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Baseball: Tigers still seeking first victory
By The Associated Press
Monday, April 07, 2008 | No comments posted.
This is not exactly the start the big-budget Detroit Tigers imagined.
Nick Swisher homered on the game’s second pitch, Carlos Quentin had four RBIs and the Chicago White Sox routed slumping Detroit 13-2 on Sunday night.
The 0-6 Tigers are the majors’ only winless team. Despite the second-highest payroll in baseball, they’re are off to their worst start since they dropped their first nine games in 2003 en route to an AL-record 119 losses.
“This is very frustrating,” said Justin Verlander, who gave up a career-high nine runs. “I think everyone on this team needs to do some soul searching.”
All six of Detroit’s losses have come at home, and the Tigers were booed loudly by the crowd of 35,230 as the game unraveled. One of the few cheers was a sarcastic ovation after Yorman Bazardo got the last out of Chicago’s four-run ninth.
“I’m sure people are expecting me to rant and rave, but this team has too many professionals for me to have to do that,” manager Jim Leyland said. “They shouldn’t need to be told what they are doing wrong.”
Mark Buehrle (1-0) rebounded from being tagged for seven runs on opening day, holding the Tigers to two runs and seven hits in seven innings. Buehrle was helped by double plays in each of his last four innings.
“When I’m getting groundballs and breaking bats, I know that I’m in a groove,” he said. “I wanted to keep the team in the game until the bats took over.”
Verlander (0-1) allowed a career-high nine runs — four earned — in 5 2-3 innings for Detroit. He gave up seven hits and walked three, striking out four.
The White Sox put the game away with six runs in the sixth. With one out, Paul Konerko reached when Carlos Guillen dropped a throw at first, and Jermaine Dye followed with a double. After an intentional walk loaded the bases, Verlander hit Quentin to force in a run.
Joe Crede and Swisher added RBI singles, chasing Verlander. Orlando Cabrera then made it 9-1 with a three-run double off Aquilino Lopez.
Blue Jays 7, Red Sox 4
Frank Thomas broke a fifth-inning tie with his 11th career grand slam, Vernon Wells added a two-run homer and Toronto completed a three-game sweep of the World Series champions.
Boston went 3-4 on its opening three-nation trip to Tokyo, Oakland and Toronto, a journey of nearly 16,000 miles, and is last in the AL East for the first time since April 10, 2005.
Out since mid-March because of a strained lower back, Josh Beckett (0-1) was activated from the disabled list to face Roy Halladay (1-1). Beckett gave up three hits and five runs in 4 2-3 innings.
Halladay allowed four runs and eight hits in eight innings. Jeremy Accardo pitched the ninth for his third save.
Yankees 2, Rays 0
Chien-Ming Wang (2-0) pitched four-hit ball into the seventh inning and Hideki Matsui hit a two-run homer in the fourth off Tampa Bay’s James Shields (1-1).
Joba Chamberlain relieved with runners at the corners and no outs in the seventh, struck out Willy Aybar on three pitches and got Shawn Riggans on a liner that second baseman Robinson Cano caught with a backhand stab before doubling up Eric Hinske.
Hitting 101 mph on the Yankee Stadium radar gun, Chamberlain tossed a perfect eighth to set up Mariano Rivera, who fanned two in a 1-2-3 ninth for his third save — a total he didn’t reach last year until May 3.
Royals 3, Twins 1
Brett Tomko (1-0) allowed six hits in five shutout innings for Kansas City, and Alex Gordon hit a two-run single.
Joakim Soria struck out the side in order in the ninth for his third save.
Kansas City finished its opening trip to Detroit and Minnesota 4-2, its best start since 2004. The Royals had only three winning trips last season, none until May 11-20.
Rangers 10, Angels 4
At Anaheim, Calif., Gerald Laird had four hits, homered twice and drove in a career-high six runs.
Laird hit a three-run homer in the fourth off Jon Garland (1-1), his first RBIs of the season, then added an RBI single in the seventh against Darren O’Day and a two-run homer in the ninth off Jason Bulger.
