Home MLBBST Game Guides Saturday’s early MLB games: Three interleague contests to enjoy

Saturday’s early MLB games: Three interleague contests to enjoy

by Matt Smith

MlbHlSqYesterday showed that you only need one early MLB game to make for an enjoyable evening.

ESPN America broadcast the Yankees-Cubs game live from 19.00 and it was an excellent game, full of intrigue, good play and a fantastic atmosphere at Wrigley Field.

There’s another Yankees-Cubs game today, as well as two other contests starting before midnight UK time.  All times are in BST.

18.05. Baltimore at Washington (Brian Matusz – Jordan Zimmerman) * ESPN America

The evening begins with a game between the Orioles and Nationals. They might not be two of the leading lights in MLB right now, but both teams have players worth watching and this is developing into a decent rivalry with the teams being evenly matched.  The Nationals took the series opener 8-4 last night.

Matusz and Zimmerman are two of the more talented young pitchers in the game,  The Orioles’ lefty is slowly getting his season underway after starting the year on the Disabled List. He will be looking to bounce back from a rough outing against the Rays last time out.  As for Zimmernan, he has seemingly put his Tommy John surgery behind him and has pitched very well for Washington this season, even though his win-loss record (4-6) doesn’t reflect this.

21.10. Texas at Atlanta (Matt Harrison – Derek Lowe)* ESPN America

The Rangers snapped a five-game losing streak by beating the Braves 6-2 last night.

The Rangers have a number of players on their roster with links to the Braves, including their scheduled starting pitcher for today’s game.  Harrison was drafted by Atlanta in 2003 and was part of the major deadline day trade on 31 July 2007 that saw Mark Teixeira join the Braves.  Rangers regulars Elvis Andrus and Neftali Feliz were also part of the deal that ended up being firmly in Texas’ favour.

Sinkerballer Derek Lowe is seeking his first win in six starts for the Braves, who will be without Chipper Jones as the veteran sits for a few days with a strained abductor muscle in his right leg.

21.10. New York Yankees at Chicago Cubs (A.J. Burnett – Ryan Dempster)

If the series opener is any guide (I’ll be writing more about it on Monday in my Weekly Hit Ground Ball column), this should be a cracker.  The Cubs are on a confidence-boosting run. The north-siders had lost 13 of their previous 16 games before taking 3 wins in a 4-game series against the Milwaukee Brewers and winning the series opener against the Yankees yesterday.

You’re never sure quite what you’re going to get from Burnett, but when he’s on top of his game he can be a dominating pitcher and he pitched well in his most recent start against the Indians ( the Yankees still lost that game 1-0). Dempster also comes into this game off the back of an impressive performance, pitching seven scoreless innings against the Brewers.

All of these games are available to watch live via the MLB.TV subscription at MLB.com.  The two games being shown on ESPN America are highlighted above.  The full schedule for today’s games can be found on MLB.com.

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