The Juice: Mets bullpen implodes again in loss to Nationals; Pirates grab best record in baseball
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The Washington Nationals, like so many others this season, couldn't touch Matt Harvey on Friday night.
In seven innings, the New York Mets young ace held them to one run on three hits while striking out 11. But as it would turn out, all of those strikeouts may have actually served Washington well, because once Harvey came out at 109 pitches, the offense snapped back into action. In the eighth, Washington pieced together a big inning against four Mets relievers, punctuated by Ryan Zimmerman's bases-clearing double off of Brandon Lyon to tie the game at 4. Then, against closer Bobby Parnell in the ninth, Washington scored two more on Ian Desmond's double to win it 6-4.
Any regrets, Terry Collins, regarding Matt Harvey's usage? (Via the Associated Press)
''It's easy to sit here right now when we've lost the game to look back at the seventh or eighth inning and say you should've left him in or should've made this move or that move. It's a very easy thing to say,'' Mets manager Terry Collins said.
Collins put down any suggestion that Harvey should've kept pitching.
''Yeah, I could've left him in. No doubt about it. I could've let him throw 150. Decided to take him out. I thought he had enough,'' he said.
Collins definitely did the right thing. Unfortunately for Harvey, he may have to get used to nights like these. At least until New York can reconstruct their bullpen.
Four starts, four victories: We knew it would get a little tougher for Gerrit Cole at some point, but the Pittsburgh Pirates young right-hander showed great resilience in improving his record to 4-0. After falling behind the Milwaukee Brewers 3-0 in the first inning, the rookie recovered nicely by finishing with five scoreless. His offense did the rest in the eventual 10-3 victory. Starling Marte came a home run shy of the cycle and drove in two. Andrew McCutchen homered and knocked in three as Pittsburgh's winning streak reached seven and they passed St. Louis for the best record in baseball at 49-30.
Streak and record extended: On Thursday, Colorado Rockies outfielder Michael Cuddyer set a new franchise record when he hit safely in his 24th consecutive game. He extended that streak, which is also the longest in MLB this season, to 25 on Friday by hitting a two-run homer off Barry Zito. That would end up being his only hit of the game, but it was enough for Jhoulys Chacin. Chacin tossed eight scoreless as the Rockies snapped their three-game losing streak with a 4-1 victory over the San Francisco Giants.
Power outage: Not a good night at all for the Cincinnati Reds. Not only did they lose 4-0 to the Texas Rangers, extending their scoreless innings to 22, Johnny Cueto was forced to leave in the second inning after a recurrence of discomfort in his right lat. That's an issue that has already forced Cueto to the disabled list twice this season.
MORE SCORES
Indians 19, White Sox 10; Indians 9, White Sox 8: Cleveland sweeps the craziest doubleheader we've seen in a long time. In the opener, they overcame a 5-0 deficit by scoring 14 unanswered runs, In the nightcap, they plated four in the ninth against Addison Reed, with the winner coming on Nick Swisher's solo home run.
Orioles 4, Yankees 3: Nate McLouth broke up C.C. Sabathia's no-hit bid with a single leading off the sixth. He then put him into the loss column with a solo homer in the seventh.
Tigers 6, Rays 3: Max Scherzer becomes the first pitcher since Roger Clemens in 1986 to start the season 12-0.
Red Sox 7, Blue Jays 5: Toronto rallied from a 5-0 deficit to tie the game in the seventh, but Jonny Gomes sealed it for Boston with a two-run single in the bottom half of the inning.
Padres 9, Marlins 2: Ricky Nolasco allowed six runs and 11 hits in five innings. Not the best audition for those four National League West teams rumored to be interested in acquiring him.
Braves 3, Diamondbacks 0: Atlanta improved to 42-9 in games when they hit a home run.
Angels 4, Astros 2: Los Angeles plates two in the eighth and one in the ninth to avoid another sweep against Houston. And yes, I realize it's only Friday.
Royals 9, Twins 3: Eric Hosmer homers twice. James Shields gets his first win since April 30.
A's 6, Cardinals 1: Make that eight straight victories for Bartolo Colon. He's 11-2 with a 2.79 ERA.
Phillies 16, Dodgers 1: Delmon Young drove in a career-high six runs for Philadelphia. Meanwhile, Yasiel Puig was held to a measly single. Try figuring that one out.
Mariners 5, Cubs 4 (1o inn.): Rookie Mike Zunino comes through with the game-winning single for Seattle.
''I'm a grinder,'' he said. ''I'm willing to take one off the neck for the team. You've definitely got to be confident.''
— Jonny Gomes talks about his game-winning single in terms that only Jonny Gomes can understand.
Ominous clouds roll into downtown Denver.
• During their six-game winning streak, the Dodgers allowed a total of 14 runs. On Friday, they allowed 16 to the Phillies.
• Matt Harvey had his third start this season with at least 10 strikeouts and no walks. That leads MLB.
• Trevor Bauer's 49 pitch first inning for Cleveland was the second highest single-inning pitch count this season. Ian Kennedy had a 50 pitch fourth inning earlier in the year.
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