Kuzul

After another great outing from Adam Wainwright, the St. Louis Cardinals fall again after bullpen struggles and defensive miscues continue to plague the team.

Wainwright put together a big night going seven innings giving up only two runs on five hits with seven strikeouts. By any stretch, that’s a great night. Not only was he pitching well, he got an early base hit and made a pair of key defensive plays.

It was clear early on that he was going to have to do it all.

The game fell apart only moments after Wainwright went to the bench.

Marc Rzepczynski came in and barely pulled one out before giving up two runs on three hits including a monster home run to Adam Dunn (21).

RHP Mitchell Boggs then came in to clean up the mess, but with no luck. Boggs got the final two outs of the eighth inning, but not before giving up a two-run home run to take the game to 6-1.

The only real glimmer of hope the bullpen showed was from Fernando Salas who faced only four batters in the ninth inning to get the final outs. Salas is beginning to get himself together and it couldn’t come at a more opportune time for this team.

The offense managed to string together hits on multiple occasions with the team batting .275 on the night, but were haunted by the double play three times.

Matt Holliday, Allen Craig, David Freese and Tyler Greene all went 2-for-4, but never managed to hold together a rally long enough to circle the bases.

Yadier Molina, who batted second for only the second time in his career, went 1-for-4 with a key double in the top of the third. It’s unclear as of yet whether Molina will spend much time that high in the lineup, but he’s hit well enough of late that he can handle the challenge.

At this point, it appears Manager Mike Matheny is doing everything in his power to get the faltering team back on track.

Wainwright (5-7) wound up taking the loss Tuesday night, but he deserved better. The frustration is clearly mounting with the team as they continue to slide further away from the top of the National League Central Division. 

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

On a day after scoring eight runs on 15 hits, and 19 runs over the last three games, the Giants surging offense was brought to a screeching halt Friday evening. Scattering just five hits over eight innings, Matt Harrison (8-3) pitched a complete-game shutout for the Rangers while Ian Kinsler and Josh Hamilton homered to beat the Giants 5-0.    

In their first meeting since Game 5 of the 2010 World Series, the Giants sent Barry Zito (5-3) to the mound to face a potent Ranger’s lineup. Coming off back-to-back wins, Zito had only given up two runs in his last 15 and a third innings.

It took only two pitches Friday evening before Zito gave up his first run as Ian Kinsler led off the game with a bomb to left field that landed 15 rows up the bleacher. 

The Rangers were ahead 2-0 in the fifth when Hamilton came to the plate with one out and nobody on.  With the count 1-1, Zito hung a curveball that Hamilton crushed to one of the deepest parts of the park in right center, clearing the wall beyond the 421 marker with ease. Hamilton’s home run was his 22nd, which leads the major leagues.

Along with the two home runs, the Rangers knocked out 14 hits including three doubles. One of the doubles came from the Rangers center fielder Craig Gentry, who had a career night going 5-5 with two RBI. 

The Giants offense was baffled and off-balance all night. Harrison not only induced the Giants into 15 groundouts, he was sawing Giant hitters off all night as there were multiple broken bats flying across the infield and two into the stands.  

With tonight’s 5-0 loss, the Giants suffered their first shutout of the season. They also lost their first game at home to the Texas Rangers since June 26th, 1998, at Candlestick Park, breaking a 13-game home-winning streak.

Additionally, the fielding issues continued for the Giants as they added to their major league leading total of 55 when Joaquin Arias made a throwing error in the first inning. 

Bruce Bochy acknowledged before the game that Arias was being used a lot, was tired, and could use a day off. That day off could be tomorrow as the Giants’ front office wasted no time after the game making a move to allow the team to activate Pablo Sandoval from Class Triple-A Fresno for tomorrow’s game. 

Sandoval, who has been rehabbing from a broken hamate bone in his wrist, slammed two home runs in Friday night’s game in Fresno, making the decision pretty easy for the Giants front office.

To make room for Sandoval, Brett Pill was optioned back to Fresno.

