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  • The Juice: Professional spoiler Joe Mauer ends Anibal Sanchez’s no-hit bid with ninth inning single

    The Juice returns for season No. 6! It's almost eligible for free-agency! Stop by daily for news from the action, along with great photos, stats, video highlights and more.

    Anibal Sanchez's bid for his second career no-hitter fell just two outs short on Friday night. After retiring Jamey Carroll on a somewhat questionable strike three call to begin the ninth inning, Minnesota Twins star Joe Mauer laced a 1-1 pitch right back up the middle for a clean single, which keeps Sanchez from joining Justin Verlander, Mark Buehrle and Roy Halladay as the only active pitchers with multiple no-hitters. At least temporarily. The way he's throwing this season, another bid is probably around the corner.

    ''It's not that I go to the mound and want to do something special, it's just that I want to go nine innings, go deeper, get a good command, get a good game,'' Sanchez said. ''When I come to the eighth inning, I think about it. But when I come to the ninth inning, it's really tough with those guys.''

    Much like his Friday night start back on April 26 when he struck out 17 Atlanta Braves, Sanchez had everything working against Minnesota. That was especially true during a stretch from the second inning to the seventh inning where he retired 18 straight batters. He ended up going the distance for his fourth career one-hitter, striking out 12. The outing required 130 pitches, which is sure to make a few fans uneasy, but he's been no worse for the wear after throwing 122 in the April start.

    As for how Mauer felt about his latest history-breaking hit, which by the way is his third career ninth inning knock to break up a no-no attempt.

    ''He's nasty, and he had everything working tonight,'' Mauer said. ''Obviously, you know exactly what is happening, and you don't want to get no-hit. I'm just up there trying to put the bat on the ball. He threw me a really good cutter and I was just able to square it up.''

    Rockies exorcise AT&T Park demons: Last weekend the Colorado Rockies snapped a ten-game overall losing streak to the San Francisco Giants by taking three out of four in a series at Coors Field. On Friday, they ended a nine-game skid at AT&T Park with an impressive 5-0 victory. Right-hander Tyler Chatwood did most of the work on the hill, tossing six scoreless. In a big return from the DL, Michael Cuddyer provided the offensive punch with a two-run first inning double and a solo homer in the sixth. Carlos Gonzalez also homered in the win as Colorado vaults to a first place tie in the NL West.

    Houston Homecoming: What a night for Houston native Chris Young as he returned home with his Oakland A's. Young came into the game hitting a dismal .168 on the season through 101 at-bats, but broke out for three hits, including a game-winning, three-run homer off Jose Veras in the top of the ninth.

    I believe there can only be one possible explanation for such an unexpectedly huge performance.

    ''Mom's cooking definitely has something to do with it for sure,'' said Young, who grew up in Houston and spent an off day Thursday with his family. ''Barbecue, just good old Texas southern barbeque. It always does the trick for me.''

    I know that's right!

    MORE SCORES

    Orioles 10, Blue Jays 6: Baltimore's home barrage continues. They hit four more here, including Chris Davis' league-leading 16th.

    Yankees 9, Rays 4: The bigger story is Curtis Granderson's broken knuckle on his left pinkie. He'll be sidelined at least four weeks.

    Red Sox 8, Indians 1: John Lackey throws seven innings of two-hit ball.

    Braves 5, Mets 5 (susp.): Game will be resumed on Saturday.

    Reds 7, Cubs 4: Five-run fourth inning propels Cincinnati. Joey Votto and Ryan Hanigan each homered in the inning.

    Brewers 2, Pirates 1: Doesn't matter which direction these teams are going, Milwaukee owns the series at Miller Park.

    Angels 5, Royals 2: Mike Trout is hitting everything in sight and the other Angels are along for the ride.

    White Sox 4, Marlins 3 (11 inn.): Chicago overcomes latest blown call by Angel Hernandez.

    Diamondbacks 5, Padres 2: Brandon McCarthy's 18-inning scoreless streak was snapped in the second. He started another with five scoreless frames to end the quality outing.

    Cardinals 7, Dodgers 0: When you're Don Mattingly and you need a good weekend to help out the old job security, a series with St. Louis and their pitching staff is the last thing you want to see on the schedule.

    Rangers 9, Mariners 5: This game featured perhaps the most bizarre play we'll see all season.

    ''My wife, she probably wants me to take it off, I'm sure she does,'' Johnson said. ''But I might leave it on, see if this is not something strange happening here.''

    — Washington Nationals manager Davey Johnson on the facial hair he's vowed to continued growing until his offense starts clicking. Despite their 5-2 win over the Phillies on Friday night, Johnson intends to keep it a little longer.

    Tyler Moore of the Nationals collides with Phillies catcher Erik Kratz. Amazingly, Kratz held on to the ball for the out. Thankfully, neither man was injured.

