Marlins pound Yankees in Interleague play

MIAMI -- Luis Castillo, Mike Lowell and Kevin Millar drove in two runs apiece, and A.J. Burnett pitched six solid innings, as the Florida Marlins pounded Mike Mussina and the New York Yankees 9-3 Thursday night.

Florida has won three of its last 12, while the Yankees lost for just the second time in 12 games.

Mussina (9-8) lost for the first time in six starts. He allowed 10 hits and eight runs in two-plus innings -- his shortest outing since 1996.

The Marlins scored three runs in the first and added six in the third. Cliff Floyd led off the third with a double, the first of six consecutive hits, and Lowell followed with an RBI single.

Mets 4, Red Sox 2

NEW YORK -- Al Leiter outpitched Tim Wakefield and New York, desperately needing a second-half surge to have any hope of playoff contention, beat Boston.

Edgardo Alfonzo homered for the defending NL champions, now 39-51 after winning in their first game back from the break.

Leiter (5-8) allowed two runs in 7 1-3 innings, and Armando Benitez pitched the ninth for his 19th save in 19 chances.

Wakefield (6-3) allowed three runs in six-plus innings.

Cubs 5, White Sox 1

CHICAGO -- Ricky Gutierrez hit a grand slam in the eighth and the Cubs picked up where they started before the All-Star break.

Gutierrez's first career grand slam tied the crosstown interleague series that began at 1997 at 11-11.

The Cubs, who had the National League's best record at the break for just the third time in their history, matched their season best of 17 games over .500.

Jeff Fassero (2-2) pitched 1 1-3 innings of scoreless relief for the win.

Indians 7, Reds 0

CINCINNATI -- Bartolo Colon pitched seven shutout innings -- his best performance since mid-April -- and Jim Thome and Juan Gonzalez homered for Cleveland.

Colon (7-7) hit 99 mph on the radar gun as he rolled through the Reds lineup, allowing three walks and six singles while throwing 120 pitches. Ricardo Rincon and Danys Baez completed the seven-hitter.

Thome's homer to right-center field off Chris Reitsma (4-8) set the tone and extended his tear. He also had an RBI single in the ninth, leaving him batting .454 in his last 11 games with seven homers.

Braves 6, Orioles 5

ATLANTA -- Mark DeRosa, taking over at shortstop for Atlanta with injured Rafael Furcal out for the season, drove in the winning run with an eighth-inning single.

DeRosa went 2-for-4 with two RBIs, raising his batting average to .426. The 26-year-old journeyman, who has been up-and-down with the Braves for four seasons, is now the team's starting shortstop, taking over for the 2000 NL Rookie of the Year.

Greg Maddux (11-5) went eight innings and gave up five runs -- his second-worst performance of the season.

Blue Jays 2, Phillies 1, 11 innings

PHILADELPHIA -- Jose Cruz Jr.'s RBI double broke a scoreless tie, and six Toronto pitchers combined on a four-hitter.

Shannon Stewart led off the 11th with an infield single off Jose Santiago (0-2). After fouling off two sacrifice bunt attempts, Cruz lined a 2-2 pitch into the gap in left-center field, scoring Stewart to give Toronto a 1-0 lead.

Raul Mondesi lined a single to right-center on the next pitch, scoring Cruz.

Kelvim Escobar (1-4) struck out two in the 10th, and Billy Koch gave up Jimmy Rollins' sacrifice fly RBI in the 11th before picking up his 17th save.

Pirates 2, Royals 0

PITTSBURGH -- Jimmy Anderson (5-8) pitched scoreless baseball into the ninth inning for only his second victory since mid-May, and Kevin Young hit a two-run homer to lead Pittsburgh.

Kansas City has lost eight in a row and its 34-54 record is the second-worst in club history at this point of the season.

Young's homer to center in the seventh inning followed John Vander Wal's one-out single and broke up a scoreless pitching duel between Anderson and right-hander Jeff Suppan (4-8).

Devil Rays 10, Expos 0

MONTREAL -- Tanyon Sturtze pitched seven scoreless innings and Brent Abernathy homered to lead Tampa Bay past Montreal.

