Mike Napoli owners have to be breathing a sigh of relief after news of Jeff Mathis now expected to miss a minimum of six weeks after fracturing his wrist. Mathis had taken over as the starting catcher for the Los Angeles Angels with 34 at bats compared to only 15 for Napoli as Mike Scioscia found it easier to play the best defensive catcher when that catcher is also hitting. Mathis was batting .324 with a home run and two stolen bases before the injury.
In other injury news, the Boston Red Sox lost 2/3 of their starting outfield with Jacoby Ellsbury and Mike Cameron headed to the disabled list. Ellsbury will be eligible to return on Monday, April 26th while Cameron will miss anywhere from 2-4 weeks.
Darnell McDonald was recalled from Triple-A and was the hero Tuesday night, delivering a pinch-hit two-run home run that tied the game in the 8th innings and then winning the game in the bottom of the ninth with an RBI single. Top prospect Josh Reddick was also recalled from the minors and got the start in center field and hit ninth. Reddick went 1-for-3 with 2 RBI in the contest. The recent disabled list transactions should give Jeremy Hermida some extra time in the outfield. Hermida hit eighth in left field and went 2-for3 with two runs scored and delivered his third home run of the season. In other fantasy baseball news around the diamond Tuesday night…
Hitters:
The Texas Rangers ran wild against knuckleballer Tim Wakefield, stealing nine bases in six innings. Nelson Cruz (3), Elvis Andrus (3), Vladimir Guerrero (2) and Julio Borbon (1) all got in the action.
Troy Tulowitzki went 2-for-4 and hit his first home run of the season. Tulowitzki is hitting .286 on the season with seven RBI.
Ryan Zimmerman went 3-for-5 with two RBI and knocked out his second home run of the year. Zimmerman is hitting .316 with 10 men plated this season.
Vernon Wells shows no signs of slowing down still as he went 3-for-4 and hit his seventh home run of the season, although it has only led to 12 RBI this year.
Matt Kemp went 2-for-5 with three RBI and hit his 6th home run of the season. Kemp is hitting .333 with 18 RBI on the season.
Jose Reyes went 4-for-5 with two RBI and stole his second base of the year.
As much as the Houston Astros say that missing Lance Berkman was not impacting their lineup, their actions on Tuesday seemed to the contrary. The lowest scoring offense in all of baseball broke out for seven runs with Berkman going 1-for-4 with two RBI. Michael Bourn walked twice and stole two bases.
Ryan Ludwick hit two home runs as part of his 3-for-4 night with three RBI. Ludwick is hitting .333 on the season with eight RBI.
Chase Headley went 1-for-2 with the lone run scored for the San Diego Padres and also stole three bases, giving him five steals on the season.
Pitchers:
Two-start starter David Bush delivered in his first start of the week, working seven shutout innings with two strikeouts. Bush has a 2.41 ERA and a 1.07 WHIP through three starts this season.
Who knew the New York Mets best starter was going to be Mike Pelfrey in 2010, at least through the first three weeks anyway. Pelfrey tossed seven shutout innings with six strikeouts to move to 3-0 on the season.
John Danks allowed one run in eight innings with nine strikeouts to pick up his second win of the year. Danks allowed only two hits as batters are now hitting just .162 against him this season.
Kevin Slowey hurled eight innings on one-run ball to go along with nine strikeouts to up his mark to 2-1 on the year. Slowey threw 71% of his pitches for strikes, while making it through eight innings on only 98 pitches.
Matt Latos worked seven shutout innings with two strikeouts to pick up his first win of the season. Tough luck loser Jesus Sanchez allowed one hit and one run in seven innings with 10 strikeouts.
Closers:
Ryan Madson allowed three runs in the ninth inning to blow the save and the win for Kyle Kendrick. Madson surrendered back-to-back home runs to Troy Glaus and Jason Heyward in the bottom of the ninth inning with two outs.
