Scott Kazmir picked a great time for his best start of the season. Kazmir took a shutout into the eighth inning, and Ben Zobrist and Carlos Pena homered on consecutive pitches as the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Texas Rangers 5-3 on Friday night. "That's as good as he's been all year in my mind," Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said.
Orlando Cabrera hit a run-scoring triple in the 10th inning after a rare blown save by Joe Nathan in the ninth, helping the Minnesota Twins rally for a bizarre 5-4 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Friday night. Playing their fourth straight game without first baseman Justin Morneau, the Twins fell behind 3-0 early, rallied with the help of the Royals and survived some tense moments from…
Bill Hall was worried about his timing. It could not have been more perfect. Hall drove in two runs in his first game for the Seattle Mariners, helping rookie Luke French to a 9-4 victory over the Cleveland Indians on Friday night. "I hadn't played in a week-and-a-half and was wondering about my timing," said Hall, who was acquired from the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday.
Gary Sheffield is staying with the New York Mets. Billy Wagner, however, could soon be headed to Boston. Sheffield and general manager Omar Minaya confirmed Friday that they met the previous day to discuss the outfielder's status. Minaya told Sheffield another club had placed a waiver claim on him, but the GM pulled Sheffield back off waivers rather than let him go or work out a deal to trade…
Pedro Martinez waited all spring for a contract offer from the New York Mets that never came. He'll get a chance to make them pay for that this weekend. Now a member of the rival Phillies, the three-time Cy Young Award winner was back in New York on Friday as Philadelphia prepared to open a four-game series against the struggling Mets.
The Braves are missing outfielder Garret Anderson and infielder Martin Prado for the start of a key weekend series against the Florida Marlins. Anderson was missing from the starting lineup for Friday's game after coming out the previous night against the New York Mets with a lower back strain. Reid Gorecki made his first big league start in left field.
It was hard to tell who needed the shot of confidence more — Russell Martin or the Los Angeles Dodgers. They both benefited when his grand slam snapped a sixth-inning tie, propelling the Dodgers to a 7-2 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Thursday night in the series opener. "It was big for us. Russell Martin needed that," manager Joe Torre said.
It was hard to tell who needed the shot of confidence more — Russell Martin or the Los Angeles Dodgers. They both benefited when his grand slam snapped a sixth-inning tie, propelling the Dodgers to a 7-2 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Thursday night in the series opener. "It was big for us. Russell Martin needed that," manager Joe Torre said.
Joel Pineiro and the St. Louis Cardinals can do little wrong these days. Pineiro won his sixth straight decision with another strong outing and the Cardinals padded their NL Central lead with a 5-1 victory over the San Diego Padres on Thursday night. Brendan Ryan hit a grand slam in the second inning to stake Pineiro (12-9) to a 4-0 lead and the right-hander made it stick.
