The American League;

The Boston Red Sox and the Cleveland Indians continued their fast starts out of blocks.  Boston defeated Baltimore 4-1 behind 6 innings of effective pitching by Tim Wakefield (1-1) followed by air-tight relief pitching by Timlin, Foulke and closer Jonathan Papelbon who recorded his 3rd save of the new season.  The Bosox registered 2 spots in both the 5th and 6th innings, leadoff hitter Adam Stern in the thick of things driving in 1 run in each ining, to seal the win.   Baltimore starter Rodrigo Lopez took the loss giving up all 4 Red Sox runs in 5 2/3 innings.

The red hot Cleveland Indians held off late inning rallies by the Minnesota Twins, the Central Division’s last place team to seal a 3-2 win.  Jake Westbrook (2-0) picked up his 2nd win with 7 1/3 solid innings, Bob Wickman picked up his 3rd save.  Johan Santana took the loss pitching 5 1/3 innings and giving up all 3 Cleveland runs.  Eduardo Perez belted his 2nd homer of the season, a solo blast in the 4th inning. Aaron Boone doubled in the 6th driving in the other 2 Cleveland runs.

The Detroit Tigers were upended by the Texas Rangers by a 5-3 score.  It was the 2nd victory for the Tigers against 5 losses.  Vince Padilla (2-0) who pitched 6 innings giving up all 3 of Detroit’s runs, won his second of the season registering both Texas victories thus far. Francisco Cordero was credited with the save, his first. Kenny Rogers (1-1) took the loss evening up his record.

The National League;

The previously undefeated Milwaukee Brewers were brought back to earth being shut out by the Arizona Diamondbacks by a 7-0 score.   Claudio Vargas (6 innings) collaborated with Greg Aquino, Luis Vizcaino and Jose Valverde (1 innning each) for a 4 hit shutout for Arizona.  Chris Capuano (1-1) started for Milwaukee, took the loss having pitched 6 1/3 innings and giving 4 runs on 3 hits.  Arizona scored 1 in the 1st inning, 3 each in both the 7th and 9th innings.

The Philadelpha Phillies broke into the win column as they split a doubleheader on Sunday with the L.A. Dodgers and made up the game which was rained out on Saturday.   The Phils won game one 6-3 behind a good effort by Ryan Madison in a no-decision 6 innnings.  Closer Tom Gordon (1-1) got the win while Dodgers Derek Lowe also pitched well in a 6 inning no-decision.  Dodger Closer Tim Hamulack was tagged with the loss allowing 3 runs on one hit — a 3 run homer by Bobby Abreu in the 9th inning.    

In game 2, the Dodgers came back to defeat the Phils 6-2 behind Brad Penny (2-0) with Josh Lieber (0-2) notching his second loss.  The only bright spots for the Phillies were that Jimmy Rollins hit safely in both games in putting together a new hitting streak and that Bobby Abreu went 3 for 3 including an RBI single in the first and and RBI double in the 8th accounting for both Phillies runs.  Penny pitched 7 innings of 1 run, 4 hit ball while Lieber pitched innings giving up 2 runs on 8 hits.

The Chicago Cubs swept their 3 games series with last year’s Central Division winning St. louis Cardinals, winning the rubber game 8-4 over the Cards.  The Cubs Scott Williamson got the win pitching a scoreless 8th inning while tough St. Louis closer Jason Isringhausen got tagged with the loss giving up 4 runs on 2 hits and 2 walks in the 8th inning.  Michael Barrett was the big hitting star for the Cubs going 2 for 4 including a 2 run homer in the midst of Chicago’s 4 run outburst in the 8th.

The Pirates also broke into the win column defeating the Cincinnati Reds 5-3 in a tight game.  Cubs Starter Victor Santos (1-1) notched the win with 5 1/3 innings giving up 2 runs and 4 hits while Cincinnati Starter Dave Williams (0-1) took the loss pitching 6 innings and giving up 3 runs on 5 hits.  Chicago’s closer, Roberto Hernandez was credited with his 1st save, having pitched a hitless 9th inning.

For the other scores of Sunday’s games; click here.

For the scores of Monday night’s games completed or in progress; click here.

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This entry was posted on Monday, April 10th, 2006 at 7:44 pm and is filed under Real-Time Baseball News and Commentary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.