    • Anibal Sanchez's one-hitter was the fifth in baseball this season. Jordan Zimmermann, Chris Sale, Shelby Miller and Jon Lester have the others.

    • Evan Gattis and Brandon Belt lead baseball with five go-ahead or game-tying hits in eighth inning or later this season.

    • Chris Young now has 27 RBI in 19 games at Minute Maid Park.

    Looking for more baseball chatter?
    Follow @bigleaguestew, @Townie813, @AnswerDave and @MikeOz on Twitter
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    Related coverage on Yahoo! Sports:
    • Yankees' Curtis Granderson heading back to DL
    • Dodgers need to back up tough Don Mattingly talk
    • Royals K-Crew member resuscitates 14-year-old girl after collapse at Kauffman Stadium

  • The Juice: Mike Trout hits monster homer as Angels win fifth straight and creep into third place

    The Juice returns for season No. 6! It's almost eligible for free-agency! Stop by daily for news from the action, along with great photos, stats, video highlights and more.

    This is more like what this year's Los Angeles Angels were expecting.

    Thursday night the Angels won their fifth in a row, downing the Kansas City Royals 5-4 thanks to home runs from Mike Trout, Albert Pujols, Mark Trumbo and Chris Ianetta. The win pulled the Angels even with the Seattle Mariners for third place in the AL West and gave roughed-up pitcher Joe Blanton his first win of the season in nine starts.

    The Angels are now 20-27 and the highest they've been in the standings since April 27. It's not proof that everything is right in Anaheim, but it's a promising sign that things are getting better.

    The most impressive moment for the Angels came early: Trout's first inning home run traveled 463 feet, the longest of his career, the third longest this week and 11th longest of the season, according to Home Run Tracker.

    The homer was Trout's 10th. He also stole his 10th base of the season. His recent hot streak has already started talk of Trout making a run at the 40/40 Club.

    "Oh my gosh, did they run out of tape to measure it?" Angels manager Mike Scioscia told the L.A. Times. "That thing was killed."

    Tito wins big in Fenway return: Terry Francona returned to Fenway Park on Thursday, and his new team, the Cleveland Indians, put a beat down on his old team.

    The Boston Red Sox took a 12-3 lashing from the manager who led them to two World Series titles. The Indians got big offensive contributions from Mark Reynolds (3-for-4, 3 RBIs), Michael Bourn (3-for-6, 2 RBIs) and Drew Stubbs (3-for-5, 3 RBIs).

    ''I tried to keep my emotions inside,'' Francona said. ''I didn't want to be the main focus. You want to let the players play.''

    MORE SCORES

    Pirates 4, Cubs 2: Andrew McCutchen has three hits and two RBIs as Pittsburgh wins for the 11th time in its last 13 games.

    Tigers 7, Twins 6: Prince Fielder cracks open the tie game with a go-ahead single in the bottom of the eighth inning. Miguel Cabrera knocks two hits (including his 14th home run) and three RBIs.

    Blue Jays 12, Orioles 6: The Canadian Tuxedos backfires. The Blue Jays bats blister the O's, as Edwin Encarnacion and J.P. Arencibia notch four RBIs each. Encarnacion's came on a sixth-inning grand slam.

    “I've been waiting my entire life for this, and I haven't been able to sleep very much lately. So it was something that was great to get out of the way. Hopefully I can sleep tonight" — Kevin Gausman, the Baltimore Orioles 2012 first-round pick who was making his big league debut Thursday against the Blue Jays.

    Gausman took the loss, giving up four runs on seven hits in five innings. He struck out five.

    Jose Canseco reacts to striking out in his first at-bat with the Fort Worth Cats of the United League, whom he joined as a player/manager for four games. Canseco went 1-for-3 with two strikeouts and a single. Canseco's trip to Fort Worth comes amid rape allegation in Las Vegas. Yahoo! Sports' Joe Garza reports on the Canseco sideshow in Texas.

    • Miguel Cabrera has 55 RBIs in the Tigers' first 45 games. The most since Manny Ramirez in 2001.

    • The Pittsburgh Pirates, with their 29-18 record, would be in first place in four of the other five divisions in the MLB. They're tied for second in the NL Central with the Cincinnati Reds, both trailing the St. Louis Cardinals. The only other team with a better record is the Texas Rangers, whose 30-17 mark is the best in baseball.

    • Alex Gordon of the Kansas City Royals went 0-for-3 to snap his 10-game hitting streak.

    Baseball is back. Don't miss anything.
    Follow @MikeOz and @bigleaguestew, on Twitter, along with the BLS Facebook page.

    Related coverage on Yahoo! Sports:
    • MLB Power Rankings: Cards now atop the deck
    • Jose Canseco's bizarre path hits the United Baseball League and Chili's
    • Nate McLouth doused by fan after making great catch

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