Odds & Ends from Friday Night

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Here are other things that happened around the baseball world last night, in case you missed them:

  • Anthony Rizzo hit his 9th and 10th home runs of the season last night in Washington. He would have had a three home run ballgame, except Denard Span robbed him of his third late in the game.  The Nationals hung on to win the game 7-5.
  • In that game, Bryce Harper doubled off the wall. The ball initially looked like it would get out, but the big park in Washington held it. He was clearly pissed off that Ryan Zimmerman did not try and score, and gave himself up without getting into a rundown. It was a weird play.
  • Harper seems like he’s a fine ambassador of the game at this point.
  • Baseball’s first ‘switch-pitcher’ made his MLB debut last night at Fenway Park. Pat Venditte threw two scoreless innings to finish the game for Oakland. And sure enough, his B-R page already lists him as being able to throw right or left handed.
  • The Brewers smashed the now 32-22 Minnesota Twins, 10-5 in Minnesota. And damnit; I knew I should have bet the house on the Brewers as the Twins were pretty heavy favorites for a team with Kyle Gibson on the mound. It’s always the ones you stay away from that work out just as you envision them.
  • The Reds went down without a whimper 6-2 in Cincinnati to Tyson Ross and the San Diego Padres. The Reds are now 23-30, and they’re in the tank. Those two losses they had this week in Philadelphia prior to beating Aaron Harang on getaway day were about as bad as you can achieve. Jay Bruce is back down to .217 on the year.
  • Carlos Martinez struck out 11 Dodgers last night late at Dodger Stadium, and the Cardinals won a 2-1 ballgame that they always seem to win. I don’t know how the Cardinals manage to always win these type of games or how they seem to just roll along without issue as new guys like Martinez and Randal Grichuk just step up and into the lineup as regulars; it’s just the way guys play when they wear the Cardinal uniform.
  • The Tampa Bay Rays won 1-0 in Seattle with a Logan Forsythe home run being the only run of the game. Robinson Cano went hitless to lower his season average to .243 on the year. Jake Odirizzi exited the game in the fifth inning with left side tightness.