Halladay win 18th game for Blue Jays

Joe McEwing of the Mets is out at second as the Braves' Rafael Furcal turns a double play in the fifth inning at Shea Stadium in New York, Monday. Timo Perez was out at first. PHOTO: AP

American League

Roy Halladay pitched a four-hitter and tied for the AL lead with his 18th victory of the season as the Toronto Blue Jays beat the New York Yankees 8-1 on Monday.

"It's always nice to beat them," Halladay said. "They are one of the best teams in baseball. To go out and play them well is important for us. This is the last time we see them this year."

Halladay allowed one run and tied a season high with 10 strikeouts for his fifth complete game this year. He tied Chicago's Esteban Loaiza for the league lead in victories, and also tied New York's Roger Clemens for the league lead in strikeouts with 172.

"That's as probably as good as I've seen him," New York's Bernie Williams said. "He was tough. He threw a lot of strikes. He had good movement."

Josh Phelps homered and drove in four runs for the Blue Jays.

David Wells (12-6), possibly pitching to keep his spot in the Yankees' rotation, allowed five runs on nine hits in seven innings. New York's lead over Boston in the AL East fell to 4 1/2 games after the Red Sox beat Philadelphia 13-9.

Angels 10, Twins 2

In Minneapolis, Scott Spiezio hit a grand slam and John Lackey pitched seven solid innings as Anaheim beat Minnesota.

Bengie Molina and Garret Anderson also homered for the Angels, who won their third in a row.

Michael Ryan hit his first major league homer for the Twins, who dropped two games behind idle Chicago in the AL Central and lost an opener for the first time in 10 series.

Spiezio, who hit .353 for the Angels in the AL championship series against Minnesota last year, connected off Kenny Rogers in the third inning for his fifth career grand slam. It was Anaheim's first appearance at the Metrodome since Game 2 of the ALCS.

Lackey gave up two runs on five hits and three walks, and struck out four.

Rogers allowed six hits in seven-plus innings and struck out four.

Rangers 7, Royals 3

In Arlington, Texas, Mark Teixeira homered twice and Colby Lewis pitched seven solid innings as Texas beat Kansas City.

Teixeira Hank Blalock homered on consecutive pitches in the second inning against Darrell May (8-7), and Teixeira added another solo shot in the fourth.

Teixeira, 3-for-4 with three RBIs, nearly had a third homer in the sixth, but his drive hit high off the wall in left-center for an RBI double that stretched the Rangers' lead to 4-2. He leads major league rookies with 22 homers.

Lewis allowed three runs and four hits, struck out three and didn't issue a walk.

The Rangers had lost the first six meetings with the Royals this season and were outscored 53-14. Kansas City had won nine straight overall against Texas.

Ken Harvey homered twice for the Royals, who fell two games behind the first-place Chicago White Sox in the AL Central.

Indians 7, Tigers 4

In Detroit, Ben Broussard hit a tiebreaking home run -- his second of the game -- in the eighth inning to lead Cleveland over Detroit.

Broussard, who also had a two-run homer in the fifth, had three RBIs, and Travis Hafner hit a solo shot for the Indians. Jody Gerut was 3-for-5 with three RBIs, giving him 25 in 15 games against Detroit.

The loss was the 102nd for the Tigers, who are trying to avoid breaking the 1962 New York Mets' modern record of 120 losses.

Jose Santiago (1-1) pitched 2 2-3 innings of hitless relief for the win. David Riske got three outs for his fifth save in 10 chances.

With the score tied 4-4, Broussard hit a high fly down the right-field line off Jamie Walker (3-3) that barely cleared the fence to give Cleveland a one-run lead.

National League

Greg Maddux has some work to do in September to keep up his streak of 15-win seasons.

Maddux two runs in six innings but didn't get a decision as the Atlanta Braves lost to the New York Mets 3-2 on Monday.

"Would I like to win 15, 16 games? Yeah," Maddux said. "But it's more important for me to put myself in position to make good pitches than it is to win games."

Timo Perez hit a tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the seventh off Trey Hodges (3-3) as the last-place Mets beat the division-leading Braves for just the sixth time in 17 meetings this year.

Atlanta hit in the seventh for Maddux, 13-10 this year and 3-0 against the Mets. The Braves loaded the bases with one out, but Gary Sheffield popped out and Jones flied out against reliever Dan Wheeler (1-2), who got his first major league win since beating Texas for Tampa Bay on May 23, 2001.

