MLB Wrap: Tigers spoil Matsuzaka's Mets debut

Share

For the third straight game, the Phillies enjoyed a walk-off victory at Citizens Bank Park in their series opener against against the Arizona Diamondbacks (see Instant Replay).

Here's a look at what happened around MLB tonight:

Tigers spoil Matsuzaka's Mets debut
Miguel Cabrera hit a three-run homer, Torii Hunter also connected and the Detroit Tigers tagged Daisuke Matsuzaka early in his return to the majors, beating the New York Mets 6-1 on Friday night.

Hunter added a long, two-run double and Doug Fister (11-6) pitched into the seventh inning to help Detroit win the interleague series opener. Austin Jackson went deep for the second straight day for the AL Central leaders, back in New York after dropping two of three at Yankee Stadium two weeks ago.

The series resumes Saturday afternoon with a rematch of All-Star game starters at Citi Field: Max Scherzer puts his 18-1 record on the line against New York ace Matt Harvey in a nationally televised game.

The Mets said it's the first time All-Star game starters will square off in a regular-season game during the same season, according to research by the Elias Sports Bureau.

Minus two injured starters, the Mets signed Matsuzaka on Thursday to fill a hole in the rotation and immediately handed him a difficult assignment. Led by Cabrera and Prince Fielder, the Tigers began the night leading the majors in batting average and second in runs (see full recap).

Bats help O's outslug Athletics
Brian Roberts hit a grand slam, Adam Jones homered and had three RBIs, and the Baltimore Orioles beat the Oakland Athletics 9-7 Friday night to gain ground in the wild-card race.

Roberts and Jones connected in a six-run fourth inning that put Baltimore up 6-3. After Oakland rallied to take the lead, Jones drove in the go-ahead run during a three-run seventh.

The victory moved the Orioles past Cleveland into third place in the wild-card hunt. Tampa Bay is on top and Baltimore now stands two games behind Oakland. The top two teams make the playoffs.

Coco Crisp homered, had a career-high tying four hits and scored three runs for the A's, who have lost four of six and are 15-17 since the All-Star break.

In the Baltimore seventh, Jesse Chavez walked Nate McLouth and was replaced by Ryan Cook (5-3). A single by Manny Machado put runners at the corners, and McLouth scored when second baseman Eric Sogard misplayed a grounder by Chris Davis. Jones followed with a run-scoring groundout and Nick Markakis capped the uprising with an RBI single (see full recap).

Wainwright tosses CG in Cards' win
Adam Wainwright earned his NL-leading 15th win with his fifth complete game and had a key sacrifice fly to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 3-1 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Friday night.

Matt Holliday's 432-foot home run off Kris Medlen (10-12) snapped a sixth-inning tie for St. Louis, which took the first two games of a four-game set against the NL East leaders.

Having already thrown 101 pitches, Wainwright was allowed to bat with the one out and the bases loaded in the seventh inning and hit a long sacrifice fly off Scott Downs for his third RBI of the season to make it 3-1. He then retired the side in order in the eighth (see full recap).

Contact Us