Posts for 'Players' Category

The ballpark fell silent as fans rose in alarm after a foul ball felled Florida Marlins rookie Logan Morrison in the on-deck circle. Morrison wasn't seriously hurt but left the game. His spot in the lineup was filled by recent minor league call-up Scott Cousins, who had fans standing again moments later, this time to cheer a wild victory.

A single by Cousins — his first hit as a big leaguer — drove in the winning run with none out in the 10th inning Sunday, completing a dramatic swing of emotions as the Marlins beat the Atlanta Braves 7-6.

"Definitely a roller-coaster," Cousins said. "You go from, 'Oh no, here's one of our hottest bats in the lineup going down,' to `This nobody just hit a walk-off.' You can't really describe that. It's just crazy."

Cousins was summoned after Emilio Bonifacio lined a foul that struck Morrison on the left cheek. Morrison's helmet flew off and he collapsed face-down, but moments later he walked off the field accompanied by a trainer.

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Carlos Lee hit a three-run homer in Houston's four-run eighth inning and the Astros rallied to beat the Diamondbacks 6-5 on Saturday night. Angel Sanchez tripled and scored on Aaron Heilman's wild pitch to get the Astros within two but it looked as if the rally would fizzle when Michael Bourn struck out for the second out.
Jeff Keppinger kept the eighth alive with a base hit and moved to third on Hunter Pence's double before Lee drove Heilman's next pitch out to left for his 20th homer.

Mark Melancon (2-0) pitched a scoreless inning to get the win and former Diamondbacks reliever Brandon Lyon worked the ninth for his 12th save in 13 chances this season. Heilman (5-6) was charged with four runs and four hits, wasting a strong outing by Joe Saunders. Mike Hampton made his Arizona debut in the ninth, getting Bourn to ground out to shortstop for the last out of the inning. The Diamondbacks promoted the veteran left-hander from Triple-A Reno on Friday.

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Denard Span delivered the go-ahead single in the seventh inning, emergency starter Matt Fox pitched 5 2-3 innings in his major league debut, and the depleted Minnesota Twins beat the Texas Rangers 4-3 on Friday night.

Fox allowed two runs and four hits, giving the Twins' staff a major boost after scheduled starter Nick Blackburn was forced to pitch in Thursday's 13-inning loss to Detroit.

Alex Burnett (2-2 ), who arrived with Fox from Triple-A earlier Friday, allowed a run in 1 1-3 innings. Matt Capps recorded five outs for his eighth save with the Twins and 34th overall.

With one out and runners on first and third in the eighth, Capps struck out Nelson Cruz and got Ian Kinsler to ground out.

Josh Hamilton singled with one out in the eighth, and then left the game with lower back stiffness. Hamilton had missed the Rangers last two games with a sore knee.

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Shin-Soo Choo drove in five runs with a bases-loaded double and a two-run home run to give the Cleveland Indians a 6-3 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Thursday night. Choo, traded to the Indians by Seattle in 2006, hit a 3-1 fastball from Doug Fister (4-11) against the right-center-field wall in the Indians' four-run sixth to score all three runners without a throw. He added his two-run shot in the ninth to match his season-high for RBIs. Choo had five RBIs against the Chicago White Sox on April 18.

Choo leads Cleveland in home runs (16) and RBI (68). Asdrubal Cabrera had three hits for the Indians. Josh Tomlin (3-3) allowed seven hits, three runs, struck out five and walked none. Chris Perez worked the ninth to pick up his 17th save.

Lincecum Finally Wins Again For Giants: Pinch-runner Darren Ford scored the go-ahead run from second base on a wild pitch and throwing error in the eighth inning, helping Tim Lincecum end a career-worst five-start skid in the San Francisco Giants' 2-1 victory over Colorado on Wednesday night.

Ubaldo Jimenez (17-6) was denied in his fifth attempt at a franchise-record 18th win. He lost his third straight start and fourth consecutive decision dating to a win over the Giants on Aug. 4.

The Giants gained another game on the first-place Padres, pulling within three games in the NL West race after San Diego lost its seventh in a row.

Lincecum (12-9) won for the first time since July 30. He hung tough in an impressive pitchers' duel between the two-time reigning NL Cy Young Award winner and the guy who may unseat him for the honor this season.

