baseball roundup Saturday’s other games

AMERICAN LEAGUE

White Sox 8, Athletics 1

OAKLAND, Calif. — Jayson Nix homered and drove in three runs, Gavin Floyd pitched seven strong innings and the White Sox handed the A’s their third loss in four games. Jim Thome hit his 563rd homer while Gordon Beckham added a two-run single in the sixth, when Chicago scored three runs to break the game open. Floyd (10-7) gave the White Sox bullpen a rest after it pitched 52‚Ñ3 scoreless innings on Friday. Scott Linebrink and Randy Williams worked an inning apiece to finish up. Adam Kennedy tied his career high with five hits for Oakland, which lost for the third time in four games, but it wasn’t enough for Gio Gonzalez (4-3), who gave up six runs on six hits.

Rays 8, Blue Jays 3

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Carl Crawford hit a two-run double during a four-run third, and Scott Kazmir pitched well enough to help the Tampa Bay Rays end a five-game skid. Jason Bartlett hit an RBI single, Crawford drove in two with his double and Evan Longoria had a run-scoring double off Brian Tallet (5-7) as Tampa Bay took a 4-2 lead in the third.Kazmir (7-7) gave up three runs and five hits with seven strikeouts in 61‚Ñ3 innings. The left-hander was coming off a start last Sunday in which he gave up seven runs and nine hits in 41‚Ñ3 innings of an 11-2 loss at Seattle. Aaron Hill hit his 28th homer of the season for the Blue Jays. Toronto has homered in nine straight games, and has 36 homers over the last 21 games.

Tigers 10, Royals 3

DETROIT — Carlos Guillen homered and drove in four runs to lead the Detroit Tigers. Miguel Cabrera had four hits and three RBIs for the Tigers, who won their third straight game. Cabrera capped the scoring with a two-run homer in the eighth. Billy Butler had a two-run homer for the Royals. Luke Hochevar (6-6) pitched four-plus innings, giving up six runs and a career-worst 12 hits.

Angels 5, Orioles 1

BALTMORE — John Lackey allowed one run in seven innings, and the Los Angeles Angels beat Baltimore to spoil the Camden Yards debut of rookie left-hander Brian Matusz. Chone Figgins had three hits, a walk and a stolen base for the Angels, who are 20-8 since the All-Star break. Los Angeles improved to 6-2 against Baltimore and clinched the season series for a sixth straight year. The Angels scored all their runs in the third inning against Matusz, a highly touted prospect making his third major league start. Los Angeles got only three hits in the inning but took full advantage of three walks and an error. That proved to be more than enough support for Lackey (8-5), who is 5-1 with a 1.89 ERA over his last seven starts.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Giants 5, Mets 4

NEW YORK — A masterful pitching duel turned ugly after Mets slugger David Wright was hit in the helmet by a pitch from Matt Cain, and Bengie Molina homered in the 10th inning to give San Francisco avictory over New York. Cain and fellow All-Star Johan Santana were locked in a scoreless matchup at Citi Field until the fourth inning, when Cain nailed Wright with a 94 mph fastball. Seemingly rattled, Cain gave up a run before settling down and pitching into the eighth, when the Mets tied it at 4. Wright was taken to the Hospital for Special Surgery by ambulance about 50 minutes after being hit. Mets spokesman Jay Horwitz said a CT scan was negative and Wright had a concussion. He was expected to remain in the hospital overnight for observation. Molina, who’d been hit by Santana in retaliation, led off the 10th with a drive to left off Mets closer Francisco Rodriguez (2-4), who was pitching his second inning. Desperate to stay in the NL wild-card race, Giants closer Brian Wilson (5-5) pitched 22‚Ñ3 scoreless innings, his longest outing of the season.

Braves 4, Phillies 3

ATLANTA — Omar Infante’s bases-loaded single off Brad Lidge capped a ninth-inning rally and lifted the Braves to the victory. Lidge (0-5) picked up his eighth blown save, aiding Atlanta’s two-run ninth with two errors on the same play following Garret Anderson’s leadoff single. Lidge bobbled a sacrifice by Matt Diaz before making a wild throw to first that bounced into foul territory in right field, allowing Anderson to score the tying run as Diaz advanced to third. Lidge then issued an intentional walk to Adam LaRoche and walked pinch-hitter Greg Norton to load the bases with no outs. Ryan Church struck out before Infante’s single to left. Peter Moylan (5-2) pitched a perfect ninth for the win.

Brewers 6, Astros 2

MILWAUKEE — Craig Counsell had three hits and drove in three runs, Mike Burns pitched seven solid innings and the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Houston Astros 6-2 on Saturday night. The victory gave Milwaukee three consecutive wins for the first time since sweeping Cleveland June 15-17. Houston has lost five of six games. Mike Burns (3-4) gave up two runs on four hits and three walks while striking out seven in his seventh big league start. The right-hander, facing an Astros team that drafted him in the 30th round in 2000, tossed a shutout until Hunter Pence hit a two-run homer in the seventh. Houston starter Brian Moehler (7-9) pitched five innings, giving up three runs and 10 hits.

Nationals 10, Reds 6

CINCINNATI — Adam Dunn hit his first homer against his former team and the Washington Nationals beat the Cincinnati Reds. Alberto Gonzalez and Elijah Dukes each had two hits and three RBIs for the Nationals, who led 10-1 after four innings. Dunn led off the second with his 31st homer, walked twice and scored two runs. J.D. Martin (2-2) cruised to his second consecutive win in his sixth career start, allowing an unearned run and six hits over six innings. The rookie right-hander was 0-2 with a 7.16 ERA before he pitched five solid innings against Arizona last Sunday.

Cardinals 7, Padres 4

ST. LOUIS — Matt Holliday hit a two-run homer, and Joel Pineiro extended his winning streak to five. The home run was the only hit in five at-bats for Holliday, who had three hits in each of his last three games. Holliday is batting .475 with five homers and 22 RBIs in 20 games since he joined the Cardinals from Oakland.

Associated Press