MLB News and Rumors

The Atlanta Braves trailed the Chicago Cubs 5-1 entering the eighth inning of Saturday’s game. After scratching across three runs against Cubs reliever Kyuji Fujikawa in the eighth they unloaded on Carlos Marmol in the ninth.
B.J. Upton hit a game tying home run, moments later his younger brother hit his second home run of the night giving the Braves a thrilling 6-5 win.
Braves starter Julio Teheran lasted only five innings in his season debut, allowing five runs.

Related Posts:

• B.J. Upton and Justin Upton adjust to Atlanta Braves
• Justin Upton Trade Gives Braves Elite Outfield, But Won’t Put Atlanta Above Nationals in N.L East
• Braves land Justin Upton
• MLB Rumors: Atlanta Braves Close to Acquiring Justin Upton?
• MLB Rumors: Atlanta Braves Trying To Reunite Upton Brothers?

GOODYEAR, Ariz. — Mark Reynolds shrugged it off as just another spring training at-bat.

But his manager wasn’t shrugging off anything.

“It was fun to watch,” Terry Francona said Saturday before the Cleveland Indians headed to Peoria to play Seattle. “I’ll take that anytime.”

As in, anytime is a good time to hit a 500-foot home run that cleared a scoreboard of unspecified dimensions in left field.

Reynolds took a high fast-ball on a 1-0 count and drove it over the scoreboard in left. Exact distance of the blast was not available, but the scoreboard starts 25 feet above field level, at the top of the hill in the outfield built for spectators. It then goes up perhaps 40 feet. Reynolds’ home run — dare it be called a prodigious blast — easily cleared the right side of the scoreboard.

The team’s official web site called it a “moonshot.”

Nick Swisher called it a “freaking bomb.”

Vinnie Pestano posted to Twitter: “That’s not gonna get old at

Related Posts:

• Reynolds launches homer over scoreboard
• Baltimore Orioles Non-tender Three, Including Mark Reynolds, Also Acquire Yamaico Navarro
• Adam Rosales robbed of home run after umpires blow instant replay
• Tigers’ Cabrera hits 300th homer, second of game
• More than a dozen teams after Mark Buehrle

Your browser does not support iframes. There were some concerns entering the spring about Joey Votto’s apparent lack of power at the end of last season. Votto missed nearly two months midseason due to a knee injury and returned to Cincinnati’s lineup in early September. After hitting 14 homers before going on the disabled list in July, Votto did not homer at all following his return, which included the last four weeks of the regular season and the NLDS. But any seeds of doubt about the health of Votto’s knee, and his perceived lack of pop, may have been eliminated on Saturday as he belted an offering from Texas Rangers pitcher Yu Darvish that cleared the corridors of Goodyear Ballpark. Darvish had fooled Votto on a previous pitch as the former MVP swung through a slow curveball. But it’s hard to trick an elite hitter twice, as the young Darvish found out the hard way. Votto’s homer gave him three total for the spring.

Related Posts:

• Reds celebrate the return of Joey Votto
• Joey Votto Agrees to Three-Year Contract Extension With Reds
• Votto and Choo could be dangerous duo for Reds
• Reds not expected to play Votto every day
• Joey Votto wanted to be the richest Canadian athlete.

Your browser does not support iframes.New Cleveland Indians slugger Mark Reynolds put his tremendous power on full display Friday night at Goodyear Ballpark against the Arizona Diamondbacks.With two outs and a man on board during the bottom of the sixth inning, Reynolds proceeds to absolutely unload on a 1-0 offering from D’backspitcher David Hernandez, lifting the ball high and deep over the left field wall, over the scoreboard, and out of the stadium.It marked the third homer of the spring for the Pikeville, Ky. native. He has 181 in his 6-year MLB career.

Related Posts:

• Mark Reynolds coy after monster homer
• Justin Upton blasts home run over scoreboard in center field (Video)
• Baltimore Orioles Non-tender Three, Including Mark Reynolds, Also Acquire Yamaico Navarro
• Indians exec testy over fan complaint
• Lester Continues Dominance Over O’s, Sox Avoid Sweep

When Pablo Sandoval hit his third home run in Game One of the World Series the other night, he became just the fourth player in history to pull off the feat.The woman who ended up with the ball…well, she’s got an entirely different, one-of-a-kind story.Giants fan Dawn Price says she was sitting in the outfield bleachers when the San Francisco slugger went yard for the third time, then, as the ball went over the fence, she fell over the bleachers into an area behind the center field fence.”When I tried to get the ball, I went down over the railing,” Price said.Or so she claims.After retrieving the ball, Price says she put the ball in her pants and tried to climb back to her seat.  But, it was then when she was hauled off by AT&T Park security and arrested for trespassing since, well, they’re not buying the claim she fell.”It’s possible,” Officer Gordon Shyy of the San Francisco Police Department said, “but it’s a pretty steep fall.”According to Shyy,…

Related Posts:

• Pablo Sandoval hits three home runs in historic night (Video)
• Upton’s homer in 10th salvages win
• Cody Ross wants to stay in San Francisco after the 2011 season
• Woman hit by Pete Kozma’s home run ball as boyfriend steps away (Video)
• Curvaceous gal nearly drilled by screaming foul ball at spring training game (video)

