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If you’re looking for a microcosm of the past month for Miami Marlins OF Giancarlo Stanton and San Francisco Giants P Tim Lincecum, look no further than the blast Stanton hit off of Lincecum in Miami’s 7-6 win Friday night.


The home run, a solo shot which came in the fourth inning, traveled 431 feet and was the first ball to hit the home run sculpture at Marlins Park. It was Stanton’s second straight game with a long ball, the third time this month that he has homered in back-to-back games.

As Stanton has gone this season, so have the Marlins. When he struggled in the opening month, hitting only one home run, the team sat in last place. In May, however, he has been on a tear. His 10 home runs this month are the most in baseball, and his OPS of 1.120 is almost double what it was in April. Miami, meanwhile, is right in the thick of the NL East.

Then there’s Lincecum. The NL Cy Young Award winner in 2008 and 2009 struggled yet again on Friday, allowing six earned runs and walking four batters in 5 2/3 innings. Lincecum was rolling along until he was rocked for five runs in the sixth, including a three-run bomb at the hands of Chris Coghlan. The defeat drops Linceum’s record this season to 2-5 and raises his ERA to 6.41.

The Marlins were able to get to Lincecum by putting the ball in the air. Of the 17 balls they put in play against him, 13 were hit in the air, the fourth-highest percentage against him since 2009. The Marlins also were able to lay off the righty’s offspeed stuff, swinging at just 31 percent of those pitches. And they had only five swings-and-misses with him on the mound.


The Giants are now 0-5 in Lincecum’s last five starts, only one of which he made it through six innings. Much like Stanton, Lincecum also got off to a rough start in 2012. He started to turn it around at the end of April, but he has hit the skids again in May. He has only one quality start on the year.

While the Giants remain in second place, they will need improved pitching from their ace if they want to keep pace with the Dodgers. On the other hand, if the new-look Marlins continue to get red-hot hitting from Stanton, they could be a factor in the division race in the months ahead.

First place in the NL East is on the line this weekend as the Atlanta Braves and Washington Nationals kick off a three game series tonight at Turner Field. The Nationals currently hold a one-game lead but need to win at least two games in Atlanta to remain atop the division on Memorial Day.

The Braves look to reverse their recent slump and avoid a season-high fifth straight loss. The league’s second-best offense averaged just two runs per game and was hitless in 12 at-bats with runners in scoring position as they were swept by the Cincinnati Reds earlier this week.

Atlanta sends veteran Tim Hudson to the mound in the opening game tonight. Hudson is 14-3 with a 2.05 ERA in his career versus the Nationals/Expos franchise, the second-most wins and best ERA among active pitchers against the team.

Hudson has also not allowed more than three earned runs at home in his last 19 starts. That’s the longest current streak of consecutive home starts allowing three or fewer earned runs, and the longest by a Braves pitcher since Greg Maddux reeled off 23 such starts from 1993-95.

The Nationals enter the series having won three of their last four games, getting strong performances from their top three studs in the rotation – Stephen Strasburg, Jordan Zimmermann and Gio Gonzalez – before losing to Cole Hamels and the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday.

Tonight Ross Detwiler takes the ball for the Nationals. Detwiler had the last non-quality start by a Washington pitcher when he allowed a season-high six runs in Saturday's 6-5 loss to the Baltimore Orioles.

Detwiler allowed a total of eight earned runs in his first six starts combined (2.10 ERA), but has given up 10 earned runs in 10 innings (9.00 ERA) over his last two outings. Lefties are 3-for-7 with two extra-base hits against him during that span, after he held them to just two hits in 29 at-bats (.069 BA) in his first six starts this season.

Splitting Aces
Two aces who have had uncharacteristic struggles this season face off in south Florida tonight when Tim Lincecum and the San Francisco Giants visit Josh Johnson and the Miami Marlins.

A two-time Cy Young winner, Lincecum has a career-worst 6.04 ERA and just one quality start this season. He has allowed at least four earned runs in six of nine starts, after doing so just seven times in 33 starts last year.

