Bell bouncing back and forth
The following are updates on area Major League Baseball players.
Trevor Bell (Crescenta Valley High, 2005) relief pitcher, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim: It’s hard to predict where Bell will be from one day to the next.
The former Falcon was recalled from the Salt Lake Bees, the Angels’ triple-A affiliate, on Tuesday and pitched against the Texas Rangers before being sent back down to the Bees Wednesday. He was pretty sharp against the powerful Rangers lineup.
Bell was called on out of the bullpen with his team down, 5-0, in the third inning and runners on first and second with no outs. He induced a double-play ground ball from Yorvit Torrealba before striking out Endy Chavez to end the inning.
Since the Angels had burned through most of its bullpen Monday, Bell was marched back out in the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh innings in what turned out to be his longest appearance in the majors this year. He coasted through the fourth, but ran into trouble in the next three innings.
Bell gave up three singles and a run in the fifth inning and surrendered two more singles and a sacrifice fly in the sixth. He got a groundout to start the seventh inning before being pulled from the game, which the Angels lost, 7-3.
Bell ended up giving up six hits and two runs, along with three strikeouts, in 4 1/3 innings of work. The outing brought his earned-run average to 3.38. He’s given up 36 hits 10 walks and struck out 16 batters in 29 1/3 innings with the Angels. Bell began the year in triple A, was brought up and sent back down before Tuesday.
After dropping three of four games to the Rangers, the Angels entered a three-game set against the Baltimore Orioles on Friday night at 66-59. The Angels have some ground to make up, as they were six games behind the first-place Rangers in the American League West Division.
Marco Estrada (Glendale Community College, 2003) pitcher, Milwaukee Brewers: No pitcher wants to be paired off against Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers, but that’s the exact assignment Estrada had Thursday.
Estrada was making his second start in place of the Brewers’ injured Chris Narveson and hung with Kershaw, a Cy Young candidate. The former Vaquero picked up the loss, but still put his team in a position to win. He gave up just three hits and one run, which came off a Rod Barajas homer, in five innings. He would have liked to pitch deeper in the game, though.
“I had the pitch count to go deeper in the game, and I just threw too many balls,” Estrada told MLB.com after the game. “I got behind too many times and only gave the team five [innings], where I should have gone six or seven.”
Estrada was pulled from the game after 94 pitches, 58 of which were strikes. The Brewers ended up losing, 5-1. He struck out five batters and surrendered two walks in the game. The outing dropped Estrada’s record to 3-8. He has a 4.28 ERA in 75 and 2/3 innings. He has given up 66 hits, 25 walks and struck out 71 batters.
Coming into Friday night’s game against the New York Mets, Milwaukee was sitting on top of the National League Central Division at 73-52.
Brandon McCarthy (Glendale native) starting pitcher, Oakland Athletics: McCarthy wasn’t perfect, but he still picked up the win against the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday.
The right-hander gave up eight hits, four earned runs and two walks in six innings. He gave up two runs in the first inning and tossed four scoreless frames before giving up a solo homer to Nick Markakis in the sixth. He continued to struggle in the seventh, giving up a double, a walk and RBI single to start the inning before the call to the bullpen was made with the Athletics leading, 6-4.
Fautino De Los Santos came in for the A’s and stranded McCarthy’s two runners with three quick outs to end the seventh-inning threat. Oakland’s bullpen maintained McCarthy’s lead, giving up one run in three innings in a 6-5 victory.
Thursday’s win is McCarthy’s second of the month. He pitched eight, three-hit shutout innings against the Tampa Bay Rays on Aug. 6. He followed that up with a rough start, in which he suffered the loss after surrendering eight hits and five runs in 3 1/3 innings against the Rangers on Aug. 12.
McCarthy’s record now sits at 6-6 with a 3.74 ERA. He has surrendered 127 hits, walked 18 and struck out 77 in 118 innings.
Oakland came into Friday night’s game against the Toronto Blue Jays at 55-69 record, 16 1/2 games out of first place in the American League West Division.