The Giants send Ryan Vogelsong (4-2) to the mound tomorrow afternoon against Scott Feldman (0-4), as the Giants try and even the three-game series at one a piece, game time is 1:05 p.m. 

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Tonight, the A’s scored plenty of runs. They just did not get the last out in time. Using a six-run second inning off Arizona starter Daniel Hudson, the A’s were able to take a 6-0 lead and lead the Diamondbacks 8-6 going into the bottom of the ninth.

It was not enough as the Diamondbacks scored three times off Brian Fuentes in the bottom of the ninth to win 9-8. Tom Milone was not particularly sharp, but he was in line for the victory going five innings and allowing four runs on nine hits and two walks.

The offense came in a productive second inning when the A’s batted around. After a leadoff Brandon Inge single, Kurt Suzuki hit an infield single to third base. Cliff Pennington then slapped a double to right, scoring Inge and moving Suzuki to third. Milone then helped his own cause with a two-run single to make the score 3-0.

After Jemile Weeks flied out, Coco Crisp doubled to left center to score Milone. Josh Reddick followed with a single to make the score 5-0. Seth Smith’s single pulled Hudson and reliever Josh Collmenter promptly allowed Inge’s single to plate Reddick and make it 6-0. 

After Arizona responded with three in the bottom of the second, the A’s saw the lead cut by another run as white-hot D-Backs first baseman Paul Goldschmidt slammed a long home run off Milone to make it 6-4. But Smith hit a two-run home run off of former A’s reliever Craig Breslow to make it 8-4. The A’s would need those runs as Arizona scored twice in the bottom of the sixth. 

In the ninth, Brian Fuentes recorded the first two outs before allowing a walk and a single. With the winning run at the plate, Fuentes allowed a walk-off home run to left center field by Ryan Roberts. 

Good

The A’s offense. Eight runs and 16 hits should have been enough to win the game. Plenty of contributions and lots of clutch hits. That’s a positive sign.

Bad

Brandon Moss. He went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts, and three of those AB’s were with runners in scoring position. Definitely needed something from him because it turned out the A’s did not have enough runs.

Ugly

Brian Fuentes. First Balfour, now Fuentes. The closer role is a black hole right now. Nothing but white-knuckle jobs in the ninth inning and this may have been the tipping point.

To get the first two outs, then walk someone allowing the tying run to come to the plate, that’s inexcusable. A very deflating loss and the upgrades the A’s were supposed to have from 2011 have simply not been such for their bullpen. Expect Ryan Cook to get the nod at closer sooner than later.

With the loss, the A’s drop to 26-33. They will try to bounce back from this loss tomorrow night as Jarrod Parker, who was acquired from Arizona, will face the man he was traded for—A’s starter Trevor Cahill.

First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Talk about a good walk spoiled. Brian Fuentes gave up a two out, three-run home run to former Oakland slugger Josh Willingham and the A’s lost their seventh straight game, 3-2 in Minnesota. Fuentes took the loss, giving up all three runs on two hits and a walk. 

The blown save negated a solid start by Jarrod Parker, who went six shutout innings and was staked to a 1-0 lead when Colin Cowgill singled in the first run of the game in the seventh inning. Coco Crisp, who has been mired in an awful hitting slump, went 2-for-2 with a walk and a sacrifice and his eighth inning RBI single appeared to be insurance as the A’s lead 2-0. But the win and ultimately the game both slipped away.

Fuentes began the ninth by allowing a single to Jamey Carroll and walking Denard Span. After Ben Revere’s attempted sacrifice was bunted back to Fuentes, Joe Mauer hit into a fielder’s choice putting the runners on first and third. Willingham then hit a 1-0 pitch to left center to end the game.

Good: Coco Crisp. He reached or produced in all four plate appearances. Considering he was hitting .156 entering the game, that is remarkable. In all seriousness, it is a great start to hopefully turning his season around at the plate.

Bad: Twelve men left on base. Too many chances to score runs and too many left on base. It came back to bite the A’s again.