Sturtze (4-7) allowed five hits and two walks and struck out six to lead Tampa Bay to its third win in four games.

Abernathy, who had four hits in the game, hit his second homer off Troy Mattes (2-1) with one out in the first to provide the Devil Rays with all the offense they would need.

Fred McGriff, the subject of a proposed trade with the Chicago Cubs, started at first base and went 0-for-3 with a walk.

Tigers 7, Cardinals 5

ST. LOUIS -- Mark McGwire hit his 563rd homer to tie Reggie Jackson for sixth on baseball's career list, but Detroit got a three-run shot from Tony Clark to beat St. Louis.

McGwire's ninth homer of the season was a two-run shot off Jeff Weaver (8-8) in the seventh inning, snapping a 2-for-40 slump since June 24.

It was McGwire's 200th homer since joining the Cardinals at the trade deadline in 1997, joining Frank Robinson and Fred McGriff as the only players to hit 200 homers in both leagues.

Darryl Kile (9-7) allowed four runs in six innings for the loss.

Twins 13, Brewers 5

MILWAUKEE -- Jacque Jones, Corey Koskie and Torii Hunter each homered twice, tying a major league record, as Minnesota beat Milwaukee.

Doug Mientkewicz also homered for the Twins, who finished with seven longballs -- one shy of the team record. Minnesota became the 15th team to have three players hitting two homers in a game.

Mientkewicz, Koskie and Hunter hit consecutive solo shots off Jimmy Haynes (6-11) in the third inning as the Twins built a 7-0 lead.

Kyle Lohse (3-0) got the victory as the Twins won for the 14th time in 16 games.

Rangers 6, Rockies 3

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Ivan Rodriguez homered off Pedro Astacio (6-10) and Kenny Rogers allowed six hits over seven innings as Texas beat Colorado.

Rodriguez went 3-for-4, and Michael Young had two RBIs for the Rangers, who had lost their previous five meetings with the Rockies.

Rogers (5-6), who lost three of his previous four decisions, gave up two earned runs, struck out four and walked two. Jeff Zimmerman pitched the ninth for his 13th save in 16 chances.

Athletics 6, Dodgers 0

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Mark Mulder allowed six hits in his second consecutive shutout as Oakland won its fourth straight.

Miguel Tejada homered and Ramon Hernandez hit a two-run double for the A's, who moved two games above .500 for the first time this season. Oakland has allowed only two runs in its last four games.

Mulder (10-6), coming off a one-hitter against Arizona last Friday, allowed only one baserunner past second. He struck out seven and walked one.

Angels 4, Diamondbacks 1

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Scott Schoeneweis allowed four hits over 8 2-3 innings, and Bengie Molina homered for the first time this season as Anaheim won its fifth straight.

Schoeneweis (7-8) struck out one and walked three to end a five-game losing streak and earn his first victory since June 7. Troy Percival struck out Mark Grace for the last out to earn his 22nd save.

Brian Anderson (2-5), who spent three years with the Angels, gave up four runs on four hits in eight innings.

Mariners 4, Giants 3, 11 innings

SEATTLE -- Barry Bonds hit his 40th homer to end his longest homerless drought of the season, but Seattle rallied to beat San Francisco on Tom Lampkin's RBI single in the 11th inning.

Bonds, who had gone 13 games without a homer, hit his 534th career home run to tie Jimmie Foxx for 10th place on the career list.

But the Mariners rallied from 3-2 down in the ninth inning when David Bell hit his 10th homer with one out off Robb Nen. It was Nen's fifth blown save in 31 chances.

National League

HOUSTON -- Mark Kotsay and Ryan Klesko each drove in two runs as the San Diego Padres beat the Houston Astros 7-4 Thursday night to snap a five-game losing streak and remain unbeaten in seven games at Enron Field.

The Padres stopped Houston's four-game winning streak as Kotsay and Klesko continued their mastery of Houston pitching this season.

Bobby Jones (5-12) allowed four runs and seven hits in five innings to get the win. Trevor Hoffman pitched the ninth for his 17th save in 19 attempts.