Indians 2, Athletics 1
At Oakland, Calif., Cliff Lee (1-0) gave up four hits and struck out four in 6 2-3 innings to win his first start of the season, retiring 10 of his last 12 batters as Cleveland stopped a three-game losing streak.
Joe Borowski pitched the ninth for his second save.
Orioles 3, Mariners 2
Luis Hernandez singled in the winning run with two outs in the ninth off Seattle’s Mark Lowe (0-1), who also threw a tying wild pitch.
Nick Markakis led off the ninth with a double off Eric O’Flaherty and scored on a groundout by Aubrey Huff.
Seattle, without injured closer J.J. Putz, wasted an outstanding performance by Felix Hernandez, who allowed five hits in eight shutout innings as a replacement for former Orioles pitcher Erik Bedard, scratched Saturday because of an injured hip.
Dennis Safate (1-0) pitched a perfect ninth for the host Orioles, who have won four straight.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Brewers 7, Giants 0
Ben Sheets had high expectations when he pitched his first shutout back in 2001.
“I thought it was going to be easy,” he said. “I thought I’d get 15, 20, 100 of these. Seven years later, I finally finish up another.”
Sheets pitched a five-hitter Sunday to lead the Milwaukee Brewers past the San Francisco Giants 7-0. He struck out eight and retired his final 10 batters.
Sheets (1-0) pitched his other shutout on May 29, 2001, a five-hitter against St. Louis.
Ryan Braun fell a triple short of the cycle, going 3-for-5 with three RBIs and Gabe Kapler homered for the second time in as many days as the Brewers scored in the second, third, fourth and fifth innings off Barry Zito (0-2).
Reds 8, Phillies 2
Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 594th career homer, a two-run drive against visiting Philadelphia.
Griffey’s first homer of the season, a drive off Brett Myers (0-1), left him six shy of becoming the sixth player in major league history to reach 600 homers. He would join Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays and Sammy Sosa.
Diamondbacks 5, Rockies 2
Mark Reynolds hit a two-run homer in the ninth off Manny Corpas and Stephen Drew hit a tiebreaking drive against Micah Bowie (0-1) leading off a three-run 10th as the visiting Diamondbacks completed a three-game sweep against the team that beat Arizona 4-0 in last year’s NL championship series.
Colorado, which lost its fifth straight, led 1-0 before Reynolds homered. Matt Holliday homered in the ninth off Brandon Lyon (1-1), who blew his second save chance.
Braves 3, Mets 1
John Smoltz (1-0) allowed two hits over five scoreless innings in his season debut to beat Johan Santana (1-1) as Atlanta completed a two-game sweep of the rain-shortened series.
Santana gave up only one run in seven innings — Yunel Escobar doubled in Mark Kotsay in the third — and Mark Teixeira hit a two-run homer off Aaron Heilman in the eighth at Turner Field.
Dodgers 3, Padres 2
Trevor Hoffman (0-2) allowed Chin-lung Hu’s tiebreaking RBI single in the ninth at San Diego. The career saves leader (526) also lost Tuesday when he blew a save against Houston and has a 12.27 ERA in four games.
Cubs 3, Astros 2
Derrek Lee hit a tiebreaking homer against Oscar Villarreal (0-2) in the seventh at Wrigley Field, Lee’s third homer of the season. He didn’t hit his first homer last season until the 21st game and finished the season with only 22.
Carlos Zambrano (1-0) struck out seven in seven innings, allowing two runs and seven hits with no walks, and Kerry Wood pitched a perfect ninth for his third save.
Cardinals 3, Nationals 0
Kyle Lohse (1-0) allowed four hits in seven innings, Rick Ankiel homered and St. Louis completed a three-game sweep of visiting Washington.
Pirates 9, Marlins 2
Ian Snell (1-0) struck out 10 in six innings, allowing two runs — one earned — and four hits.
Xavier Nady homered, and Nate McLouth had three hits and scored three runs for visiting Pittsburgh, which finished with 15 hits. Chris Gomez went 3-for-4.
