Florida's Jeremy Hermida became the second player to hit a grand slam in his first major-league at-bat and the first to do it as a pinch-hitter, connecting in the seventh inning off St. Louis' Al Reyes in a 10-5 loss on Wednesday.
The only other player with a grand slam in first at-bat was pitcher William "Frosty Bill" Duggleby, who did it for Philadelphia at home against the New York Giants in the second inning on April 21, 1898, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
The 21-year-old Hermida, an outfielder whose contract was purchased from Double-A Carolina earlier in the day, became the third player to hit a slam in his first game, joining Duggleby and San Francisco's Bobby Bonds.
PHOTO: AP
Hermida batted for pitcher Brian Moehler with Florida trailing 10-0 and connected on the third pitch he saw in the big leagues.
St. Louis' Albert Pujols had a season-high three extra-base hits, scored twice and reached the 100-RBI mark for the fifth consecutive season. Hector Luna and David Eckstein homered for the Cardinals.
Jeff Suppan (13-10) threw five scoreless innings, leaving after a 35-minute rain delay in the bottom of the fifth. Juan Encarnacion homered for the Marlins, who dropped a game behind Philadelphia in the wild-card race. Jason Vargas (5-2) was the loser.
Dodgers 7, Cubs 0
At Chicago, Derek Lowe pitched a one-hitter for his second shutout and complete game of the season for Los Angeles.
Lowe (9-13) gave up an infield single leading off the first to Jerry Hairston Jr., who beat a bouncer to third without a throw from Mike Edwards. Lowe faced just 29 batters, allowing his only other runners on walks to Michael Barrett in the third and Jeromy Burnitz in the seventh.
Lowe struck out seven to win for the first time in five starts since Aug. 5. Jose Cruz Jr. went 3-for-3 with three RBIs, Olmedo Saenz added a two-run homer and Jayson Werth hit a two-run single for the Dodgers, who won for the fourth time in five games. Glendon Rusch (5-8) lost his sixth straight decision.
Braves 5, Nationals 3, 1st game, Nationals 4, Braves 3, 2nd game
At Atlanta, Brad Wilkerson scored on a wild throw in the ninth to help Washington spilt a doubleheader.
In the opener, Andruw Jones homered and drove in all five runs to lead the Braves.
Atlanta rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the nightcap, tying it in the eighth. But Wilkerson led off the ninth with a single off Chris Reitsma (3-5), moved to second on a sacrifice bunt, then took off for third on a steal.
When the throw by catcher Brian McCann sailed into left field, Wilkerson sped home with the go-ahead run. Chad Cordero worked the ninth for his 43rd save, tying John Wetteland's 1993 franchise record with Montreal. Mike Stanton (1-1) was the winner.
Jones hit his major league-leading 43rd homer in the first game and finished one short of his career high for RBIs. He drove in six runs in a 1999 game at Colorado.
Jones hit a three-run homer in the first and knocked out Esteban Loaiza (9-10) with a two-run single in the fifth, giving the Atlanta player an National League-leading 108 RBIs.
Marlon Byrd had three hits, including a homer, for the Nationals.
Horacio Ramirez (11-8) was the winner, and Kyle Farnsworth picked up his second save with the Braves and eighth overall.
Phillies 8, Mets 2
At New York, Chase Utley hit two of Philadelphia's four homers off Pedro Martinez, and Brett Myers pitched seven strong innings to help keep the Phillies on top in the NL wild-card race.
Ryan Howard and Mike Lieberthal also connected for Philadelphia, which stopped a three-game skid and sent New York to its fourth loss in 12 games.
Brewers 6, Pirates 5
At Milwaukee, rookie Prince Fielder hit a two-run, pinch-hit homer off Jose Mesa in the ninth inning to lift Milwaukee past Pittsburgh.
Mesa (2-8) walked pinch-hitter Lyle Overbay on four pitches before Fielder hit an 0-1 fastball into the right-field porch, 400 feet away.
Fielder's second big league home run stopped a three-game losing streak for the Brewers and made a winner of Derrick Turnbow (5-1). It also denied Mark Redman the win, which would have ended a 12-game road winless streak.
Rickie Weeks and J.J. Hardy also homered for the Brewers.
Ty Wigginton hit a three-run shot for Pittsburgh.
Giants 5, Rockies 3
At San Francisco, Moises Alou hit the first of San Francisco's four solo home runs, and the Giants rebounded from an injury to starter Kevin Correia.
Mike Matheny, Ray Durham and Todd Linden also homered to help the Giants win for the fourth time in five games.
Jeff Fassero (4-6) won his third straight decision, allowing an unearned run and two hits in three innings. Correia left with an injured right shoulder after giving up one run, two hits and two hits in two innings.
