There was plenty of excitement in MLB on Saturday.
The San Diego Padres stole victory from the L.A. Dodgers when Everth Cabrera caught them napping and stole home to tie the game 6-6 and Will Venable followed him across the plate to take a 7-6 lead as the rattled Kenley Jansen threw the ball to the back-stop.
Ryan Ludwick and Taylor Teagarden both won games in the more conventional way by launching walk-off home runs for the Reds and Orioles respectively.
Meanwhile King Felix Hernandez delighted the King’s Court section at Safeco Field by dominating the Texas Rangers as the normally pedestrian Mariners offence walked over Yu Darvish in a comprehensive 7-0 victory.
What does MLB have in store for us today? All times are in BST.
18.05. LA Angels at NY Yankees (Weaver – Nova) *ESPN America
18.07. Cleveland at Toronto (Lowe – Villanueva)
18.10. Washington at Miami (Strasburg – Nolasco)
18.35. Detroit at Baltimore (Verlander – Gonzalez)
18.35. NY Mets at Atlanta (Santana – Sheets) *MLB.com Free Game of the Day
18.40. Boston at Tampa Bay (Beckett – Shields)
19.10. Chicago White Sox at Kansas City (Sale – Mendoza)
19.10. Pittsburgh at Milwaukee (Burnett – Gallardo)
19.10. Oakland at Minnesota (Parker – Duensing)
19.20. Arizona at Chicago Cubs (Cahill – Garza)
20.10. Philadelphia at Colorado (Hamels – Pomeranz) *BBC 5 Live Sports Extra
21.05. Houston at San Francisco (Norris – Cain)
21.10. Texas at Seattle (Harrison – Iwakuma)
21.10. San Diego at LA Dodgers (Marquis – Billingsley) *ESPN America
01.00. St. Louis at Cincinnati (Westbrook – Bailey) *ESPN America
Sunday always produces lots of good games to enjoy during the evening, but today’s schedule is particularly enticing due to the way in which the All-Star break has shuffled together a number of aces.
From Jered Weaver trying to avert a sweep by the Yankees, to Stephen Strasburg taking on the Marlins, Justin Verlander facing the Orioles, Josh Beckett and James Shields duelling at the Trop, Chris Sale taking to the mound against the Royals, A.J. Burnett and Yovani Gallardo meeting in Milwaukee, and Cole Hamels (on BBC 5 Live Sports Extra from 20.00) and Matt Cain starting for the Phillies and Giants respectively, it’s going to be an evening of switching between games and trying to keep up with it all.
Arguably the most intriguing pitching match-up will be in Atlanta where Ben Sheets will make his first Major League appearance in almost exactly two years (his last start was on 19 July 2010).
The Braves signed Sheets to a Minor League deal on 1 July seemingly out of nowhere. The oft-injured right-hander appeared to have pitched his final inning when his short stint with the A’s in 2010 was ended by elbow surgery. He had missed all of the 2009 season due to surgery on the same elbow so it looked like his body had simply cried ‘enough’, but here he is again and while it would be sensible not to have great expectations for his return, the simple fact that he has made it back is a tremendous story.
All of these games are available to watch live via the MLB.TV subscription at MLB.com. ESPN America will be showing the three MLB games stated above.