Weathers five outs for his sixth save in seven chances. Sheffield doubled with two outs in the ninth and Chipper Jones was intentionally walked but Weathers got Andruw Jones to fly out to right, ending New York's three-game losing streak.

"We dodged some bullets," Mets manager Art Howe said. "That is why I walked Chipper in the ninth inning. I didn't want to tempt the fates to try to get him again with the tying run on second base."

Reds 5, Brewers 4

In Milwaukee, Tim Hummel, Ryan Freel and Wily Mo Pena hit solo home runs to back Seth Etherton's strong pitching as Cincinnati beat Milwaukee.

The Reds, swept in a four-game series at home last week during Milwaukee's 10-game winning streak, won for the fifth straight time this season at Miller Park.

The Brewers lost for only the second time in 14 games. They had their streak snapped by the Chicago Cubs on Friday before winning the final two games of the weekend series at Wrigley Field.

Etherton allowed one run and three hits in six innings. He struck out two and walked three.

Giants 2, Diamondbacks 0

In Phoenix, hours after being released from the hospital, Barry Bonds hit a two-run, bases-loaded single in the ninth inning to lead the San Francisco Giants to a victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Bonds, scratched from the lineup minutes before the first pitch Sunday because of exhaustion, was released from the hospital after staying overnight to have his vital signs monitored.

Sunday's game was the second Bonds missed in the series with the Diamondbacks for reasons related to the death of his father, Bobby Bonds, on Aug. 23.

He left Saturday night's game in the eighth inning after homering off Randy Johnson earlier in the contest because his heartbeat rose to more than twice normal and he had trouble breathing

Bonds hitless in three at-bats against Curt Schilling, but lined a 1-0 pitch off Mike Myers just to the left of the mound and into the outfield, scoring two of the three runners Myers inherited from Oscar Villarreal (7-6).

Sidney Ponson (3-3) worked eight solid innings for the victory, and Tim Worrell pitched a perfect ninth for his 32nd save.

Marlins 5, Expos 2

In Miami, Ivan Rodriguez capped a seventh-inning comeback with a go-ahead single, and Florida took sole possession of the lead in the NL wild-card race, completing their first four-game series sweep since May 1996.

Florida a game ahead of Philadelphia, which lost to Boston 13-9. The Marlins have won 11 of their last 12 against NL East teams, including seven in a row dating to July 25. Jeff Conine, acquired from Baltimore in a trade late Sunday, played for Florida for the first time since the 1997 World Series and had a single and a sacrifice fly.

Brad Penny (12-10) combined with two relievers on a three-hitter. Braden Looper pitched a perfect ninth for his 26th save as Florida improved to 60-1 when it leads after seven innings.

Vladimir Guerrero and Brad Wilkerson hit solo homers for the Expos. Tomo Ohka (8-11) took the loss.

Cubs 7, Cardinals 0

In Chicago, Mark Prior scattered five hits over eight innings for his sixth straight win as Chicago beat St. Louis in the rain-delayed opener of a five-game series between the NL Central rivals.

Prior 6-0 since coming off the disabled list Aug. 5, also hit an RBI single in the Cubs' six-run fifth-inning outburst against Woody Williams. Prior walked three and struck out eight in a 131-pitch outing in a game delayed 4 hours, 17 minutes.

With the loss, St. Louis dropped into a first-place tie in the NL Central with Houston, which beat Los Angeles on Monday night. The third-place Cubs are 1 games behind the Cardinals and Astros.

Williams failed to get his 15th win for the seventh time, and is winless since July 26 with four losses and three no decisions in that stretch.

Astros 10, Dodgers 1

In Los Angeles, Jeff Kent hit a grand slam and had six RBIs as Houston moved into a tie for the NL Central lead with a victory over Los Angeles.

Kent 3-for-5, including his 10th career slam, and Brad Ausmus also homered and drove in two runs. Craig Biggio and Geoff Blum each had three hits in an 18-hit attack for the Astros, who are tied with St. Louis for the division lead.

Wade Miller (12-11) won for the fourth time in five decisions, allowing four hits and four walks.

The Dodgers fell 2{ games behind Florida -- which beat Montreal earlier in the day -- in the wild-card race.

Hideo Nomo (15-11) allowed four runs -- two earned -- and nine hits over five innings in his second attempt to get his career-high 16th victory.