The San Diego Padres added some infield depth, getting Rich Aurilia from the Seattle Mariners for a player to be named or cash.
"He's got a lot of experience and played with winning teams with the Giants," Padres manager Bruce Bochy said Monday. "The guy gives us a proven veteran. We always liked him and felt he would strengthen our bench."
Aurilia was designated for assignment July 10, giving the Mariners 10 days to decide what to do with him.
PHOTO: AP
"We hope the change of scenery gets him back on track," Bochy said. "Hopefully, coming back to the National League will do that."
Mariners manager Bob Melvin said he was happy for Aurilia to get another chance.
"He's going back to the National League and he knows that division because that's where he played before and he's a guy who relies on preparation," Melvin said.
Melvin said Aurilia was pressing too much in an effort to help the last-place Mariners, who are on pace to lose 100 games this season.
"He was just caught up in all that," Melvin said.
Aurilia has played shortstop for nearly his entire career, and the Padres already have Khalil Greene at that spot.
Greene has been impressive in his rookie year, but might need a backup toward the end of his first full season. The Padres are in contention for the NL West lead while the Mariners had the worst record in the AL at the time of the trade.
"He will be a utility player here," Bochy said. "He will help us on the field and in the clubhouse. He's a clutch player and a winning player. And he's versatile."
Aurilia, 32, hit 37 home runs with 97 RBIs in 2001 with San Francisco while batting in front of Barry Bonds. He led the NL in homers and RBIs by a shortstop in three consecutive seasons (1999-2001) and hit .324 in an All-Star season in 2001.
Aurilia was hurt last year and hit .277 with 13 homers and 58 RBIs with the Giants. He is a career .276 hitter with 130 homers and 501 RBIs since making his major league debut in 1995 with the Giants.
Aubrey Huff and Robert Fick drove in two runs each and Tampa Bay hung on for a 9-7 win over the New York Yankees after taking a five-run lead in the first.
Geoff Blum's RBI single off Tanyon Sturtze (3-2) snapped a 5-all tie in the sixth. Fick then hit a routine fly ball that dropped for a two-run double after outfielders Kenny Lofton and Hideki Matsui pulled off the ball -- each apparently thinking the other was going to make the catch.
The hit gave the Devil Rays' bullpen a three-run lead to protect for Lance Carter (3-2).
New York's Ruben Sierra homered for the third straight game. His two-run, pinch-hit shot in the eighth made it 8-7. Carl Crawford hit an RBI triple and then closer Danys Baez got four outs for his 19th save in 21 opportunities.
Twins 3, Tigers 1
In Detroit, pinch-hitter Jose Offerman's two-run single in the seventh inning led Minnesota to its second win in eight games.
Terry Mulholland (2-3) gave up one run on four hits in 6 2-3 innings, improving to 2-0 in three starts since moving into the rotation earlier this month.
White Sox 12, Rangers 6
In Arlington, Texas, Carl Everett homered for Chicago a day after he rejoined the White Sox in a trade.
Everett played designated hitter and went 2-for-5 with a walk and a solo homer in the fourth. He played the final 73 games of last season for Chicago after starting 2003 with the Rangers. He began this season with Montreal before he was traded for minor league pitchers Jon Rauch and Gary Majewski.
Mark Teixeira homered in his fifth straight game, hitting a solo shot in the ninth to tie a club record.
Orioles 7, Royals 4
In Kansas City, Missouri, Sidney Ponson gave up two runs in six innings to end his nine-game losing streak.
Javy Lopez had three hits and two RBIs for the Orioles, and Miguel Tejada hit his 16th homer, a two-run shot in the fourth.
Mariners 8, Red Sox 4, 11 innings
In Seattle, Bret Boone's grand slam with one out in the 11th inning gave the Mariners a victory over Boston.
Miguel Olivo and Edgar Martinez hit consecutive homers off Red Sox closer Keith Foulke in the ninth to send the game into extra innings.
Boone homered to left field on an 0-1 count off Curtis Leskanic (1-5), the fifth Boston pitcher. The Mariners loaded the bases on a single by Olivo and walks to Dave Hansen and Randy Winn. Winn's walk was intentional.
Athletics 5, Blue Jays 3
In Oakland, California, Josh Towers pitched into the eighth inning, Vernon Wells homered in a four-run fourth and Toronto snapped their season-high six-game losing streak.
Towers (4-3) gave up two runs in the third inning then shut down the A's. Towers gave up seven hits, struck out five and walked none in 7 1-3 innings.
Indians 8, Angels 5, 10 innings
In Anaheim, California, Travis Hafner hit his second homer of the game -- a three-run shot in the 10th inning -- and drove in a career-high five runs to lead Cleveland over the Angels.
