Francisco Liriano hits first career homer, leaves early in Pirates win
Take a look around the league with Big League Stew’s daily wrap up. We’ll hit on all of the biggest moments from the day that you may have missed, while providing highlights, photos and interesting stats.
Pirates left-hander Francisco Liriano played unfamiliar role in Saturday’s 6-5 against the Dodgers.
Not known for his hitting — unless you count batting practice — Liriano actually came through with the biggest hit of the game, connecting for a three-run homer off Mat Latos in the second inning. The home run was the first of Liriano’s 11-year career, which was spent largely with Minnesota, and it pretty much stunned everyone in the ballpark.
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Including Pirates manager Clint Hurdle.
”It was like Halley’s Comet,” Hurdle said with a grin. ”I always kid him, ‘Can I see a home run in my lifetime?’ As many as he has hit in batting practice, I’ve been waiting for this. The way it played out, it was a big home run.”
The home run gave Pittsburgh a 4-2 lead. They would never trail again, though things obviously remained interesting. As for Liriano on the hill, he actually wasn’t around long after the homer. He left the game after the third inning after feeling a “twinge” near his right armpit during his earlier at-bat.
With the good comes the bad, though obviously Pittsburgh hopes it’s nothing but a minor setback.
As usual, Andrew McCutchen was Pittsburgh’s other big star in the game. He finished with three hits and a walk. The Pirates will aim for the three-game sweep on Sunday.
NATIONALS FINALLY GAIN GROUND ON METS
After a week in which the New York Mets could seemingly do no wrong and the Washington Nationals continued finding ways to stumble over themselves, the roles were finally reserved on Saturday.
In Washington, the Nationals took care of business in Stephen Strasburg’s latest return to the mound, cruising by the Rockies 6-1. Strasburg was coming off his second DL stint this season and looked completely dominant, striking out 12 Rockies over seven innings.
But that dominance didn’t end there. Strasburg also led the way offensively, collecting a career-high three hits in the game. Bryce Harper, Ryan Zimmerman and Ian Desmond each had two hits. Danny Espinosa walked twice and scored twice.
That was the good news for Washington. The better news was that the Mets seven-game winning streak finally ended. They were downed 5-4 by the Rays at Tropicana Field. Rookie right-hander Noah Syndergaard was touched up for five runs in four innings in a rare bad outing for him, and the Mets offense couldn’t overcome the deficit as they did multiple times on Friday.
Based on these, the Mets division lead is now at a game and a half heading into Sunday.
ASTROS ROAD WOES CONTINUE
If the Houston Astros are going to close this season strong and be factors in October, they’ll have to start winning some games on the road. Following Saturday’s 2-1 loss in Oakland, they’ve now lost 15 out of their last 19 away from Minute Maid Park, falling to 23-33 overall on the road.
That’s a troubling trend for down the stretch. Unless they can do this.
The A’s actually scored both of their runs right away against Astros Collin McHugh in the first inning. After McHugh walked Billy Burns and Coco Crisp to start the inning, newly-acquired Danny Valencia laced a two-run double that held up as the difference.
CARDINALS FIRE THIRD STRAIGHT SHUTOUT
As the other division races heat up around them, the St. Louis Cardinals keep on rolling and maintaining a comfortable edge in the NL Central.
On Saturday, they extended their latest winning streak to four games by blanking the hapless Milwaukee Brewers 3-0. The shutout itself was their third straight. Overall their pitching staff has thrown 36 consecutive scoreless innings dating back to fourth inning of Wednesday’s 13-inning win in Cincinnati.
Yeah, so much about the Adam Wainwright having any impact at all on St. Louis. Wainwright torn his Achilles tendon in their last visit to Milwaukee. On Saturday, it was Jaime Garcia doing the work in his third start off the DL. Garcia tossed seven innings of two-hit ball, walking four and striking out five.
Of course, the Redbirds needed offense as well. Matt Carpenter provided that right off the bat, delivered a leadoff home run in the first. Rookie Stephen Piscotty drove in the Cardinals other two runs with RBI singles in the second and seventh innings.
With the win, the Cardinals are a league-best 71-39.
Want to see more from Saturday’s slate of games? Check out our scoreboard.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813
