Chase Utley is congratulated after grand slam

There were just six games on tap in MLB on Thursday (only two in the National League), one of which being a makeup game. The makeup game pitted the Philadelphia Phillies at Coors Field against the wild card chasing Colorado Rockies. The Rockies jumped on Phillies starter Joe Blanton early, with a four-run outburst in the 2nd inning, capped by Chris Iannetta’s three-run homerun and Dexter Fowler’s solo shot.

Carlos Gonzalez hit a solo shot in the 5th inning off of Blanton, who lasted just 4.1 innings while allowing six runs (four earned) on ten hits. However the Phillies offense busted out of their slump by scoring nine runs in the 7th inning, capped by Ryan Howard’s two-run homerun, Jayson Werth’s solo shot, and Chase Utley’s grand slam. It took three Rockies relievers to get through the nine run inning. The Phillies win brought them to just two games back of the National League East-leading Atlanta Braves.

The Braves and NY Mets sent out their respective aces on Thursday night (Tim Hudson and Johan Santana). The Mets jumped on Hudson for two runs in the 1st inning. These two runs proved to be enough for Santana and the Mets bullpen (Santana left with an injury). Santana allowed one run on three hits in five innings. David Wright went 2-for-3 with a homerun and Carlos Beltran contributed a triple for the Mets. Brian McCann went 3-for-4 with a homerun for the Braves.

NY Yankees ace CC Sabathia pitched a one-hitter against the visiting Oakland A’s as the Yankees won 5-0. Mark Ellis of the A’s collected the only hit, a single in the 2nd inning. With Nick Swisher getting hurt for the Yankees, Curtis Granderson belted two homeruns with three RBIs off the bench. The Yankees increased their lead in the American League East to 1.5 games over the idle Tampa Bay Rays.

The Boston Red Sox scored five runs in the 2nd inning against the Baltimore Orioles and starter Brad Bergesen. The inning was capped by an Adrian Beltre homerun, a Ryan Kalish RBI double, and a Ty Wiggington error. This was enough for the Red Sox and starter Daisuke Matsuzaka. Though he wasn’t great he was good enough to get the win (5.2 innings, six hits, four runs, six strikeouts). The Orioles had a chance to tie the game in the bottom of the 9th inning off Red Sox closer Jonathon Papelbon. With runners at second and third, Papelbon struck out Cesar Izturis and Josh Bell to end the game.

Casper Well's 1st homer

It was also a wild night in Minnesota as the Twins took on the Detroit Tigers. Down 7-3 heading into the top of the 8th inning, the Tigers scored four runs to tie the game at 7-7. Jhonny Peralta and Ryan Raburn hit solo homeruns while Will Rhymes collected a two-run single to cap the scoring off the Twins bullpen. However the Twins came right back and scored a run to retake the lead in the bottom of the inning. In the 9th inning against Jesse Crain, Casper Wells led off the inning with a solo homerun to tie the game at 8-8. It was Wells’ first career big league homer.

In the 11th inning, the Tigers scored a run on a Raburn RBI double off Brian Duensing (a starting pitcher). The Twins would tie the game at 9-9 on a Delmon Young RBI ground out off Tigers closer Jose Valverde. The game would stay tied until the 13th inning when Gerald Laird homered off the Twins Friday starter Nick Blackburn. Valverde finished off the Twins in the bottom of the 13th inning for the 10-9 victory (it was his third inning of work).

The Twins lost starter Scott Baker after the 2nd inning due to elbow pain. They used Jeff Manship for four innings and used two starting pitchers in relief (Duensing and Blackburn). The Twins called up two relievers (thank goodness for the expansion of rosters) and Matt Fox will make his MLB debut Friday night in his start against the Texas Rangers.

Two last place teams faced off on Thursday night as the Cleveland Indians played the Seattle Mariners. The Mariners scored three runs in the 3rd inning off Indians rookie pitcher Josh Tomlin, capped by a Russell Branyan two-run homerun. However the Indians would score four runs in the 6th inning off Mariners starter Doug Fister, capped by a Shin-Soo Choo three-run double. Tomlin would record the victory as the Indians held on for the 6-3 win. He struck out five while allowing seven hits. The Indians received three perfect innings of relief from Tony Sipp (two inning and four strikeouts) and Chris Perez (who threw just eight pitches for the save). Choo drove in five runs while Asdrubal Cabrera collected three hits.