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Francoeur Traded To Rangers For Playoff Push: The first-place Texas Rangers acquired New York outfielder Jeff Francoeur  for their playoff push Tuesday night, just hours before the deadline for players to be eligible for the postseason roster. The Mets traded Francoeur and cash considerations to Texas for infielder Joaquin Arias, who had been designated for assignment last week when Alex Cora was called up by the Rangers.

Francoeur is hitting .237 with 11 homers and 54 RBIs and leads the NL with 11 outfield assists. Arias batted .276 in 50 games for the Rangers, including 22 starts. He had two stints on the disabled list.

Texas has been looking for a right-handed hitter to come off the bench for the final month of the season and their expected postseason appearance. The deal had to be completed by midnight Tuesday in order for Francoeur to be eligible for the Rangers' playoff roster. Going into Tuesday's game at Kansas City, Texas had a commanding nine-game lead in the AL West.

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Pena, Crawford Homer To Power Rays Past Red Sox: Carlos Pena and Carl Crawford homered to back James Shields and help Tampa Bay retain a share of first place in the AL East with a 5-3 victory over Boston on Sunday night. Keeping pace with the New York Yankees, the Rays rebounded from losing the opener of a crucial weekend series to win two straight and drop the third-place Red Sox 6 1/2 games behind in the division and wild card.

Shields (13-11) won for the sixth time in eight starts, allowing three runs and seven hits over 6 2-3 innings. He walked one and struck out eight before turning over a one-run lead to a better-than-expected bullpen that's one of the reasons Tampa Bay has been able to keep up with the Yankees for the best record in baseball.

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McGehee lifts Brewers over first-place Padres 10-6: Casey McGehee homered and drove in four runs, and the Milwaukee Brewers piled up 15 hits against baseball's top pitching staff to snap the San Diego Padres' five-game winning streak, 10-6 on Friday night. The Padres, owners of the best record in the National League at 73-48, had won 10 of 11. They lead the NL West by five games. The hits were the most against the Padres since St. Louis tallied 15 in an 8-3 victory May 27. The Giants had 18 hits against San Diego in a 7-6, 12-inning win on May 18.

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Choo Helps Indians Rally Past Royals: Shin-Soo Choo hit a tiebreaking RBI single in Cleveland's five-run eighth inning and the Indians rallied to beat the Kansas City Royals 7-3 on Thursday night. Asdrubal Cabrera had two hits and drove in two runs for the Indians, who committed a season-high five errors and had a runner thrown out at every base. Matt LaPorta and Jayson Nix also had two hits apiece. Rafael Perez (4-0), the fourth of five Indians pitchers, pitched 1 1-3 scoreless innings and Chris Perez got four outs for his 15th save in 19 opportunities.

Alex Gordon had three hits and Wilson Betemit drove in two runs for Kansas City, which had won three straight. Kyle Davies allowed three runs and seven hits in 7 1-3 innings. Betemit hit a two-out, two-run single in the fifth inning to give Kansas City a 3-0 lead. The Royals had a chance at a bigger inning, with four singles, a walk and an Indians error, but Mitch Maier struck out to leave the bases loaded.

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Rookie Domonic Brown drove in three runs, Kyle Kendrick pitched six effective innings and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Florida Marlins 7-2 Wednesday night. Raul Ibanez added two RBIs as the Phillies won for the 11th time in 13 games. After a 58-minute rain delay at the start, the Phillies took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on RBI singles by Ross Gload and Brown. Kendrick (7-4) kept Philadelphia ahead, allowing two runs.
Brown, the Phillies' top prospect, matched his major league RBI total coming into the game. He also had a sacrifice fly and a run-scoring grounder.

Gaby Sanchez went 4 for 4 with two doubles and an RBI. Fellow rookie Mike Stanton hit his 10th homer for the Marlins, who have lost three straight. The Marlins had an opportunity to cut into a 5-2 deficit in the eighth as the first two batters reached base against Ryan Madson, who then retired the next three hitters. Second baseman Dan Uggla's throwing error on Brown's potential inning-ending, double-play grounder helped the Phillies score twice in the ninth.

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