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The Juice: Mariners enjoy a streaky Saturday at Safeco Field
29 May 2011, 3:31 pm
 Nine innings, nine items to get you going. Ladies and gentleman of the Stew, take a sip of morning Juice.
1. Streaking in Seattle: With their Seattle Mariners winning nine of their past 10 games, some of the fans at Safeco Field apparently can't keep their excitement contained to the stands. One guy was so jazzed, he couldn't even keep his pants on. Four people ran onto the field during Saturday night's 5-4 victory against the New York Yankees in 12 innings, including a streaker who made a beeline for Derek Jeter. The Mariners' Adam Kennedy, who later ended the game with a bloop RBI single against Mariano Rivera, certainly noticed all of the naked aggression: "That was a little crazy. The nude guy was a first."
Thankfully, a citizen reporter was on the scene to capture the streaker, in all of his naked glory, in a video that is NOT SAFE FOR WORK — or for anyone easily offended by a brief glimpse of a certain male appendage. Watch the naked man go! Hey, if you're going to streak, Safeco is a good place to do it. Lots of room in that outfield to run around. (No center field hill to climb for an escape route, though.) Not that roaming fans were the lone cause for excitement Saturday night. Kennedy's bases-loaded bloop single into (very) shallow center field drove in Luis Rodriguez for the game-winner. It put the Mariners over .500 for the first time since April 3 — three games into the season. Not only that, but Seattle is now just a half-game behind the Angels for first place in the AL West. 2. Squeeze out a walkoff: Perhaps an even more exciting walkoff win took place in Milwaukee, as the Brewers snatched a 3-2 victory over the Giants on a suicide squeeze play. Pinch-hitter Matthew LeCroy punched a bunt back to the pitching mound and Ryan Braun was across home plate before either Guillermo Mota or Aubrey Huff could even field the ball. "I'm not that good a bunter," the second-year catcher said. "I saw him kind of give up on it, and I just started yelling and screaming. I hit first base, then I started getting punched in the kidneys by somebody. It was a fun time."
The Brewers may not have even been in a position to win if not for Carlos Gomez's first-inning, inside-the-park home run. 3. ¡Veinte de Bautista! Jose Bautista hit his major league-leading 20th home run to give the Toronto Blue Jays an early 3-0 lead over the Chicago White Sox. But the Jays needed Corey Patterson's homer in the 14th inning for a 9-8 walkoff win. The White Sox left 10 men on base, adding to Ozzie Guillen's agita. 4. Stingy Swarzak: Spot starter Anthony Swarzak spun a gem for the Twins, taking a no-hitter into the eighth against the Angels. With one out in the inning, however, Peter Bourjos broke up the no-no with a double to left field. Minnesota won the pitching duel, 1-0, on Danny Valencia's RBI single in the bottom of the 10th. Unfortunately, no one outside of Los Angeles or Minneapolis even saw this game, thanks to FOX's regional telecast and exclusive national broadcast window. 5. Hamels handles Mets: Cole Hamels racked up 10 strikeouts in seven innings, yet was facing a loss as the Mets held a 2-1 lead over the Phillies. But the Fightins rallied for three runs in the bottom of the eighth, thanks to a Chase Utley RBI single and two-run double from Ryan Howard. Mike Pelfrey only allowed two runs in 7 2/3 innings, yet took the loss in the Phillies' 5-2 win.  6. Chipper chips in: Chipper Jones was staring at an 0-for-4 day until an opportunity for redemption presented itself. Jones got a single off Carlos Fisher in the 12th inning, and it was a big one. The hit drove in Jordan Schafer, pushing the Braves past the Reds, 3-2. Brian McCann went 4-for-5 on the day with two home runs.
7. Rockslide buries Garcia: McCann wasn't the only catcher who hit two homers on Saturday. Chris Iannetta also went deep twice, part of a 4-for-6, six-RBI day, as the Rockies demolished the Cardinals, 15-4. Jaime Garcia gave up 11 earned runs in 3 1/3 innings, matching the combined total he allowed in his previous seven starts. 8. Closer for a day: Less than a week after Brian Fuentes ripped his manager for not properly using him as a closer, Bob Geren brought Fuentes in to close out the Athletics' 4-2 win over the Orioles. It was Fuentes' first save opportunity since May 8. Mark Ellis made sure Fuentes had a bigger lead to work with, hitting a solo home run in the eighth inning. 9. Rain, rain — go away: Normally, a rainout wouldn't be worthy of mention on The Juice, but Saturday's Red Sox-Tigers postponement at Comerica Park was notable for a couple of reasons. 1) As Biz of Baseball's Maury Brown points out, this was the 31st rainout of the season, tying the highest total of the last decade. 2) It deprives a national TBS audience of seeing Justin Verlander pitch against Josh Beckett. Saturday's game is being made up as part of a day-night doubleheader on Sunday. The starters for that game — Andy Oliver for the Tigers and Clay Buchholz for the Red Sox — were pushed to the 1:05 p.m. ET matinee. That moves Verlander and Beckett to the nightcap, played at 7:05 p.m. and falling in ESPN's exclusive window for Sunday Night Baseball. So not even fans in Detroit and Boston will get to see their aces pitch. Huzzah. Extra frames: Zach Duke pitched seven shutout innings and hit a three-run homer in his season debut, as the D-Backs beat the Astros, 11-3 ... Randy Wells struck out seven Pirates in four innings, but gave up five runs in the Cubs' 10-0 loss to Pittsburgh... Sean O'Sullivan was rocked for 10 runs and 15 hits as the Rangers routed the Royals, 10-1... Evan Longoria batted leadoff and hit a homer, but the Rays lost 7-3 to the Indians. Follow Ian on Twitter — @iancass — and engage The Stew on Facebook | 
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