Red-hot Red Sox breeze past Philadelphia
Milwaukee Brewers' Rickie Weeks, left, congratulates Prince Fielder (28) at home plate after Fielder hit his first major league home run during the sixth inning against the Minnesota Twins, Saturday, June 25, 2005, in Milwaukee. Weeks hit his first major league home run earlier in the game.
AP Photo/Morry Gash
PHILADELPHIA — Matt Clement pitched seven strong innings, leading the Boston Red Sox to their sixth straight win, 7-1 over the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday.
Trot Nixon and Bill Mueller each had two doubles and one RBI, and Edgar Renteria had three hits and drove in a run to help the defending World Series champions win for the 11th time in 12 games.
Manny Ramirez moved ahead of Duke Snider into 38th place on the career list with 408 homers when he connected leading off the ninth. He has seven homers in the last 11 games and 18 this season.
Chase Utley had a run-scoring double for the Phillies, who have lost eight of 11 after going 12-1 on a homestand.
Clement (9-1) allowed one run and seven hits. He retired his first eight batters before reliever Geoff Geary lined a single to center for his first hit in the majors. Clement, who signed a $25 million, three-year deal last December, has allowed three runs or fewer in 13 of 16 starts.
Braves 5, Orioles 4
ATLANTA — Andruw Jones homered leading off the bottom of the ninth inning, and Atlanta beat Baltimore after wasting a four-run lead.
Jones' drive off Todd Williams (4-4), which barely cleared the left-field wall, was his major league-leading 23rd home run of the season.
Atlanta won for the seventh time in nine games. One day after falling out of first place in the AL East for the first time since April 23, the Orioles lost for the ninth time in 11 road games.
Trailing 4-1, the Orioles rallied in the top half against Chris Reitsma, who blew his third save opportunity in nine chances. Brian Roberts had an RBI single, David Newhan scored on a throwing error by third baseman Wilson Betemit, and Rafael Palmeiro singled in the tying run.
Mets 10, Yankees 3
NEW YORK — Cliff Floyd hit a pair of two-run homers, David Wright also connected and the New York Mets routed the Yankees for their second consecutive Subway Series victory.
Tom Glavine (5-7) pitched six effective innings, sending the bumbling Yankees to their fourth straight loss and leaving both Big Apple teams at 37-37.
Bernie Williams had another embarrassing lapse in center field, and rookie Sean Henn (0-3) was roughed up again for the Yankees, who have dropped five of six to the Devil Rays and Mets — both last-place teams — after going 6-0 to start their 13-game homestand.
With chants of ''Let's Go Mets!'' filling a sold-out Yankee Stadium, the Bronx Bombers fell 6 1/2 games behind first-place Boston in the AL East. They are 0-26 when scoring three runs or fewer.
Glavine won for the first time in four starts for his 267th win, passing Bob Feller and Eppa Rixey for sole possession of 32nd on the career list.
Rangers 6, Astros 5
HOUSTON — Michael Young homered twice and drove in three runs, rookie Chris Young took a no-hit bid into the sixth inning and Texas held off Houston to end a five-game losing streak.
Rod Barajas homered for the second straight game, Alfonso Soriano added a two-run double and Francisco Cordero got five outs for his 18th save in 21 chances. The Rangers won for just the second time in 11 road games.
Lance Berkman and Craig Biggio hit two-run homers, and Morgan Ensberg had a solo shot as the Astros lost at home for the first time in nine games.
Chris Young (7-4) allowed three runs and seven hits in seven innings.
Athletics 6, Giants 3
OAKLAND, Calif. — Dan Haren outpitched college buddy Noah Lowry in their first major league matchup, and Nick Swisher hit a three-run homer to lead Oakland over San Francisco.
Mark Kotsay added an RBI double, and Eric Chavez drove in a run for the A's, who won for the seventh time in eight games. They have clinched a winning record for June — their first winning month since going 20-8 last August.
Haren (6-7) won his fifth straight decision, pitching a seven-hitter for his second career complete game.
Moises Alou homered, doubled and singled as designated hitter, and Mike Matheny also homered for the Giants, who made five errors and lost for the 21st time in 28 games.
Lowry (4-7) allowed five runs — four earned — five hits and four walks in six innings.
Cubs 6, White Sox 2
CHICAGO — Aramis Ramirez hit the fifth grand slam of his career, Greg Maddux allowed two runs in six innings, and the Chicago Cubs stopped the White Sox's eight-game winning streak.
Maddux (7-4) scattered five hits, struck out six and did not walk a batter. With his 312th win, he moved past Tom Seaver into sole possession of 17th place on the career list.
Jose Contreras (3-4) allowed six runs, eight hits, two wild pitches and a career-high three hit batters in 6 1-3 innings.
Ramirez gave the Cubs a 4-0 lead in the first with the fifth grand slam of his career, and Derrek Lee, Jerry Hairston Jr. and Todd Walker added two hits apiece.
Padres 8, Mariners 5
SAN DIEGO — Xavier Nady and Khalil Greene hit consecutive homers in the third inning as San Diego Padres beat Seattle despite a poor start by Jake Peavy.
Given an early seven-run lead, Peavy (7-2) allowed five runs and seven hits in five innings, raising his ERA from 2.56 to 2.88. It was the first time in 15 starts this season that Peavy gave up five earned runs.
