Baseball-Highlights of Thursday's MLB games
April 17 (The Sports Xchange) - Highlights of Thursdays Major League Baseball Games - - Phillies 1, Braves 0 The Philadelphia Phillies and Atlanta Braves combined for just nine hits through the first seven innings as the starting pitchers cruised and even when the Phillies got some offense, it was enough to secure a 1-0 victory. The Phillies manufactured their run in the bottom of the eighth inning after left fielder Domonic Brown reached on a leadoff single. Center fielder Ben Revere then hit a drive up the middle to score Brown from second. Phillies right-hander AJ Burnett battled through a hernia to pitch seven innings, giving up three-hits and striking out five to lower his ERA to 2.74. Alex Wood, a 23-year-old right-hander, gave up the one run in eight innings but took the loss, which evened his record at 2-2 but lowered his ERA to 1.67. - - Tigers 7, Indians 5 Second baseman Ian Kinsler drove in four runs, including a three-run homer, to lift the Detroit Tigers to a 7-5 win over the Cleveland Indians. Kinsler doubled his RBI total for the season and center fielder Austin Jackson had two sacrifice flies to help Detroit overcome a season-high three errors. Tigers starter Justin Verlander (2-1), who gave up three unearned runs, notched the victory despite lasting only five innings. He threw 113 pitches while allowing six hits and four walks. Left fielder Michael Brantley drove in four runs, including a two-run homer, for the Indians. - - Rangers 8, Mariners 6 Designated hitter Mitch Moreland drove in three runs to help the Texas Rangers to an 8-6 victory over the Seattle Mariners. Seattle's Erasmo Ramirez and Texas' Tanner Scheppers continued their struggles as the teams combined to use 11 pitchers. - - Twins 7, Blue Jays 0 (first game) Minnesota Twins right-hander Kyle Gibson pitched eight shutout innings in the first game of a doubleheader against Toronto as the Twins defeated the Blue Jays 7-0. The Twins strung together three consecutive one-out singles, the last from third baseman Trevor Plouffe, that drove in the first run of the game in the bottom of the fifth. A walk loaded the bases for left fielder Jason Kubel, who ripped a sharp single to right to make it 2-0 before designated hitter Josmil Pinto's RBI double off the left-center wall drove in two more. A sacrifice fly by catcher Kurt Suzuki made it 5-0. Gibson allowed only one hit, an eighth-inning single that was erased by a double play, in his final three innings. In eight innings, he gave up four hits and a walk while striking out four to improve his record to 3-0 and lower his ERA to 0.93. - - Dodgers 2, Giants 1 The Los Angeles Dodgers beat their divisional rival Giants 2-1 as Dodgers starter Hyun-Jin Ryu scattered four hits and issued one walk in seven innings. San Francisco's Pablo Sandoval, Buster Posey and Michael Morse, the heart and power of their batting order, were a combined 0-for-11. - - (Compiled by Ben Everill)
