Orioles outlast Red Sox in 17 innings

BOSTON -- In the first major league game since 1925 in which both teams put a position player on the mound, Baltimore designated hitter Chris Davis overcame an awful day at the plate by pitching two scoreless innings and getting the win as the Orioles outlasted Boston.
Davis went 0 for 8, striking out five times and grounding into a double play. But in a season full of surprises for the Orioles, a first baseman by trade delivered the biggest one yet in a crazy game at Fenway Park.
Adam Jones hit a three-run homer in the top of the 17th off Darnell McDonald (0-1), an outfielder the Red Sox turned to once their bullpen was empty.
Boston then put two runners on to start the 17th against Davis (1-0), making his pro pitching debut. With a fastball in the mid-80s (mph), he struck out All-Star slugger Adrian Gonzalez and got McDonald to ground into a double play to end a game that took 6 hours, 7 minutes.
The last time two teams brought in position players to pitch in the same game was Oct. 4, 1925, when Hall of Famers Ty Cobb of Detroit and George Sisler of the St. Louis Browns closed out the second game of a doubleheader on the last day of the season, STATS LLC said.
ANGELS 4, BLUE JAYS 3
ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Albert Pujols finally hit a home run for the Los Angeles Angels, ending the longest power drought of his career Sunday in a 4-3 win over the Toronto Blue Jays.
Pujols connected in the fifth inning for his first AL homer and the 446th overall. When he returned to the dugout, he had it all to himself. No players, no coaches, no batboys.
Pujols' teammates gave him the ol' silent treatment, a plot hatched by Torii Hunter. They were all waiting for the slugger in the tunnel leading to the clubhouse. Then, a burst of euphoria and they were all back on the bench, high-fiving and slapping him all over his body.
INDIANS 4, RANGERS 2
CLEVELAND -- Ubaldo Jimenez pitched seven scoreless innings and Cleveland handed Texas rookie Yu Darvish (4-1) his first major league loss.
YANKEES 10, ROYALS 4
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Robinson Cano hit his eighth career grand slam, Alex Rodriguez added a three-run shot and New York tagged Kansas City starter Luke Hochevar.
TIGERS 3, WHITE SOX 1
DETROIT -- Prince Fielder homered and Rick Porcello pitched impressively into the seventh inning to lead Detroit over Chicago.
ATHLETICS 9, RAYS 5
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Brandon Inge hit his first homer for Oakland and drove in four runs as the Athletics roughed up Tampa Bay rookie Matt Moore.
MARINERS 5, TWINS 2
SEATTLE -- Rookie slugger Jesus Montero lined a two-run double in the first inning and Mike Carp added his first homer of the season to lead Seattle past slumping Minnesota.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
CUBS 4, DODGERS 3, 11 INNINGS
CHICAGO -- David DeJesus drew a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the 11th inning to lift the Chicago Cubs to a 4-3 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday.
The win came after the teams waited out a 2-hour, 41-minute rain delay, and a ninth-inning comeback by the Cubs.
Darwin Barney led off the 11th with a double. Wellington Castillo was intentionally walked and pinch-hitter Jeff Samardzija was hit by a pitch to load the bases. On a 3-2 pitch, DeJesus drew the game-winning walk.
GIANTS 4, BREWERS 3, 11 INNINGS
SAN FRANCISCO -- Pinch-hitter Hector Sanchez singled over a five-man infield with the bases loaded in the 11th inning, lifting the San Francisco Giants to a 4-3 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday to take the three-game series.
Buster Poster singled off sidearm submariner Tim Dillard (0-1) leading off the inning and pinch-runner Emmanuel Burriss moved to second on Angel Pagan's sacrifice bunt.
MARLINS 6, PADRES 3
SAN DIEGO -- Ricky Nolasco remained unbeaten, Giancarlo Stanton drew a bases-loaded walk to force in the tiebreaking run in the eighth inning and the Miami Marlins beat the San Diego Padres 6-3 Sunday for their season-best sixth straight victory.
BRAVES 7, ROCKIES 2
DENVER -- Brandon Beachy pitched effectively into the seventh inning, Freddie Freeman hit a three-run homer and the Atlanta Braves beat the Colorado Rockies 7-2 on Sunday for a three-game sweep.
CARDINALS 8, ASTROS 1
HOUSTON -- Tyler Greene hit a career-high two homers and drove in four runs, Adam Wainwright continued his dominance of the Astros and the St. Louis Cardinals got an 8-1 win over Houston.
METS 3, DIAMONDBACKS 1
NEW YORK -- R.A. Dickey baffled the Diamondbacks with his knuckleball, pitching shutout ball into the ninth inning to lead the New York Mets over Arizona.
REDS 5, PIRATES 0
PITTSBURGH -- Mat Latos struck out a career-high 11 over six sharp innings to lead the Cincinnati Reds to a 5-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Orioles beat Sox at long ball

The most commendable aspect of Boston’s 9-6, 17-inning loss to Baltimore Sunday at Fenway Park was also the most damning.
The effort was all out.

