The Juice: Rangers’ Wilson freezes out Rays for five innings

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Nine innings and nine items to get you going. Ladies and gentleman of the Stew, take a sip of morning Juice.

1. Five-inning freeze-out: That cryotherapy thing seems to be working out pretty well for C.J. Wilson. The Texas Rangers' left-hander pitched a perfect game through five innings, before taking a Casey Kotchman grounder off his throwing hand. (You know that hand's going in the cryosauna.)

Wilson made it to the seventh before the Rangers' overhauled bullpen took over, pitching three scoreless innings to finish off a 7-2 win over the Tampa Bay Rays. The Los Angeles Angels also won to keep pace in the AL West.

2. Race or not a race? Is it possible that reports of the St. Louis Cardinals' death were exaggerated? Albert Pujols hit two home runs, one of which was a grand slam. Just another 4-for-4, five-RBI day at the ballpark. That, along with some aggressive managing by Tony La Russa, powered the Cards to an 8-4 win, finishing off a three-game sweep of the Milwaukee Brewers. Milwaukee's lead in the NL Central is now 7 1/2 games. Is that a safe-enough cushion with a month to go in the season?

3. Godfather punchout: Mariano Rivera's 36th save of the season wasn't an easy one, as he allowed two walks and a single to load the bases. But he caught Adrian Gonzalez looking on a strikeout to escape the jam and end the game, giving the New York Yankees a 4-2 victory and a series win over the Boston Red Sox. The Yankees stranded 12 runners through the first six innings, but got to Alfredo Aceves and Daniel Bard in the seventh. And A.J. Burnett did well enough for 5 1/3 innings.

4. All in the details: Vance Worley won his 10th game of the season. Ryan Howard hit his 30th homer. The Philadelphia Phillies are 41 games over .500 for the first time in 35 years. They also pulled off their first four-game road sweep over the Cincinnati Reds in 95 years. And the box score just says that the Phillies won, 6-4.

5. Lawrie loves Balto: Brett Lawrie continues making Camden Yards his house. The Toronto Blue Jays rookie has three home runs and eight RBIs against Baltimore Orioles pitching, after hitting a two-run shot off Willie Eyre in an 8-6 win. In less than a month since being called up, Lawrie has seven homers and 20 RBIs. He just might have a future in this league.

6. Still gettin' it done: If you were wondering if Miguel Batista were still in the majors, wonder no longer. Making his first start since April, the 40-year-old Batista pitched six innings for Los New York Mets, allowing just two runs. D.J. Carrasco made the game close by giving up three runs in 2/3 of an inning. But that gave Bobby Parnell a chance to get his fourth save of the season, as he closed out a 7-5 win over the Florida Marlins.

7. Kid, you got Francoeured: Top pitching prospect Jacob Turner was roughed up in his second major league start for the Detroit Tigers. The Kansas City Royals got to him for six runs and seven hits in 4 1/3 innings. Two of those runs came on a home run by Jeff Francoeur, which also was his 1,000th career hit. The Royals also beat up the Tigers' bullpen for another five runs in an 11-8 win.

8. Hudson's got moxie: With Jair Jurrjens and Tommy Hanson hurt, the Atlanta Braves need the rest of their starting pitchers to stay healthy. Tim Hudson looked just fine, holding the Washington Nationals to one run over six innings. Brian McCann and Chipper Jones each hit solo home runs early, helping the Braves toward a 5-2 victory.

9. Stingy Gonzalez: Fortunately for the Cleveland Indians, the Tigers' loss kept them 5 1/2 games behind in the AL Central. That's about the only good thing that came from their 7-0 loss to the Oakland Athletics. Gio Gonzalez pitched seven shutout innings for his 12th win of the season.

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