ike Davis cut it to 7-6, but Betancourt retired the next three batters.
Huston Street worked a perfect ninth for his fifth save in five chances. Matt Belisle (2-0) got the final two outs in the seventh, with some help from Tulowitzki.
Reyes tripled with two outs and Daniel Murphy hit a grounder toward the hole at shortstop. Tulowitzki, a Gold Glove winner last year, fielded the ball on his backhand and jumped, twisting his body in the air to make a strong, accurate throw to first for the third out.
Dexter Fowler singled off Bobby Parnell (0-1) to open the eighth and moved to third on a sacrifice and a wild pitch. Gonzalez hit a comebacker and Parnell had a good chance to get Fowler at the plate, but he threw over the head of catcher Josh Thole.
Gonzalez was credited with an RBI on the fielderís choice and he went to second on the error. Tulowitzki followed with a loud shot to left for his fourth homer and a 7-4 lead.
It was the second time in the game that a Mets reliever threw high to home plate on a key play.
Ryota Igarashi, just called up from Triple-A Buffalo, had a chance for an inning-ending double play in the sixth, but he made a wayward throw to Thole, who jumped to catch it and scampered back to the plate for a force.
But that was the only out New York got on the play and Gonzalez followed with a two-run single, breaking his bat on a two-strike pitch, to tie it at 4.
Hoping to help their beleaguered bullpen, the Mets brought up Igarashi and Jason Isringhausen before the game. Isringhausen, making his first major league appearance since June 2009 with Tampa Bay ó and first for the Mets since 1999 ó escaped a jam in the seventh, pumping his fist.
New Yorkís overworked bullpen entered the day with a 4.98 ERA. The relievers threw 11 innings during a three-game series against Washington over the weekend, allowing 10 hits and 11 walks.
NOTES: Gonzalez was back in the lineup after not starting Sunday in Pittsburgh because of flulike symptoms. … Ty Wigginton started at 1B for Colorado in place of Todd Helton, sidelined by a stiff lower back. Helton is 6 for 10 with a homer and four walks against Mike Pelfrey, but manager Jim Tracy said Helton needed another day of rest even though he felt much better. Helton flied out with runners at the corners as a pinch hitter to end the seventh. … Rockies ace Ubaldo Jimenez is slated to pitch an extended spring training game Wednesday in Arizona and then return to the Rockiesí rotation next Monday. Jimenez is on the 15-day disabled list with a cut finger cuticle. … Smith also walked and stole a base. … Mets LF Jason Bay, on the DL with a strained left rib cage, took batting practice again in Florida and manager Terry Collins said ěin a perfect worldî heíd love to have Bay back by this weekend in Atlanta. ěI canít say thatís going to happen, certainly,î Collins said, ěbut I can dream, like anybody else.î … The last time Reyes hit two triples was May 2, 2008, at Arizona.
The Associated Press
04/11/11 23:02