National League
Albert Pujols hit his 40th home run and reached 100 RBIs for the fourth consecutive season, and the St. Louis Cardinals completed a three-game sweep of the Pittsburgh Pirates with a 4-0 victory Sunday.
PHOTO: AFP
Pujols, who also hit his first triple of the season, became the fourth player to start his major league career with four straight seasons with at least 100 RBIs. He joined Hall of Famers Al Simmons, Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams as the only players to accomplish the feat.
Jason Marquis (13-4) held the Pirates to four hits in 7 1-3 shutout innings to win his 10th straight decision. He walked four and hit a batter as the Cardinals won their seventh straight against the Pirates.
Julian Tavarez got four outs for his fourth save in St. Louis' 10th shutout.
Oliver Perez (9-7) gave up three runs on five hits in six innings.
Phillies 10, Brewers 0
In Philadelphia, Cory Lidle homered and threw a four-hitter for his second shutout of the season, Marlon Byrd hit a grand slam and had five RBIs, and the Phillies extended Milwaukee's losing streak to 11.
Lidle (8-12) was terrific in his first win with the Phillies, striking out a season-high nine, walking one and not allowing a runner past second base in his fourth career shutout. The right-hander was 0-2 with a no-decision since he was acquired from Cincinnati on Aug. 9.
It was also Lidle's fourth complete game this season, tied for second in the National League with Arizona's Randy Johnson.
Wes Obermueller (4-7) gave up 10 hits and four runs in five innings.
Dodgers 10, Mets 2
In New York, Robin Ventura hit his 17th grand slam, tying Jimmie Foxx and Ted Williams for fourth place on the career list, and the Dodgers went on to an easy victory.
Los Angeles, which maintained its five-game lead in the NL West, scored three unearned runs in the fourth inning to take a 4-1 lead against the league's worst-fielding team. Ventura, making only his 19th start of the season, broke the game open in the fifth against Kris Benson (10-11), scoring the 1,000th run of his career on the homer.
Kazuhisa Ishii (13-6) won his second straight start after going 0-1 during a five-start span. He allowed one run and four hits in six innings.
Benson dropped to 2-3 since the Mets acquired him from Pittsburgh on July 30.
Reds 6, Diamondbacks 2
In Cincinnati, Edgar Gonzalez held Cincinnati hitless through six innings, but Adam Dunn's 39th homer helped the Reds rally past Arizona.
Ryan Freel drove in the go-ahead run with an eighth-inning single off Mike Fetters (0-1) and the Reds avoided a three-game sweep.
Astros 10, Cubs 3
In Chicago, Lance Berkman homered and Carlos Hernandez (1-1) earned his first major league win in almost two years, leading Houston over Chicago in the final meeting of their testy season series.
Houston's Carlos Beltran left with a bruised knee after he was hit by a pitch in the eighth. Berkman was plunked in the helmet later in the inning, and the benches emptied for the second time in the four-game series when new Astros reliever Dan Wheeler hit Derrek Lee in the back with a pitch in the ninth. Wheeler and Houston manager Phil Garner were ejected.
The Cubs dropped into a tie with San Diego for the wild-card lead.
Marlins 8, Rockies 4
In Miami, A.J. Burnett struck out a team-record 14 in eight impressive innings, Miguel Cabrera homered during Florida's five-run second inning and the Marlins completed a three-game sweep.
Mike Lowell also homered for the Marlins, who moved within four games of the Chicago Cubs and San Diego Padres in the NL wild-card race. Florida is four games above .500 for the first time since being 41-37 on June 30.
Giants 9, Braves 5
In Atlanta, Barry Bonds hit a pair of mammoth two-run homers -- giving him 696 in his career -- and went 4-for-5 with six RBIs.
The home runs that traveled an estimated total of 929 feet were the second and third longest in Turner Field history. Bonds added a two-run single in the sixth inning to help end Atlanta's season-best, six-game winning streak.
American League
AP, Toronto
Carlos Delgado homered in Toronto's five-run seventh inning and the Blue Jays ended a five-game losing skid with a 6-4 victory over the New York Yankees on Sunday after a power outage delayed the start for about an hour.
