Victoria’s Pivetta keeps Phillies rolling
PHILADELPHIA 4 BALTIMORE 1
BALTIMORE — Victoria’s Nick Pivetta overpowered the Baltimore Orioles with his fastball and curve, showing potential as a top-of-the-rotation starter.
Pivetta, a Lambrick Park grad who came out of the Victoria Eagles’ B.C. Premier League program, tied a career-high with 11 strikeouts, Cesar Hernandez homered and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Orioles 4-1 Wednesday in a wet interleague matchup.
Philadelphia (24-16) climbed eight games over .500 for the first time since the end of the 2011 season. The Orioles (13-29) have dropped two of three and have the second-worst record in the American League, ahead of only the Chicago White Sox (10-29).
Pivetta (3-2) won his second straight start, allowing one run, two hits and one walk in seven innings.
“He has dominant stuff. The kind of stuff that can wipe out the opposition,” Phillies manager Gabe Kapler said. “Today was sort of one of those days that you can dream on, and like [think] what if he really puts it all together and is able to do this, start in and start out? And we’re starting to see that consistency.”
Odubel Herrera singled in the first and extended his on-base streak to 42 games for the Phillies, who have won six of seven.
Tommy Hunter allowed runners to reach second and third with one out in the eighth. Luis Garcia loaded the bases with a walk to Trey Mancini, then retired Adam Jones on a flyout and got Manny Machado to hit into a forceout. Edubray Ramos struck out both batters he faced in the ninth, and Hector Neris retired Chris Davis on a game-ending groundout. Neris started the season as the closer, but Kapler said he plans to keep his options open.
“We know that Ramos’ slider is very effective against righthanded hitters, it’s been true for over a year. So we give him that opportunity. That creates that confidence,” Kapler said. “Guess who else is going to feel like a million bucks? Hector Neris. He just got a huge out for us.”
The opener of a series between teams that met for the 1983 title was rained out Tuesday and was rescheduled for July 12
Jones extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a firstinning homer. Pivetta then retired 12 straight batters before Davis hit a double in the fifth.
“That was impressive,” Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. “What did we hit, five balls hard that they caught, too? That didn’t help matters.”
Hernandez homered on Andrew Cashner’s first pitch of the sixth inning, and Maikel Franco chased Cashner with a run-scoring single.
Richard Bleier gave up Pedro Florimon’s RBI single.
Cashner (1-5) allowed three runs, five hits and three walks over 5 ⁄ innings. He has not won since April 5.
Hernandez tripled in the seventh and scored on Rhys Hoskins’ double off Mychal Givens. Those were all the runs the Phillies would need thanks to Pivetta.
“We’re really, really positive in here right now,” Pivetta said. “Having the guys get some runs for me late in the game is tremendous. Everybody is gelling together, you guys can see it. It’s really fun in here right now. And I think it really has to do with how good our team is gelling together.”
Blue Jays 12, Mets 1
NEW YORK — Steady rain at Citi Field should have made pitching, hitting and fielding challenging for everybody.
Instead, Blue Jays left-hander J.A. Happ had a blast doing all three.
Happ reached three times and allowed only two baserunners over seven scoreless innings, and Toronto got its first road victory against the New York Mets, 12-1 on a wet Wednesday in Queens.
Happ (5-3) struck out 10 and walked none while pitching two-hit ball. The left-hander also singled twice and walked in his first multihit game since 2011, when he had two hits for Houston at Citi Field.
“It was just a fun game,” Happ said. “It was fun being on the bases a little bit and scoring a couple runs and pitching deep into the ballgame. Have to feel good about that one.”
The 35-year-old is the first AL pitcher to throw seven innings and match or out-hit his opponent since the Angels’ Clyde Wright against the Rangers on Sept. 14, 1972. The AL adopted the designated hitter rule the next year.
Happ also helped himself with a sliding, barehanded play to field Luis Guillorme’s grounder in the fifth.
“He was outstanding on a tough day to play,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. “Whether you’re a pitcher or anybody else. Yeah, he held it together.”
Toronto was 0-12 against the Mets in New York, the longest such skid against one team in interleague history, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
New York’s Brandon Nimmo homered off Danny Barnes with two outs in the ninth and Wilmer Flores added a double before Barnes finished Toronto’s four-hitter.
Justin Smoak, Teoscar Hernandez and Richard Urena each homered and drove in three runs as Toronto piled up 15 hits. 23