Nothing wrong with that, but what did it produce? Another loss.

And therein lies the frustration, a team trying its best with $78 million of payroll on the disabled list may not have enough to beat good teams.

And the Orioles, whether they remain atop the American League East standings, are a good team.

The long game, which started at 1:35 p.m. and lasted 6 hours 7 minutes (the longest Sox game since July 9, 2006 - a 6-5 19-inning loss to the White Sox), ended in complete frustration. It came down to designated hitters from both teams pitching.

Baltimore’s DH, Chris Davis, who had struck out five times in seven at-bats (he made it 0 for 8 against Boston DH Darnell McDonald in the 17th), pitched two scoreless innings while McDonald, who had come on to run for David Ortiz in the eighth inning, allowed a game-winning three-run homer to Adam Jones in the 17th.

The game featured 18 pitchers - the most since 1918 to appear in a game at Fenway.

Sox starter Clay Buchholz couldn’t get out of the fourth inning and allowed at least five earned runs for the sixth straight start. Manager Bobby Valentine ran through seven relievers before turning to McDonald. Adrian Gonzalez, who went 0 for 8, volunteered to pitch. Valentine said he wouldn’t let him.

With two taxing extra-inning games in the series, which was swept by the Orioles, the Boston bullpen is in shambles and the struggling club - 11-16 after losing five out of six at Fenway - likely will have to make a move or two to get through its game Monday night in Kansas City, Mo.

The 13 1/3 innings Sunday marked the most by a Sox bullpen since they went 14 innings vs. Cleveland April 11, 1992.

How devastating was Sunday’s loss?

“I have no idea,’’ Valentine said. “I believe in these guys. They’re tough. They were making plays the entire game. If they can’t appreciate the effort that bullpen gave them today . . . as a whole group . . . and take that forward I’d be surprised but I don’t think I’ll be surprised.’’

The silver lining was the super bullpen.

Andrew Miller, Matt Albers, Vicente Padilla, Alfredo Aceves, Franklin Morales, Rich Hill, and Scott Atchison combined for 12 1/3 innings and gave up just six hits and one unearned run (off Padilla in the eighth) before McDonald was summoned.

Valentine stayed away from Clay Mortensen, who pitched 3 1/3 innings Saturday and couldn’t use Jon Lester, who had thrown his side session before the game.

Team of destiny? Orioles have magic look

One play doesn't make a season. Logically, we understand this. But you know, it's a lot more fun to throw logic out the window and turn to the emotion of a moment sometimes, the emotion of one important victory and believe, "Maybe ... just maybe, the Baltimore Orioles are a team of destiny."

We're allowed to think like this, right? Put the history and preseason predictions aside, focus on the Orioles' hot start, focus on their big week and focus on how they completed a sweep of the Boston Red Sox at Fenway: With infielder Chris Davis pitching two innings to get the win in a 17-inning, 9-6 victory, one I would call implausible except the Orioles forged ahead against another position player,

Davis, who pitched in high school, retired the first two hitters in the bottom of the 16th, including a strikeout of Jarrod Saltalamacchia on a pretty 83-mph changeup that showed some nice vertical drop. But third baseman Wilson Betemit booted  routine grounder and  lined a double into left-center that rolled to the Green Monster. Then, the play, one that could go down in Orioles history if this season builds into the unthinkable: Adam Jones to J.J. Hardy to Matt Wieters, who tagged out a piano-on-his-back Byrd. A perfect relay by Jones, a perfect missile by Hardy, a perfect block of the plate by Wieters to send the game to the 17th inning.

The Red Sox had also churned through their bullpen by now and turned to outfielder McDonald, but Jones deposited a three-run homer into the Green Monster seats. With two runners on in the bottom of the frame, Davis struck out the slumping (0-for-8 this game) on another changeup and then, on his 23rd pitch and 570th of the game, induced McDonald to ground into a 6-4-3 double play.

Some of the crazy factoids: It was the first time two position players pitched in the same game since 1925, when Ty Cobb and George Sisler pitched in the second game of a doubleheader on the season's final day;  won a game last season for the Phillies, but Davis became the first American League position player to record a win since Rocky Colavito of the Yankees in 1968; Davis also went 0-for-8 and struck out five times to record the season's first platinum sombrero (he was also the only position player to strike out five times in 2011); it was the Orioles' first sweep in Boston since June of 1994.