SCOREBOARD
Wednesday, April 23
Los Angeles at Boston (7:05 p.m.) Daisuke Matsuzaka pitches against the Angels for the first time since getting a no-decision in Game 2 of the AL Divisional Series on Oct. 5, a 6-3 win. The Red Sox swept the Angels in three games and went on to win the World Series.
STARS
Monday
– Chase Utley, Phillies, homered for the fifth straight game and Philadelphia beat Colorado 9-5 in the first meeting between the teams since the Rockies’ first-round sweep last October.
– Julio Lugo, Red Sox, went 4-for-4 with a double and two runs in Boston’s 8-3 win over Texas. It was Lugo’s first four-hit game since May 12 against Baltimore.
– Ivan Rodriguez, Tigers, had four hits, a double and an RBI and Detroit beat Toronto 5-1. Rodriguez raised his average from .189 to .271 by going 9-for-17 in the series.
– Miguel Tejada, Astros, went 4-for-5 with a homer and three RBIs in Houston’s 10-3 rout of San Diego.
– Hanley Ramirez, Marlins, hit a two-run homer during a four-run second inning and Florida routed Pittsburgh 10-4. Ramirez has three homers in two games.
AILING
Alex Rodriguez has a mild strain of his right quadriceps and returned to New York to be examined rather than accompany the team to Chicago, where the Yankees start a series against the White Sox on Tuesday night. A-Rod was injured Sunday in New York’s 7-1 win at Baltimore. The Yankees were unsure whether A-Rod would be available to play in the series opener. … Brewers ace Ben Sheets will skip his start on Wednesday because of soreness in his right triceps that caused him to leave his start Friday night. Sheets will be replaced in the rotation by Dave Bush, who got passed over Sunday when Yovani Gallardo returned from the 15-day disabled list.
PROUD PAPI
David Ortiz had two doubles and three RBIs in Boston’s 8-3 win over Texas. Ortiz raised his average to .177 after a horrible early-season slump. Prior to a four-game sweep of Texas that began Friday night, Ortiz was hitting .111 with four RBIs. He went 7-for-16 in the series with 11 RBIs.
RARE COMPANY
Arizona’s Micah Owings allowed two runs and five hits in 6 1-3 innings in the Diamondbacks’ 4-2 win over San Francisco. Owings got the win, joining teammate Brandon Webb and Boston’s Daisuke Matsuzaka as the season’s first pitchers with four wins. One of the game’s best hitting pitchers, Owings was 1-for-2 and scored a run.
PIT-IFUL
The Pirates, coming off a miserable road trip in which they were outscored 52-18 while losing five of six to the Dodgers and Cubs, lost their sixth in a row, 10-4 to the Marlins. They gave up double-digit runs for the third consecutive game. They hadn’t done that since Montreal scored a combined 35 runs against them during three games in June 1994. Pittsburgh has given up 10 or more runs four times during its six-game losing streak, including 36 runs the last three games.
CRAZY EIGHT
Dodgers outfielder Andruw Jones was dropped to eighth in the starting batting order for the first time since Aug. 22, 1998. He went 0-for-4, lowering the five-time All-Star’s average to .159.
WELCOME MATT
Pittsburgh’s Matt Morris had yet another bad start, yielding eight runs and nine hits in four innings in a 10-4 loss to Florida. Morris, whose $10 million-plus salary represents about one-fifth of the Pirates’ payroll, has allowed 25 runs, 21 earned, in 20 2-3 innings and has a 9.15 ERA.
BEST REVENGE
With the score tied at 2 in the top of the eighth, St. Louis’ Ryan Ludwick led off by hitting a fly ball down the right-field line. Brewers right fielder Corey Hart got to it on time, but missed it. The ball hit off the webbing off his glove, Ludwick wound up at third and later scored. The Brewers tied it in the bottom of the inning, when Hart hit a shot to right and Ludwick slipped and lost the ball in the lights. It nearly hit him in the head, but instead bounced harmlessly behind him for a triple that left Hart shaking his head in disbelief at his RBI that tied it at 3.
INSIDE JOB
Philadelphia’s Jayson Werth hit an inside-the-park home run in the sixth inning in the Phillies’ 9-5 win at Colorado. He hit a drive to deep center that hit off the wall just above Willy Taveras’ glove. The ball caromed at an odd angle and Werth beat the relay throw to home. It was Werth’s second homer of the year.
SPEAKING
“He came up and told me a few days ago, ‘Your ace is back.’ That was great to know. I’m going to ride that as long as I can.” – Astros manager Cecil Cooper on Roy Oswalt, who won consecutive starts for the first time since August. Houston beat San Diego.
SEASONS
April 23
1903 – The New York Highlanders won their first game as a major league team, 7-2 over the Washington Senators.
1913 – New York Giants ace Christy Mathewson beat the Phillies 3-1, throwing just 67 pitches.
1939 – Rookie Ted Williams went 4-for-5, including his first major league home run, but the Red Sox lost to Philadelphia 12-8 at Fenway Park.
1946 – Ed Head of the Brooklyn Dodgers no-hit the Boston Braves 5-0 at Ebbets Field.
1952 – Bob Feller of the Cleveland Indians and Bob Cain of the St. Louis Browns matched one-hitters. Cain wound up as the winner, 1-0.
1952 – Hoyt Wilhelm of the Giants hit a home run at the Polo Grounds in his first major league at-bat. He was the winner, too, and pitched 1,070 games in the majors – but never hit another homer. 1954 – Hank Aaron hit the first home run of his major league career. The drive came against Vic Raschi in the Milwaukee Braves’ 7-5 victory over St. Louis.
1962 – After an 0-9 start, the expansion New York Mets won their first game by beating the Pittsburgh Pirates 9-1 behind Jay Hook.
1964 – Ken Johnson of the Houston Colt .45s became the first pitcher to lose a nine-inning no-hitter when Pete Rose scored an unearned run to give the Cincinnati Reds a 1-0 victory.
1989 – Nolan Ryan came within two outs of his sixth career no-hitter, losing it when Nelson Liriano tripled in the ninth inning as the Texas Rangers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 4-1. Ryan finished with his 10th lifetime one-hitter.
1999 – Fernando Tatis hit two grand slams in one inning to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 12-5 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers. Tatis became the first in major league history to hit two grand slams in one inning and set a record with eight RBIs in one inning.
2000 – Bernie Williams and Jorge Posada each homered from both sides of the plate as the Yankees beat Toronto 10-7. It is the first time that feat has been accomplished by two players on the same team in the same game.
2007 – Alex Rodriguez became the first player in major league history to hit 14 homers in the first 18 games of a season and tied the record for April homers, connecting in the second and ninth innings of the New York Yankees’ 10-8 loss to Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
Today’s birthdays: Sean Henn 27; Henry Owens 29; Carlos Silva 29; Andruw Jones 31.