One major issue appears to be a significant drop in fastball velocity, along with a shrinking difference between the speeds of his heater and changeup. His fastball is averaging just 89.9 mph this season, after averaging 92.2 mph last year, while his changeup velocity has barely moved (83.7 mph in 2011, 83.1 mph in 2012).

Johnson struggled early on, going winless with a 6.69 ERA in his first six starts, but is 2-0 with a 2.14 ERA over his last three outings. His fastball has become much more effective, as opponents are hitting .125 against the pitch in his past three games, compared to .391 in his first six starts.

The Tampa Bay Rays inched closer to the top of the AL East standings with a dramatic 5-4, extra-inning walk-off win against the Toronto Blue Jays. The Rays victory coupled with the Orioles’ loss earlier means Tampa Bay is just a game back in the division after Wednesday’s games.

This was the Rays’ fourth walk-off win of the season, which is the most among AL teams. B.J. Upton delivered the game-winning hit with an RBI double in the bottom of the 11th inning.

It was his fifth career walk-off hit, and four of those have now come against the Blue Jays. The only other Rays player with a walk-off double in the 11th inning or later was Greg Vaughn against the A’s in 2002.

James Shields held Toronto to three runs in seven innings while striking out 10 batters for his second 10-strikeout game this season.

He was effective getting the Blue Jays to chase his pitches, recording 26 swings on 50 pitches out of the strike zone (52 percent), his highest chase rate since 2009.

All 10 of his strikeouts were swinging, and nine came in at-bats ending in a changeup, his most with that pitch over the last four seasons. The Blue Jays went 1-for-13 in at-bats ending in Shields’ changeup and missed on more than half of their swings at the pitch.

The Blue Jays probably wish they didn’t have to play the Rays 10 more times this season. Toronto is now 2-6 versus Tampa Bay and 22-15 versus all other teams this season.

Elsewhere Around The Majors
•  The offensive struggles continued for both the Oakland A’s and Pittsburgh Pirates this season. The two teams have been held to one run or fewer in 14 games, the most among all teams.

The last time the A’s had 14 games of one run or fewer in their first 45 games was 1979 (18), and the last time the Pirates had 14 games of one run or fewer in their first 44 games was 1918 (14).

• Jonathon Niese helped the New York Mets beat the Pirates, 3-1, allowing one run in 7⅔ innings. Niese threw 29 pitches on the inner-third of the plate, netting 11 outs and allowing just one hit in at-bats ending with a pitch in that location.

• Alex Liddi hit his first career grand slam in the Seattle Mariners’ 5-3 win over the Texas Rangers. It was the first grand slam at home by a Mariners player since July 2010. Liddi is the second Italian-born player to hit a grand slam, joining Reno Bertoia, who had one in 1958.

• The Milwaukee Brewers scored six runs in the first inning against the San Francisco Giants and held on for an 8-5 win. The six runs are the most in the first inning for any NL team this season and the most first-inning runs for the Brewers since a 10-run frame on April 18, 2010.

Fireworks could fly tonight on Wednesday Night Baseball (ESPN2, 7 ET) when the Washington Nationals take on the Philadelphia Phillies.

Tonight will be Cole Hamels first start against the Nationals since admitting to intentionally plunking Bryce Harper in the back in the first inning of a game on May 6 (a 9-3 Phillies win).

Harper might have gained his revenge already as he went 2-for-3 with a double and a run scored against Hamels after being intentionally hit.

One of the reasons Hamels said he hit Harper was because he thought Harper was getting calls that a rookie shouldn’t.

In the two games against the Phillies before being plunked, Harper took 25 pitches that were called balls. Of those 25, four were actually in the strike zone (16.0 percent), according to Inside Edge pitch-location tracking. Only Jayson Werth (5) saw more such pitches in the two games for either team.

The Phillies were not as fortunate. Only seven of 89 called balls against their hitters were in the strike zone (7.9 percent), meaning that they caught a break less than half as often as Harper.

