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Saturday, June 30, 2012
Mahan leads by 2 shots, Tiger close BETHESDA, Md. (AP) — A punishing golf course. Temperatures that topped 100. Hunter Mahan still managed to make Friday at Congressional feel like a breeze. Mahan finally had a good score to match the efficient way he has been swinging the club. He made seven birdies in the stifling heat for a 6-under 65, giving him a two-shot lead going into the weekend at the AT&T National as he goes after a PGA Tour-leading third win of the year. Chris Couch sought medical attention and struggled to finish in the oppressive conditions. One caddie had to stop after nine holes, and another vomited to the side of the 13th green from drinking too much water. Tiger Woods stayed in the game with a 68 in the morning, when it was still so hot that towels were used to wipe sweaty faces more than to clean clubs. He talked about the value of staying fit and strong to survive days like this. He was five shots behind. Mahan, though, has set himself apart for two days. "I hit a lot of good shots," said Mahan, who missed only two fairways and three greens. "I hit so many fairways and greens, I made it easy on myself. This is a pretty punishing golf course if you get off line a little bit. I put myself in some great spots to make putts. And I felt like I played well on the back, when it was getting really hot and you're getting a little bit more tired." Mahan was at 7-under 135. His two rounds fulfilled what his swing coach, Sean Foley, said Thursday when describing his ball-striking as "a laser show." Robert Garrigus had his sixth straight sub-par round at Congressional — that includes last year at the U.S. Open when he became a footnote in history as only the fourth American to break par all rounds of a U.S. Open — with a 67 and was two shots behind, along with Jimmy Walker and Brendon De Jonge, who each had a 69. Stewart Cink, who draped a towel over his head waiting his turn to putt on the 14th green, showed signs of a resurgence with a 68 that put him in the group three shots behind, along with Vijay Singh (70), Pat Perez (69) and Rod Pampling (67). Woods was at 2-under 140, in a tie for 11th. More telling than only 18 players who remained under par was the cut at 148. It was one shot higher than the cut for the U.S. Open last year at Congressional, and it was the highest score to make the cut at a regular PGA Tour event since 149 at The Barclays in 2009. Congressional was tough — fast and firm on the course, scorching in the air — but it was fair. Mahan twice had to save par over the last five holes. He came up short on the 14th, but he had a couple of options. With the pin all the way to the back behind a ridge, he could run it up the slope to the hole, or even play long and have it roll back to the hole. He chose to lag it to the hole, hit it thin, and got away with the slight miss when it rolled back to 2 feet. "I expected to hit it a little bit cleaner off the club face, but that how you shoot 65," he said. "Get good breaks like that." He was more pleased with the 17th, which he called the one loose swing of the day. Mahan missed the green to the right, but saved par. On the 18th, he ripped a tee shot and had sand wedge into the green to 12 feet for one last birdie.
AP Photo/Ben Margot
CINCINNATI REDS pitcher Mike Leake (44) is congratulated in the dugout after hiittng a home run off San Francisco Giants
Matt Cain in the sixth inning of a baseball game Friday in San Francisco.
Leake homers, tosses complete game; Reds beat Cain, Giants SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Mike Leake pitched a ninehitter for his first career complete game and homered off Matt Cain, and the Cincinnati Reds beat the San Francisco Giants 5-1 on Friday night. Jack Cozart hit the first pitch of the game from Cain over the wall in left-center and, just like that, San Francisco’s franchise-record streak of four straight shutouts had ended. Jay Bruce added a two-run double in the first among his four hits to stake Leake (3-5) to a quick cushion as the Reds got to Cain early to snap a four-game road skid. Leake homered with two outs in the sixth, his second of the year. Cain (9-3), pitching at home in sold-out AT&T Park for the first time since tossing the 22nd perfect game June 13 against the Astros, had his career-best eight-game winning streak snapped. The right-hander allowed three runs in the first inning for the first time since June 24, 2010, at Houston. San Francisco’s pitching staff went 36 innings without allowing a run, beginning after Cain’s start at Oakland last Sunday and lasting until
his next outing. It was the longest scoreless innings streak in San Francisco history and second-longest to the franchise mark of 38 accomplished by the New York Giants in 1903 and ‘33. Bruce also hit an RBI double in the seventh that chased Cain, matching his career high with four hits for the fifth time he has done it. Cain’s 11 hits in 6 2-3 innings matched his most given up this year and the righthander lost for the first time in 11 starts since a defeat to Miami on May 1. He allowed five runs, struck out seven and walked one. While Cain has the perfecto to his name, it was everybody else in the rotation — Barry Zito, Ryan Vogelsong, Tim Lincecum and Madison Bumgarner, in that order — involved in the remarkable string of shutouts. San Francisco also was the first team in major league history to blank four clubs when the opponent had begun the day in first place. Leake came out for the ninth and allowed Pablo Sandoval’s one-out home run before retiring Brandon Belt on a deep fly to center and strik-
