News from around the Central:
- From the "What Else Is New?" files: St. Louis lost a pair of players to the DL yesterday: left-fielder Matt Holliday's quad injury has finally landed him on the 15-day disabled list, and starter Kyle McClellan will be joining Holliday on the sidelines because of a strained left hip flexor.
- Reds reliever Aroldis Chapman was eligible to come off the DL on Tuesday and he's rejoined the big league club, but it doesn't sound like the left-hander will be activated after Cincinnati's off day today: Dusty Baker says Chapman is fine physically but he needs to "get things right mentally and emotionally."
- X-rays showed that Pirate catcher Ryan Doumit has a fractured bone in his left ankle, suffered blocking the plate in Sunday's game vs. Chicago. Pittsburgh expects Doumit to be sidelined for at least a month.
- Reports earlier this week indicated that injured Cubs starter Matt Garza could return to Chicago's rotation as early as Sunday, but that timetable has apparently been pushed back to next week. Still, Garza threw off a mound on Wednesday for the first time since hitting the DL with an elbow injury and he reported no ill effects following the session.
- Jordan Lyles had an impressive debut for the Astros on Tuesday and he'll get at least one more start with Wandy Rodriguez on the DL, but there are no guarantees Lyles will stick with the 'Stros after that: with Brett Myers, Aneury Rodriguez, Bud Norris, and J.A. Happ holding down spots in the rotation, skipper Brad Mills says he wouldn't go to a six-man rotation to keep Lyles around when Wandy returns.
Yesterday's action:
- The script was flipped for St. Louis last night, as San Francisco was the team that came up with the late-inning heroics in a 7-5, 11-inning win at Busch Stadium. The Giants plated a two-out run in the top of the ninth to knot the game at 5 and then got to the snakebitten Ryan Franklin in the 11th, with Nate Schierholtz singling in Freddy Sanchez and Brandon Crawford singling in Schierholtz to account for the winning margin. The game was briefly interrupted by a power outage in the bottom of the 11th, but Brian Wilson worked around the delay and a couple of hits to nail down his 15th save.
- Thanks to two-run homers by Jay Bruce and Joey Votto, Cincinnati rebounded from a 3-0, seventh-inning deficit to clip Milwaukee, 4-3, at Great American Ballpark. The Brewers are now 2-7 vs. the Reds in 2011. Our recap is here.
- For the second day in a row, Pittsburgh's offense was silent for most of the game before erupting in the late innings. This time, the Pirates plated all nine of their runs in the seventh and eighth innings en route to a 9-3 thumpin' of the Mets at Citi Field. Former Brewer Chris Capuano cruised through six innings before running aground in the seventh: Cappy was chased from the game by five consecutive singles, and Pedro Beato surrendered two more singles and an RBI ground out as Pittsburgh grabbed control of the game with a five-run frame.
- Houston swept the Cubs courtesy of a 3-1 victory on Wednesday afternoon. Doug Davis hasn't been very good in his brief stint in Chicago, but he wasn't spectacularly awful yesterday: he worked 6.1 innings, giving up eight hits and three runs without walking a batter. But after working six effective innings, Davis found trouble in the seventh, as singles by Jeff Keppinger and Chris Johnson singled to end his day. Kerry Wood came on to issue a walk, and Sean Marshall surrendered a sharp single to Bourn that plated Keppinger and Johnson. That was all the support the Astro pitchers needed, as Brett Myers gave up one run in six innings and the 'pen chipped in with three scoreless frames.
Your updated standings for June 2:
W | L | GB | Last 10 | Streak | |
Cardinals | 33 | 24 | -- | 6-4 | L1 |
Brewers | 30 | 26 | 2.5 | 7-3 | L1 |
Reds | 29 | 28 | 4.0 | 4-6 | W1 |
Pirates | 26 | 28 | 5.5 | 5-5 | W2 |
Cubs | 23 | 31 | 8.5 | 3-7 | L3 |
Astros | 22 | 34 | 10.5 | 6-4 | W3 |
On tap for today:
- The Cardinals wrap up their four-game set with the Giants with a 7:15 p.m. CDT start at Busch Stadium. Jonathan Sanchez (3-3, 3.38) gets the ball for San Fran, matching up with St. Louis' Jaime Garcia (5-1, 3.28).
- The Pirates and Mets conclude their four-game series at Citi Field at 12:10 p.m. CDT. Hard-luck lefty Paul Maholm (2-7, 3.18) starts for the Bucs, and Mike Pelfrey (3-4, 5.00) goes for the Mets.
- The Astros travel to San Diego to begin a four-game set with the Padres at 9:05 p.m. CDT tonight. Scheduled to start for Houston: Bud Norris (2-4, 3.76); for San Diego, Tim Stauffer (1-3, 3.60).
- Chicago, Cincinnati, and Milwaukee have the day off.