Pitching Matchup
Edwin Jackson is off to the best start of his career. He is striking out hitters at the highest rate of his career (8.0 K/9) while walking fewer batters than ever (1.7 BB/9 – 10th-best in the NL). He correspondingly is on pace to have the lowest qualified ERA of his career at 3.31.

The key to Jackson’s success might be as simple as getting ahead in the count more often. He had been improving slightly each season, but took a leap to another level this season as he has thrown a strike 66 percent of the time on his first pitch, 14th-best among MLB starting pitchers (the league average is 59 percent). From 2009-11, Jackson never had a first-pitch strike percentage higher than 58.

Since dropping his first start of the season, Hamels is 6-0 with a 2.20 ERA and a .212 opponent batting average over his last seven starts.

His seven straight quality starts is tied for the second-longest active streak in the majors and he’s helped keep a Phillies team afloat that’s battling a host of injuries.

Hitters to Watch
Adam LaRoche is 4-for-16 lifetime against Hamels, but all four of his hits have gone for extra bases, including three home runs, giving him a 1.208 OPS against Hamels.

Since being plunked, Harper is just 15-for-56 (.246 BA), but has picked things up recently. Over his last 10 games, Harper is hitting .325 (13-for-40) with six RBI.

Adam Wainwright regained some of his 2009 and 2010 magic on Tuesday, tossing his third career shutout and first since August 6, 2010.

For a guy who had a 9.78 ERA in his previous four home starts this season, the shutout must have been an especially sweet breath of fresh air for Wainwright.
Here's a look at what made him so succesful:

• Wainwright lived around the edge of the zone with his fastball, especially with two strikes. Fifteen of the 18 (83.3 percent) two-strike fastballs he threw were within four inches of the edge of the zone, both in and out. In his first eight starts this season, 59 percent of his two-strike fastballs were in that location. All four of his strikeouts with his fastball were around the edge; he had only six strikeouts with his fastball there in his first eight starts.

• Wainwright threw 68 fastballs among his 111 pitches (61.3 percent), his highest percentage since coming back from Tommy John surgery and second highest since 2009.

• Wainwright also used his signature curveball to put hitters away. He recorded six outs with his curveball, including four via strikeout, without allowing a hit.

• Wainwright was efficient. He recorded 10 outs on either the first or second pitch of the at-bat, his most in a start since 2009. He averaged just 12.3 pitches per inning, well below his season average of 16.8.

Elsewhere around MLB:

How long had it been since Roy Halladay last lost to the Nationals franchise? They were the Montreal Expos, Halladay was with the Toronto Blue Jays and Halladay had only 27 career wins at the time. The year was 2002. Halladay now has 192 career wins, and had won 11 straight decisions against the Nationals/Expos before this loss.

Albert Pujols' mashed his fourth home run this season and 449th of his career. That ties him with Jeff Bagwell and Vladimir Guerrero for 35th on the all-time HR list. Next up is Carl Yastrzemski with 452.

Ricky Nolasco picked up his 69th career win, passing Dontrelle Willis for the most in Marlins franchise history. Josh Johnson (50) and A.J. Burnett (49) are third and fourth on that list.

Phil Hughes again struggled with the longball. Before Hughes, the last pitcher to allow a HR in each of his first nine starts of a season was Runelvys Hernandez who did so in 12 straight back in 2006 for the Kansas City Royals.

Ask the Atlanta Braves whether Mike Leake's arm or bat did more damage to their hopes of winning on Monday night, and they might hesitate to answer.

We'll detail his arm below. What Leake will likely remember the most is that, in his 117th career at-bat, he hit his first major league home run. It was his first RBI this season, though his .333 batting average suggests there might be more on the way.

On the mound, here's how Leake beat the Braves:

" Leake threw a lot more cutters than he has in most of his starts this year, using the pitch 28 times, getting eight outs and allowing no hits. Leake has only used his cutter more in one start this year. Leake only has 27 strikeouts in 2012, but most of them have come with his cutter (7).

