TRADED PITCHERS DEBUT WITH NEW CLUBS

OAKEYLAND 6, DARWIN 0 (1st game of DH)
WP: Daisuke Matsuzaka (1-2, 3.81)
LP: Zack Greinke (2-1, 3.63)

DARWIN 3, OAKEYLAND 2 (2nd game of DH, 11 innings)
WP: Kevin Gregg (2-1, 3.38)
LP: Brad Lidge (0-2, 16.88)
SV: Accardo (1)

Zack Greinke found himself throughly outpitched in his return to the Finches by ‘Dice-K’, who hurled a six-hit shutout to garner his first win of the season, and Tim Hudson nearly pulled off a complete-game win in the nightcap, as the visiting Finches used their bench to avoid a sweep at the hands of Ballers pitching in a twi-night doubleheader in Oakeyland.

Greinke gave up home runs to Jim Thome (#4) and Andruw Jones (#3) as part of a four-run fourth, and Matsuzaka never looked back, allowing no Darwin hitter to get past first base in the last six frames to seal down the win, a masterful performance. Hudson, meanwhile, not only outlasted John Smoltz (who was gone by the sixth), but was so dominant that he hung around and pitched a 1-2-3 tenth, needing only 116 pitches.

Unfortunately, his club was not able to make any inroads against Darwin reliever Jonathan Broxton, and in the bottom of the 11th the Finches versatile bench did its thing. 3B Chipper Jones singled to lead off the inning against Lidge. Cristian Guzman pinch-ran for Jones, and reached third when Lance Berkman dropped a ball just over the head of Mark Ellis in short right field. Lidge fanned Jeff Francouer, but with one out Placido Polanco grounded a ball slowly to Ellis and (running on contact) Guzman scored ahead of the fielder’s choice with what would be the winning run.

In other BARB action:

POTTSYLVANIA 4, BROOKLYN 3
WP: Gil Meche (1-3, 2.79)
LP: Scott Baker (1-1, 6.19)
SV: Wagner (2)

Kenji Johjima doubled with the bases loaded in the fourth, and Gil Meche finally got in the ‘W’ column despite allowing two run-scoring hits by Brian McCann, as the Creepers held on for only their sixth win of the season. The Moabs, who have watched division rivals Darwin and Frostbite Falls shake down Lexington GM Ronald Melkonian for more pitching, announced that they intended to place Micah Owings in their rotation immediately and were even considering using him in the field to give the club a boost.

WORCESTER 6, LAS VEGAS 5
WP: Jeremy Guthrie (2-1, 3.31)
LP: Ervin Santana (0-2, 9.53)
SV: Benoit (1)

Derek Lee had three hits and Mark Teixeira homered as the Eliminators jumped to an early 4-0 lead, and then held on as the Luchadores popped a few over the wall in the last two frames, including a pair of solo shots by Matt Holliday, giving Vegas’s CF a BARB-leading seven boundary belts. Worcester improved to 9-9 amid controversy, as the feeling with management was that there was no way the club should be playing at this level. . .

YUMA 2, LEXINGTON 1
WP: C.C. Sabathia (4-1, 1.91)
LP: Shawn Hill (0-1, 3.38)
SV: Wilson (2)

Ryan Braun’s one-out homer with a man aboard in the fourth was one of only three Yuma hits, but it was enough on this day. Shawn Hill pitched well (5.1 IP, 2 ER, 7 K) but ran into a buzzsaw, as Yuma ace C.C. Sabathia shrugged off some poor defensive play by his teammates to reach the ninth inning having yielded only one run and the host Firebirds shut down the visiting Rebels for their sixth straight win. At 13-9, they are in a virtual tie for first with Lexington (12-8), which is not bad for a club that started out 1-5....!