Nine innings, nine items to get you going. Ladies and gentleman of the Stew, take a sip of morning Juice.
1. Cold shoulder: Out of the lineup with a sore left shoulder, a cold Ryan Braun was summoned off the bench to pinch-hit with his Brewers trailing by one in the ninth on Friday night. With no preparation, Braun stepped in and cracked a monster two-run homer off Florida Marlins closer Leo Nunez deep into the left field bleachers at Sun Life Stadium. It was the first pinch-hit home run of his career, and, thanks to John Axford wiggling out of a base loaded jam in the bottom half, it lifted the Brewers to a 6-5 victory.
"Probably the first time ever in my career I've gotten an at-bat without swinging at all," Braun said. "No batting practice, no flips in the cages, no tee, no nothing. Just kind of went up there, simplified the game, saw the ball, hit the ball."
He makes it sound so easy. And then he goes out and makes it look even easier than it sounds.
2. Supernatural occurrences on the southside: Juan Pierre homered — over the fence — and played defense, while Adam Dunn collected his first hit in 41 at-bats against a lefty this season — an infield single — as the White Sox snapped a nine-game losing streak to the Detroit Tigers with a 6-4 victory. All of that. In one game. Plus another Brent Lillibridge home run.
3. 39 days later: That's how long it took Los Angeles Angels starter Jered Weaver to up his win total from six to seven, which he did in a 3-2 triumph over the New York Yankees. Weaver qualified despite a 15-pitch at-bat by Derek Jeter to lead-off the game. The captain fouled off nine straight before flying out to center. By the way, despite the dry spell, Weaver is now tied for the league lead in victories.
4. Hard luck Hamels: Eight frames of one-hit, one-run baseball wasn't enough for Cole Hamels to pick up his eighth victory. Pittsburgh's Jeff Karstens made sure of that, nearly matching Hamels pitch-for-pitch through seven. In the end it was Jose Tabata squirting an RBI single just past Chase Utley, which gave the Pirates a 2-1 walk-off win over the Philadelphia Phillies in 12 intensely battled innings.
5. Six and Ogando: The Texas Rangers could have saved a few bullets for the weekend, but elected to keep firing away in their 11-2 route of the Cleveland Indians. The reason they didn't need to pile on was right-hander Alexi Ogando. Ogando lasted eight innings, allowing only four hits and one run. He's now a perfect 6-0 in his rookie campaign and is making a legitimate case for an All-Star selection.
6. A shot of Hinske: Subbing for the injured Jordan Schafer (above) — who exited during his fifth inning at-bat after he was struck in the face by his own bunted ball — Eric Hinske struck out twice (one credited to Schafer, the other to himself), and then hit a tiebreaking home run off Francisco Rodriguez in the ninth as the Atlanta Braves knocked off the New York Mets, 6-3.
7. Don't blame Bob: Oakland A's reliever Brian Fuentes knew his role this time, but that didn't stop the quirky lefty from blowing his third save of the season. Carl Crawford — hitting just .103 against southpaws coming in — delivered the big hit off Fuentes, blooping a two-run single in the seventh, which led his Boston Red Sox to the 8-6 victory.
8. Vargas goes the distance: For the second time this season, Jason Vargas pitched nine shutout innings for the Seattle Mariners. The first time he received a no-decision thanks to a lifeless offensive performance. This time he received home runs from Justin Smoak, Adam Kennedy and Miguel Olivo, and is credited with his first career shutout as the Mariners rolled over the Tampa Bay Rays, 7-0.
9. Tomahawk tosser: Josh Collmenter's over-the-top delivery has rendered another offense useless. The 25-year-old rookie, who believes throwing tomahawks as a kid led to his unorthodox mechanics, allowed only three hits over seven innings in Arizona's 4-0 victory over Washington. Collmenter is now 4-1 on the season with a 1.23 ERA in five starts.
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