Mike Cameron delighted in his season debut for Milwaukee and Max Scherzer of Arizona was unhittable in his first major league action.
Cameron returned from his 25-game suspension for testing positive twice for a banned stimulant with three hits, including a two-run single in the seventh, and the Brewers beat the Chicago Cubs 10-7 at Wrigley Field on Tuesday night.
“I had a little bit of the jitters getting into the (batters) box,” said Cameron, who signed a one-year contract with the Brewers in the offseason.
At Phoenix, Scherzer came in as a reliever and retired all 13 batters he faced, seven by strikeout, with a fastball that reached 98 mph on the radar gun. It was the most strikeouts ever by a Diamondbacks pitcher in his first big-league game. Arizona lost 6-4 to Houston.
“I was so anxious to get out there, so prepared to finally make my major league debut,” Scherzer said. “I’m just happy to go out there and get it out of the way. I felt comfortable out there, not nervous at all. I just tried to go out there and do my thing.”
In other NL games Tuesday, it was: Philadelphia 7, San Diego 4; New York 5, Pittsburgh 4, 11 innings; Washington 6, Atlanta 3; Los Angeles 7, Florida 6; and St. Louis 7, Cincinnati 2.
The hard-throwing Scherzer, Arizona’s 2006 first-round draft pick out of the University of Missouri, relieved starter Edgar Gonzalez in the third.
Houston manager Cecil Cooper was impressed.
“You’ve got a guy throwing 98 and he had a nice slider to go with it,” Cooper said. “He kept the ball down, and when he needed that extra he went and got it. That’s a pretty good arm there. I’m just glad we got six and didn’t need any more.”
Arizona manager Bob Melvin brushed off questions about whether Scherzer would join the rotation.
“We’ll take a look at it later,” Melvin said.
Scherzer struck out 38 and walked three, allowing three earned runs, in 23 innings with Triple-A Tucson.
Cameron, meanwhile, gave a slumping offense a much-needed spark after serving his suspension. He singled in J.J. Hardy and Tony Gwynn after Michael Wuertz walked Jason Kendall with the bases loaded, helping the Brewers sent the NL Central leaders to their fourth loss in five games.
Cameron was relieved to see his name in the starting lineup, batting second and playing center, after seeing it linked with the word “suspension” in countless articles. He was restless, too. And he immediately unleashed his pent up energy – and frustration.
He doubled high off the wall in left in the first and scored, and added a single and run in the third.
“It was good to get that first one out of the way,” Cameron said. “After that, it kind of goes on cruise control, back to normal and everything. It was real good tonight.”
Bill Hall, Corey Hart and Hardy each had three hits, and the Brewers banged out 17 in all – the most for them since they had 19 against St. Louis on Aug. 14.
That made a winner of Ben Sheets (4-0), who had a question afterward.
“Have you ever seen me walk that many batters or throw that many balls?” he asked.
No one had. The seven he issued over five innings, while striking out two, were a career-high. He allowed four runs and three hits in his first appearance since leaving after five innings against Cincinnati April 18.
“Yeah, I felt rusty,” said Sheets, who missed a scheduled start against Philadelphia because of tightness in his right triceps. “I felt real rusty.”
Like Sheets, Cubs starter Jason Marquis (1-1) struggled. He allowed five runs and 10 hits in five innings while walking one and striking out two, and the bullpen wasn’t much help. Four relievers combined to allow five runs and seven hits while walking three.
“I didn’t make the pitches when I needed to,” Marquis said. “They jumped on every mistake.”
Phillies 7, Padres 4
Cole Hamels pitched 7 1-3 impressive innings and host Philadelphia denied Greg Maddux his 350th career victory.
Hamels (3-3) allowed five hits, two runs and struck out six in 7 1-3 innings. Tom Gordon worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the eighth and the Phillies scored four insurance runs in the bottom half.
Mets 5, Pirates 4, 11 innings
David Wright hit a single over a pulled-in outfield with the bases loaded in the 11th inning, giving New York the win over visiting Pittsburgh after the Mets’ bullpen wasted a two-hit performance by Johan Santana.
The Pirates tied it in the ninth against Billy Wagner with an assist from Jose Reyes’ throwing error. It was Wagner’s first blown save of the season – his first run, too, albeit unearned.
Rockies 3, Giants 2
At San Francisco, Tim Lincecum’s first loss of the year came via a debated balk call that pushed home the go-ahead run.
Chris Iannetta, who replaced the injured Troy Tulowitzki in the first, scored on that seventh-inning balk by Lincecum (4-1) that helped Colorado snap a four-game losing streak.
Nationals 6, Braves 3
slumping Ryan Zimmerman spent some time working with Barry Larkin before the game, and then had a season-high three hits, including a homer and tiebreaking two-run double, to lead host Washington.
The Nationals won for the fourth time in five games. The Braves, whose highlight was Chipper Jones’ eighth homer, have lost three straight games.
Dodgers 7, Marlins 6
Jeff Kent’s two-out single drove in Andre Ethier to break a ninth-inning tie and help visiting Los Angeles win its fourth straight game.
Ethier had walked with one out against Kevin Gregg (3-1) and took second on a groundout.
Cardinals 7, Reds 2
Joel Pineiro pitched seven innings of one-hit ball and host St. Louis jumped on rookie Johnny Cueto for seven runs in the first two innings.
Troy Glaus and Rick Ankiel combined for four hits and five RBIs their first two at-bats for the Cardinals. Skip Schumaker tied his career best with four hits and Albert Pujols walked off Josh Fogg in the eighth and has reached base safely in all 28 games.
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