CINCINNATI, Ohio -- Adam Wainwright won 19 games last season and finished second in the NL Cy Young voting. So far, his encore is even better. Wainwright became the National Leagues first eight-game winner by dominating Cincinnati again, and the St. Louis Cardinals pulled away to a 4-0 victory Sunday night that completed another successful series against their division rival. The Cardinals are 6-3 against the Reds this season. Theyve won 10 of their last 11 series together. Overall, St. Louis has won nine of its last 11 games and moved within 1 1-2 games of first-place Milwaukee in the NL Central. Wainwright (8-2) beat Johnny Cueto and the Reds on opening day in Cincinnati, allowing only three hits during seven innings of a 1-0 victory. On Sunday, the right-hander gave up five hits in eight innings and matched his career high with 12 strikeouts. "Thats the epitome of pitching, in my opinion," manager Mike Matheny said. "The people watching today maybe on the national (television) game, I hope they had an appreciation for what this guy does and how he does it." Wainwright set the tone by striking out five of the first six batters on a total of 24 pitches. He got Brandon Phillips on three pitches that clocked 73, 91 and 93 mph. The one disappointment for Wainwright last season was his rough showing against the Reds -- 1-3 in four starts with a 7.77 ERA. Hes fixed that problem. "Last year I was a one-side-of-the-plate pitcher and they just crushed me," Wainwright said. "This year, Im pitching a lot differently. Im using both sides of the plate." Tony Cruz and Kolten Wong each had a pair of singles and drove in a run off Mike Leake (2-4). Wong also stole a pair of bases. The game drew 42,273 fans, the Reds third sellout crowd of the season. All three sellouts have come against the Cardinals. Leake went six innings and continued his streak of solid pitching. The right-hander hasnt allowed more than two runs in any of his last five starts, giving up a total of eight earned runs. With Wainwright on his game again, it was two runs too much. Wainwright lowered his ERA to 1.67. In his last two starts, he has given up only six hits and no runs in 17 innings. "Ive never felt like this," the 31-year-old pitcher said. "Thats part of of the evolution of me. I expected to get better as I got older, and a little wiser. "Now that Im over 30 years old, I dont think theres any reason for me to start to decline. I think I should still try to get better and expect to get better." Cruz led off the third inning with a single and advanced on Wainwrights sacrifice bunt. Wong singled up the middle with two outs for a run. Matt Adams singled, Allen Craig walked and Cruz singled home a run with two outs in the sixth. The Cardinals added a pair of runs in the seventh with the help of two errors by the Reds, who lead the majors in fielding percentage. Wainwright pitched out of Cincinnatis best threat in the fifth, when the Reds got runners to second and third with two outs. He got Billy Hamilton on a called third strike to end the inning. Hamilton struck out four times against Wainwright on opening day and three more times Sunday, leaving him 0 for 7 with seven strikeouts and a walk off the right-hander. NOTES: The Cardinals return home for an afternoon game against the Yankees on Monday, with Michael Wacha (3-3) facing Chase Whitley (0-1). The Reds fly to Los Angeles for an evening game against the Dodgers, sending Cueto (4-3) against Hyun-Jin Ryu (4-2). ... Wong extended his hitting streak to seven games. ... C Yadier Molina got a day of rest. ... OF Peter Bourjos was better, but still out of the lineup a day after he got a stomach virus. ... RHP Mat Latos made his first rehab start for Triple-A Louisville on Sunday, allowing three hits and two runs in four innings. The Reds want him to make at least two more starts in the minors. ... RF Jay Bruce went 1 for 12 with seven strikeouts during the series, which marked his return from torn knee cartilage.