" Leake was efficient, throwing just two pitches in three-ball counts. Leake had thrown 31 pitches in three-ball counts in his previous three starts combined.

" Leake was in the zone all night, throwing 48 pitches in the zone, but surrendering just one hit on a pitch in the zone. Leake also had three strikeouts on pitches in the zone, his most in a start since August 10, 2011.

Elsewhere around MLB:

The Red Sox sent three outfielders onto the field vs the Orioles on Monday who began the season in places other than Boston. Daniel Nava and Che-Hsuan Lin started the season in Pawtucket, and Marlon Byrd was with the Cubs. Of course, each had at least one hit and one run scored in the Red Sox two-run win.

The injury bug finally bit the Texas Rangers, but it had held off for quite a while. With Neftali Feliz being placed on the DL, it's the first move the Rangers have made to their 25-man opening day roster this season. They were the last team to make a move to an opening-day roster. According to the release from the team, it's also the latest date the Rangers had ever gone in a season before making their first roster move.

It had been almost 13 years since the Kansas City Royals shut out the New York Yankees in New York. The last time it happened was August 18, 1999 in a game where Carlos Beltran started in center field for the Royals and Paul O'Neill started in right for the Yankees.

Tyler Greene's game-winning HR for the St. Louis Cardinals came off a 100.5 MPH fastball from Andrew Cashner. That's the fastest pitch anyone has homered on since 2009.

Jamie Moyer will make his ninth start of the season for the Colorado Rockies on Monday when he faces the Miami Marlins.

Forty games into the season and the Rockies will look to the 49-year-old lefty to be the first Colorado pitcher to win back-to-back starts this season. (Moyer beat the Arizona Diamondbacks in his last start.)

The Rockies are the only team that does not have a pitcher who has won consecutive starts this season, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Moyer will oppose Mark Buehrle, marking the first time in almost four years that opposing starters had made a combined 1,000 starts. On Sept. 19, 2008, Barry Zito and the Giants beat Greg Maddux and the Dodgers, in what turned out to be the final loss of Maddux's career.

Also when Moyer takes the mound on Monday at Marlins Park, it will be the 50th major-league stadium he’s pitched in during his 25-year career. The only active stadium that Moyer has not pitched in is Target Field in Minnesota. Among players to debut since 1900, Moyer has pitched at the most parks (regular-season games only), according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

The matchup will also feature a pitcher with more than 250 wins (Moyer, 269) against one who has thrown two no-hitters. According to Elias, the last time a pitcher with at least 250 wins opposed a pitcher with at least two no-hitters was June 21, 2005, when Randy Johnson faced Hideo Nomo.

- Kenton Wong, Doug Kern and Nate Jones contributed to this post.

Hitters could have their way Monday night in Cincinnati when a pair of struggling starters take the mound for Monday Night Baseball (7 ET on ESPN).

The Atlanta Braves are hoping Mike Minor can avoid making history. Minor has allowed at least six earned runs in four straight starts, the longest streak in the majors since Kenny Rogers in 2008 and tied with Rosy Ryan of the 1925-26 Boston Braves for the longest streak in franchise history.

Minor was 2-1 with a 3.42 ERA through his first four starts of the season, but his ERA has jumped to 7.09 after being roughed up in each of his past four outings.

Minor’s reversal of fortune can be tied to his fastball, which has been ineffective in his past four starts. Over that span, opponents are hitting .339 with six home runs against Minor’s heater after batting .277 with no homers in his first four starts of the season.

But the Cincinnati Reds will send their own slumping starter to the mound Monday.

After going 12-9 with a 3.86 ERA in 2011, Mike Leake has lost his first five decisions in 2012 and brings a 6.21 ERA into Monday’s start. With a loss Monday, Leake would become the fourth Reds pitcher to start a season 0-6 in the last 15 years, joining Dontrelle Willis (2011), Homer Bailey (2008) and Brian Reith (2001).

And while Minor is having major issues with his fastball, it’s the changeup that is giving Leake the most trouble. Opponents have nine hits in 17 at-bats ending in a Leake changeup this season, including five extra-base hits.