David Eckstein's two-out error on a routine grounder by Matt Lawton set the stage for Hafner's game-winner off Troy Percival (2-2) and made all three runs unearned. Hafner's 14th homer, which matched his total last season as a rookie, came after a walk to Omar Vizquel.
Hafner and Casey Blake each hit two-run homers against Angels starter Aaron Sele, and Blake added a sacrifice fly in the ninth against Brendan Donnelly for a 5-3 lead.
But David Riske couldn't close it out, surrendering an RBI double by Chone Figgins and a two-out RBI single by Vladimir Guerrero in the bottom half. Riske (5-2) got the win anyway despite his shoddy ninth inning, and Matt Miller got three outs for his first save in two attempts.
Mike Hampton (5-8) pitched seven strong innings after another rough start, John Smoltz did the rest and the Braves held off the Philadelphia Phillies 4-2 on Monday night to take over sole possession of first place in the NL East for the first time this season.
Adam LaRoche, Andruw Jones, Charles Thomas and Chipper Jones drove in runs for the Braves, who have won 16 of 20 to surge to the top of a weak division.
Phillies starter Paul Abbott dropped to 0-4 since joining Philadelphia. He started the season with Tampa Bay, going 2-5 before getting his release on June 3. He allowed eight hits and four runs in 4 2-3 innings.
John Smoltz pitched two innings for his 18th save in 20 chances.
Expos 6, Pirates 2
In Pittsburgh, Terrmel Sledge drove in two runs with a groundball just past first base during a four-run seventh inning and Montreal halted Pittsburgh's 10-game home winning streak, the Pirates' longest since winning 24 straight in 1978.
Rocky Biddle left after five innings with the score tied at 2. Joe Horgan (3-0) retired the only batter he faced for the victory.
Sledge's grounder off John Grabow (0-4) to Randall Simon appeared as if it would end the inning. But Sledge hustled down the line to beat Simon to the bag for a single. Wilkerson also kept running on the play from second and scored almost before Simon could react and get the ball home. Pinch-hitter Ron Calloway added a two-run single.
Marlins 6, Mets 5
In New York, pinch-hitter Lenny Harris came through with a go-ahead single in the ninth inning, spoiling Scott Erickson's bid for his first major league win in nearly two years.
Miguel Cabrera tied it with an RBI single off closer Braden Looper (2-2), who gave up four straight hits in the ninth.
Shane Spencer hit a three-run homer for the Mets, who built a 5-2 lead for Erickson in his first big league appearance since Aug. 31, 2002, with Baltimore.
But Cabrera hit a two-run single off Orber Moreno in the seventh, and the Marlins jumped on their ex-teammate two innings later.
Josias Manzanillo (2-2) worked a scoreless inning for the win.
Cardinals 5, Cubs 4
In Chicago, Scott Rolen hit a tiebreaking homer in the eighth inning off Carlos Zambrano to lead St. Louis to its 12th win in 14 games.
The Cardinals homered three times to increase their NL Central lead over the Cubs to nine games.
Zambrano (9-5) was ejected in the eighth inning after hitting Jim Edmonds with a pitch right after Rolen's two-run shot -- the second time Zambrano hit Edmonds. Because the benches had been warned, Cubs manager Dusty Baker was also ejected.
Reds 8, Brewers 4
In Cincinnati, Wily Mo Pena hit his sixth homer in his last eight games, and also had a run-scoring single and a double.
Right-hander Aaron Harang (6-2) won his second straight start against the Brewers, fighting through control lapses while protecting an early lead..
Dodgers 7, Astros 6
In Houston, Milton Bradley and Shawn Green hit back-to-back home runs in the eighth inning to lift Los Angeles to its seventh straight win.
Adrian Beltre hit his career-high 24th homer for the Dodgers, who have won 13 of their last 14 games.
Dan Miceli (3-5) gave up the back-to-back homers to Bradley and Green and took the loss.
Giants 6, Diamondbacks 1
In Phoenix, Brett Tomko pitched into the eighth inning, and the San Francisco Giants made up for the absence of Barry Bonds with baserunning and timely hitting.
The slugger sat out the game after having a root canal Monday morning, but the Giants won for the sixth time in eight games to stay 2 1/2 games behind NL West leader Los Angeles.
The Cubs activated shortstop Alex Gonzalez from the disabled list Monday and designated Rey Ordonez for assignment.
Gonzalez was put on the DL on May 6 with a broken right wrist after fouling a ball off his hand the day before. In 25 games, he was batting .244 with three homers and seven RBIs.
Ordonez appeared in 23 games, hitting .164 with a homer and five RBIs. The three-time Gold Glove winner was called up from Triple-A Iowa on May 28.
The Cubs have 10 days to trade Ordonez, send him outright to the minors or place him on waivers.
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