Orioles (7) – Rays (4)
David Price took to the mound for the Tampa Bay Rays as they opened their 2013 at home against the Baltimore Orioles’s Jason Hammel. The Orioles took advantage of last year’s American Cy Young winner early. Matt Weiters hit a two run bomb off Price in the first inning, with Adam Jones on second. Jones had a great day going 3-5, with two RBIs and two run scored on the day. The Rays responded with three runs against Hammel. Ben Zobrist hit a home run in the fourth and in the sixth he and Desmond Jennings both got RBIs. Price settled down after giving up the two run home run to Weiters going six innings before handing the ball over to Jake McGee with a 3-2 lead. Probably not the start to the season Price was expecting. He gave up seven hits, with two walks and four strikeouts. McGee was hit hard in his .2 innings of work and Chris Davis finished him off with a three run homerun. The Orioles bullpen would seal the win for Hammel and earn Jim Johnson his first save of the season. Evan Longoria had a disappointing day at the plate but made some great defensive plays, including a toss out at first from his ass.
Indians (4) – Blue Jays (1)
Toronto Blue Jays fans got a shot of reality in their home opener against the Cleveland Indians. R.A. Dickey took to the mound in his first start for the Jays with high expecations. The knuckleball worked…but it worked against the Jays on this night as J.P. Arencibia had a hard time handing the pitch. Dickey lasted six innings giving up three earned runs on five hits and four walks. The vaunted Toronto lineup also struggled to meet expectations. They had Indians’ starter Justin Masterson on the ropes in the first and second, but he held on and eventually settled into a groove. Masterson went six inning, striking out five and allowing just one run. Asdrubal Cabrera’s home run seemed to come as a surprise to both he and Dickey in the fifth inning. The Indians shortstop hit a knuckleball that just seemed to carry over the right field fence. With a 4-2 lead, Cleveland’s bullpen took over, with Chris Perez coming in to close the game for his first save of the season. The real story of this game was Arencibia’s struggles with the knuckleball. Several times the struggles resulted in potential double plays being eliminated as the runner advanced on passed balls. Colby Rasmus struggled at the plate going 0-3 with 3 strikeouts and a walk.
This is just a funny GIF of J.P. Arencibia chasing R.A. Dickey’s knuckleball ball around. Maybe Arencibia should try a goaltenders glove the next time out. I’m sure some of the chasing was due to opening night jitters, but John Gibbons might want to reconsider his catching options for future starts from Dickey.
Rangers (7) – Astros (0)
Yu Darvish was one out from perfection in his first start of his second year in the majors. I’d write about hitters from the Houston Astros but really there isn’t much to talk about..other than Brett Wallace’s horrible three strikeouts in three appearances. Darvish was dealing and literally had no run support other than Lance Berkman’s lone RBI in the third inning when the Texas Rangers were threatening Astros starter Lucas Harrell. Harrell had a good game going six innings and giving up a lone run on six hits and two walks. The Rangers blew the game open against the Houston bullpen scoring two runs in the seventh, eighth and ninth. Elvis Andrus and Lance Berkman each went 3-4. Berkman seems to be finding his place in the Rangers lineup and so has been an adequate replacement for Josh Hamilton’s bat. Darvish threw just over 110 pitches in his first outing and gave up a hit up the middle to Marwin Gonzalez to end the perfect and no hit game. Darvish struck out 14 Houston batters in 9.2 innings and walked none.
Mariners (7) – Athletics (1)
Hisashi Iwakuma had a quiet but productive season in 2012 for the Seattle Mariners and probably came into 2013 looking to improve. Iwakuma looked sharp in his first start of the season tossing six innings of two hit ball. He gave up a lone run to Yoenis Cespedes in the second inning, but cruised through the rest of his start striking out seven hitters. Cespedes hit the home run, but also struck out three times. Oakland starter Jared Parker didn’t fair as well. He lasted five frames, giving up four runs on five hits and three walks. Michael Morse provided a significant chunk of the Mariners offense contributing four RBIs and going 2-4, with two homers. Kyle Seager was perfect at the plate going 3-3. Iwakuma handed the ball over the Seattle pen to start the seventh. Carter Capps and Oliver Perez came in to shut down the A’s for the remainder of the game.
Giants (3) – Dodgers (0)
A day earlier Clayton Kershaw was dominating in his 4-0 shutout of the San Fransico Giants, last night Madison Bumgartner was brillient for the Giants over eight innings of work, giving up just 2 hits. The Giants probably made this game more difficult for themselves against the Los Angeles Dodger’s rookie pitcher Hyun Jin-Ryu. Ryu, is the first South Korean pitcher to join a MLB team via the posting process and had seven successful seasons in the Hanwha Eagles, of the KPB league. On this night, the Giants offense raked him for 10 hits but couldn’t capitalize early on as they kept hitting into double plays. They scored one run in the fourth when Joaquin Arias drove in Buster Posey. The Giants would not score until the seventh inning when they scored twice on a throwing error by Dodgers shortstop Justin Sellers. Sergio Romo came into the game in the ninth to earn his first save of the season.
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