Trevor Hoffman pitched the ninth for his 20th save in 22 chances.
Marlins 6, Devil Rays 2
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Rookie Scott Olsen was impressive in his major league debut for Florida, exhibiting the poise of a veteran in beating Tampa Bay.
Filling in for the injured Josh Beckett, Olsen (1-0) allowed two runs — one earned — and four hits in 5 2-3 innings to help the Marlins defeat their intrastate rivals for the sixth straight time. The Marlins purchased the 21-year-old left-hander's contract from Double-A Carolina on Thursday night, then staked him to a 4-0 lead before his first big-league pitch.
Nationals 5, Blue Jays 2
WASHINGTON — Livan Hernandez won his career-best 10th straight decision, and Washington extended its home winning streak to 12 by beating Toronto.
Hernandez (11-2) improved to 10-0 in his last 13 starts, though he was uncharacteristically wild. He allowed two runs and seven hits in 7 1-3 innings, walked three, struck out four, hit two batters and threw a wild pitch.
Ted Lilly (5-8) fell to 0-6 in seven road starts as Toronto lost its second straight game. Lilly allowed four runs and four hits in four innings.
Indians 12, Reds 7
CLEVELAND — Ben Broussard hit two of Cleveland's five homers and Jake Westbrook got some unaccustomed run support as the Indians defeated Cincinnati.
Cleveland, which scored eight runs in the third to overcome a 3-1 deficit, had a season-high 21 hits The Indians stopped a four-game losing streak, improved to 14-3 in interleague play and boosted their record since May 21 to 21-10.
Westbrook (5-9) tied a career high with eight strikeouts as he won his third straight start. He gave up three runs and eight hits in seven innings, walking one.
Brewers 7, Twins 6
MILWAUKEE — Rookie Prince Fielder hit his first major league home run, a pinch-hit, three-run drive in the sixth inning that led Milwaukee over Minnesota.
AL Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana (7-4) led 5-2 before Carlos Lee's two-run double in the fifth.
Wes Helms walked leading off the seventh, Chris Magruder singled and Jesse Crain relieved. After J.J. Hardy sacrificed, Fielder batted for pitcher Matt Wise (1-2). The 21-year-old son of former major league star Cecil Fielder hit Crain's next pitch 426 feet to left-center field to give the Brewers a 7-5 lead.
Rockies 4, Royals 2
DENVER — A pair of bases-loaded walks were the difference in a matchup between the two worst teams in the major leagues. Runelvys Hernandez forced in runs with walks to pitcher Jeff Francis and Eddy Garabito in the second inning, and Colorado beat Kansas City.
The Royals dropped to an AL-worst 25-48 with their fifth straight loss. The only major league team with a poorer record is Colorado at 24-48.
Francis (6-5), who had lost three straight starts since beating Cincinnati on June 3, allowed two runs and six hits in seven innings, struck out six and walked one. He improved to 5-1 with a 3.50 ERA at Coors Field this season and 7-1 with a 3.29 ERA in his career at the hitter-friendly ballpark.
Tigers 5, Diamondbacks 1
PHOENIX — Omar Infante doubled and scored the go-ahead run in the seventh inning to lead Detroit over Arizona.
Placido Polanco had three hits, including an RBI single in the Tigers' four-run seventh. Ivan Rodriguez, Chris Shelton, Brandon Inge and Rondell White also had run-scoring hits for Detroit, which snapped a two-game skid and won for the eighth time in 11 games.
Sean Douglass (1-0) gave up four hits, including a home run by Jose Cruz Jr., in six innings in his season debut to earn his first victory since 2001.
Angels 3, Dodgers 1
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Rookie Ervin Santana overcame a shaky start to pitch 6 2-3 solid innings, Orlando Cabrera hit a two-run double, and the Los Angeles Angels continued their dominance over the Dodgers. The Angels have beaten the Dodgers four times in five games this season and in 11 of the last 15 meetings between the teams.
Santana (2-2), making his fifth big-league start, allowed one run and seven hits before being relieved by Scot Shields with two outs and a runner at second in the seventh. Francisco Rodriguez worked the ninth for his 13th save in 15 chances.
National League
ST. LOUIS — Chris Carpenter pitched a four-hitter, and Yadier Molina, Jim Edmonds and Albert Pujols homered Saturday night to lead the St. Louis Cardinals over the Pittsburgh Pirates 8-0.
Carpenter (11-4) struck out 11 and walked none in his eighth career shutout, his third this season. He improved to 4-1 with an 0.90 ERA in June, and two of his three complete games have come in his last three starts, a span in which he's allowed one run and nine hits in 26 innings and lowered his ERA to 2.77.
Carpenter, who tied Florida's Dontrelle Willis for the major league lead in shutouts, retired his first seven batters with no balls hit to the outfield, striking out the side in the second. He also helped himself at the plate with a squeeze bunt that made it 5-0 in the fourth.
Mark Redman (4-6) gave up five runs and eight hits in five innings, surrendering Molina's solo shot and Edmonds two-run homer in a three-run third. In his last two outings he's given up 11 runs in 12 innings, and he's lost both starts against the Cardinals while allowing 11 runs in nine innings.