Around the Horn Weekend - 5/19

The American League took Round 1 of the Interleague Series, 23-19. Here's the breakdown by day:

Friday - 7-5
Saturday 9-7
Sunday 7-7


The Red Sox didn't get the starting pitch they would have liked in 2 games, but still had no trouble rolling over the Milwaukee Brewers in a 3-game series. Big Papi went hitless in Saturday's nightcap, but had 3 HR and 8 RBI in the series. Dice-K improved to 7-0 in game 1 with a 6-inning, no earned runs performance. The Brewers Ryan Braun had 3 more home runs in the series, giving him 13 for the season and 7 in his last 8 games.

The Cleveland Indians and their starting pitchers were red hot, but they ran into a brick wall with their intrastate rivals the Cincinnati Reds. Adam Dunn's bases loaded walk won Friday's game in very undramatic fashion. On Saturday, he made sure to make things more interesting. Dunn hit a 9th inning, walk off 3-run home run to the Moon, seriously check out the reply, off of Masato Kabayashi to give the Reds a 4-3 win. No such drama on Sunday, though Dunn homered again. Cliff Lee had his first bad outing for the Indians, while Edinson Volquez continued his remarkable season for Cincy, improving to 7-1.

The Diamondbacks outpitched the Tigers to take 2 of 3 in Arizona. Armando Galarraga beat highly touted rookie Max Scherzer, 3-2. Galarraga struggled with his control, but allowed just 1 hit in 6 innings. Randy Johnson picked up his 288th career win on Sunday as the Dbacks blanked the Tigers 4-0. Johnson is now tied with Tommy John for 25th on the all-time list and edged up to within 19 strikeouts of Roger Clemens for 2nd place on the all-time K list.

The Angels took 2 of 3 in the Freeway Series with the Dodgers. The LA blue won their lone game on Saturday 6-3. Hong-Chih Kuo threw 4 scoreless innings of relief as the Dodgers handed Ervin Santana his first loss. Chan-Ho Park made his first start for the Dodgers since October 5, 2001. Mike Napoli homered twice and drove in 5 as the Angels pounded Derek Lowe on Sunday en route to a 10-2 win.

The White Sox complete a 3-game sweep of the Giants, taking the first two games with pitching and the finale with hitting. Saturday's 3-1 win dropped the Giants Barry Zito to 0-8, the first Giants pitcher to accomplish that feat since 1890. The game was tied 6-6 on Saturday when Nick Swisher delivered a pinch-hit 3-run double to put the White Sox ahead for good. Orlando Cabrera hit 2 of the Sox 4 home runs in a 13-8 win.

After losing on Friday, the Mariners took a weekend pair from the Padres. Erik Bedard brought his 'A' game with an 8 inning, 10 strikeout performance in Saturday's 4-2 win. Jose Lopez was the hero on Sunday as he drove in all 3 Mariners runs, including the game winning 2-run double in the 8th. Ichiro Suzuki swiped a pair of bases giving him 20 on the season as the Mariners won 3-2.

The Marlins snapped the Royals 5-game winning streak on Saturday, 7-3. The Marlins trailed 3-2 in the 7th inning against Brian Bannister, when Wes Helms smacked a 3-run home run and Mike Jacobs added a 2-run shot. The Royals bounced right back on Sunday behind the pitching of Zach Grienke (5-1) and the hitting of Jose Guillen. The Royals won it 9-3 as Guillen continued his red hot hitting with a home run and 4 RBI. After an Oh-fer on May 5, Guillen was hitting .165. Since then he's gone 18-38 (.474) with 2 HR and 15 RBI with a 10-game hitting streak.

After dropping Friday's opener, the Blue Jays took a weekend pair from the Phillies. Rod Barajas made his former team pay on Saturday with a 2nd inning grand slam and a 9th inning solo shot. A.J. Burnett evened his record at 4-4 in the 6-3 win. Lyle Overbay's pinch-hit 3-run home run was the difference in yesterday's rain delayed 6-5 win. Starter Shaun Marcum left after 1 inning, but the Blue Jays got 2.1 innings of relief from an unexpect source- Roy Halladay. He got the hold in his first relief appearance since July, 2001.

The Cardinals stopped the Rays 6-game winning streak with a pair of weekend wins. The Rays rallied back from a 4-run deficit to send Saturday's game to extra innings, but Ryan Ludwick's 2nd home run of the game, provided a walk off winner. On Stan Musial Day, the Cardinals won in their final at-bat again on Skip Schumaker's 9th inning RBI double. Ludwick continued his career year, with his 11th home run in a 5-4 win.

Rich Harden continued to tease A's fans with a brilliant 7 inning performance in Saturday's 5-4 A's win. Tim Hudson was roughed up for 5 runs in 5 innings as Ryan Sweeney and Jack Cust homered. The Braves won the rubber game on Sunday, 5-2 behind 2 RBI each from Omar Infante and Yuniel Escobar.

The Orioles took 2 of 3 from the Nationals to win the Battle of the Beltway. Nick Markakis and Jay Payton homered on Saturday to help Brian Burres win his 4th game in the O's 6-5 victory. John Lannan pitched the Nats to their sole victory on Sunday, 2-1. Christian Guzman homered and Ryan Zimmerman had the game winning double.

A day after pounding the Astros 16-8, the Rangers pitching helped beat Houston 6-2. Vincente Padilla has been the Rangers ace this season has he raised his record to 6-2, 3.16. Milton Bradley and Marlon Byrd supplied the power with home runs. Brian Backe's pitching helped the 'stros salvage the finale of the series. Miguel Tejada collected 3 hits, an RBI, and 2 runs scored. Bradley continued his hot hitting with his 4th home run in 6 games.

The Rockies beat the Twins 2 out of 3 in a well pitched series. The Twins' Livan Hernandez had a perfect game going for 5 innings Saturday, before the Rockies ended it and handed Hernandez his 2nd loss of the season. In Sunday's battle of winless pitchers, Jeff Francis earned his 1st victory over Kevin Slowey as the Rocks won it 6-2. Todd Helton homered and drove in 3 runs.

The intraleague match up saw the Cubbies take 2 of 3 from Pittsburgh. The Pirates earned the lone victory on Saturday, 7-6, on Nate McLouth's 2-run HR in the 9th. Alfosono Soriano continued to do whatever he could to help the Cubs win. 2 more home runs in a 5-5 night. The Cubs pulled out the finale 4-3 behind a strong effort from starter Jason Marquis. And yes, Alfonso Soriano drove in another run, his 15th RBI in the last 9 games.