Rick VandenHurk (0-1) gave up four runs and six hits in 2 1-3 innings.
Nick Swisher homered on the game’s second pitch, Carlos Quentin had four RBIs and the Chicago White Sox routed slumping Detroit 13-2 on Sunday night.
The 0-6 Tigers are the majors’ only winless team. Despite the second-highest payroll in baseball, they’re are off to their worst start since they dropped their first nine games in 2003 en route to an AL-record 119 losses.
“This is very frustrating,” said Justin Verlander, who gave up a career-high nine runs. “I think everyone on this team needs to do some soul searching.”
All six of Detroit’s losses have come at home, and the Tigers were booed loudly by the crowd of 35,230 as the game unraveled. One of the few cheers was a sarcastic ovation after Yorman Bazardo got the last out of Chicago’s four-run ninth.
“I’m sure people are expecting me to rant and rave, but this team has too many professionals for me to have to do that,” manager Jim Leyland said. “They shouldn’t need to be told what they are doing wrong.”
Mark Buehrle (1-0) rebounded from being tagged for seven runs on opening day, holding the Tigers to two runs and seven hits in seven innings. Buehrle was helped by double plays in each of his last four innings.
“When I’m getting groundballs and breaking bats, I know that I’m in a groove,” he said. “I wanted to keep the team in the game until the bats took over.”
Verlander (0-1) allowed a career-high nine runs — four earned — in 5 2-3 innings for Detroit. He gave up seven hits and walked three, striking out four.
The White Sox put the game away with six runs in the sixth. With one out, Paul Konerko reached when Carlos Guillen dropped a throw at first, and Jermaine Dye followed with a double. After an intentional walk loaded the bases, Verlander hit Quentin to force in a run.
Joe Crede and Swisher added RBI singles, chasing Verlander. Orlando Cabrera then made it 9-1 with a three-run double off Aquilino Lopez.
Blue Jays 7, Red Sox 4
Frank Thomas broke a fifth-inning tie with his 11th career grand slam, Vernon Wells added a two-run homer and Toronto completed a three-game sweep of the World Series champions.
Boston went 3-4 on its opening three-nation trip to Tokyo, Oakland and Toronto, a journey of nearly 16,000 miles, and is last in the AL East for the first time since April 10, 2005.
Out since mid-March because of a strained lower back, Josh Beckett (0-1) was activated from the disabled list to face Roy Halladay (1-1). Beckett gave up three hits and five runs in 4 2-3 innings.
Halladay allowed four runs and eight hits in eight innings. Jeremy Accardo pitched the ninth for his third save.
Yankees 2, Rays 0
Chien-Ming Wang (2-0) pitched four-hit ball into the seventh inning and Hideki Matsui hit a two-run homer in the fourth off Tampa Bay’s James Shields (1-1).
Joba Chamberlain relieved with runners at the corners and no outs in the seventh, struck out Willy Aybar on three pitches and got Shawn Riggans on a liner that second baseman Robinson Cano caught with a backhand stab before doubling up Eric Hinske.
Hitting 101 mph on the Yankee Stadium radar gun, Chamberlain tossed a perfect eighth to set up Mariano Rivera, who fanned two in a 1-2-3 ninth for his third save — a total he didn’t reach last year until May 3.
Royals 3, Twins 1
Brett Tomko (1-0) allowed six hits in five shutout innings for Kansas City, and Alex Gordon hit a two-run single.
Joakim Soria struck out the side in order in the ninth for his third save.
Kansas City finished its opening trip to Detroit and Minnesota 4-2, its best start since 2004. The Royals had only three winning trips last season, none until May 11-20.
Rangers 10, Angels 4
At Anaheim, Calif., Gerald Laird had four hits, homered twice and drove in a career-high six runs.
Laird hit a three-run homer in the fourth off Jon Garland (1-1), his first RBIs of the season, then added an RBI single in the seventh against Darren O’Day and a two-run homer in the ninth off Jason Bulger.
