Miami Marlins

The Juice: Carlos Marmol meltdown leads to Mets victory; Torii Hunter hits 300th career home run

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.

After winning three games in a row heading into Sunday‘s action at Citi Field, the Chicago Cubs paid the price for their success as regular closer Kevin Gregg needed a day off. That meant manager Dale Sveum had to find a different reliever to protect a 3-0 ninth inning lead and a victory for starter Matt Garza, so he turned to former closer Carlos Marmol.

That proved to be a very bad idea.

The first batter Marmol saw was former teammate Marlon Byrd. He promptly homered to spoil the shutout and make things interesting. Marmol then walked Lucas Duda and allowed a single to John Buck to put the tying runs on base. See where this is headed? Chicago Tribune Cubs reporter Paul Sullivan sure seemed to.

Walk to Duda. Visit from Bosio. Think you know this one by heart.

— Paul Sullivan (@PWSullivan) June 16, 2013

Next, Mets skipper Terry Collins actually attempted to do Marmol a favor by having Omar Quintanilla sacrifice the runners into scoring position, but the erratic right-hander would have none of it. On his 1-1 pitch to the recently recalled Kirk Nieuwenhuis, he gave it all away on a walk-off three-run homer.

It was a no doubter, by the way, off the facing of the upper deck. Mets win 4-3.

Predictable? Perhaps. But certainly no less brutal.

Hunter reaches milestone in Minnesota: If you think about it, it's only appropriate that Torii Hunter would hit his 300th career home run while playing in the Minnesota Twins home ballpark. Of course it probably doesn't feel that way to Twins fans, because Hunter's first inning two-run blast helped Detroit secure a 5-2 victory. Still, the Minnesota faithful showed their respect to one of their franchise's most popular players.

Stephen Strasburg returns to mixed results: In his first start since suffering a strained lat on May 31, Stephen Strasburg was good, but not exactly sharp in holding the Cleveland Indians to one run over five innings. The good was that he didn't allow much solid contact. In fact, the Indians only collected one hit against, a Carlos Santana RBI single in the fourth. Strasburg did create some traffic for himself by walking four, but the Nationals will definitely take it since he looked healthy. Their offense, on the other hand, didn't look so well. They were shutout 2-0 by the combination of Corey Kluber and Vinnie Pestano.

Near disaster for Yankees: Things have been so rough for the New York Yankees on the west coast, even a 6-0 lead in the ninth inning isn't comfortable. That's the position they were in on Sunday afternoon against the Los Angeles Angels, and it ended up taking a Mariano Rivera strikeout of Albert Pujols with the bases loaded to secure a 6-5 victory. At least they snapped their five-game losing streak in the process.

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Royals 5, Rays 3: Tampa Bay drops three of four to Kansas City, but reinforcements are on the way as they recalled top prospect Wil Myers following the game.

Reds 5, Brewers 1: Stephen Strasburg wasn't the only ace returning from injury on Sunday. Johnny Cueto took the hill for Cincinnati for the first time since May 31 and tossed six innings of one-run ball for his fourth victory.

Marlins 7, Cardinals 2: St. Louis drops its first series since April 26-28 (against Pittsburgh) to the worst team in the baseball. Naturally.

Orioles 6, Red Sox 3: This feels like a daily occurrence: Chris Davis hit his major league-leading 23rd home run.

Pirates 6, Dodgers 3: Two starts for Gerrit Cole. Two victories. It can't be that easy, can it?

Astros 5, White Sox 4: Houston completes the weekend sweep and puts Hawk Harrelson on silent for another 24 hours.

Blue Jays 7, Rangers 2: The Rangers have lost six in a row overall and six of seven to the Blue Jays this month. Quite a rough patch they're going through.

A's 10, Mariners 2: Bartolo Colon an all-star? It's possible. He won his sixth decision in a row and improved to 9-2 with seven strong innings against Seattle.

Rockies 5, Phillies 2: Jhoulys Chacin came one out shy of his second career complete game shutout. He ended up recording 26 on only 86 pitches.

Padres 4, Diamondbacks 1: The National League West gets even tighter as four teams are now separated by two games. The odd team out? The Dodgers at 7.5 back.

Braves 3, Giants 0: A nearly spotless game for Atlanta across the board. Starter Julio Teheran was terrific is throwing six scoreless innings, the bullpen followed with three perfect frames, and there was Freddie Freeman again leading the offense with three singles and an RBI.

''We didn't see it. The team we saw is hitting the ball and making good pitches. They have the kind of offense that can make you pay if you make mistakes, and that's what we saw. Regardless of what their record shows, they've got some talent, and they're going about things the right way right now.''

— The manager of the best team in baseball, Mike Matheny, commenting on the worst team in baseball, the Miami Marlins.

The Baltimore Orioles opened up the outfield so fathers and sons could play a little catch on Father's Day.

• Yasiel Puig is tied for second all-time for most hits through the first 13 games of a career. His 23 matches greats such as Joe DiMaggio and Kirby Puckett. Thanks to Elias Sports.

• The Blue Jays have scored 38 runs in seven games against the Rangers this month. The Rangers have scored 39 runs in 15 overall games this month.

• Torri Hunter's first career home run came at Tiger Stadium as a member of the Twins.

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• Mon Jun 17, 2013 12:09 am EDT
• Big League Stew
• Mark Townsend
• Comment

The Juice: Reds’ Jay Bruce and Indians’ Jason Kipnis come through on walk-off night in Ohio

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.