Miguel Batista (10-10) allowed two runs and seven hits in seven innings to win for the first time since July 23 -- a span of seven starts. Jason Frasor gave up a solo homer to pinch-hitter Jorge Posada in the ninth before finishing for his 17th save.
Alex Rodriguez went 4-for-4 with a homer and a walk for the Yankees, whose lead over second-place Boston in the AL East dropped to 4 1/2 games -- their smallest margin since June 23.
With approximately 11,000 fans in the stands 60 minutes before the game, SkyDome went black for a few moments before the emergency lights came on. A spokesman for Hydro One, an Ontario power company, said a raccoon might have caused an insulator to blow at a nearby power station.
Reed Johnson hit a leadoff homer against Mike Mussina (9-8), who gave up five runs and five hits in 6 1-3 innings and remained winless in four starts since coming back from an elbow injury.
Red Sox 6, Tigers 1
In Boston, Tim Wakefield allowed three hits in eight innings and the Red Sox won their sixth straight game.
Wakefield (11-7) gave up only Nook Logan's double in the third, Craig Monroe's 10th homer in the fifth and Logan's single in the eighth. He just missed his first complete game since Aug. 19, 1998, at Kansas City.
The Red Sox scored four runs in the fifth off Wilfredo Ledezma (3-2) and two in the seventh on Mark Bellhorn's 14th homer against Craig Dingman.
Wakefield's performance capped a four-game sweep of the Tigers that featured brilliant pitching by the Red Sox, who outscored the Tigers 20-6 and outhit them 42-22.
Indians 9, White Sox 0
In Cleveland, Scott Elarton pitched a two-hitter for his first career shutout and Casey Blake hit two of Cleveland's four homers.
Travis Hafner and Ronnie Belliard also connected for Cleveland. Blake drove in four runs.
Elarton (3-3) allowed only an infield single to Willie Harris leading off the fourth and a one-out single to Joe Crede in the ninth. It was Elarton's third career complete game and first since Aug. 27, 2000, with the Astros at Montreal.
It was the fastest game in Jacobs Field history at 1 hour, 56 minutes.
The Indians moved one game ahead of Chicago for second place in the AL Central by winning for just the third time in 14 games.
Orioles 7, Rangers 6
In Arlington, Texas, Melvin Mora drove in four runs and the Baltimore Orioles snapped their season-high 12-game losing streak -- their longest since dropping the final 12 games of the 2002 season.
Sidney Ponson (9-13) allowed five runs and 12 hits -- 11 singles -- in seven innings, but won for the sixth time in his last seven decisions. B.J. Ryan allowed one run and two hits in one-third of an inning. Jorge Julio got five outs for his 19th save in 21 chances.
Mariners 5, Royals 4
In Seattle, Ichiro Suzuki homered, scored three times and got three more hits, leading the Mariners past the Royals.
Suzuki, chasing George Sisler's major league record for hits in a season, finished 3-for-4 and has 209 hits. Sisler got 257 hits for the St. Louis Browns in 1920.
With Seattle trailing 4-3 in the seventh, Suzuki singled under the glove of third baseman Desi Relaford, chasing Royals starter Jimmy Gobble. Randy Winn, Bret Boone and Raul Ibanez then singled off reliever Dennys Reyes (3-7) to give the Mariners a 5-4 lead.
Angels 4, Twins 2
Adam Kennedy hit a two-run homer in the ninth inning to for the Angels.
Jose Guillen doubled home the tying run in the sixth for his 100th RBI of the season, and Troy Glaus went 0-for-2 with two walks in his first game back after being sidelined for more than 3 months with a shoulder injury.
Kennedy drove a 3-2 pitch from Juan Rincon (10-6) for his ninth homer after a one-out walk to Glaus. Kennedy also hit a tiebreaking two-run shot in Friday's 9-6 win against the AL Central leaders.
Athletics 9, Devil Rays 6
In Oakland, California, Billy McMillon hit a three-run homer in the ninth inning and the A's completed a three-game sweep of the Devil Rays to finish 7-0 on a homestand for the first time in 12 years.
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