Baseball roundup: AL puts a hurting on their NL foes

[June 11, 2007]  Barry Bonds strode to the plate with one on and one out in the bottom of the ninth, the Giants trailing by two runs. His team hadn't scored in 20 innings and needed a big hit.

Bonds got a pitch he could handle from Oakland closer Alan Embree, something slightly outside, and gave it a ride to the opposite field.

The ball fell short on the warning track in left, merely another long out in San Francisco's second straight shutout. The Athletics held on for a 2-0 win Sunday and completed a three-game sweep of their Bay Area rivals.

It was just another example of National League futility during the second interleague weekend of the season.

"I was thinking we were either going to walk away with a win and a save right here or we'd be playing extra frames," Embree said. "I was thinking about challenging him but not leaving it over the plate. I made some tough pitches to him. He fouled them off. I left the one just enough away. Had he pulled it a little bit, it would have been out."

The AL dominated the weekend, winning 27 of 42 games. Three weekends ago, the AL won 24 of 42.

That adds up to a 51-33 advantage for the so-called Junior Circuit.

Oakland was joined by the New York Yankees and Seattle Mariners in sweeping the NL competition.

The Yankees' sluggers broke loose in a 13-6 win over the Pirates. Alex Rodriguez homered twice and drove in five runs, and Bobby Abreu went 4-for-4 with three RBIs.

New York set a season high for runs in winning for the ninth time in 11 games. It's the Yankees' longest winning streak since they won six straight last September.

"They're hot right now. We just played them at a bad time," Pittsburgh's Xavier Nady said.

The Mariners went into San Diego and swept, winning 4-3 for their third one-run win in a row.

Seattle rallied for the second straight game, scoring an unearned run off Trevor Hoffman (2-3) in the ninth inning.

It was the first time the NL West leaders were swept all season.

"We had a chance to win all three games," Padres starter Chris Young said. "They did more of the little things that we didn't. But it's not like we're playing bad baseball, by any means."

It was much easier for the Athletics, who got a five-hitter from Lenny DiNardo and two relievers.

That followed Dan Haren's seven scoreless innings Saturday and marked the 13th straight game an Oakland starter has allowed two earned runs or less -- the longest stretch for the team since April 1978.

"I think we feed off each other," DiNardo said. "You go out and see a great outing like the previous games before me and it's something you can build on. You watch good pitching and it helps you to see what they do to get guys out."

In other interleague games, it was Colorado 6, Baltimore 1; Detroit 15, the New York Mets 7; the New York Yankees 13, Pittsburgh 6; Cincinnati 1, Cleveland 0 in 12 innings; St. Louis 9, the Los Angeles Angels 6; Kansas City 17, Philadelphia 5; the Chicago White Sox 6, Houston 3; Minnesota 6, Washington 3; Tampa Bay 9, Florida 4; Arizona 5, Boston 1; Seattle 4, San Diego 3; Toronto 11, the Los Angeles Dodgers 5; Milwaukee 9, Texas 6 in 12 innings.

In the only NL game, Atlanta beat the Chicago Cubs 5-4.

Bonds went 0-for-3 with a walk and has not homered in 32 at-bats since connecting for No. 746 on May 27 against Colorado. Bonds, who has only one homer since May 8, remains nine shy of tying Hank Aaron's career record of 755.

The Giants didn't score in the final 21 innings against the Athletics, and were blanked in back-to-back games for the first time since June 22-23, 1996, against Atlanta.

"We got the right guy up there in the ninth and he just missed it," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "We'll get production throughout the lineup. We can't just wait for Barry."

Diamondbacks 5, Red Sox 1

Randy Johnson allowed one run in six innings and three relievers did the rest as Arizona beat Daisuke Matsuzaka in the desert to salvage the final game of a three-game series.

Facing a lineup without a left-handed hitter, Johnson (4-2) gave up four hits, walked three and struck out nine, throwing a season-high 113 pitches.

Matsuzaka (7-5) walked two leadoff hitters, and both scored. He gave up four hits in six innings, walking four and striking out nine.

Tigers 15, Mets 7

Brandon Inge had a career-best five RBIs as the host Tigers battered Mets starter Tom Glavine (5-4) for 11 hits and nine earned runs.

Andrew Miller (2-0) allowed a three-run homer to David Wright in the first inning before settling down -- giving up four runs, five hits and three walks over 5 1-3 innings.

White Sox 6, Astros 3

At Chicago, Mark Buehrle (3-3) pitched eight strong innings for his 100th career victory and Paul Konerko drove in two runs as Chicago snapped a five-game losing streak on Sunday.

