Mets continue feasting on Rockies pitching with second straight 14-9 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.
Coors Field has a 20-year history of making offenses look good. This weekend, it has helped turn the 2015 New York Mets into the 2015 Toronto Blue Jays, which is about as far of a leap as one can imagine.
For the second straight night, New York posted a 14-9 victory against Colorado. The only real difference this time is that Yoenis Cespedes didn’t hit three home runs or flirt with history. In fact, the Mets as a team only hit one homer, coming from Juan Uribe in their eight-run third inning. Saturday was all about the double, as New York racked up nine total.
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Amazingly, eight of those came against Rockies starter Chris Rusin.
On the heels of Friday’s disaster, Colorado manager Walt Weiss attempted to ride Rusin as long as he could. It lasted two-plus innings, and it was not pretty as Rusin became the first Rockies pitcher to allow at least 11 runs in a game since Jeff Fassero did in 2004.
All eight of New York’s starting position players had two or threes hits in the game. Six of them scored two runs. Pitcher Jonathan Niese added a two-run single, because why not?
Niese, by the way, barely held on for the win. He pitched 5 1/3 and allowed seven runs. But a win is a win, and New York’s five-game division lead is safe headed into Sunday.
BLUE JAYS STAY HOT IN ANAHEIM
Speaking of that Blue Jays offense, they were flying high again on Saturday and actually topped the Mets output in a 15-3 win against the Angels.
AL MVP candidate Josh Donaldson was in full-on beast mode, collecting four hits and driving in six to give him 100 RBIs exactly on the season. Like so many before him, he finished a triple shy of the cycle, but had plenty of extra bases to spare. Donaldson connected for his 34th home run on the season, while also delivering his 33rd double.
Though he didn’t need much help at the plate, Donaldson got plenty from his teammates. Six of the other eight starters in the lineup had at least two hits. Jose Bautista had three, including his third triple. Chris Colabello also had three, including his 12th home run.
The victory keeps the pressure on the New York Yankees, who were also victorious on Saturday. Entering Sunday’s action, the Yankees hold a half-game lead.
DODGERS GET SOME HITS, STILL LOSE TO ASTROS
For awhile on Saturday it looked like the Los Angeles Dodgers may go 0-for-the weekend in Houston. After being no-hit by Mike Fiers on Friday, the Dodgers started the game 0-for-9 against Scott Kazmir, running their string to 27 consecutive batters retired.
Jimmy Rollins ended the horror with a single leading off the fourth. Of course, he was thrown out on the same play trying to stretch it to a double, but the Dodgers finally had something. Two innings later, they even scored a run after Rollins hit his 500th career double and came around on Justin Turner’s single.
Overall, the Dodgers ended up with seven hits, which was four more than Houston, yet they still managed to lose the game 3-1.
[On this week’s StewPod: Angels pitcher Hector Santiago talks about his huge autograph collection.]
Not even another solid performance from Zack Greinke (seven innings, three runs) could save the Dodgers. Perhaps they would have been better off with him in the lineup. Things just aren’t going well. The Dodgers have now lost four straight on this AL West road trip with one game left in Houston on Sunday. They’ll call upon Clayton Kershaw to work his magic there.
As for the Astros, they’ll look to wrap up their 10-game home stand at 7-3 before heading to the Bronx and Minnesota this week.
CUBS WIN SLUGFEST AGAINST BRAVES
The baseball was flying Saturday afternoon at Wrigley Field.
On the strength of four home runs, the Cubs were able to overcome a four-run deficit in the fifth inning to defeat Atlanta 9-7.
First baseman Anthony Rizzo started the barrage with a solo shot in the third, which temporarily gave the Cubs an early one-run lead. Two innings later, Atlanta had charged ahead 7-3, but Chicago chipped away immediately with three of their own in the fifth. That set the stage for Addison Russell, Miguel Montero and Jorge Soler to provide the difference with a trio of solo blasts.
Russell hit the tying shot in the sixth. In the eighth, Montero and Soler went back-to-back against former teammate Edwin Jackson, who was just released by the Cubs on July 27.
The Braves got a big day from Nick Swisher, who homered from both sides of the plate for the 14th time in his MLB career. He’s again tied with Mark Teixeira for the MLB record. Both of Swisher’s homers were two-run shots.
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
