McKeons Marlins snap 11-game slide (AP)

post from MLB News Blog on 21 June 2011 11:42:27 PM. © MLB News Blog

Jack McKeon waited in front of the dugout, and when the victory celebration came his way he swapped high fives and back slaps with his jubilant, relieved players. The Florida Marlins’ new 80-year-old manager still has the winning touch. McKeon earned his first victory since coming out of retirement when Florida broke an 11-game losing [...]

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Twins open with 8 hits, tie MLB record (AP)

post from MLB News Blog on 21 June 2011 11:30:28 PM. © MLB News Blog

The Minnesota Twins tied a major league record Tuesday night by opening with eight consecutive hits against San Francisco’s Madison Bumgarner in an eight-run first inning. The only out the left-hander recorded came when he struck out pitcher Carl Pavano swinging. After Ben Revere followed with a two-run double, Bumgarner was replaced by Guillermo Mota.

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Blue Jays offense scuffles again in loss (AP)

post from MLB News Blog on 21 June 2011 11:28:27 PM. © MLB News Blog

Jose Bautista isn’t too concerned about Toronto’s offense, insisting that nobody is pressing to deliver a clutch hit. “You run into good pitching, and it happens,” Bautista said. “The Braves have done a good job, and the Reds pitched well against us in Cincinnati. It’s only been three games.

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Greinke Ks 10 in 7 as Brewers cool Rays (AP)

post from MLB News Blog on 21 June 2011 11:22:24 PM. © MLB News Blog

Zack Greinke struck out 10 over seven effective innings and the Milwaukee Brewers got back to their winning ways at home with a 5-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday night. Greinke (7-2) provided his best performance so far with the Brewers as Milwaukee came into play a 1/2 -game behind St. Louis [...]

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Padres end 6-game skid, beat Red Sox 5-4 (AP)

post from MLB News Blog on 21 June 2011 11:12:25 PM. © MLB News Blog

Former Boston prospect Anthony Rizzo drove in the go-ahead run in the seventh inning and the San Diego Padres snapped a season-long six-game losing streak with a 5-4 win over the Red Sox on Tuesday night. Rizzo grounded out with the bases loaded to first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, traded to Boston in the offseason for [...]

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Braves ease past struggling Blue Jays (AP)

post from MLB News Blog on 21 June 2011 11:02:23 PM. © MLB News Blog

Brian McCann thinks Mike Minor is close to delivering on his potential as a starting pitcher. The next stop for Minor, however, is Triple-A. Still, McCann, the Atlanta Braves’ five-time All-Star catcher, believes Minor has shown he belongs in the major leagues. “I think he’s getting more comfortable, more confident, more understanding of what he [...]

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Rockies 4, Indians 3: Seth Smith Double Dips on
Deep Flies

post from Purple Row on 21 June 2011 11:01:24 PM. © Purple Row

BOOM! Here comes the BOOM!

If I were to describe Jhoulys Chacin's 2011 season, it would be as follows: gets a ton of ground balls, gets a good number of strikeouts, is as unhittable as anyone, but tends to have inconsistent stretches with his fastball command. Each of those aspects existed again tonight, but on steroids.

The Rockies' hurler took a no-hitter into the sixth inning, broken up by Shin-Soo Choo with a ground ball RBI single up the middle on Chacin's 102nd pitch of the game. Yes...his 102nd pitch....in the sixth inning. The Venezuelan's fastball command evaporated at times (he walked three straight batters in the third and two straight in the sixth), and he walked six on the night along with seven strike outs.

His ability to work around the walks is in part a testament to his continued ability to keep the ball out of the air. The Indians hit the ball into the air just twice all night against the Rockies' starter, with ten outs coming on the ground.

Jason Giambi doubled twice and singled, but it was Seth Smith who carried the offense. Smith homered in the sixth inning to give Colorado a brief 3-0 lead. After two runs scored in the eighth inning, both charged to former Indian Rafael Betancourt, Smith led off the ninth against closer Chris Perez with another home run to provide the winning margin.

The bullpen continues to be shaky, but they pieced it together well enough. Betancourt allowed all three men he faced to reach and has allowed runs in 4 of his last 6 appearances (though this was the first time on the road since May 20). Huston Street got two quick outs before allowing the winning run to reach second base. He struck out Austin Kearns to lock up his second save of the series.

37 - 36

Games Back: 2.5

Streak: Won 2

Games Left: 89

Street's shaky save was helped by manager Manny Acta removing Travis Hafner for a pinch runner in the eighth inning, despite that runner not even representing the tying run.

With the win, Colorado clinched the series win, pushed their interleague record to 4-1, and have the chance to sweep an interleague series tomorrow against a first-place team that was 6-0 in interleague two days ago. Most importantly (take your pick):

Colorado has clinched a five series unbeaten streak
Colorado is above .500 for the first time since May 24
The Giants are losing 8-0 in the first inning, so the Rockies are on track to be just 2.0 games behind San Francisco after tonight.

20110621_rockies_indians_0_20110621213039_lbig__medium

WPA Heroes

Seth Smith (+.584): 3-for-4, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 2 R
Jhoulys Chacin (+.281): 6.2 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 7 K, 6 BB.
Huston Street (+.190): 1.0 IP, SV, 3B, BB, K
Jason Giambi (+.114): 3-for-4, 2 2B, R, K

WPA Zeroes

Rafael Betancourt (-.379): 0.0 IP, 3 H, 2 ER
Charlie Blackmon (-.187): 0-for-4
Troy Tulowitzki (-.112): 0-for-4, GIDP

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Mike Minor Leads Braves To Victory Over Jays

For the second straight game, a Braves starter turned in another impressive performance.

Mike Minor struck out eight Blue Jays in seven innings and earned his first major-league win of the season in a 5-1 victory.

After being shut out in the first game of the series, the Jays hitters quickly made sure the same didn't happen in this game. Corey Patterson doubled with one out in the first inning and scored on Adam Lind's single to center. Outside of that, Minor kept the Jays at bay, allowing only three more hits. He ran into some trouble in the fourth inning when the Jays loaded the bases on two hits and a walk, but Minor was able to escape unscathed.

Meanwhile, the Braves showed signs of breaking out of their funk on offense against rookie Zach Stewart. Chipper Jones tied the game in the first inning with a sacrifice fly and in the third inning, Brian McCann launched a two-run home run to right field, his 12th of the season. Dan Uggla later reached on a fielder's choice and scored from first on Alex Gonzalez's double to left. The Braves added one more run in the fourth on Jason Heyward's RBI single.

The Braves forced Stewart from the game after only 3.2 innings. The rookie allowed 10 of Atlanta's 11 hits in the game.

Minor combined with Eric O'Flaherty and Jonny Venters on a five-hitter.

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Ramos walkoff HR caps Nats 5-run 9th (AP)

Wilson Ramos capped Washington’s five-run ninth inning with a game-ending three-run homer, lifting the Nationals to a dramatic 6-5 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday night. Jerry Hairston and Danny Espinosa each had two-out RBI singles before Ramos connected on a 1-1 pitch from David Pauley, hitting a drive deep to center for his [...]

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Smiths 2 HRs get Rockies over .500 (AP)

Seth Smith’s second homer of the game snapped a ninth-inning tie as the Colorado Rockies held Cleveland hitless into the sixth, blew a lead, then beat the Indians 4-3 Tuesday night. Smith connected off Cleveland closer Chris Perez (2-3), hitting a 2-2 pitch into the right-field seats for his eighth homer of the season and [...]

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