Only Luke Hochevar (.600) and Aaron Harang (.556) are allowing hitters a higher batting average among qualifiers than Leake (.529) on changeups this season.

Leake has pitched well against the Braves in limited opportunities, however. He has a 1.50 ERA in two career starts against Atlanta with eight strikeouts and four walks. If Leake can fix his off-speed issues, he could lead the Reds to their eighth win in their last 11 home games in the series.

No team could use a stretch of favorable pitching matchups more than the Minnesota Twins, who entered Sunday with the worst record in the majors at 14-26. But, as teams far better than the Twins have learned the hard way, facing Zack Greinke at Miller Park is anything but favorable for opposing hitters.

Greinke won again at home Sunday, allowing just one run and striking out six as the Milwaukee Brewers smashed the Twins 16-4. It was Greinke’s 18th straight win in a home decision, with the last 14 coming since he arrived in Milwaukee from Kansas City.

With the win, Greinke became the first pitcher to win 18 straight home decisions since Kenny Rogers won 19 consecutive decisions at home with four different teams from 1997 to 2000.

Greinke and Rogers are two of the six pitchers with a win streak of at least 18 in home decisions in the live-ball era (since 1920). They’re joined by Roy Face, Frank Viola, Ray Kremer and Lefty Grove, who had two separate streaks of at least 18 wins in home decisions (18 from 1932-33, 20 from 1938-40).

Greinke hasn’t lost a home start since July 26, 2010, when he allowed eight runs over four innings in a 19-1 loss to the Twins.

Greinke wasn’t the only Brewer to make history Sunday. Jonathan Lucroy drove in seven runs, tying a franchise record. He joined Carlos Ruiz (May 2, 2012) as the only catchers to have at least seven RBI in a game in the last two seasons.

Elsewhere in the majors Sunday, Max Scherzer had a career-high 15 strikeouts, one shy of a Detroit Tigers franchise record, in a 4-3 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Scherzer induced 26 swings-and-misses, the most by any pitcher this season and the most since Brandon Morrow had 26 on May 5, 2010 vs the Cleveland Indians.

Scherzer became the second AL pitcher to strike out at least 15 in seven or fewer innings in the last 90 years. Baltimore Orioles starter Mike Mussina struck out 15 in seven innings against the Boston Red Sox on September 24, 2000.

In other MLB action Sunday:

" Stephen Strasburg hit his first career home run and earned the win in the Washington Nationals 9-3 win over the Baltimore Orioles. Strasburg is now hitting .375 this season and has an extra-base hit in four of his last five games.

" Josh Beckett allowed one run on seven hits as the Red Sox beat the Philadelphia Phillies 5-1. Beckett has now won consecutive starts for the first time since August 2011 and has allowed one run in his last 14T innings.

" The Phillies fell to 1-5 in Cliff Lee’s starts this season after he allowed five runs, his most since July 2011, to the Red Sox. The Phillies were 22-10 in Lee’s 32 starts last season.

(The Los Angeles Dodgers host the St. Louis Cardinals, Sunday at 8 ET on ESPN)

The post-Albert Pujols era is in its first season in St. Louis, and right now the Cardinals do not appear to miss the second-most prolific home run hitter in franchise history.

In fact, the Cardinals are in first place in the National League Central thanks in part to some savvy offseason moves.

Carlos Beltran and Rafael Furcal have been two of the three most effective free agent signings. Beltran’s 1.9 Wins Above Replacement (WAR) is tied with Kelly Johnson for the highest this season among 2012 free agent signings. Furcal is third with a 1.8 WAR.

In fact, Beltran and Furcal are part of an interesting 2012 trend: rejuvenation of older players once thought to be done.

