Monday, 8 April 2013

The Juice: Sunday wasn’t a good day to be one of baseball’s best pitchers

The Juice returns for season No. 6! It's almost eligible for free-agency! Stop by daily for news from the action, along with great photos, stats, video highlights and more.

David Price. Ouch. R.A. Dickey. Ouch. Cole Hamels. Ouch. Matt Cain. Double ouch.

Sunday wasn't a good day to be an ace pitcher in Major League Baseball — with a few exceptions, like C.C. Sabathia, who led his New York Yankees to a 7-0 win over Justin Verlander and the Detroit Tigers. Verlander didn't look as bad as the score indicates either, giving up three earned runs in 7 1/3 innings. Some of Verlander's fellow frontline starters can't say the same.

Let's check the scorecard:

• David Price: Eight earned runs in five innings, as the Cleveland Indians beat the Rays 13-0.

• Cole Hamels: Eight earned in five 1/3 innings in the Philadelphia Phillies 9-8 loss to the Kansas City Royals.

• R.A. Dickey: As we've already documented, he got abused by the Boston Red Sox, for seven earned runs in four and 2/3 innings. The Toronto Blue Jays lost 13-0.

• Matt Cain: Gave up nine earned runs — all in the fourth inning — as the St. Louis Cardinals spoiled the day the San Francisco Giants put on their World Series rings. The final score was 14-3.

Even Stephen Strasburg, who looked impeccable in his first start of the season for the Washington Nationals, gave up six earned runs against the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday. That wasn't as much as some of the others above, but it was a career-high for Strasburg.

Johnny Cueto, the Reds ace, was another who found immunity on Beat-Up-an-Ace Day. He surrendered only three runs in the Reds' 6-3 win.

MORE SCORES

Mets 4, Marlins 3 (Jose Fernandez's stellar debut ruined by Mets)

Twins 4, Orioles 3 (The Twins are 4-2!)

Braves 5, Cubs 1 (Chicago loses despite 13 Ks from Jeff Samardzija)

White Sox 4, Mariners 3 (Dayan Viciedo's homer wins it in the 10th)

Diamondbacks 8, Brewers 7 (Eric Hinske delivers game-winning homer in 11th)

Athletics 9, Astros 3 (A's sweep. Astros lose fifth in a row)

Dodgers 6, Pirates 2 (This.)

Rockers 9, Padres 1 (Look out, Colorado is 5-1)

Rangers 7, Angels 3 (Yu Darvish not perfect, but improves to 2-0)

"The only thing I'm scared of are roller coasters and snakes. Everything else, after that, I'm good about."

— Miami Marlins rookie Jose Fernandez, 20, who struck out eight in five innings during his major-league debut Sunday. So he obviously wasn't scared. (via MLB.com's Joe Frisaro).

San Francisco Giants shortshop Brandon Crawford tweeted this picture of his World Series ring (which the Giants handed out Sunday) on the hand of his four-month old daughter, Braylyn.

• Cleveland Indians pitcher Justin Masterson got the W on Sunday over David Price and the Rays, making him only the third pitcher to defeat both reigning Cy Young winners in the same season — Bruce Hurst (1989) and Shane Reynolds (2003) were the others. Masterson, however, did it in his first two starts. The Indians beat the Blue Jays and R.A. Dickey to start the season.

• Brett Anderson struck out 10 on Sunday, tying his career high. That means the A's pitcher is the fifth starter to tie or set a new career high for strikeouts while facing the Astros this season. Keep in mind: The Astros have played six games. The only pitcher who didn't was A's teammate Bartolo Colon, who pitched Saturday.

• The three home runs Boston Red Sox third baseman Will Middlebrooks hit on Sunday are more than five teams have hit this entire season: the Pittsburgh Pirates, San Diego Padres, Kansas City Royals, Miami Marlins and Houston Astros. Coming into Sunday's game, the Red Sox as a team only had two homers.

Baseball is back. Don't miss anything.
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