Padres 9, Diamondbacks 5
At San Diego, Ben Johnson hit his first career homer, a three-run drive, and San Diego beat Arizona to enter September with a .500 record.
The Padres (66-66) took two of three from the Diamondbacks, who dropped into third place in baseball's worst division, 6.5 games back in the NL West.
Dave Roberts homered, had three hits and scored three times, and Khalil Greene and Mark Loretta each had three hits. Chan Ho Park (4-1) held Arizona to two runs and three hits in six innings. He allowed Luis Gonzalez's solo shot in the sixth Javier Vazquez (10-14) was the loser.
Astros 10, Reds 0
At Houston, Andy Pettitte limited Cincinnati to four hits in seven innings and Brad Ausmus drove in four runs for Houston.
Pettitte (13-9) struck out four and walked one, improving to 10-2 in 14 starts since June 20. The left-hander lowered his ERA to 2.50.
Jason Lane and Jose Vizcaino hit two-run homers for the Astros, who remained a half-game behind Philadelphia in the NL wild-card race.
Brandon Claussen (9-9) was the loser.
Michael Young and Alfonso Soriano hit two-run homers in the sixth inning against Orlando Hernandez, and the Texas Rangers beat the Chicago White Sox 9-2 on Wednesday.
Young's 20th homer came after leadoff hitter David Dellucci was hit by a pitch and put the Rangers ahead 3-2. Mark Teixeira walked and scored on Hank Blalock's single, and Soriano hit his 32nd homer to chase Hernandez (8-7), who lost his fourth straight decision, matching his career high.
Dellucci, Adrian Gonzalez and Rod Barajas also homered for the Rangers, who lead the majors with 218.
"I look at stats just like you do. It's about run production and run reduction with defense and pitching," manager Buck Showalter said.
"You let them go with what their abilities are. You are not going to flash a lot of take signs," he said.
Chicago lost three of four in Texas and finished August at 12-16. It was the first losing month of the season for the White Sox, who have the best record in the American League at 80-51.
Kameron Loe (7-4) gave up two runs and four hits in six innings.
Royals 1, Twins 0
At Kansas City, Missouri, Emil Brown singled to score Denny Hocking with one out in the ninth, and Minnesota set a Twins' record by getting 13 hits in a shutout.
Minnesota hit into four double plays and had runners thrown out at third and home. It was also a Royals' record for most hits allowed in a shutout, breaking the mark of 10 which had been done four times. The Twins' previous record for hits in a shutout was 12 in a 1-0 loss to the California Angels in 1975.
Hocking singled off Matt Guerrier (0-3) leading off the ninth, and reached second when third baseman Terry Tiffee misplayed a grounder by Chip Ambres. Terry Mulholland relieved and struck out Matt Stairs, before Brown grounded a single just inside the bag at third.
Mike MacDougal (3-4) pitched the ninth for the win.
Red Sox 7, Devil Rays 6
At Boston, Kevin Millar homered twice and David Ortiz hit his fifth in five games, helping Boston rally from a big deficit for the second consecutive night.
Millar led off the second with a shot to tie the game at 1, then broke a 5-all tie in the seventh with a two-run drive that gave Boston its first lead. Doug Mirabelli also homered for Boston.
Tim Wakefield (14-10) allowed five runs on six hits and a walk, striking out five to improve to 13-1 against Tampa Bay and win for the sixth time in seven starts. He gave up solo homers to Julio Lugo and Travis Lee and a three-run shot to Carl Crawford to fall behind 5-1 before retiring the last 16 batters he faced.
Mike Timlin allowed Alex Gonzalez's sacrifice fly in the ninth before earning his fourth save. Casey Fossum (8-11) took the loss.
Tigers 4, Indians 3
At Cleveland, Ivan Rodriguez homered off Rafael Betancourt (2-3) to break an eighth-inning tie, and Mike Maroth pitched seven strong innings for Detroit.
Cleveland began play a half-game behind the wild-card leading New York Yankees, but lost for the third time in 13 games.
Maroth (12-12) improved to 4-1 in six starts in August.
Craig Dingman worked the eighth. Fernando Rodney pitched the ninth, allowing Victor Martinez's RBI double before getting pinch-hitter Ben Broussard to ground out with a man on third for his seventh save.
Other games
At Toronto, Bruce Chen and Chris Ray combined on a two-hitter to help Baltimore end a five-game losing streak by beating the Blue Jays 7-0.
At Anaheim, California, John Lackey held Oakland to three hits over seven shutout innings and Los Angeles climbed back within a game of the AL West-leading Oakland. The Angels won 2-0.
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