• Carlos Beltran (35) Leads NL in home runs (hasn’t hit 30 HR since 2007)
• Rafael Furcal (34) .351 BA ranks 4th in NL (.231 BA in 2011; didn’t play 100 games in either of last 2 seasons)
• Derek Jeter (37) .355 BA ranks 3rd in AL (hit .282 in previous 2 seasons)
• David Ortiz (35) 3rd in AL in OPS and 4th in BA (hit .257 from 2008-10)
• Paul Konerko (36) .367 BA is 2nd in AL (hit .240 in 2008)

Beltran has 13 home runs through 40 games, the most he’s ever hit in his team’s first 40 games. (Before 2012, the most HR Beltran hit in his team’s first 40 games was 11 in 2004.) In addition to leading the National League in home runs, Beltran ranks fifth in OPS (1.036).

He’s also two stolen bases from becoming the eighth player in major-league history with 300 HR and 300 stolen bases. With a .861 career OPS, he’d join Willie Mays, Alex Rodriguez and Barry Bonds as the only 300-300 players with an .850 OPS.

As good as Beltran has been, Furcal has been just as impressive. He’s hitting .400 this month, which is the fourth-highest NL average in May behind David Wright (.436), Andrew McCutchen (.420) and Carlos Ruiz (.411) Furcal also is one of the best NL hitters with two strikes. His .293 average with two strikes is third in the National League.

One part of Furcal’s success is that he isn’t so pull happy. Last season, Furcal pulled 42 percent of all balls that he put in play. In 2012, that percentage is down to 34 percent.

Furcal and Beltran are also two of the most prolific active switch hitters. Beltran ranks third among active players with 1,956 hits and Furcal is sixth with 1,739.

For 8 1/3 innings on Friday night, Detroit Tigers P Justin Verlander was unhittable, thanks largely to a nasty curveball that the Pittsburgh Pirates could not touch. Just when he was on the brink of joining rarified air, though, it was a breaking ball that got in the way of history.

Verlander lost a no-hit bid on a Josh Harrison single with one out in the ninth when Harrison smacked a hanging slider into center field. Prior to Harrison’s hit, which came after he trailed 0-2 in the count, hitters were 3-36 (.083) with 21 strikeouts this season after being down 0-2 to Verlander. It was the only hit he allowed.

As has become the norm with the towering righty, Verlander’s velocity increased as the game went on. Interestingly enough, his fastball averaged just 91.4 mph in the first three innings, the lowest it has been through three in the last four seasons. From the seventh on, not one fastball was below 97 on the gun.

While his heater was strong, it was Verlander’s curve that baffled Pittsburgh. He threw it in the zone early in the count, then got batters to chase by tossing six of the eight curveballs he threw with two strikes out of the zone. Four of his punchouts were via the curve.

Verlander, who threw 109 pitches and walked two batters in the Tigers’ 6-0 victory, struck out 12 Pirates, tying for the second-most strikeouts in his career. With this effort, he joins an exclusive club of pitchers to throw shutouts allowing one hit or fewer with at least 12 strikeouts in interleague play. The only other time it was done? In 2007, by Justin Verlander.

That performance came during his no-hitter against the Milwaukee Brewers. Had Verlander finished the job Friday, he would have become the first player with multiple no-hitters in interleague play.

According to Elias, Verlander is only the second Tigers pitcher to toss a shutout in which he gave up no more than one hit and fanned 12 or more hitters. Hall of Famer Jim Bunning did it for Detroit against the Boston Red Sox in 1958.

History was right at Verlander's fingertips. He was two outs away from becoming just the sixth pitcher in major league history to throw at least three no-hitters, joining a club that includes Nolan Ryan, Sandy Koufax, Bob Feller, Larry Corcoran and Cy Young. He also would have become the Tigers’ all-time leader in no-hitters, passing Virgil Trucks.

Given the fact that he has taken five no-hit bids into the eighth inning, it would come as a surprise to no one to one day see Verlander’s name on that list.

Baseball’s 16th season of interleague play is under way with celebrations of natural rivalries -- Cubs against White Sox, Orioles against Nationals, A’s against Giants among others -- and in one instance a chance for National League fans to get a load of Josh Hamilton.

