Spot starter John Gant pitched one-hit ball over a
career-high seven innings
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the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Cleveland Indians 4-0 on Monday night.
It was the third consecutive win for the Cardinals and the 10,000th regular
season victory for the franchise. St. Louis joined the Braves, Cubs, Giants,
Pirates and Dodgers among NL teams to reach the milestone.
Cleveland had won seven straight. Mike Clevinger (6-3) allowed two runs over
five innings, and the Indians had just four hits.
Gant (2-2) started in place of Michael Wacha, who went on the disabled list
last week with an oblique strain. He allowed only an infield single to Yan Gomes
that hit third base in the third inning. He walked five and struck out four. It
was his first win in three starts this season.
St. Louis closer Bud Norris relieved Austin Gomber with two on and no outs in
the ninth. He got a strikeout and a double play to record his 15th save.
Cardinals reliever Jordan Hicks put two runners on in the eighth with two
outs but got Edwin Encarnacion to ground out.
It was the second shortest outing of the season for Clevinger, who allowed
six hits and walked two. Clevinger had pitched at least six innings in five
straight starts before facing St. Louis.
St. Louis took a 2-0 lead in the third. Matt Carpenter singled for one of his
three hits, and Greg Garcia walked. With one out, Ozuna hit a one-out double to
score both runners.
Kolten Wong added an RBI double in the sixth, and Harrison Bader singled in a
run in the eighth.
This was Cleveland’s first visit to St. Louis since 2012, and the Indians
fell to 15-9 all-time against the Cardinals.
RAIN DELAY
First pitch was pushed back due to a thunderstorm in the area. The game began
after a 1-hour, 21-minute delay.
TRAINING ROOM
Indians: RHP Carlos Carrasco (right elbow contusion) threw a 25-pitch bullpen
session. He got hurt when Minnesota’s Joe Mauer hit a line drive that struck
Carrasco on the right elbow on June 16 in Cleveland. The plan is to throw 40
pitches off the mound Wednesday and then perhaps make a minor league rehab
appearance as early as Saturday.
Cardinals: CF Tommy Pham did not start for the second consecutive game due to
flu-like symptoms, but he came in a double-switch situation in the ninth inning.
… RHP Matt Bowman threw a fastball-only session in the bullpen before the game.
He will receive an injection to stimulate blood flow to his fingers Tuesday,
according to general manager Michael Girsch. … Girsch said RHP Adam Wainwright
(right elbow inflammation) should be able to begin playing catch next week.
UP NEXT
Indians: Corey Kluber (11-3 Harold
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start against the Cardinals. In the May 13, 2015 start, Kluber struck out a
career-high 18 batters, matching the Indians franchise record for a nine-inning
game.
Cardinals: Carlos Martinez (3-4, 3.24) has dropped his last three decisions
and allowed a season-high eight hits and seven runs in his last outing at
Milwaukee. The Cardinals have lost his last five games, including all four since
his return from the disabled list.
—
The only thing that would have made Brandon Crawford feel better about his
game-ending homer was if it had come early enough to reward Madison Bumgarner
with a win.
Crawford homered with one out in the bottom of the ninth after Bumgarner
threw seven scoreless innings, giving the San Francisco Giants their fourth
straight victory, 1-0 over the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday night.
”It would have been nice to get him a win,” Crawford said. ”He pitched well
enough that he should have gotten one. … He looked like vintage Bum out there.
He had everything working. His slider has been a lot sharper his last couple of
outings, his curveball is looking a lot better and he’s locating stuff.”
Colorado starter Kyle Freeland matched Bumgarner with seven spotless innings
of his own, setting the stage for Crawford’s dramatic shot.
Left-hander Harrison Musgrave (0-3) entered in the ninth to face the
left-handed-hitting Crawford. The move backfired when Crawford launched a high
drive that cleared the wall in right field for his third career walk-off homer,
sending the Rockies to their fourth consecutive loss.
”It just kind of kept to the middle,” Musgrave said. ”Good hitters hit it out
of the park and that’s what happened. Just didn’t execute a pitch and you get
punished up here for stuff like that.”
Crawford was mobbed by teammates at home plate as the Giants improved to
42-39 at the halfway point of the season. That’s 12 games ahead of their pace
from a year ago despite playing the first two months without an injured
Bumgarner.
”You always want more,” Bumgarner said. ”But the spot we’re in now is not a
bad place to be.”
Reyes Moronta (4-1) got two outs for the win.
Bumgarner retired the first 14 batters he faced before Carlos Gonzalez became
the first Colorado hitter to reach, on a broken-bat double that landed just
inside the left-field line.