Ugly: Brian Fuentes. The merry-go-round at closer continues as Fuentes can not get the job done. The A’s can only hope this is a blip and not what appears to be a real issue finishing games.

Now 22-28, the A’s look to salvage the final game of this series as Tyson Ross faces Francisco Liriano. First pitch is scheduled for 10:10 a.m. Manny Ramirez was expected to make his season debut for the A’s, but it appears as though that will be pushed back a couple of games.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Josh Willingham hit 29 home runs for the Oakland A’s in 2011. Tuesday night he hit a walk-off home run for the Minnesota Twins that defeated the A’s.

It was a pitchers duel for most of the night but in the seventh inning, the Oakland A’s looked like they might pull off the victory after they broke through for a run and followed it up in the eighth inning with another run.

The Twins were shut out for eight innings and broke out in the ninth to defeat the A’s 3-2.

Brian Fuentes came in to close the game for Oakland and allowed a single to the first batter he faced. He walked the next batter, Denard Span, but was then able to get two outs before he had to face Willingham.

With two outs in the bottom of the ninth and trailing 2-0, Willingham smashed a three-run walk-off home run to hand the A’s their seventh straight loss.

The A’s are reeling and are now 7-14 since losing Yoenis Cespedes on May 7 to a strained hand muscle.

The A’s are hoping that their slugger can return soon and if all goes well he will be penciled in the lineup on Friday.

Oakland will finish their series up in Minnesota on Wednesday before having an off day on Thursday. Their road trip continues to Kansas City on Friday, hopefully with Cespedes’ present, it will provide a boost this team desperately needs.

Følg @NargOnSports

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The Washington Nationals called up Chien-Ming Wang earlier this week with intentions of using him out of the bullpen and keeping him on a starter’s schedule.

Although he is not starting games right now for the Nats, he was able to record his first win of the year in his first game that he has pitched in this season.

After taking over for Ross Detwiler in the fifth inning, Wang pitched three innings of one-run ball and was on the winning end of the decision. 

The Nationals scored four runs in the first and held off the Atlanta Braves as they chipped away the rest of the game. 

Leading 4-3 in the seventh, the Nats broke out for three more runs to give them some breathing room.

They held on to win the game 7-4 to keep their division foes at bay in the NL East and give Wang his first win of the season.

Wang can certainly be valuable to this team down the road. 

If Stephen Strasburg truly does get shut down around 160 innings, then Wang can fill in for him or if the man he took over for on Friday, Detwiler, struggles, then it will be Wang who gets the call to replace him in the rotation.

The Nats are lucky to have a quality arm coming out of the pen right now to eat up innings and pick up their starters.

Follow @NargOnSports

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Adam Wainwright has gotten off to a pretty rough start this season, posting an ERA of 5.77 prior to Tuesday’s action.

After Tuesday night’s contest against the Padres though, it’s safe to say that his ERA will see a nice drop.

Wainwright pitched a shutout against the Padres, throwing just 111 pitches over nine innings while allowing just five baserunners—four hits and one walk. He also struck out nine.

Yonder Alonso, Edinson Volquez, Andy Parrino and pinch-hitter Blake Tekotte recorded the only hits off Wainwright. Parrino’s and Volquez’s hits went for doubles.

The St. Louis Cardinals won the game 4-0.

This is just his third career shutout, with the other two coming back in 2010—the year he finished second in the NL Cy Young voting.

Any doubts that people had regarding Wainwright’s recovery from Tommy John surgery should now be silenced, as it’s clear that he is back to his dominant ways.

He remained the only real question mark in the starting rotation until Tuesday’s game. The Cardinals have been lucky enough to experience strong starts from Jake Westbrook, Kyle Lohse, Jaime Garcia and Lance Lynn.

With Wainwright pitching like the ace everyone expects him to be, the Cardinals have arguably the most formidable rotation in the National League.

It’ll be interesting to see what happens when Chris Carpenter is ready to return, but for now, let’s celebrate the strong performance by Wainwright.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Tuesday night’s victory over the Atlanta Braves proved to be an encouraging sign for the Cincinnati Reds.

