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  • 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, including the two-run triple above).

    ''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.

  • The Juice: Ryan Vogelsong breaks pitching hand, Ryan Mattheus does same

    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.

    Right-hander Ryan Vogelsong was having perhaps his best start of the season for the San Francisco Giants on Monday. But this is the National League, where pitchers bat and accidents happen, and now Vogelsong is slated to have surgery Tuesday to fix a broken pitching hand. He had pitched five innings of three-hit ball against the Washington Nationals in an 8-0 victory at AT&T Park, but that's the extent of the good news. (And Brandon Belt had four hits and scored four runs — that's also good.)

    Swinging in self-defense during his at-bat against Craig Stammen in the fifth inning, Vogelsong didn't get enough wood on the ball. The Associated Press reports:

    Vogelsong broke two bones along the right pinkie and dislocated a knuckle the area that the medical staff couldn't get popped back into place. He was scheduled for surgery Tuesday morning at Stanford and said he likely would have pins inserted to stabilize the hand and help speed the healing process.

    ''We're not talking about Tommy John or anything here,'' Vogelsong said, his eyes misty. ''Basically as fast as we can get it to heal so I can start throwing again.''

    Someone lend a hand: Remarkably, we have another broken hand to announce regarding a pitcher named Ryan on one of these teams.

    Washington manager Davey Johnson said that right-hander Ryan Mattheus broke his pitching hand punching a locker in frustration Sunday. Mattheus had been pitching well, but allowed five runs in a blowout loss at San Diego and took out his frustration on himself. Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post described the Nats pitching staff as already being in disarray before Mattheus lost his cool.

    “It’s pretty embarrassing,” Mattheus said. “I let the whole Washington Nationals organization down by doing something stupid.”

    Ain't broke, so don't fix it: Rookie left-hander Patrick Corbin of the Arizona Diamondbacks tossed a three-hitter at the Colorado Rockies in what was described as a "virtuoso performance." He lowered his ERA to 1.44 in joining Randy Johnson as the only lefty in team history (brief as it is) to start a season 7-0. If there was such a thing as a Cy Young Watch List in May, he'd be on it.

    MORE SCORES

    Indians 10, Mariners 8 (10 inn.) : Close your glove, Wilhelmsen!

    Blue Jays 7, Rays 5: Knuckleballer R.A. Dickey might be coming around.

    Yankees 6, Orioles 4 (10 inn.): Yikes! Orioles closer Jim Johnson has blown three straight save opportunities after nailing down 35 in a row. It all started with a tying home run by Travis Hafner. The O's have lost six in a row.

    Padres 4, Cardinals 2: Jason Marquis has won five straight starts. He does this sometimes, though not since 2007 with the Cubs.

    Braves 5, Twins 1: They should have had Kent Hrbek ceremonially lift Ron Gant off first base to celebrate the '91 Series. Instead, they just had Julio Teheran and Dan Uggla go to work.

    Dodgers 3, Brewers 1: Manager Don Mattingly is done a solid by ace Clayton Kershaw.

    Astros 6, Royals 5: Young third baseman Matt Dominguez had a big night: A homer and three RBIs, all on one swing. K.C. drops to 20-21.

    Is it time to start the Ned Yost watch?

    White Sox 6, Red Sox 4: Boston ace Jon Lester has a 5.43 ERA in 10 career games against the White Sox for some reason.

    Reds 4, Mets 3: Aside from a rough third inning, Johnny Cueto pitched like himself in a return from the DL.

    Athletics 9, Rangers 2: Happy 40th birthday, Bartolo Colon (on Friday, but let's celebrate now)!

    ''I asked myself, 'What was going on, what happened?' I told myself I have to start pitching the way I am. Then after that, I said, 'That is me.' "

    — Johnny Cueto of the Reds, using a translator. Perhaps he should have used two of them.

    Now watch Carlos Gonzalez catch it on video.

    • The Miami Marlins scored at least three runs for the second time in 13 games.

    • With Ian Kinsler injured and on the disabled list, Jurickson Profar made his 2013 debut for the Texas Rangers. He went 0 for 2 with two RBIs, which is unusual.

    • Shelby Miller of the St. Louis Cardinals allowed three runs, just the second time this season he's permitted that many in nine starts.

    Baseball is in full swing! Interact with @AnswerDave, @MikeOz, @Townie813 and @bigleaguestew on Twitter, along with the BLS Facebook page!

    Related coverage on Yahoo! Sports:
    • Busch Stadium pitcher’s mound flattened for Man City-Chelsea match
    • Robinson Cano surprises 13-year-old leukemia survivor
    • Are Dodgers too soft to save Don Mattingly's job?

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