Wandy Rodriguez (3-6) allowed seven hits and five runs in five innings to lose for the third time in four starts.

Bobby Jenks inherited a bases-loaded jam in the ninth and allowed two runs to score before striking out Luke Scott, recording his 17th save in 18 chances.

Devil Rays 9, Marlins 4

Rookie Andy Sonnanstine struck out 10, including seven straight, to come within one of an AL record, as Tampa Bay won in Miami.

Brendan Harris had a career-high five RBIs and Raul Casanova homered for the second straight day for the Devil Rays, who battered Marlins starter Rick Vanden Hurk (1-2) over the first five innings.

Rockies 6, Orioles 1

Ryan Spilborghs homered twice and drove in a career-high six runs, and Jason Hirsh (3-6) won for the first time in nine starts as Colorado handed Baltimore its seventh loss in nine games.

Erik Bedard (4-4) went five innings, allowing three runs -- two earned -- on nine hits, walking three and striking out eight.

Colorado's Willy Taveras extended his hitting streak to 15 games, the longest current streak in the NL.

Reds 1, Indians 0, 12 innings

Alex Gonzalez's single drove in Chad Moeller and gave Cincinnati the win in the second consecutive extra-inning game between the two Ohio rivals.

Marcus McBeth (0-1) got his first big-league victory with two scoreless innings of relief.

Aaron Fultz (3-1) took the loss, his first since last Aug. 31, a span of 37 appearances.

Cardinals 9, Angels 6

Albert Pujols had two home runs and five RBIs for his 19th career multiple-homer game and second in eight days, as the host Cardinals roughed up reliever Chris Bootcheck (1-1).

Todd Wellemeyer (2-0) gave up five runs -- four earned -- on seven hits over 5 2-3 innings. It was the longest outing for the converted reliever since the Cardinals put him in the rotation in place of Anthony Reyes.

Twins 6, Nationals 3

Torii Hunter and Jason Bartlett each had three hits to help the Twins avoid being swept at home for the first time by a National League team since interleague play began in 1997.

Boof Bonser (5-2) scattered nine hits over five innings, and the Twins' bullpen worked four scoreless innings. Joe Nathan pitched the ninth for his 14th save in 15 chances.

Mike Bacsik (1-3) gave up four runs over five innings and took the defeat for Washington.

Royals 17, Phillies 5

Mark Grudzielanek homered and drove in five runs as Kansas City scored its most runs in a game since 2005 to take a home series from Philadelphia, which was visiting for the first time since the 1980 Fall Classic.

Zack Greinke (3-2) got the victory with two innings of one-hit, five-strikeout relief.

Jaime Moyer (5-5) gave up six runs and seven hits in 3 2-3 innings.

Blue Jays 11, Dodgers 5

At Los Angeles, Roy Halladay settled down after a rocky start, Troy Glaus had two homers and Toronto handed the Dodgers their fifth loss in six games.

Halladay (6-2) allowed five hits and three runs in seven innings, and helped himself at the plate with two hits and his first career RBI.

Jason Schmidt (1-3), gave up nine hits and six earned runs in four-plus innings in his second start since being sidelined 7 1/2 weeks because of bursitis in his right shoulder.

Brewers 9, Rangers 6, 12 innings

Geoff Jenkins hit a three-run homer in the 12th inning and Milwaukee stopped a three-game losing streak by winning at Texas.

Prince Fielder connected for his NL-leading 23rd home run as the Brewers finished with a season-high 22 hits. Johnny Estrada and Tony Graffanino each had four hits.

Texas sent the game into extra innings on Marlon Byrd's tying single with two outs in the ninth.

Jenkins homered off Willie Eyre (2-3).

Carlos Villaneuva (5-0) pitched two hitless innings and Claudio Vargas got three outs for his first career save.

Braves 5, Cubs 4

In the only NL game, Willie Harris scored the go-ahead run in the eighth inning at Atlanta on a wild pitch by Chicago closer Ryan Dempster.

Cubs starter Ted Lilly was ejected in the first inning after hitting Edgar Renteria with a pitch, causing the benches and bullpens to empty.

Moments later, Renteria smacked second baseman Mike Fontenot in the face with his right hand while stealing second. The teams stayed calm after that.

Renteria left in the fourth because of a bruise on his left hand, the result of Lilly's fastball. The Braves said X-rays were negative.

Chad Paronto (3-1) won in relief and Bob Wickman got his 11th save. Dempster (1-3) gave up three runs in the eighth.

[Associated Press]