Sunday, June 28, 2009
INTERLEAGUE
Orioles 6, Nationals 3
BALTIMORE — New Castle, Pa., native Nolan Reimold hit a three-run homer, Gregg Zaun and Aubrey Huff had solo shots, and the Baltimore Orioles received a strong performance from their bullpen in a victory over the Washington Nationals. The Orioles took a 4-3 lead in the fifth inning on Reimold’s ninth home run, a towering fly off Shairon Martis (5-3) that dropped into the second row of the left-field seats. After Orioles starter Jeremy Guthrie (6-7) allowed three runs in five shaky innings, four Baltimore relievers limited the Nationals to three hits the rest of the way. Matt Albers worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth, Jim Johnson pitched two shutout innings and George Sherrill worked a perfect ninth for his 16th save.
Red Sox 1, Braves 0
ATLANTA — Tim Wakefield pitched six scoreless innings to win a duel with Javier Vazquez. Mark Kotsay drove in the game’s only run with a sixth-inning single. Wakefield (10-3) came up with a performance worthy of the day he tied Roger Clemens’ record for the most career starts by a Red Sox pitcher at 382. His knuckleball was really fluttering on a sweltering day at Turner Field — it was 95 degrees at first pitch — and the Braves managed just three singles off the 42-year-old right-hander. Wakefield became the AL’s third 10-game winner, joining Minnesota’s Kevin Slowey and Toronto’s Roy Halladay. Jonathan Papelbon worked around a shaky ninth for his 18th save. Vazquez (5-7) certainly pitched good enough to win. He struck out eight to claim the NL strikeout lead from San Francisco’s Tim Lincecum (125-124), but a brief spurt of wildness in the sixth was costly.
Phillies 10, Blue Jays 0
TORONTO — J.A. Happ pitched a five-hit shutout, Jayson Werth homered twice. In the first complete game of his career, Happ (5-0) struck out four and didn’t walk a batter to win for the first time in four starts, helping the Phillies snap a three-game losing streak. The victory was Philadelphia’s third in 14 games. Werth hit a towering two-run drive into the upper deck, his 14th, and Pedro Feliz added a two-out homer to left. Werth’s upper-deck blast was the 14th in the 20-year history of Rogers Centre, formerly SkyDome, and the first since Toronto’s Vernon Wells in 2004. Toronto left-hander Brad Mills (0-1) allowed eight runs on eight hits in four-plus innings, striking out seven in his second career start.
Cardinals 5, Twins 3
ST. LOUIS — Albert Pujols hit a pair of two-run homers, helping the St. Louis Cardinals pound 10-game winner Kevin Slowey. Pujols leads the majors with 28 homers and 74 RBIs after his 29th career multihomer game, sixth this season and second in six days. Both homers came off Slowey (10-3), whose bid to take the major league lead in victories was a bust, and Pujols’ second long ball put the Cardinals ahead 5-3 in the third. Josh Kinney (1-0) allowed two hits in 12‚Ñ3 innings of relief for his first career victory. Slowey lasted only three innings, matching his shortest outing of the season, and gave up five runs on six hits.
Angels 2, Diamondbacks 1
PHOENIX — Mike Napoli hit a tiebreaking home run in the top of the ninth inning. Napoli hit an one-out, 0-1 pitch from Chad Qualls (1-1) 428 feet to center field to give the Angels their fourth straight win and 11th in the last 14. Darren Oliver (2-0) pitched a scoreless eighth and Brian Fuentes got the last three outs for his major league-leading 21st save. Los Angeles also improved its major league-best record in interleague play this season to 13-4.
White Sox 8, Cubs 7
CHICAGO — Gordon Beckham singled in the winning run with two outs in the ninth, and Scott Podsednik homered while tying a career high with four hits to lift the White Sox. With the game tied at 7, Paul Konerko lined a single to left with one out off Sean Marshall (3-6) to start the winning rally.
Yankees 5, Mets 0
NEW YORK — A.J. Burnett combined with two relievers on a one-hitter, Nick Swisher and Jorge Posada made Citi Field seem small with opposite-field homers, and the New York Yankees rolled past the Mets again. Alex Cora got the Mets’ only hit, lining a clean single to center on a 0-1 pitch leading off the sixth. The depleted Mets, playing with center fielder Carlos Beltran, shortstop Jose Reyes, first baseman Carlos Delgado on the disabled list, have been outscored 14-1 and outhit 22-4 in the first two games.
Astros 8, Tigers 1
HOUSTON — Rookie right-hander Felipe Paulino pitched seven solid innings and the Houston Astros used a five-run third to pull away from the Detroit Tigers. It was Houston’s third straight win and gave the Astros the series victory in this interleague matchup which ends Sunday. The 25-year-old Paulino (2-4) came off the disabled list for the start. It’s his first win as a starter after getting his other victory as a reliever.
Rays 3, Marlins 2
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Carlos Pena hit his AL-leading 23rd home run and Willy Aybar broke a ninth-inning tie with a pinch-hit sacrifice fly, giving the Tampa Bay Rays a victory over the Florida Marlins. Jason Bartlett singled off Burke Badenhop (5-3) with one out in the ninth, stole second and moved to third on a wild pitch. He scored easily on Aybar’s fly ball to center field, as the Rays won their fourth straight to climb a season-best six games over .500 at 41-35. J.P. Howell (4-2) pitched the ninth to earn the victory. Left-hander Scott Kazmir made his first start in over a month for Tampa Bay, allowing two runs and four hits in five innings.
Padres 7, Rangers 3
ARLINGTON, Texas — Rookie Kyle Blanks drove in three runs and the San Diego Padres had a season-high 16 hits while beating the Texas Rangers. Blanks, called up last week from Triple-A Portland, had the first RBI of his career with a double in the second. He added a two-run double in the fifth that gave San Diego a 6-1 advantage.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Brewers 7, Giants 6
MILWAUKEE — Prince Fielder hit a three-run homer in the sixth and then knocked in the winning run as the Brewers rallied with three runs in the ninth for a wild win.
Associated Press