Jaime Garcia (2-0, 1.56) lost a shutout bid in the ninth inning in his first start of the year, but had no such grief happen in his second, scattering give singles with 118 pitches to whitewash the host Rebels, who are getting no production from their new additions so far.
2B Ian Kinsler? Hitting .133. CF Adam Jones? A robust .172, all singles. OF Carlos Beltran? The bench player failed in yet another pinch-hit appearance. Couple that with a lackluster (6.2 IP, 9 hits, 5 ER) performance from the once-and-present Rebel Matt Garza (0-2, 5.93), and you have the makings of an early-season slump.
Garcia, meanwhile, is hotter than any regular on either team. Not only has he allowed just 3 ER in 17-plus innings, he added two more hits, including an RBI single, to run his season average to a robust .800 (4-for-5) with 4 RBI. Why, that's a week of offense for some of the teams in the Central Division this year!
In other BARB action:
BROOKLYN 5, ST. FRANCIS 4
WP: Jon Lester (2-0, 1.50)
LP: Brett Myers (1-1, 3.68)
SV: Feliz (2)
Andrew McCutcheon tripled, scored and later homered to lead the Moabs attack, and Neftali Feliz allowed a run in the ninth to make things interesting before getting Shin Soo-Choo to ground harmlessly to short to end the game, as the visiting Moabs hung on to beat St. Francis on the road in Kansas, maintaining their lead in the Eastern Division.
WORCESTER 7, LOS ANGELES 2
WP: Wandy Rodriguez (1-1, 2.40)
LP: Trevor Cahill (0-2, 5.40)
Wolverines 3B Mark Reynolds committed a costly error, and Elims C Joe Mauer capped a five-run first with a two-run single en route to a one-sided pasting of the home team in Los Angeles.
The offensive support made it easier for Worcester starter Wandy Rodriguez to go all the way, on 119 pitches, to earn a complete-game victory. LA starter Trevor Cahill never made it out of the first, and while relievers Jeff Francis and Tom Gorzelanny were respectable the rest of the way (just 2 ER in 8.2 IP), the damage had been done. Reynolds did eventually get LA their only runs of the day with a two-run HR, but that wasn't enough to come back against the defending world champs.
FROSTBITE FALLS 3, POTTSYLVANIA 0
WP: Tim Lincecum (2-0, 0.55)
LP: Aroldis Chapman (0-1, 3.00)
SV: Perez (1)
Ho-hum, another Creepers loss via the shutout. Sorry to be snarky, but Pottsylvania has now lost five straight to open the season, and for the fourth time Jeff Moore's team failed to score so much as a run. Hello, first pick overall in 2012?
Anyway, this game was at least competitive. Koji Uehara matched zeroes for awhile with Squirrels ace Tim Lincecum, but Albert Pujols snapped the pitcher's duel in the sixth with an absolute laser beam off flamethrowing rookie Aroldis Chapman, a bomb that got out in a hurry on a 1-0 pitch for the first run of the game. Frostbite Falls later added a two-spot in the eighth, but with both Matt Kemp and Brad Hawpe locked into the deepest of slumps, it probably wouldn't have mattered. Lincecum came out after throwing 120 pitches with an annoyed look, and Chris Perez earned a rare save.
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