Two of Cincinnati’s struggling players, starter Mat Latos and second baseman Brandon Phillips, performed well in the 4-3 win. Latos pitched seven solid innings of two-run ball with eight strikeouts, while Phillips chipped in with two home runs and three RBI.

Latos had especially come under fire after the past offseason trade in which Latos was acquired from the San Diego Padres in return for Yonder Alonso, Yasmani Grandal, Edinson Volquez and Brad Boxberger.

Prior to the game, Latos had a 2-2 record and a mediocre 4.63 ERA—nothing close to what Cincinnati expected when GM Walt Jocketty pulled the trigger on the offseason trade. Latos’ ERA has been steadily dropping after a very poor start to the season, which saw his ERA balloon to an enormous 8.22 in April.

Entering the season, Phillips received a contract extension after lengthy extension talks reaching back to last season. His new six-year, $72 million extension came under fire after the soon-to-be 31-year-old Phillips’ production took a dip with only two home runs, one steal and a sub-.300 on-base percentage through a quarter of the season.

Clearly struggling at the plate at times, Phillips’ batting average hit a low at .215 in early May, but since then he has started to turn it around with a .275 average in 20 games this month. Phillips still has a long way to go, with a very poor 8-to-21 walk-to-strikeout ratio and only 10 extra-base hits on the season.

Rookie shortstop Zack Cozart also chipped in with a solo home run, and recently named closer Aroldis Chapman closed out the win with a hitless ninth. Center fielder Drew Stubbs went 1-for-3 with a walk and a steal while making a few plays in the field in another solid performance following Monday night’s two-home run game.

Cincinnati’s next game features rejuvenated Reds starter Bronson Arroyo taking on Tommy Hanson and the Braves once again at Great American Ballpark on Wednesday night.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Well, Joe Maddon has struck again.

Maddon is definitely known for some, well, different lineup decisions—catcher John Jaso leading off in previous seasons is a good example.

Tuesday night’s contest featured an even more absurd move, as Maddon penciled in Carlos Pena‘s name in the No. 1 spot in the order.

Needless to say, I was confused.

Why would Maddon put his best run-producer in the leadoff spot of the order?

Well, I quickly learned why, as Pena followed up the decision by having quite a nice game.

Entering play on Tuesday, Pena was hitting just .116 in May and in the midst of an 0-for-18 slump. He snapped that slide with a home run in the fourth inning off Blue Jays‘ starter Drew Hutchison that traveled an estimated 452 feet.

The home run was a three-run shot and part of a five-run fourth inning for the Rays.

Pena finished the game 2-for-5 with the home run and three RBI, raising his season average to .215.

Maddon seems to always push the right buttons with his ballclub, and the Rays’ record shows it. At 26-18, they’re in good shape to make another run at the playoffs.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Ervin Santana went 7.2 shutout innings and Mike Trout and Albert Pujols paced the Los Angeles Angels’ offense as the Oakland A’s fell 4-0 in Anaheim.

Losing pitcher Bartolo Colon allowed four runs on 12 hits in 6.2 innings while striking out four. He is now 3-4 on the season. The A’s only managed five hits and could not get a big hit with two chances late in the game.

In the sixth inning, the A’s loaded the bases on walks by Cliff Pennington and Josh Reddick and a single by Jemile Weeks. But the threat was ended when Seth Smith struck out. In the eighth inning, the A’s had runners on the corners, but pinch hitter Jonny Gomes grounded out to second. Beyond that, the A’s did not do much against Santana, who struck out nine. 

Good: N/A. Nothing good about being shut out and having your starting pitcher allow 12 hits in less than seven innings.

Bad: Bartolo Colon. He was not terrible, but another uneven start has his earned run average at 4.13. This is more indicative of the pitcher the A’s signed. He is good, but not great.

Ugly: N/A.

Now 19-18, the A’s will head to Arlington to face the Texas Rangers for two games starting Wednesday. Tom Milone will start against Japanese sensation Yu Darvish. First pitch is scheduled for 5:05 p.m.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com