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Air Max 95 NZ Wholesale . - Kentucky freshmen Stanley Boom Williams, Dorian Baker, Drew Barker and Tymere Dubose have been charged with disorderly conduct for their involvement with air pistol shots being fired near a residence hall on the South campus Sunday night.The day after Brandon Morrow walked eight batters in just two and 2/3rds innings and got the hook, Ricky Romero had a two-inning control meltdown of his own Sunday at Coca-Cola Field in Buffalo. Facing the Reds Triple A affiliate Louisville, Romero walked the bases loaded in the first inning and again in the second, but he escaped unscathed both times and actually lasted five innings. Romero didnt give up any more walks and didnt surrender a run during the stint. Earlier in the week, an upbeat Romero was on TSN Drive with Dave Naylor and co-host Dave Hodge and said he felt he was pitching better than he had been in a year and a half. He also said he would welcome a call-up right now if the Blue Jays needed or wanted him. As shaky as the Jays starting pitching has been this season, especially over this just completed homestand, Romero doesnt figure to get called up anytime soon. He simply has to be more consistent with his control. The largest pitcher I have ever seen in the Majors is C.C Sabathia. Though he has trimmed down now a bit, there were times over the past two or three years where he weighed between 285 and 300 pounds. Well in that same Buffalo-Louisville game on Sunday, the Bats used a closer by the name of Jose Diaz. A year ago, the 64 native of the Dominican Republic pitched at 347 pounds and of course was known by the nickname of Jumbo. This year having just turned 30, he realized it might be time to shave off a few pounds to try and prolong his career. He got down to 278, but the stat sheets now are listing him at 315. Jumbo racked up his sixth save Sunday against the Bisons. He throws with pretty good velocity, too. Cincinnati already has Aroldis Chapman as their closer, but who knows at some point, he may surface in the Majors. Historic Lineup Since the Blue Jays in the Pat Gillick era were one of the very first teams to extensively scout and sign talent out of the Dominican Republic, it only seems fitting that on Sunday afternoon at Rogers Centre, they became the first team in Major League history to field a starting lineup that included six players born in the Dominican. The starting 9 included Jose Reyes, Melky Cabrera, Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion, Juan Francisco and Moises Sierra. An equally, if not more, historic moment occurred back on Sept 1 of 1971 when the Pittsburgh Pirates fielded an entire starting lineup of African American and Latin American players including Hall of Famers Roberto Clemente and Willie Stargell. The rest of the starting 9 included Al Oliver, who later played with the Expos and the Blue Jays, Rennie Stennett, Jackie Hernandez, Dave Cash, Manny Sanguillen, Gene Clines and starting pitccher Dock Ellis.dddddddddddd Better April The Blue Jays started last season at 10-17 in April and they are already guaranteed a better first month this time around. John Gibbons and company are 12-13 with two games at Kansas City left in this month. But something to remember, there were only two playoff teams with losing Aprils in the American League a year ago. Tampa Bay went 12-14 but rebounded to finish 91-71 to earn a play in the knockout game with Texas to decide the second Wild Card spot. Cleveland earned the first Wild Card at 92-70 after opening April at 11-13. Conversely Texas had the best record in April at 17-8, but finished the season in that knock-out game at 91-71. All of that means if the Blue Jays are going to need 91 victories to have a shot at the playoffs this year, they will have to go 79-58 the rest of the year or 21 games over .500. Thats not impossible, but the starting rotation will have to be far better the rest of the way. Right now, the Blue Jays staff era is 4.45, 25th in the Majors, just slightly ahead of Baltimore at 4.49. I dont know if this is a plus but the only team in the AL East with a sub -4.00 era is Boston at 3.90 and the BoSox are fourth in the division just behind the Blue Jays. This and That Its really interesting to look at the early season gap in some pitching categories between the National League and the American. The Senior Circuit has eight of the top 10 staff ERAs. Only Oakland and K.C. break into that group. The National League has had 10 complete games to just four for the American, including two by Texas. There have been 34 shutouts in the National League to 23 in the American. St. Louis has six and Texas leads the American with six. I guess it just helps to illustrate why Ervin Santana chose Atlanta over the Blue Jays. After going 7-9 in their 1st 16 game segment against the East, the Jays have a 20-game stretch where they dont play their own division at all. Their next game against the East is May 20 at Fenway Park in Boston. In fact, they only have six games against the East for the entire month of May, getting Tampa Bay at home the week after that Boston series. The All-Star voting has begun for the Mid-summer Classic Tuesday July 15th at Target Field, the home of the Minnesota Twins. If voting closed today, the only Blue Jays on my ballot would be lefty Mark Buehrle and Melky Cabrera. Jose Bautista could make it as well, but more on his name and All-Star reputation at this point. I also did a rough count and if Buehrle keeps it up, his natural turn to pitch would fall on All-Star Tuesday so their might even be a chance he could start. But thats still a lot of innings pitched and a long way off.
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