National Leauge
Derrek Lee hit a three-run, eighth-inning double against his former team, and the Chicago Cubs rallied to beat the Florida Marlins 5-2 Saturday and maintain their NL wild-card lead.
PHOTO: EPA
The Cubs began the day one percentage point ahead of San Francisco, which played at Arizona later Saturday. Houston fell one game back and the defending World Series champion Marlins and San Diego dropped 2 1/2 games off the pace.
Ryan Dempster (1-1) won in relief of Carlos Zambrano, and LaTroy Hawkins pitched the ninth for his 21st save. Guillermo Mota (9-6) was the loser, and Rudy Seanez allowed Lee's go-ahead hit.
Phillies 11, Mets 9
In New York, David Bell's second home run of the game, a drive off Vic Darensbourg (0-1) that broke a 13th-inning tie, capped a comeback from a 6-2 sixth-inning deficit. The Phillies, 4 1/2 games out in the wild-card race, have won five straight and eight of nine.
Bell and Jason Michaels hit RBI singles in the ninth for a 9-7 lead but the Mets, who have lost 18 of 20, came back with two unearned runs in the bottom half, tying the score on Wilson Delgado's two-out single against Billy Wagner, who then was ejected by plate umpire Dana DeMuth after throwing two high-and-tight pitches to Cliff Floyd.
Roberto Hernandez (3-5) won and Felix Rodriguez got his first save since July 11 last year. The teams combined to use 18 pitchers, tying the major league record.
Giants 5, Diamondbacks 3
In Phoenix, Barry Bonds broke his major league record for walks in a season and rookie Noah Lowry allowed four hits in seven-plus innings in San Francisco's win over Arizona.
Bonds walked three times, once intentionally, to run his season total to 201, surpassing the record of 198 he set two seasons ago.
Lowry (4-0) struck out four and walked three. The 23-year-old left-hander blanked Arizona on two hits until Chad Tracy's pinch-hit home run with one out in the seventh.
Dodgers 6, Cardinals 5
In Los Angeles, Cesar Izturis hit a go-ahead two-run single in the eighth inning, Steve Finley homered for the fourth time in three games and Los Angeles beat St. Louis for its fifth straight victory.
David Ross led off the eighth with a bunt single against Julian Tavarez. Cal Eldred (3-2) relieved, and Jose Hernandez hit a grounder to second baseman Tony Womack, whose hurried flip to Gold Glove shortstop Edgar Renteria was dropped for an error. Both runners advanced on a passed ball by rookie Yadier Molina, and Izturis drove a 3-1 pitch to center field to put the Dodgers back in front.
Reliever Scott Stewart (1-0) got the win, retiring one batter -- Jim Edmonds on a groundout to end the eighth.
American League
Rookies Bobby Crosby and Nick Swisher hit back-to-back homers in the eighth, and the Oakland Athletics stopped their five-game losing streak with a 5-4 victory over the Cleveland Indians on Saturday.
Scott Hatteberg had a two-run double for the A's, who entered with a one-game lead over Anaheim in the AL West. Travis Hafner's three-run homer in the seventh staked Cleveland to a 4-0 lead.
Ricardo Rincon (1-0) pitched out of an eighth-inning jam for his first decision in 57 appearances this season, and Octavio Dotel pitched the ninth for his 19th save. Howry (1-1) was the loser.
Yankees 5, Orioles 2
In Baltimore, Orlando Hernandez pitched seven innings of five-hit ball to become the first Yankees starter to open the season 8-0 since Bob Wickman in 1993. New York, which remained 2 1/2 games ahead of Boston in the AL East, is 11-1 in his starts.
Mariano Rivera got three outs for his major-league leading 47th save. He tied former teammate John Wetteland for eighth on the career list at 330.
Derek Jeter had two hits, scored twice and drove in a run for the Yankees, who have won six of seven. Sidney Ponson (10-14) gave up five runs -- three earned -- and 10 hits in seven-plus innings.
Twins 3, Tigers 2
In Detroit, Cristian Guzman and Shannon Stewart homered, and Jacque Jones hit a go-ahead single in the seventh off Al Levine (3-3) as the AL Central leader won its fourth straight.
Jesse Crain (2-0) got an out in the sixth and two in the seventh, and Joe Nathan worked the ninth for his 40th save.
The Tigers lost their two All-Stars to right knee injuries. Shortstop Carlos Guillen sprained his knee while sliding awkwardly into third base in the fifth, and catcher Ivan Rodriguez left in the seventh with a bruised knee after being hit by foul tip.
Red Sox 9, Mariners 0
In Seattle, Bronson Arroyo pitched seven shutout innings, and Manny Ramirez and Mark Bellhorn homered, leading Boston in a rout of Seattle.
Boston stayed 2 1/2 games back of the New York Yankees in the AL East with their 28th win in 34 games. The Yankees beat Baltimore 5-2 earlier.
White Sox 13, Angels 6
In Anaheim, California, Paul Konerko singled, doubled, scored twice and drove in three runs -- all during an eight-run second inning -- and Chicago roughed up Aaron Sele in a victory over the Angels.
Konerko's bases-loaded double scored three runs, and Jamie Burke singled home a pair of runs as the White Sox sent 13 batters to the plate and pounded Sele (8-3) for eight runs -- four earned -- in the second.
Chicago's Ross Gload had three hits, including a solo homer.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite