Daily Dose: Braun ruins Hanson's debut

Tommy Hanson's much-anticipated MLB debut was a bust Sunday as Milwaukee got to the 22-year-old right-hander for seven runs, including three homers. Ryan Braun took Hanson deep twice, as the NL's top pitching prospect discovered that big-league hitters can do plenty of damage on 95-mph fastballs. Despite the poor outing, Hanson actually looked impressive between the long balls.Tommy Hanson's much-anticipated MLB debut was a bust Sunday as Milwaukee got to the 22-year-old right-hander for seven runs, including three homers. Ryan Braun took Hanson deep twice, as the NL's top pitching prospect discovered that big-league hitters can do plenty of damage on 95-mph fastballs. Despite the poor outing, Hanson actually looked impressive between the long balls.

He struck out five and walked one in six innings, regularly working at 93-95 miles per hour with his fastball and throwing his breaking ball for strikes quite a bit. His pitches also had far more movement than most mid-90s fastballs, although that got Hanson into trouble a few times when the ball sliced back over the plate. His debut obviously didn't go as planned, but Hanson remains an ace in waiting.

Prior to being called up he posted a 1.50 ERA and 90/17 K/BB ratio in 66 innings at Triple-A, and Hanson had a 2.41 ERA and 163/53 K/BB ratio over 138 innings between high Single-A and Double-A last season. Put it together and he's racked up 253 strikeouts while allowing just 125 hits over 204 innings since the start of 2008, with the only real blemish being—as shown Sunday—a high fly-ball rate.

While the Brewers and Braun welcome Hanson to the show, here are some other notes from around baseball ...

* San Diego and Arizona played a crazy game Sunday afternoon, as the Padres forced extra innings by scoring five runs in the bottom of the ninth only to see the Diamondbacks' bullpen toss a no-hitter for nine innings during extra frames. San Diego eventually turned to utility infielder Josh Wilson to pitch the 18th and Mark Reynolds took him deep for a three-run homer as Arizona prevailed 9-6.

Amusingly, Wilson pitched for Arizona in a blowout earlier this year before being claimed off waivers by San Diego. "When he pitched for us he threw all fastballs, so you figure he has some kind of wrinkle," Reynolds said. "He threw a curveball up there and I laid off some high fastballs, and he left one out over the plate and I was able to barrel it up."

* Vince Mazzaro debuted last week with 6.1 shutout innings against Chicago and followed that up by holding Baltimore scoreless for 7.1 innings Sunday. Mazzaro used some smoke and mirrors in his debut, managing just one strikeout with four walks, but totaled five strikeouts with zero walks Sunday. Despite his great start, I'm still skeptical about his missing enough bats to be a mixed-league asset now.

* Ricky Nolasco rejoined the Marlins' rotation Sunday after a brief demotion to Triple-A and pitched well versus the Giants, allowing three runs in seven innings. He earned the trip back to the minors by going 2-5 with a hideous 9.07 ERA over nine starts, but with a 37/13 K/BB ratio he pitched much better than that and was hurt by some awful defense behind him. That may not change, but he'll be solid.

AL Quick Hits: Roy Halladay improved to 10-1 with his third complete-game win of the season Sunday … J.D. Drew missed both weekend games with a shoulder injury that required a cortisone shot … Miguel Cabrera left Sunday's game after aggravating his hamstring injury and replacement Clete Thomas ended up hitting a game-winning grand slam … Kevin Slowey served up three homers Sunday to snap his streak of five straight Quality Starts … Nelson Cruz missed the cycle by a single Sunday and is now tied for the AL lead with 17 homers … Rich Hill had seven shutout innings in his last start, but failed to make it out of the first inning Sunday while walking four … Joba Chamberlain turned in a Quality Start and left Sunday's game up 3-1 before the bullpen lost the lead … Marcus Thames (ribs) came off the disabled list Sunday and should get regular starts … Evan Longoria (hamstring) pinch-hit Sunday with a game-ending ground out off Mariano Rivera.

NL Quick Hits: Chipper Jones went 4-for-4 with a pair of homers Sunday, driving in five runs … Livan Hernandez shut out the Nationals for seven innings Sunday and is now 5-1 with a 3.88 ERA after last season's 6.05 mark … Ubaldo Jimenez had eight innings of two-run ball Sunday, whiffing nine and walking one … Casey Kotchman (shin) went on the disabled list Sunday, leaving Martin Prado to start at first base … Rich Harden (back) was scratched from Sunday's rehab start due to a stomach virus … Stephen Drew had four hits Sunday and has boosted his batting average from .190 to .248 over the past 11 games … Tim Lincecum took a one-hitter into the eighth inning Sunday before giving up two runs … Andrew McCutchen notched three hits Sunday, making him 6-for-16 with four RBIs …Out since Wednesday with a strained hamstring, Willy Taveras pinch-hit Sunday and then stayed in the game defensively.