Indians 2, Athletics 1
At Oakland, Calif., Cliff Lee (1-0) gave up four hits and struck out four in 6 2-3 innings to win his first start of the season, retiring 10 of his last 12 batters as Cleveland stopped a three-game losing streak.
Joe Borowski pitched the ninth for his second save.
Orioles 3, Mariners 2
Luis Hernandez singled in the winning run with two outs in the ninth off Seattle’s Mark Lowe (0-1), who also threw a tying wild pitch.
Nick Markakis led off the ninth with a double off Eric O’Flaherty and scored on a groundout by Aubrey Huff.
Seattle, without injured closer J.J. Putz, wasted an outstanding performance by Felix Hernandez, who allowed five hits in eight shutout innings as a replacement for former Orioles pitcher Erik Bedard, scratched Saturday because of an injured hip.
Dennis Safate (1-0) pitched a perfect ninth for the host Orioles, who have won four straight.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Brewers 7, Giants 0
Ben Sheets had high expectations when he pitched his first shutout back in 2001.
“I thought it was going to be easy,” he said. “I thought I’d get 15, 20, 100 of these. Seven years later, I finally finish up another.”
Sheets pitched a five-hitter Sunday to lead the Milwaukee Brewers past the San Francisco Giants 7-0. He struck out eight and retired his final 10 batters.
Sheets (1-0) pitched his other shutout on May 29, 2001, a five-hitter against St. Louis.
Ryan Braun fell a triple short of the cycle, going 3-for-5 with three RBIs and Gabe Kapler homered for the second time in as many days as the Brewers scored in the second, third, fourth and fifth innings off Barry Zito (0-2).
Reds 8, Phillies 2
Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 594th career homer, a two-run drive against visiting Philadelphia.
Griffey’s first homer of the season, a drive off Brett Myers (0-1), left him six shy of becoming the sixth player in major league history to reach 600 homers. He would join Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays and Sammy Sosa.
Diamondbacks 5, Rockies 2
Mark Reynolds hit a two-run homer in the ninth off Manny Corpas and Stephen Drew hit a tiebreaking drive against Micah Bowie (0-1) leading off a three-run 10th as the visiting Diamondbacks completed a three-game sweep against the team that beat Arizona 4-0 in last year’s NL championship series.
Colorado, which lost its fifth straight, led 1-0 before Reynolds homered. Matt Holliday homered in the ninth off Brandon Lyon (1-1), who blew his second save chance.
Braves 3, Mets 1
John Smoltz (1-0) allowed two hits over five scoreless innings in his season debut to beat Johan Santana (1-1) as Atlanta completed a two-game sweep of the rain-shortened series.
Santana gave up only one run in seven innings — Yunel Escobar doubled in Mark Kotsay in the third — and Mark Teixeira hit a two-run homer off Aaron Heilman in the eighth at Turner Field.
Dodgers 3, Padres 2
Trevor Hoffman (0-2) allowed Chin-lung Hu’s tiebreaking RBI single in the ninth at San Diego. The career saves leader (526) also lost Tuesday when he blew a save against Houston and has a 12.27 ERA in four games.
Cubs 3, Astros 2
Derrek Lee hit a tiebreaking homer against Oscar Villarreal (0-2) in the seventh at Wrigley Field, Lee’s third homer of the season. He didn’t hit his first homer last season until the 21st game and finished the season with only 22.
Carlos Zambrano (1-0) struck out seven in seven innings, allowing two runs and seven hits with no walks, and Kerry Wood pitched a perfect ninth for his third save.
Cardinals 3, Nationals 0
Kyle Lohse (1-0) allowed four hits in seven innings, Rick Ankiel homered and St. Louis completed a three-game sweep of visiting Washington.
Pirates 9, Marlins 2
Ian Snell (1-0) struck out 10 in six innings, allowing two runs — one earned — and four hits.
Xavier Nady homered, and Nate McLouth had three hits and scored three runs for visiting Pittsburgh, which finished with 15 hits. Chris Gomez went 3-for-4.
Rick VandenHurk (0-1) gave up four runs and six hits in 2 1-3 innings.
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