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  • The Juice: Rays rally in ninth inning, end Orioles 109-game win streak when leading after seven

    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.

    The Baltimore Orioles have been basically untouchable when leading after seven innings over the past couple of seasons, but that all came to a stunning and screeching halt on Saturday. With a 6-4 lead entering the ninth, closer Jim Johnson, whose consecutive save streak ended at 35 on Tuesday, allowed a home run to Kelly Johnson, two walks, a single, before wrapping up his outing on Matt Joyce’s go-ahead, two-run double.

    Sidearmer Darren O’Day took over from there and allowed both of Johnson’s inherited runners to score and then one of his own. All in all, it was a six-run rally for the Rays that turned Baltimore‘s lead into a 10-6 defeat, ending their remarkable 109-game winning streak in games they led after the seventh inning in the process.

    I suppose they knew it was coming eventually, but one has to believe there were a few shocked people in Baltimore's clubhouse after it got away to that extend. Meanwhile, Evan Longoria and the Rays couldn't have been more thrilled they were the team to finally end the late inning dominance.

    ''Their track record after seven innings has spoken for itself,'' Longoria said. ''They've been really good late in the game. And Jim Johnson has been as good as they come. To be able to get to him and then tack a couple more on and be able to win a game like that, especially here in this hostile environment, is really big.''

    The Rays will hope to make it three really big wins on Sunday as they go for the series sweep.

    Another day, another walkoff: The Cleveland Indians are rolling and not even a blown save by closer Chris Perez can stop them. Despite Perez allowing back-to-back, two-out home runs in the ninth inning to Raul Ibanez and Justin Smoak, which tied the score at four, Cleveland found a way to win again.

    On Friday night, it was Jason Kipnis delivering a walkoff three-run homer in the tenth. On Saturday, it was Kipnis again who got the rally started with a leadoff single. Asdrubal Cabrera followed with a double, and then after Nick Swisher was walked intentionally to load the bases. This allowed Mark Reynolds to get the winner home with an RBI fielder’s choice. Indians take it 5-4.

    Votto rhymes with Lotto: Single-walk-double-walk-single. Powerball: Ninth inning two-run homer. No, we didn't win the big cash prize last night, but Joey Votto's fantasy owners had a nice consolation prize with that statline. Aside from reaching safely in all six plate appearances, Votto scored twice, knocked it two runs, and helped lead the Reds to a 10-0 blanking of Philadelphia.

    MORE SCORES

    Cubs 8, Mets 2: This was the 700th between the two teams. Chicago leads the series 352-348

    Yankees 7, Blue Jays 2: That Robinson Cano guy? Pretty good.

    Angels 12, White Sox 9: While Josh Hamilton recharged his batteries on the bench, the Angels regained their confidence against White Sox pitching.

    Braves 3, Dodgers 1: Atlanta does all of their damage in the eighth on back-to-back homers from Evan Gattis and Andrelton Simmons.

    Diamondbacks 1, Marlins 0: After Gerardo Parra led off the game with a home run, everyone else put their bats to bed.

    Padres 2, Nationals 1: Jordan Zimmermann pitched well enough to be an eight-game winner. Eric Stults and Huston Street were just a little better.

    Red Sox 12, Twins 5: Two taters and six RBIs for David Ortiz.

    Astros 4, Pirates 2 (11 inn.): Credit Houston for putting Friday's disaster behind them quickly. Character-building win, even for baseball's worst.

    Brewers 6, Cardinals 4 (10 inn.): Jeff Bianchi wins obscure baseball hero of the day. His two-run single in the tenth won it for the Crew.

    Rangers 7, Tigers 2: Healthy statline for Elvis Andrus beginning with five hits.

    Rockies 10, Giants 2: No accusations or controversy. Just a straight up pummeling of Tim Lincecum.

    A's 2, Royals 1: Tommy Milone threw over 50 pitches before recording his fourth out, but still managed to throw six innings and end his personal five-game losing streak.

    Professional wrestling took over baseball this weekend. Here's Mr. Baseball (and WWE Hall of Famer) Bob Uecker along with WWE's Bella Twins at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

    • Chris Iannetta walked four times, making him the second Angels players to ever have two four-walk games in the same season. According to Jacob Jaffe, the other was Fred Lynn in 1984.

    • ESPN's Katie Sharp tells us the Yankees have won eight straight home games against Toronto. They last did that during the 1979-80 seasons.

    • David Ortiz now has 38 multi-homer games with the Red Sox, which puts him one ahead of Ted Williams for the franchise record.

    Looking for more baseball chatter?
    Follow @bigleaguestew, @Townie813, @AnswerDave and @MikeOz on Twitter
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  • The Juice: Justin Upton helps Braves Slam the Dodgers; Paul Goldschmidt mashes two homers for Arizona

    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.

