The Tampa Bay Rays improve their record to 12-4, the best in the majors, after completing a 9-1 road trip with a 10 – 2 win over the Chicago White Sox. James Shields is the winner as Carlos Pena drives in four runs.
Former major league manager Kevin Kennedy, now working as a broadcaster for the Tampa Bay Rays, is suddenly thrust into the limelight, as he intervenes to stop a deranged man who threatens to blow up a flight between Los Angeles, CA and Tampa, FL. Kennedy is one of ten passengers who subdue the madman as the Delta Air Lines flight is diverted to Albuquerque, NM.
The Dodgers let their bats do the talking in pounding the Reds, 14 – 6, in Cincinnati. Los Angeles bangs out 18 hits, with Rafael Furcal leading the way with a 3 for 5 performance; Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier add homers for the benefit of Hiroki Kuroda. Reds pitcher Aaron Harang benefits from a rare reversal of a call by the umpiring crew in the 4th. Batting with the bases loaded and 2 outs, he hits a low liner to Ethier in right field. Ethier traps the ball, but first base umpire Tim McClelland declares a catch and the inning over. After protests from manager Dusty Baker and first base coach Billy Hatcher, the umpires confer and reverse the call, giving Harang an RBI single that ties the game 4 – 4 at that point.
Roy Halladay continues to be outstanding for the Phillies. Today, he pitches his first shutout in the National League, disposing of the Braves, 2 – 0. He is now 4-0, 0.82 for the season.
Philip Hughes of the Yankees justifies the decision to return him to the starting rotation, pitching a no-hitter for 7 innings before Eric Chavez of the Athletics bounces a ground ball towards the mound to open the 8th. The ball hits Hughes’s left forearm and lands for a single in front of the pitcher. The Yankees win the game, 3 – 1.
Pitcher Edinson Volquez of the Reds is suspended for 50 games for failing a PED test during spring training. He underwent Tommy John surgery last August and is currently on the disabled list; he will serve his suspension without being activated.
The Braves stage a late-game homer barrage to beat the Phillies, 4 – 3. Trailing 3 – 0 entering the bottom of the 9th, after being muzzled for 8 innings by Kyle Kendrick, who had entered the game with a 17.47 ERA, the Braves tee off against Ryan Madson after two outs. Troy Glaus goes deep with a runner on base and rookie Jason Heyward follows with a game-tying blast. Nate McLouth then hits a walk-off long ball against Jose Contreras in the 10th inning.
On the day the struggling Boston Red Sox have to place two starting outfielders – Jacoby Ellsbury and Mike Cameron – on the disabled list, they eke out a dramatic 7 – 6 win over the Texas Rangers. Entering the game with a 4-9 record, they fall behind 5 – 1 and 6 – 2 while the Rangers run wild, stealing 9 bases against the duo of Tim Wakefield and Victor Martinez. the Rangers swipe nine bases, including a club-record of five in one inning, to establish a franchise mark. The number of stolen bases allowed by the Boston backstops ties the 1913 mark for the most ever yielded by the team in one game. They then mount a comeback when Darnell McDonald, called up earlier in the day from AAA Pawtucket, hits a two-run game-tying pinch homer in the 8th, then ends the game with a run-scoring single off the Green Monster in the bottom of the 9th.
Rockies president Keli McGregor, while on a business trip for the club, is found dead in his hotel room in downtown Salt Lake City. The 48 year-old baseball executive, believed to have died of natural causes, spent 17 years with Colorado.
The Padres get a walk-off home run from an unexpected source, 5-foot-7 infielder David Eckstein, who wraps a ball around the left-field foul pole in the 10th inning for a 3 – 2 win over Jeremy Affeldt and the San Francisco Giants.
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