ing out Brandon Crawford to end his impressive 111-pitch performance. Leake escaped the fourth on an inning-ending double play on which Sandoval, trying to break it up, reached his right hand around shortstop Cozart’s left leg to trip him up and keep him from turning it. Belt was initially called safe, then Reds manager Dusty Baker raced out to argue. The umpiring crew visited and overturned the call to interference, ending the inning. Brandon Phillips returned to the Reds lineup after he was scratched before Thursday night’s series opener because of continuing effects from the blow to the head he received during Wednesday’s 8-4 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers. Baker said Phillips passed all concussion tests Friday. Phillips went 1 for 5 with a seventh-inning single and stolen base before scoring on Bruce’s second double. “He was trying hard to lobby to get back in the lineup,” Baker said. Leake singled in the second ahead of his homer. Joey Votto also contributed two hits for
the Reds, who finish the first half with this 11-game road trip. NOTES: Leake threw 76 pitches for strikes. His 37 hits over the last three seasons are most by any major league pitcher. ... Cain is 4-2 with a 2.01 ERA in eight home starts. ... A low-hovering blimp cause plenty of uneasiness for those watching it swirl in the wind just above the ballpark and near the center field light poles early in the game. At first pitch, the wind was 12mph blowing toward center. ... Baker managed the Giants’ 2002 World Series runner-up team that will be honored here Sunday. “It’s hard to believe it’s been 10 years,” Baker said. “My son was 3 at the time. Now he’s 13.” Some players have already begun to arrive, including Benito Santiago and Pedro Feliz. Home run king Barry Bonds is scheduled to attend the festivities. ... Baker is 15-13 as a visiting manager at AT&T Park. ... The Giants called up RHP Brad Penny, signed to a minor league contract May 18 for his second stint with the organization, from Triple-A Fresno.
Tribe falls despite 16 hits BALTIMORE (AP) — The Cleveland Indians wasted a season-high 16 hits and twice gave away the lead, yet that wasn’t even the worst of it. Clearly, the most damaging aspect of Cleveland’s 9-8 loss to the Baltimore Orioles on Friday night was the injury that will sideline third baseman Lonnie Chisenhall from 4-6 weeks. Chisenhall fractured a bone in his right forearm after being struck by a pitch from Baltimore reliever Troy Patton. He was immediately removed from the game in the fifth inning and probably won’t return to action until August. “I had a bad feeling about it,” Indians manager Manny Acta said. “It’s bad news for us, especially a young kid like him. It’s always tough seeing a young guy getting his feet wet, getting better and then all of a sudden, an injury like that.” Acta said Chisenhall will be sent back to Cleveland and
will probably undergo surgery next week. Indians starter Derek Lowe gave up seven runs, four earned, in 5 1-3 innings. He didn’t take the loss, but took the blame because the threerun homer he gave up to Matt Wieters put Cleveland in a 75 hole in the sixth inning. The ball landed on Eutaw Street, in front of the B&O Warehouse and far beyond the right-field wall. “When it hit the warehouse, I was pretty sure it wasn’t coming back,” Lowe said. “I take full responsibility for us losing. I threw the dumbest pitch I’ve thrown in a long time to Wieters. It was my call to throw a sinker inside. You have to make him hit the ball the other way. It was the single most frustrating pitch I’ve thrown all year.” Ryan Flaherty singled in the tiebreaking run in the seventh for the Orioles, who broke out of their offensive funk at the expense of Lowe and the Cleveland bullpen.
On a steamy night in which temperatures reached 100 degrees, both teams worked up a sweat circling the bases. Cleveland outhit Baltimore 16-10, but the Orioles scored just enough runs to secure their third win in 10 games. “It was a battle,” Wieters said. “We haven’t been able to come out on top of those, and we really worked to get that win.” Chris Davis started the Orioles’ seventh-inning uprising with a two-out single off Joe Smith (5-2). After Wieters walked, Flaherty delivered an RBI single to right. Xavier Avery hit his first major league homer in the eighth to make it 9-7. The Orioles went 3 for 12 with runners in scoring position after going 3 for 52 in that situation over their previous 10 games. It was the first time in 11 games that Baltimore scored more than three runs. “I was so proud of the guys
tonight. They just kept grinding,” Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. “They were not going to be denied.” Matt Lindstrom (1-0) got the last out in the top of the seventh, Pedro Strop worked a perfect eighth and Jim Johnson earned his 23rd save despite giving up a ninth-inning run. Wieters and Cleveland’s Asdrubal Cabrera of the Indians both homered onto Eutaw Street. It was only the second time in the 21-year history of Camden Yards that two balls landed on Eutaw Street in the same game; Rafael Palmeiro did it twice on April 11, 1997. The Orioles trailed 5-4 before Wieters connected against Lowe in the sixth inning. The lead vanished in the seventh, when the Indians pulled even on an RBI double by Shelley Duncan and a runscoring double play. Duncan entered in the fifth as a pinch runner for Chisenhall.