Martin Prado

The big news on Tuesday was the return of three All-Star second baseman to their respective teams. Martin Prado of the Atlanta Braves missed the least amount of time with a broken finger, but was missed with the loss of veteran Chipper Jones for the season. Prado will move to third base and the third spot in the Braves order, with fellow All-Star Omar Infante taking over his second base and leadoff spots. Prado had the biggest return of all three as he went 3-for-5 with two RBIs and three runs scored in the Braves 10-2 rout of the Washington Nationals. In the win, rookie Mike Minor (the Braves 2009 top draft pick) earned his first ML win. He allowed two runs on five hits in six innings of work.

Dustin Pedroia returned to the Boston Red Sox lineup on his 27th birthday after missing 44 games with a broken foot. Pedroia went 0-for-4 with a strikeout against LA Angels starter Jered Weaver (and the bullpen). The Red Sox are 5.5 games out of first place in the American League East and the wild card. Clay Buchholz lowered his AL-leading ERA to 2.36 as he pitched seven shutout innings. Rookie Red Sox outfielder Ryan Kalish delivered the big blow, a grand slam off Weaver in the 4th inning with two outs.

Jim Thome's hr

Chase Utley of the Philadelphia Phillies returned two weeks early from surgery on his thumb. The Phillies went 26-17 without him and after Tuesday’s 9-3 victory, moved into first place in the wild card race. Utley went 0-for-5 against the SF Giants. Former Phillie Pat Burrell returned to hit a solo homerun in the first inning off Roy Oswalt to give the Giants a 2-0 lead, but Oswalt would settle in after that, only to allow a solo homerun to Jose Guillen in the 7th inning. Oswalt allowed three runs on six hits in seven innings, while striking out seven.

The Minnesota Twins and Chicago White Sox were battling for the AL Central lead in the first of a three game series at Target Field in Minnesota. The Twins took the first game (and increased their division lead to four games) in dramatic fashion. In the bottom of the 10th inning after the White Sox took a 6-5 lead, Jim Thome launched a two-run walk-off homerun off All-Star lefty Matt Thornton to send the Twins fans home happy. Twins new closer Matt Capps blew the save in the 9th inning as Alexei Ramirez hit a solo homerun to tie the game at 5-5. In the top of the 10th inning, Jon Rauch allowed a Ramirez RBI single to give the White Sox a short-held lead.

The Tampa Bay Rays and Texas Rangers met for the second game of their three game series with another good pitching matchup between Matt Garza and Tommy Hunter. The Rays offense jumped all over Hunter in the first inning with three runs, highlighted by a Carl Crawford RBI triple. Hunter lasted just three innings while allowing four runs on six hits and three walks. Meanwhile Garza was dominant, going seven shutout innings, while striking out ten. Crawford also added a two-run homerun in the 7th inning and Evan Longoria fell a homerun short of the cycle.

Luke French of the Seattle Mariners carried a no-hitter into the 6th inning, but rookie third baseman Josh Bell of the Baltimore Orioles broke it up with one out in the 6th inning (a single). French pitched 7.2 shutout innings and allowed just three hits (two to Bell). Brandon League finished off the O’s for the save. Kevin Millwood was the hard-luck loser as he allowed just one run in eight innings (the bullpen allowed three runs).