National LeagueBig games by Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa weren't enough to win.
Roger Clemens had no such problem. The Rocket was as dominant as ever on Sunday in pitching the Houston Astros to a 6-1 victory over visiting Milwaukee.
He also had a key single for his second career RBI.
"It was great. I was babbling out there," Clemens said. "It's not fun to do something that you don't do very well. I was just trying to make contact and make things happen."
Sosa made something happen, hitting two homers and passing Ernie Banks for the Chicago Cubs' career record. But the Cincinnati Reds rallied for an 11-10 victory in 10 innings on another windy and wacky day at Wrigley Field.
"I would have enjoyed it much better if we had won this game," Sosa said. "It's something that made me very happy and very proud of myself, coming from nowhere to play baseball in America. And now I'm in the record book."
Bonds knows a thing or two about records himself. He homered twice and drove in five runs, yet the Los Angeles Dodgers completed a three-game sweep in San Francisco with a 7-6 victory.
"In baseball, no one man carries the team," Bonds said. "We're just not doing it when we need to."
In other games, it was: Atlanta 3, Florida 2 in 10 innings; Pittsburgh 8, New York 1; Philadelphia 5, Montreal 4; Colorado 8, St. Louis 5; and San Diego 6, Arizona 5.
Clemens (3-0) struck out seven in seven innings, giving up just one run and four hits to lead the Astros to their seventh victory in eight games. His scoreless streak was snapped at 17 innings.
After ending a brief retirement in the offseason, Clemens' ERA is 0.87 after three NL starts.
"He's still a superstar pitcher," Milwaukee manager Ned Yost said.
In Chicago, Sosa's solo shot in the first inning pushed him past Banks as the Cubs' leader with 513 homers. But Sosa also lost a fly ball in the sun in the 10th that sparked the Reds' winning rally.
Moises Alou also connected for Chicago and missed the cycle by a single. Sosa homered again in the third. He has 543 career homers and 64 multihomer games.
Bonds, who tied a career high with four hits, connected twice to give him 665 homers. He hit four homers in the series, giving him seven this season, and moved within 50 of passing Babe Ruth for second place on the career list.
Braves 3, Marlins 2
At Atlanta, Andruw Jones scored all the way from first in the 10th when Miguel Cabrera lost a fly ball in the sun, and the Braves completed a three-game sweep. Jones also homered in the sixth. Chipper Jones went down with a hamstring injury.
Padres 6, Diamondbacks 5
At San Diego, Ryan Klesko won it with a three-run homer off Matt Mantei (0-2) in the ninth. Luis Gonzalez, Richie Sexson and Bobby Estalella homered for Arizona.
Rockies 8, Cardinals 5
At St. Louis, Todd Helton homered for the third straight game and Jason Jennings (1-1) beat Woody Williams (0-1) to end Colorado's three-game skid.
With the bases loaded in the ninth, Albert Pujols flied out to the right-field wall for the final out. Shawn Chacon got his third save.
Phillies 5, Expos 4
At Philadelphia, Doug Glanville homered leading off the ninth to give the Phillies their fourth straight win in their new ballpark. Montreal has lost seven straight, its longest skid since dropping nine in a row from Sept. 23 to Oct. 1, 2000. But the Expos scored more than three runs for the first time this season.
Pirates 8, Mets 1
At New York, Craig Wilson homered and Pittsburgh completed its first three-game sweep at Shea Stadium since 1994.
Kris Benson (2-0) pitched seven solid innings. He also sacrificed four times, tying a major league record achieved six times previously, just twice since 1920.
American League
While the Yankees and Red Sox were battling on the East Coast, the Oakland Athletics took two of three in Anaheim in the American League's other big weekend series.
Rookie Bobby Crosby homered and drove in three runs and Barry Zito combined with Chris Hammond on a five-hitter, leading Oakland to a 7-1 victory on Sunday night.
"We've been dealing with a strong AL West ever since we started here in Oakland," Zito said. "The Angels are so good, you have to bear down and play your best baseball when you play them. I was trying to bear down with guys in scoring position and I made pitches when I had to."
Zito (2-1) gave up one run and four hits in six innings, and Hammond finished for his first save.
Yankees 7, Red Sox 3
Derek Jeter went 2-for-4 with two walks and an RBI single, and New York had a six-run third against Derek Lowe (1-1) after losing the opening two games of the four-game series, which ends with Monday's Patriots Day game.
Gary Sheffield doubled twice, and Paul Quantrill (1-0) held Boston to one hit over 2 2-3 innings after Jose Contreras almost blew a six-run lead in the third. Gabe White, Tom Gordon and Mariano Rivera combined for 6 2-3 scoreless innings.
Orioles 7, Blue Jays 0
Eric DuBose, B.J. Ryan and Buddy Groom combined on a four-hitter, completing Baltimore's first sweep in Toronto since 1994.
Miguel Tejada had four hits and Jay Gibbons hit a two-run double for the Orioles, who outscored the Blue Jays 23-5 in the series. DuBose (1-2) gave up three hits -- all singles -- in seven innings.
Javy Lopez added an RBI single in the ninth to extend his hitting streak to a career-high 14 games.
White Sox 5, Devil Rays 0
Esteban Loaiza (3-0) pitched a two-hitter for his fifth career shutout and 11th complete game.
Jose Valentin and Paul Konerko hit solo homers for the visiting White Sox, who improved to 8-4 for the first time since 1992.
Twins 8, Royals 3
Jacque Jones had two doubles, a triple and four RBIs at the Metrodome as Minnesota won its fifth straight.
Luis Rivas hit a two-run homer and Doug Mientkiewicz had three hits for the Twins, who completed a three-game sweep. Minnesota has scored four or more runs in 10 of its first 12 games.
Mariners 4, Rangers 2
Raul Ibanez hit a two-run homer, Bret Boone and Scott Spiezio added solo shots at Seattle, which won its first series this season in the matchup of A-Rod's former teams.
Joel Pineiro (1-1) allowed two runs, six hits and four walks in 6 2-3 innings and struck out five.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was