by Todd Lammi
Albert Pujols went 3 for 4 with two home runs and 3 RBI in the St. Louis Cardinals 12-8 victory over the New York Mets. Rick Ankiel added his first home run of the year for the Cardinals. Kyle Lohse picked up the win and is now 3-0 on the season, but he may miss his next start. Lohse is scheduled to have an MRI on his knee after injuring it while covering first base in the fifth inning. Carlos Beltran hit his second home run of the year for the Mets. In other fantasy baseball news from around the diamond on Thursday…
National League:
Chad Billingsley pitched 7 1/3 scoreless innings to lead the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 2-0 win over the Houston Astros. Billingsley struck out five and lowered his ERA to 2.05 on the season. Wandy Rodriguez allowed one run in six innings in the loss for the Astros. Michael Bourn stole his third base of the year for Houston…..Milwaukee Brewers starter Dave Bush took a no-hitter into the eight inning before allowing a hit in a 6-1 win over the Philadelphia Phillies. Ryan Braun hit his 4th home run of the season and is now batting .327. Phillies starter Cole Hamels left the game after getting hit in his pitching shoulder by a Prince Fielder line drive…..Joey Votto went 4 for 5 with his 3rd home run of the season in the Cincinnati Reds 7-1 win over the Chicago Cubs. Aaron Harang threw seven shutout innings to pick up the victory.
American League:
Grady Sizemore hit a three-run home run to give the Cleveland Indians a 5-2 win over the Kansas City Royals. Shin-Soo Choo picked up his third stolen base of the year. Gil Meche took the loss for the Royals, allowing three runs in 7 1/3 innings with seven strikeouts…..Felix Hernandez tossed seven shutout innings for the Seattle Mariners in a 1-0 defeat of the Tampa Bay Rays. Ichiro Suzuki stole his second base of the year. James Shields took the loss for the Rays, allowing one run in 7 1/3 innings with four strikeouts…..Adam Eaton allowed two runs in 7 1/3 innings with nine strikeouts (no, that is not a typo, he really struck out 9) in a 6-2 win over the Chicago White Sox….The Toronto Blue Jays hit three home runs in their 5-2 defeat of the Texas Rangers. Lyle Overbay (3), Vernon Wells (3) and Armando Rios (1) all went deep for the Blue Jays. Scott Richmond allowed two runs in six innings with eight strikeouts to get the “w”. With B.J. Ryan on the 15-day disabled list, Scott Downs picked up his first save of the year. Downs will see the majority of save opportunities while Ryan is out of action according to manager Cito Gaston. Rookie Ricky Romero was also placed on the 15 day DL with a strained oblique muscle.