Friday night was a thrilling night for baseball in the state of Ohio.

We'll start in Cincinnati where the Reds played host to the Milwaukee Brewers in a low-scoring division battle. Starting pitchers Bronson Arroyo and Kyle Lohse weren't exactly dominant throughout — especially Arroyo, who allowed 12 hits in seven innings — but kept the opponents off the board and their teams in the game. That type of game would end up benefiting Milwaukee as they received a game-tying home run from Martin Maldonado in the eighth that ultimately sent us to our 111th extra-inning game this season.

Once there, a familiar hero emerged for the hometown Reds as outfielder Jay Bruce connected for his fifth career game-ending home run.

''I told somebody earlier it never gets old,'' said Bruce, who has 11 homers. ''I hit homers, but walk-offs are completely different. They're a little sweeter, especially this one because of yesterday.''

In case you're wondering what yesterday means, the Reds dropped a tough one to Chicago Cubs in 14 innings at Wrigley Field on Thursday afternoon. A second straight gut punch would have been a lousy feeling, but Bruce made sure that didn't happen with his latest walk-off. Reds win it 4-3.

Meanwhile, in Cleveland: Not long before Bruce's game-ending blast, fans at Progressive Field in Cleveland were also going crazy as their Indians pulled out a 2-1 win over the visiting Washington Nationals. Tied at one entering the bottom of the ninth, Drew Stubbs reached with a one out single. Michael Bourn followed with a single of his own, allowing Stubbs to advance to third. After Bourn stole second to take the double play out of order, Jason Kipnis pulled one hard on the ground that first baseman Adam LaRoche fielded cleanly and came up firing to home. It was a bang-bang play at the plate — literally and figuratively — but Stubbs, who was off immediately on contact, got in ahead of the tag.

Upset special: It what might be considered the equivalent of a 16-seed knocking off a 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament, the Miami Marlins rode the right arm of 20-year-old Jose Fernandez on their way to a 5-4 victory over the team with the best record in baseball, the St. Louis Cardinals.

Over seven innings of work, Fernandez would strikeout a career-high 10 while holding St. Louis to three runs (two earned). That was more than enough to spoil the return of Jake Westbrook, who made his first start for the Cardinals since May 8 following an elbow problem. Fernandez also helped his cause with an RBI single in the second while Giancarlo Stanton contributed three hits and two RBIs.

Wrong side of history: Chicago White Sox left-hander Chris Sale was brilliant on Friday, striking out 14 in an eight-inning complete. It wasn't good enough, though, as his squad dropped a 2-1 decision to the lowly Houston Astros. That means Chris Sale became the first White Sox pitcher to lose a game with 14 or more strikeouts since Jim Scott in 1913. Exactly 100 years.

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Orioles 2, Red Sox 0: Chris Davis hit his major-league leading 22nd home run for Baltimore.

Pirates 3, Dodgers 0: Jeff Locke rebounds from his seven walk performance against the Cubs to throw seven scoreless on only 75 pitches. Dominant and efficient.

Cubs 6, Mets 3: Chicago wins their second in a row thanks to David DeJesus' bases clearing triple, but then lost their center fielder to a sprained right shoulder after a collision with the Citi Field wall.

Giants 6, Braves 0: In 14 innings against Atlanta this season, Madison Bumgarner has allowed one run while striking out 21.

Blue Jays 8, Rangers 0: A resurgent Mark Buehrle is 2-1 with a 1.91 ERA over his last five starts. He's also 13-5 lifetime against Texas.

Tigers 4, Twins 0: Make that five shutouts on the night in baseball. Rick Porcello and three Detroit relievers combined on a three-hitter.

Phillies 8, Rockies 7: Despite four hits from Carlos Gonzalez and a home run from Troy Tulowitzki replacement Josh Rutledge, Colorado falls after once leading 7-2.

Angels 5, Yankees 2: One day before his 41st birthday, Andy Pettitte allowed 11 hits. That's the most he's allowed in a game since June 13, 2009.

Padres 2, Diamondbacks 1: Eric Stults went the distance for San Diego and allowed a career-best two hits.

Mariners 3, A's 2: Mike Zunino's first career home run provides the difference.

''That is awkward for us because we normally, on a nightly basis, feel really good about your matchup, your starter versus theirs. We haven't had that feeling in a bit.''

— Rays manager Joe Maddon following his team's 7-2 loss to the Royals. The Rays have now lost five out of six with a stunningly dreadful team ERA of 9.29 over that stretch.

Cameron Smith over at Prep Rally brings us this startling photo of the Colorado wildfires as they provide a backdrop for a high school baseball game around Colorado Springs.

• 21 of the last 22 days have featured at least 1 extra-inning game.

• Jose Fernandez's 10 strikeout performance was the first by a pitcher under age 21 since Felix Hernandez in 2007.

• Manny Machado became the youngest player in Orioles history with 30 doubles in a season. He also joined some elite company.

Most 2B Thru 68 Team Games Under Age 22 Since 1920 2013 Manny Machado 30 1939 Ted Williams 25 1936 Joe DiMaggio 24

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) June 15, 2013

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Related coverage on Yahoo! Sports:
• Rangers' Jeff Baker sprains thumb doing a high-five
• Brewers' Ryan Braun lands on DL for first time in his career
• Diamondbacks ruled aggressors in fracas with Dodgers

• Sat Jun 15, 2013 3:36 am EDT
• Big League Stew
• Mark Townsend
• Comment