The Texas Rangers will travel down I-45 and give Houston Astros fans a look at baseball’s hottest hitter.

Hamilton already has the second-highest career batting average in interleague games, but also comes into this series on a historic tear.

Hamilton’s 16-game hit streak came to an end on Thursday when his day off ended early against Oakland. He pinch-hit and ended up 0-for-2 in a loss to the Athletics, but Hamilton still leads the American League in home runs, RBIs and batting average.

Hamilton’s hitting streak included a week, from May 7-13, that might have been as impressive as any in history.

He hit .467 with nine home runs and 18 RBI and an OPS of 1.963. His week included the 16th four-home run game in baseball history, and his nine home runs for the week matched the combined total hit that week by last season’s nine leading home run hitters: Jose Bautista 3, Curtis Granderson 2, Giancarlo Stanton 2, Dan Uggla 1 and Prince Fielder 1.

Texas and Houston meet each season in home-and-home series in interleague play (competing for the Silver Boot trophy), so the Astros have experienced Hamilton’s bat. Over the past three seasons against Houston pitching, Hamilton is 26-for-65 (.400) with four home runs and 13 RBI.

Two of this season’s most surprising starters face each other on Friday in Los Angeles, as the St. Louis Cardinals' Lance Lynn (6-1, 1.81) meets the Los Angeles Dodgers' Ted Lilly (5-0, 2.11).

Both Lynn and Lilly are getting great results on their fastballs, and Lynn’s fastball is generating a lot of swings and misses in the zone (see chart).

Opponents are hitting a major-league low .150 against Lynn’s fastball, and .162 against Lilly’s heater.

As good as Lilly's fastball has been, his changeup has been even better. Opponents are 1-for-27 (.037) on at-bats ending in Lilly’s changeup.

If Lilly earns the win, he will be the first Dodgers starter to begin the season 6-0 since Kaz Ishii in 2002. Before that it was Orel Hershiser in 1988.

Verlander Feasts on National League Teams
It's no surprise that Justin Verlander has the highest miss percent this season on fastball in the strike zone at 26 percent. That's one reason he's dominated in Interleague play, which starts on Friday.

Verlander, who will face the Pittsburgh Pirates, is 15-2 with a 2.94 ERA in 20 interleague starts. That’s the best win percentage in interleague play among pitchers with at least eight decisions.

Time to Panic About Albert Pujols Adrian Gonzalez?
So Albert Pujols has gone deep in back-to-back games. With three on the season, Pujols has one more than the Boston Red Sox' Adrian Gonzalez.

Gonzalez last homered on April 17. That’s 106 at-bats without a home run. In that span, 280 players have gone deep at least once.

Typically, Gonzalez' power stroke is going the other way. Last year, 12 of his 27 home runs were hit to the opposite field. In 2012, he doesn’t have one.

One reason for that is Gonzalez isn’t hitting outside pitches for power. Last year he hit .310 with a .518 slug percentage on outside pitches. This season? His average is .163 and slug percentage is .204.

Yu Darvish picked up his sixth win of the season, tied for most in the majors, as the Texas Rangers beat the Oakland Athletics 4-1.

Darvish has struck out at least seven batters in each of his last five starts after striking out 14 and walking 13 in his first three starts. That’s the longest streak off seven-strikeout games by a Rangers' pitcher since Bobby Witt in 1987.

The key for Darvish has been the most important pitch in baseball – strike one. When he throws a strike on the first pitch to a batter, they hit .146 and strikeout nearly eight times as often as they walk. A 1-0 count leads to a .308 average and more walks than whiffs.

Over his first three starts, Darvish fell behind in the count more often than not. He threw first-pitch strikes to only 42 of 88 batters (48 percent). In his most recent five starts, he has upped that percentage to 60 percent (84 of 139). On Wednesday, he threw a strike on the first pitch to 17 of 28 hitters, right at his average over his last five starts.

