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04/26/2004 Archived Entry: "MLB news: AL Roundup-April 26"
AL Roundup-by David Sack
In his first appearance on the mound since Game 7 of the ALCS last season, Pedro Martinez (3-1) shut down the sputtering Yankees allowing just four hits over seven strong innings. Manny Ramirez provided all the offense the Red Sox would need in the 4th inning when he crushed an 0-2 curveball from Javier Vazquez into the seats in left field for a 2-0 lead.
The Yankees threatened in the fifth inning putting runners on second and third with one out, but Martinez induced a pop-up off the bat of Enrique Wilson and then caught Derek Jeter looking at a called third strike for the final out of the inning. Jeter went 0-4 with three strikeouts and is now hitless in his last 25 at-bats.
After a thirty-pitch effort from Keith Foulke on Saturday, the Red Sox opted to give their closer a rest on Sunday and went with last year’s playoff closer Scott Williamson who pitched a perfect eighth and ninth inning for his first save of the season. Williamson’s two perfect innings brought the Red Sox bullpen’s scoreless streak to 24 2/3 innings. The win gave the Red Sox a sweep of the series in the Bronx and improved their record against the Yankees this year to 6-1.
Indians 3, Tigers 2
The Cleveland Indians defeated the Detroit Tigers as Jake Westbrook pitched a complete game 2-hitter in his first start of the season. Westbrook (1-1), who had pitched seven perfect innings in relief against the Tigers last Monday, continued his dominant pitching as of late recording 27 straight outs over a three game stretch until Carlos Pena’s homerun in the 2nd inning of yesterday’s game.
Blue Jays 15, Orioles 3
The struggling Toronto Blue Jays showed some signs of life pounding out 15 runs and 17 hits to take two out of three games over the weekend in Baltimore. Carlos Delgado and Eric Hinske had three RBI’s apiece and Chris Woodward went 4-5 for the Jays. Last year’s Cy Young award winner Roy Halladay (2-3) finally got some run support and pitched seven impressive innings to improve his lifetime record against Baltimore to 10-2.
Rangers 14, Seattle 6
The Rangers young lineup got to Ryan Franklin early and continued their efforts against the bullpen as they rocked the Mariners pitching staff for seventeen hits and five homeruns. Franklin (1-1) did not get out of the third inning as he gave up seven runs in his shortest outing of the season. The sixth through ninth spots in the Rangers order combined to go 12-17 with 11 RBI’s and 13 runs scored. The offensive explosion was capped off in the sixth inning when Laynce Nix, Rod Barajas and Adrian Gonzalez hit consecutive homeruns off Seattle reliever Kevin Jarvis. The win gave the Rangers a three-game sweep of the series against visiting Seattle.
Twins 4, Royals 2
Carlos Silva improved to a perfect 3-0 giving up just one run in seven innings as the Twins defeated the Royals at Kauffman Stadium. Torii Hunter, making his first start since being sidelined April 7th with a strained right hamstring, hit a three-run homer in the third inning off Royals starter Brian Anderson to give the Twins a 4-0 lead. The Twins bullpen held on in the ninth despite some shaky pitching as Joe Nathan recorded his sixth save of the season.
White Sox 6, Devil Rays 5
The White Sox scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning as the Devil Rays bullpen imploded and gave up three hits and four walks in a disastrous ninth inning. Lance Carter walked Juan Uribe with two outs and the bases loaded to bring home the winning run.
Angels 4, A’s 3
The Anaheim Angels completed a three game sweep of the A’s behind Russ Ortiz’ strongest performance of the year and another solid showing from their bullpen. Ortiz (1-2) pitched five strong innings allowing just two runs before giving way to the bullpen. Ben Weber, Francisco Rodriguez and Troy Percival combined for six strikeouts and allowed only one unearned run over four innings to preserve the victory. Tim Salmon erased a 1-0 deficit when he hit the first pitch he saw from Rich Harden in the sixth inning deep into left field for a three-run homer. Salmon had been 0-13 prior to that at-bat.
