Major League Baseball's 'The Pitch' Newsletter is provided by Elizabeth Cage, Major League Baseball. Keep a track of all your Aussie's in the Majors, their stats, news items, Double and Single A, plus MLB TV schedule for Australia.
AUSTRALIANS IN THE MAJORS
Week in Review
Here is the latest on the Australians participating in Major League Baseball. Players whose names are in bold are still with their Major League teams. Note: hyperlinks in this section lead to MLB.com pages wrapping up these particular games, in-text hyperlinks are to video clips of those plays.
Grant Balfour (Glenwood NSW) pitching for the Oakland Athletics is 2-2 with a 2.69 ERA over 64 appearances. He has earned 17 Saves while allowing 19 runs on 36 hits and 25 walks while striking out 58. The Athletics are 80-60 (.571) in 2nd place in the AL West 3.5 games behind the Texas Rangers. They lead the AL Wild Card race.
NOTE: A’s v Angels on Thursday 13 September on ESPN; A’s v Tigers on Thursday 20 September on FOX 3 at 9:00 am.
- 5 September – Grant pitched 1/3 of an inning allowing one earned run on one hit and a walk and struck out one in the A’s 7-1 loss to the visiting Angels. Grant came on in the 9th with the bases loaded and no outs recorded: Maicer Izturis walked to score Peter Bourjos; Mike Trout was called out on strikes; Torii Hunter singled to score Erick Aybar and Alberto Callaspo. Grant was relieved.
- 9 September – Grant earned his 16th save pitching one inning allowing one hit and striking out one in the A’s 4-2 win at Seattle. He came on to begin the 9th with the final score in place. John Jaso doubled to left; Mike Carp was called out on strikes; Eric Thames flied out to right; and Luis Jimenez lined out to left to end the game.
- 10 September – Grant earned his 17th Save pitching one inning in the A’s 3-1 win over the visiting Angels. He came on in the bottom of the 9th with the final score in place and faced three batters: Kendrys Morales grounded out; Howard Kendrick was called out on strikes; and Erick Aybar struck out swinging.
Travis Blackley (Cheltenham VIC, Melbourne Aces) (Twitter: @Travis_Blackley) pitching for the Oakland A’s is 5-3 with a 3.39 ERA over 20 games. He has allowed 35 earned runs on 77 hits, including seven home runs, and 24 walks while striking out 63. The Athletics are 80-60 (.571) in 2nd place in the AL West 3.5 games behind the Texas Rangers. They lead the AL Wild Card race.
- 5 September – Travis pitched three innings allowing one hit and two walks while striking out two in the A’s 7-1 loss to the visiting Angels. Travis came on in the top of the 4th after the A’s starting pitcher, Brandon McCarthy, was hit by a line drive and retired injured. There were two outs recorded and he got Alberto Callaspo to fly out to centre to end the inning. He pitched a perfect 5th; in the 6th he faced five allowing a walk and a double; and in the 7th he faced three batters getting two outs and walking one before being relieved.
NOTE: A’s v Angels on Thursday 13 September on ESPN; A’s v Tigers on Thursday 20 September on FOX 3 at 9:00 am.
Liam Hendriks (Carine WA; Perth HEAT) pitching for the Minnesota Twins is 0-7 with a 6.20 ERA. Over 12 starts he’s pitched 61.0 innings allowing 42 earned runs on 84 hits and 19 walks while striking out 38. The Twins are 59-83 (.415) in last place in the AL Central 17.5 games behind the Chicago White Sox.
- 7 September – Liam got no decision in his start against the visiting Indians. He pitched five innings allowing four earned runs on eight hits and two walks while striking out two. The Twins lost 7-6. In the 1st inning Liam allowed a single and a walk; in the 2nd he walked one but got a double play to face only the minimum; in the 3rd he allowed a single and a stolen base; in the 4th he faced five batters allowing a single and homerun to make the score 4-2 Minnesota; in the 5th he faced eight batters and allowed two runs to score. He was relieved at the beginning of the 6th.
Peter Moylan (Melbourne VIC; Twitter:@PeterMoylan) pitching for the Atlanta Braves is 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA over 5 games with one Save. He has been credited with two runs, neither earned, on one hit and two walks while striking out one. The Braves are 81-62 (.566) in 2nd place in the NL East 7.5 games behind Washington. They lead the NL Wild Card race.
- 6 September – Peter pitched 2/3 of an inning in the Braves 1-0 win over visiting Colorado. He came on to begin the 8th, with the final score in place, and faced two batters: Jordan Pacheco and Wilin Rosario both flied out to right, before he was relieved.
- 9 September – Peter pitched one inning allowing one hit and one walk while striking out one to earn the Save in the Braves 3-2 10-inning win at New York. He came on in the 10th with the final score in place and faced five batters: Jordany Valdespin singled; Ruben Tejada was out on a sacrifice bunt, moving the runner to 2nd; Scott Hairston struck out swinging and the runner stole 3rd; and David Wright flied out softly to right to end the game. NOTE: Peter discusses this game in a video interview here.
NOTE: Nationals v Braves on Monday 17 September on ESPN 2 at 10:00am; Braves v Marlis on Tuesday 18 September on FOX 3 at 9:00 am
HENDRIKS STILL WINLESS WITH MINNESOTA TWINS
THRIVING IN THE ‘PEN, MOYLAN NOTCHES SAVE VS. METS
AUSTRALIAN BASEBALL LEAGUE and ABL PLAYERS
BASEBALLERS RALLY BEHIND TEENAGE GIRL
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