This has allowed him to rely less on his fastball and slider and more on his changeup and curveball. In his first three starts, nearly half of his pitches were fastballs and opposing hitters hit .343 against his heat. He was forced to go with the fastball when he fell behind in the count, recording 11 walks and just three strikeouts on the pitch in his first three starts.

In his last five starts, he has used the fastball just over a third of the time while unveiling a changeup that he didn’t throw in the first three contests and increasing his curveball frequency from 11 percent to 17 percent.

For the season, opposing hitters have only 3 hits in 38 at-bats (.079) and have struck out 24 times against his curveball. That’s the most strikeouts that he has recorded with any pitch, even though it’s only the fourth-most used pitch in his arsenal.

Around the Diamond
• Adam Jones hit a game-winning home run in the 15th inning as the Baltimore Orioles won in Kansas City. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, he is the first major leaguer with two game-winning home runs in the 15th inning or later in the same season since 1988. That year, Mark McGwire hit game-winners in the 16th inning of back-to-back days in July.

• Also from our friends at Elias, Jamie Moyer became the oldest player to drive in a run in a game. Julio Franco was nearly six months younger when he drove in his final run in 2007.

• Gio Gonzalez gave up his first home run of the season after 48⅓ innings. He was the last qualified starter – meaning a minimum of one inning pitched per team game – to allow a homer this year.

Lee Singer contributed to this post.

(The Tampa Bay Rays host the Boston Red Sox, Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN.)

The American League’s most methodical starting pitchers will oppose each other in St. Petersburg, Fla., on Wednesday night: the Rays' Jeremy Hellickson and the Red Sox’s Clay Buchholz.

This season, Hellickson has averaged 24.4 seconds between pitches, second in the American League among starters behind Buchholz, who averages more than 25 seconds between pitches.

In fact, Boston’s starting pitchers haven’t been shy about taking their time on the mound. Each of the Red Sox's five starters rank in the top seven in terms of slowest paces in the American League this season.

This season, Buchholz is 4-1, but he owns the highest ERA among qualified starters at 8.31. Buchholz has four wins because the Red Sox have provided him with more run support than any other starter in baseball with 9.7 runs per game.

Buchholz has been even worse on the road. In two starts he has an 11.57 ERA and a 2.46 WHIP.

Buchholz has been so bad this season because everything that could go wrong has gone wrong. Buchholz this season:

• Has allowed 10 HR in 39 innings, giving him the highest HR-per-nine-innings-pitched rate at 2.3. (In 28 starts in 2010, Buchholz allowed just nine home runs.)

• Strikes out 4.6 batters per nine innings, which is the lowest rate of his career (career average: 6.7).

• Walks more than five batters per nine innings, the highest rate of his career (career average: 3.8).

• Is one of three starters who has walked more batters than he has struck out (Ubaldo Jimenez, Derek Lowe).

What Buchholz has done well is throw first-pitch strikes. He’s tied for the American League lead with Phil Humber at 69.5 percent. However, hitters are jumping all over Buchholz, swinging at 32 percent of his first pitches, the fourth highest rate against any American League starter. When hitters put that pitch in play, their batting average is .357.

Opposing Buchholz will be Hellickson, whose start will be the 203rd straight start for the Rays by a homegrown pitcher. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, no other team this season has had every game started by players originally drafted by the organization.

Hellickson this season has allowed three earned runs or fewer in six of his seven starts. The lone exception was on April 14 against the Red Sox, when he allowed five earned runs and a career-high three home runs.

Overall, his 4.99 career ERA against Boston is his highest against any team.

Hellickson hasn’t been very efficient, throwing 16.8 pitches per inning, which ranks 43rd out of 53 qualified American League starters. (Buchholz has been worse, ranking 46th with 17.5 pitches per inning.)

He’s also struggled to get the final out of innings -- 12 of his 16 walks this season have been issued with two outs.

However, in five starts since his April 14 loss to the Red Sox, Hellickson has a 1.93 ERA. In fact, the Rays' pitching has settled into being the expected dominant pitching staff. In the past 28 games, Tampa Bay is 19-9 with a league-low 2.82 ERA.