    With their desired lineup intact for the first time in 40 games, the Atlanta Braves offense turned it up a notch in their 8-5 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers. Jason Heyward, who just returned from the disabled list on Thursday after undergoing an emergency appendectomy in Colorado last month, reached base three times to help set the table. Justin Upton then cleared it in the sixth, cracking his third career grand slam off Paco Rodriguez.

    ''As soon as he took that swing, I knew that ball was going to be out of the ballpark,'' said Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez. ''That was one of the prettiest swings I've seen put on a baseball.'

    After traveling an estimated 461 feet, we're sure the baseball agreed with Gonzalez's assessment. It was Upton's tenth homer — out of 14 — to travel over 420 feet this season. He's averaging 427 feet on all of his home runs, which is the most for any players with more than five.

    Just awesome, game-changing power. As we're about to learn, though, the Diamondbacks aren't exactly lacking that type of player despite trading Upton during the offseason. But boy how nice would it be to have two of them?

    Good as Goldy: How about the start for Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman Paul Goldschmidt? After going 4 for 5 with two more home runs and 4 RBIs in the D-Backs 9-2 win over the Marlins on Friday night, the 25-year-old slugger is up to .338 on the season with 12 big flys and 35 driven in. Only Upton has more homers in the National League with his 14. Goldschmidt is also second in RBIs to Brandon Phillips. An all-star bid seems more likely with each passing day.

    Hiroki Special: For the fifth time since the beginning of the 2012 season, Hiroki Kuroda gave the New York Yankees eight plus innings of scoreless baseball. Only Felix Hernandez has more during that time with eight. Kuroda didn't have much room for error on this night as Mark Buehrle nearly matched him through six innings. New York did manage single runs in the first and fifth, and then finally broke it open with a three spot in the seventh to lock up their 5-0 win.

    Rosales strikes again! And this time... it counts! After hitting a game-tying home in Cleveland last week that was incorrectly ruled (despite a review) a double, Adam Rosales left no doubt on Friday. His eighth inning solo home run was the difference in Oakland's 2-1 victory over James Shield and the Royals.

    ''I think I was pretty sure about that one,'' Rosales said with an ear-to-ear grin. ''It felt good to get over that hump. Every ballfield I went to, they all were saying, 'Oh, it was a homer,' or you talk to family and friends and like, 'Yeah, it was a homer.' So, now they'll be talking about something else. They'll talk about a real homer.''

    And more importantly, a real win.

    MORE SCORES

    Mets 3, Cubs 2: Matt Harvey gets the win on the hill and the game-winning RBI at the plate. He’s already 5-0.

    Phillies 5, Reds 3: Philly gets two in the eighth after bullpen blows lead for Cliff Lee.

    Pirates 5, Astros 4: The Astros lose in the most Astros way possible.

    Indians 6, Mariners 3 (10 inn.): Three-run, walk-off home run by Jason Kipnis sends Indians fans home happy.

    Rays 12, Orioles 10: Camouflaged Rays strike early and often, then hold on as O's rally for six runs in eighth.

    Red Sox 3, Twins 2 (10 inn.): Boston steals another game late on the road. Jonny Gomes' sac fly in the tenth is the difference.

    Tigers 2, Rangers 1: The pitching duel scheduled for Thursday arrived one day late.

    Cardinals 7, Brewers 6: David Freese's long-awaited first home run in 2013 was a grand slam. That helped St. Louis overcome two three-run homers by Aramis Ramirez.

    Rockies 10, Giants 9: Jordan Pacheco's go-ahead grand slam in the fifth holds up as Colorado snaps their 10-game losing streak to San Francisco.

    White Sox 3, Angels 0: Even dozen strikeouts for Chris Sale.

    Nationals 6, Padres 5 (10 inn.): Chad Tracy homers off Huston Street in the tenth. That's six allowed by San Diego's closer in 17 innings.

    ''We don't want to be the heart-attack kids, but it's a good character check for us right away.''

    — Jonny Gomes on Boston's back-to-back dramatic road victories in their final at-bats.

    • Elias says the Yankees are the first team in AL history to begin a season 17-0 in games they've scored first.

    • Rays starter Jeremy Hellickson became first pitcher to allow eight earned runs and still win the game since Andy Pettitte in 2007.

    • According to Yahoo!'s Jeff Passan, the Kansas City Royals have lost six of James Shields' nine starts this season, with each coming by one run.

    Looking for more baseball chatter?
    Follow @bigleaguestew, @Townie813, @AnswerDave and @MikeOz on Twitter
    Also, check out the BLS Facebook Page

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