Bumgarner walked the next two batters to load the bases before escaping the
jam by striking out Freeland. The 2014 World Series MVP allowed just two hits
with eight strikeouts in his second consecutive scoreless start. He pitched
eight shutout innings to beat San Diego for his first win of the season last
Thursday.
Freeland was just as stingy Da'Ron
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around a pair of errors by first baseman Ian Desmond. Freeland got Pablo
Sandoval to ground out with runners on first and third to end the fourth, and
retired Crawford on a popup with runners at the corners to end the sixth.
Freeland has 11 quality starts in 16 appearances this season.
”What a great matchup between two lefties, one just starting his career and
getting his feet on the ground, and Bumgarner, obviously we know what he’s done
in his career,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. ”Really proud of Kyle.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Rockies: RHP Scott Oberg and LHP Mike Dunn were activated from the disabled
list. RHPs Jeff Hoffman and Brooks Pounders were optioned to Triple-A
Albuquerque.
Giants: RHP Jeff Samardzija (right shoulder) will likely need at least one
more rehab start after lasting just four innings for Triple-A Sacramento on
Tuesday. Samardzija’s outing was cut short because he threw 40 pitches in the
first.
WALK IT OFF
Crawford gave the Giants their sixth walk-off homer in a 1-0 win since moving
to San Francisco in 1958. The previous one was hit by Steve Decker against
Houston in 1991. The others were hit by Bobby Murcer vs. Philadelphia in 1976,
Tom Haller in 1967 vs. Pittsburgh, and Willie Mays in 1966 against Houston and
1963 off Warren Spahn in a 16-inning game that Juan Marichal completed against
the Milwaukee Braves.
MILESTONE
Bumgarner struck out DJ LeMahieu to open the game, giving him 1,500 Ks for
his career in 1,534 1/3 innings. He’s the ninth-fastest lefty to reach the mark
in the live ball era starting in 1920.
UP NEXT
Jon Gray (7-7) looks to beat the Giants for the first time in six career
starts in the series finale. Gray is coming off his third career 12-strikeout
game, the most in Colorado history. Chris Stratton (8-5) pitches for San
Francisco.
—
Matt Patricia’s unlikely path to becoming an NFL coach began with his
buddies
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vibrating, metal field for fierce games of electric football.
”I
knew at a very young age the strategic part of the game was something
that I just loved,” Patricia said Wednesday after being introduced as
coach of the Detroit Lions. ”I thrived on it. We would try to just out
plan each other all the time and we’d have huge games that would roll
into weeks at a time.”
Years later, Patricia took a pivotal step
toward his dream job after earning an aeronautical engineering degree at
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute by being a graduate assistant at his
alma mater. The former offensive lineman – who is from Sherrill, New
York – coached up one of the players at RPI and saw him do what he was
taught during a game.
”The success that we had and his joy that
he showed from being able to do that, that’s really when it clicked for
me as a coach,” Patricia said with his previously bushy beard trimmed
and a pencil over his right ear. ”At that point, the strategic part of
the game along with my coaching aspirations just kind of put things in
motion.”
The Lions desperately hope Patricia takes full advantage
of his first opportunity to lead a football team and ends their
decades-long search for a coach who can lead them to elusive success in
the playoffs.
Since winning the 1957 NFL title, Detroit’s only postseason victory was more than a quarter-century ago.
”Our
goal is to win and to compete for championships,” team president Rod
Wood said. ”I believe that we are taking the next step in meeting those
expectations.”
Lions general manager Bob Quinn fired coach Jim
Caldwell last month with a 36-28 mark over four years and two playoff
appearances. The Lions went 9-7 last season and missed the playoffs,
ranking among the NFL’s worst rushing teams for the fourth straight
year.
”I wanted to find a leader that could take us to the next
level and I am confident we have found that in Matt Patricia,” Quinn
said.
The 43-year-old Patricia helped New England win three Super
Bowls over 14 years. He was the Patriots’ defensive coordinator the
past six seasons.
Detroit’s search was focused on Patricia right from the start because he worked with Quinn for a dozen years in New England.
”We
sat next to each other in a lot of team meetings in New England for
many of our years together,” Quinn recalled. ”We also spent a great deal
of time together on the road scouting college prospects
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find new players.”
In recent years, Patricia has become a
candidate to lead a team in the league as one of Bill Belichick’s top
assistant coaches. He appeared to be in the running to be hired by his
homestate New York Giants and perhaps the Arizona Cardinals, but choose
the challenge in the Motor City at least in part because of his
relationship with Quinn.
”My comfort level with Bob is huge in all of this,” he said.
