by Todd Lammi
Fours and threes were wild in the National League on Friday night as three games ended in that exact score. Unfortunately for the Florida Marlins, closer Matt Lindstrom was wild as well, allowing four hits, three walks and seven runs in the ninth inning, in their 7-3 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies. Shane Victorino hit a two-out grand slam to give the Phillies the lead in the ninth inning and Chase Utley tacked on an insurance run with his fifth home run of the year. The loss cost Marlins starter Josh Johnson a win. Johnson tossed seven scoreless innings while striking out eight Phillies. Dan Uggla hit his third home run of the year for the Fish. In other fantasy baseball news around the diamond on Friday…
National League:
Adam Wainwright allowed one earned run in seven innings with six strikeouts, but got a no decision in the St. Louis Cardinals 4-3 win over the Chicago Cubs. Ryan Franklin picked up his fifth save of the season. Albert Pujols stole his third base of the year. Ryan Dempster allowed three runs in six innings with six strikeouts for the Cubs…..Javier Vazquez allowed one run in six innings with nine strikeouts to get his second win of the season in the Atlanta Braves 4-3 win over the Cincinnati Reds. Jeff Francoeur hit his second home run of the year. Braves outfielder Garret Anderson was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a strained quadriceps muscle. Brandon Jones was recalled from Triple-A. Edison Volquez had control issues for the Reds, walking seven in five innings and allowing three runs…..Johan Santana struck out 10 in six innings to pick up his third win of the year for the New York Mets in a 4-3 win over the Washington Nationals. Jesus Flores and Nick Johnson each hit their first home run of the year for the Nationals…..Yvoni Gallardo picked up a complete game 5-2 win at the expense of the Houston Astros. Gallardo struck out seven without walking a batter. Rickie Weeks hit his third home run of the year for Milwaukee. Carlos Lee hit home run number four for the Astros…..Tim Lincecum looks back on track after striking out 12 in eight innings against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Bengie Molina hit his third home run of the season and Edgar Renteria hit his second for the Giants.
American League:
Zack Greinke is making it look way too easy this season for the Kansas City Royals. Greinke ran his scoreless innings streak to 29 with a complete game 6-1 win over the Detroit Tigers. Greinke struck out 10 while allowing only three hits. Mark Teahen hit his second home run of the year for the Royals. Closer Joakim Soria will be shutdown over the weekend with a sore shoulder. Juan Cruz could see a save opportunity or two while Soria is out….. Nick Blackburn allowed one run in seven innings to pick up his first win of the season in the Minnesota Twins 5-1 win over the Cleveland Indians. Justin Mourneau hit his fourth home run of the year for the Twins…..Michael Young hit a two-run home run in the top of the nith inning to lift the Texas Rangers to a 5-4 win over the Baltimore Orioles. Hank Blalock added his fourth home run of the season for the Rangers. Brian Roberts hit his first home run of the year for the Orioles…..The Toronto Blue Jays knocked out 21 hits en route to a 14-0 victory over the Chicago White Sox. Aaron Hill drove in three runs and Vernon Wells added two RBI. Brian Tallet hurled 5 2/3 scoreless innings to pick up the win…..Kevin Youkilis hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 11th inning to give the Boston Red Sox a 5-4 win over the New York Yankees. Jason Bay hit his fourth home run and Jacob Ellsbury stole his 7th base of the year for Boston. Injured shortstop Julio Lugo is expected to jon the Red Sox next week assuming his games in Triple-A go well over the weekend. The Yankees placed Chien-Ming Wang on the disabled list. Look for Phil Hughes who I wrote about earlier this week to possibly be recalled to start in Wang’s place next week…..Scott Kazmir threw six shutout innings for the Tampa Bay Rays in their win over the Oakland A’s. Carlos Pena hit two home runs and drove in four runs.
