Ubaldo Jimenez fires no-hitter

In Atlanta, the Braves were treated to history as Colorado Rockies hurler Ubaldo Jimenez pitched a no-hitter, the first in Rockies history. Despite walking six, Jimenez struck out seven and was electric the entire outing. His last pitch of the game was to Brian McCann at 97 mph. Jimenez threw 128 pitches in the 4-0 win and got some great defense, especially from centerfielder Dexter Fowler in the seventh inning.

In St. Louis, the Cardinals and NY Mets battled all afternoon and into the night. For the second straight game, they were locked in a pitcher’s duel. Mets ace Johan Santana matched up with Cardinals rookie Jaime Garcia (who was making his third career start), who did not give up a hit until the sixth inning. The Mets did not collect their second hit until the 12^th inning with the game tied at 0-0. New Met first baseman Alex Cora (who just came into the game and had only played 3 games there in his career) kept the score tied at 0-0 in the 10^th when he jumped into the first row of seats with two outs and the bases loaded to keep Cardinals slugger Matt Holliday from getting a new life. The Cardinals threatened with the bases loaded three times (with the pitcher batting) and had men on base in just about every inning but could not score.

Felipe Lopez pitches in 18th

The Cardinals ran out of pitchers so third baseman Felipe Lopez (who started at shortstop) moved to the mound in the 18^th and sent the Mets down in order (after Mets pitcher Raul Valdes was thrown out at second base after an infield single). Joe Mather, who moved from the outfield to third base, came in to pitch the 19^th. The Mets scored on a sacrifice fly in the 19^th (with the deep fly ball by Jeff Francoeur going to new left fielder Kyle Lohse, who is a starting pitcher for the Cardinals). The Mets saved closer Francisco Rodriguez for a save situation and the Cardinals got to him. Albert Pujols ripped a one out double and went to third base on a ground out by Lohse. K-Rod chose to pitch to Yadier Molina instead of rookie Allen Craig and Molina ripped a game-tying RBI single to tie the game at 1-1. Into the 20^th they went, with Mather again taking the mound. Mather struggled with throwing strikes and the Mets again scored on a sacrifice fly. Though the Cardinals had their chances in the bottom of the 20^th, starter Mike Pelfrey collected the save. The Mets 2-1 win took 6 hours and 53 minutes to complete. If the Mets had lost to the Cardinals (who were using position players to pitch), manager Jerry Manuel may have gotten fired. He will hold onto his job for now.

Tim Lincecum hits

Reigning National League CY Young award winner Tim Lincecum of the SF Giants has so far showed that he is still the best pitcher in the NL. Against the LA Dodgers, Lincecum went six scoreless innings to improve to 3-0 with a 0.90 ERA. He struck out seven and gave up four hits. Lincecum also starred at the plate in the 9-0 victory as he went 3-for-4 with 3 RBIs.

Bullpen problems continue for the Baltimore Orioles as newly named closer Jim Johnson came in with a 3-2 lead in Oakland. The A’s loaded the bases in the bottom of the ninth and Ryan Sweeney delivered a walk-off two-run single to improve the A’s record to 9-4. The O’s dropped to 1-11 (the worst team in baseball).

In Cleveland, the Indians Jake Westbrook battled the Chicago White Sox Jake Peavy. With the White Sox ahead 2-1 in the bottom of the eighth, Indians shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera blasted a solo homerun off of Peavy to tie the game and end his night. In came hard-throwing Matt Thornton and Indians right fielder Shin-Soo Choo delivered an RBI double to win it as closer Chris Perez used 15 pitches to get the White Sox 1-2-3 for his third save.