After
being a graduate assistant at RPI in 1996, Patricia shifted gears to be
an aeronautical engineer for two years. Patricia got back on the
sideline as a defensive line coach at Amherst College in 1999 and went
on to be a graduate assistant for Paul Pasqualoni, whom he has hired to
be Detroit’s defensive coordinator.
Jim Bob Cooter was not
mentioned in the Lions’ release regarding staff additions , but he is
listed on the team’s website as its returning offensive coordinator.
”Jim
Bob is on staff and he will be here,” Patricia said. ”Obviously, he’s
done a great job here in what he’s been able to accomplish with both him
and (Matthew) Stafford and the offense.”
—
The rain was
heavy and relentless. As the puddles grew deeper on the tarp at
Nationals Park, the Baltimore Orioles were left to wonder if their bid
for a rare road victory would be thwarted by, of all things, the
weather.
During a season in which very little has worked in their
favor, the Orioles withstood a long rain delay to beat the Washington
Nationals 3-0 Wednesday night.
Baltimore led 2-0 after four
innings when play was stopped. After a wait of 2 hours
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hundred fans from the announced crowd of 32,153 sprinkled around the
lower seating bowl.
Mark Trumbo homered for Baltimore, and Andrew
Cashner and four relievers combined on a five-hitter in a game that
ended long after midnight.
”It was nice,” Trumbo said. ”I’m glad
that we actually kept the game going. Had we not been able to, it might
have been a wash. But it ended up being pretty big for us.”
Baltimore
ended a six-game losing streak to Washington that began last May, won
for only the fourth time in 20 games and improved the majors’ worst road
record to 10-28.
This one was worth the wait.
”It’s never
easy, especially when you get over the hour mark, two-hour mark,”
Trumbo said. ”Then you have to restart. It’s almost two games in one,
so, great job by our guys tonight.”
The Nationals managed only two hits following the delay, both in the ninth inning.
”It
happens. You can’t do anything about the rain
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to come out and get yourself ready to play. I’m not going to make any
excuses.”
The rain delay cut short a solid pitching performance
by Cashner, who allowed three hits and no walks over four innings in his
return from an 11-day stay on the disabled list with back spasms.
Miguel Castro (2-2) followed with two hitless innings, Darren O’Day pitched a perfect seventh and Zach Britton got four outs.
Brad Brach allowed the Nationals to load the bases with two outs in the ninth before striking out Mark Reynolds .
Trumbo
hit a two-run homer in the second inning off Gio Gonzalez (6-4), and
for a while it appeared the drive would be washed out by the rain.
”One pitch. That was the whole game,” Gonzalez lamented. ”That was it.”
Indeed,
it all ended well for the Orioles, who added a run in the sixth when
Adam Jones doubled off Shawn Kelley and scored on a sacrifice fly by
Danny Valencia .
BRYCE STRUGGLES
Nationals OF Bryce Harper went 0 for 4, dropping his batting average to .209.
Martinez
said Harper has been working hard with batting coach Kevin Long, and
the manager expects the five-time All-Star to end his prolonged slump
with a flourish.
”He’s going to hit. I know he’s going to carry us for a month or two or for whatever,” Martinez said.
WAITING FOR DAVIS
Now
in the third year of a seven-year, $161 million contract, Baltimore’s
Chris Davis is batting .150 with four homers and 15 RBIs in 57 games. He
last played on June 11, when he went 0 for 5 with three strikeouts
against Boston.
Since then
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improving his mental outlook. His return appears imminent.
”A couple of days,” manager Buck Showalter said. ”We’re pretty close to it.”
OH, BROTHER
With
Cashner coming off the DL, the Orioles optioned infielder Corban Joseph
to Double-A Bowie. That ended the 24-hour, feel-good story of Corban
and catcher Caleb Joseph as brothers on the same team.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Orioles:
3B Tim Beckham (core surgery) went 1 for 4 with 3 strikeouts in a rehab
game with Triple-A Norfolk. … RHP Chris Tillman (back) began his rehab
assignment by giving up three runs in two innings for Class A Aberdeen.
Nationals:
Martinez said patience is the key in awaiting the return of RHP Stephen
Strasburg (shoulder). ”We’re really going to take our time and make
sure he’s 100 percent,” the manager said. … 1B Ryan Zimmerman (oblique)
is taking grounders and some swings. … C Matt Wieters (oblique) caught
in the bullpen but is not yet running at full speed.
UP NEXT
Orioles: Kevin Gausman (3-6, 4.48 ERA) pitches the finale of the three-game series Wednesday night.
Nationals: Max Scherzer (10-3, 2.06) tries to avoid his first three-game losing streak since August 2015.
—