Your browser does not support iframes.
In today’s Yankees-Blue Jays game, Toronto left fielder Rajai Davis made an amazing catch with one out in the seventh. Casey McGehee belted a ball deep to left, and Davis scaled the wall, with his back facing the field, and took the homer back. Some people are calling this the catch of the year, but I have my doubts.
The most-talked about contenders for “catch of the year” include Mike Trout’s robbery of JJ Hardy in Baltimore, Gregor Blanco preserving Matt Cain’s perfect game, Josh Reddick’s Spiderman impersation, and Angel Pagan trying to one-up his teammate Blanco by getting *two* outs on his catch. Now, let’s look at this catch in comparison to each one. Davis had time to make the catch, unlike Trout, Blanco, and Pagan. He robbed a homer like Trout (and NOT like Reddick), but had his back to the field like both Blanco and Pagan. He didn’t get his uniform dirty, but only Blanco and Pagan really did.
Which …

Related Posts:

• Royals’ Ball Boy Calls Off Blue Jays’ Rajai Davis in Attempt to Catch Foul Ball (Video)
• Royals ball boy interferes with Rajai Davis on foul popup (Video)
• Ball boy interferes with Rajai Davis
• Curvaceous gal nearly drilled by screaming foul ball at spring training game (video)
• Hooters ballgirl mistakenly scoops up fair ball at Phillies game (Video)

Detroit slugger Miguel Cabrera has hit his 300th homer, becoming the second Venezuela-born player to reach that mark.

Cabrera reached the milestone with a mammoth shot to center in the third inning against the Chicago White Sox – his second homer in Sunday’s game. He’s the 14th player to reach 300 homers before turning 30, according to STATS, LLC.

Andres Galarraga is the career leader in homers for players born in Venezuela with 399.

Cabrera is 29 years, 95 days old. When Hank Aaron was that age, he had 309 home runs, according to STATS. Barry Bonds had 222 by that age.

A Tigers spokesman, citing ESPN Stats and Info, said Cabrera’s second homer of the day was estimated at 457 feet.

Related Posts:

• Cabrera leads Tigers past A’s
• Cabrera hits Little League homer
• Tigers 7, White Sox 1
• Brewers Braun reaches 1,000 hits in a hurry
• Cabrera voted top player by peers

DETROIT — The Tigers have had a lot of strange plays go against them this season.

When they finally got one in their favor, it turned out to be a doozy.

In the fifth inning Saturday, Detroit held a slim 2-0 lead when Miguel Cabrera led off with a routine grounder back to rookie pitcher Christian Friedrich.

That’s when the stadium DJ should have really hit the callopie music.

Cabrera didn’t break hard out of the batter’s box, only getting up to speed when he saw the ball bounce off Friedrich’s glove. Because of the slow start, he still had plenty of time to scramble after the ball and throw Cabrera out at first.

Friedrich didn’t know that.

“I was upset because I didn’t make the original play — that’s a play you make 99 times out of 100,” he said. “So I was running after the ball with my back to the runner, and I rushed things. I didn’t see how much time I had until just after I released the throw.”

By that point, it was too late.

The throw sailed past first baseman Todd Helton and down the right-field line. To make things worse for the Rockies, the ball lodged against the tarp instead of bouncing back toward any fielder.

That led to a wild chase, with catcher Wilin Rosario, second baseman Chris Nelson and right fielder Michael Cuddyer going after the ball while Cabrera rounded second and headed for third.

The rest of the Rockies players were going in every other direction. With the catcher in right field, third baseman Jordan Pacheco had gone to cover the plate, leaving Friedrich at third base with Carlos Gonzalez racing in from left field to back him up.

“There were a lot of kids involved in that play, and once you start having to chase down a loose ball like that, things get out of kilter,” Rockies manager Jim Tracy said. “He doesn’t score on that play if someone just grabs the ball and holds on to it, but young players try to do too much.”

Rosario grabbed the ball but, to Terry’s chagrin, didn’t hold on to it. Rosario fired to third, and his throw skipped past Friedrich, allowing Cabrera to trot home on a ball that was hit about 60 feet and wildly thrown about 250.

“That’s the old Little League home run — that’s what that was,” Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. “We’ve all been through that before.

“That’s off the sandlot, and it was fun to watch.”

GETTING AVILA BACK

Alex Avila is eligible to come off the disabled list on Thursday, and the Tigers think there is a chance he will be able to return for that afternoon’s game against the Cardinals.

If things go well for him during Sunday’s workout at Comerica, he would begin a three-day rehab assignment Monday with Triple-A Toledo.

“I think Alex is going to go out very soon, and that’s good news,” said Leyland, who has been dealing with Detroit’s injury problems all season. “If we get back to pretty much normal — not that we’ve made any excuses — but then you have no excuses.

“We’ve had a couple good signs, having Jackson back and Fister today, and as bad as everything has gone so far, it’s not like we are off the radar screen.”

ROTATION UP IN THE AIR

The Tigers still haven’t made an announcement about their pitching rotation past the middle of the next week.

Max Scherzer will pitch Sunday against the Rockies, and Justin Verlander and Rick Porcello are scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday against St. Louis.

But with Casey Crosby back in Toledo and Drew Smyly on the disabled list with the biggest blister Leyland has ever seen, the Tigers will need to add someone to the rotation sooner rather than later.

Even if Fister and Scherzer come back on four days’ rest, the Tigers won’t have anyone ready for Saturday’s game in Pittsburgh.

There are several possibilites, including having Jacob Turner or Adam Wilk come up from Toledo, or bringing Duane Below out of the bullpen for one game.

A final decision probably won’t be made until after Scherzer’s start on Sunday.

Related Posts:

• Tigers’ Cabrera hits 300th homer, second of game
• Cabrera plays jump ball on foul ball
• Cabrera hits HR Nos. 299 & 300
• Morosi: Cabrera proves me wrong
• Cabrera leads Tigers past A’s