Jimmy Rollins had four hits, including a homer, and pinch-hitter David Dellucci delivered a go-ahead RBI single in the eighth inning to help the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Atlanta Braves 6-5 on Friday.
David Bell went 4-for-4 and Chase Utley extended his hitting streak to 22 games for the Phillies.
Edgar Renteria and Scott Thorman homered for the Braves, and Chipper Jones extended his hitting streak to a career-high 20 games.
PHOTO: AP
Phillies starter Cory Lidle (7-7) gave up three runs and six hits in a season-high eight innings. He struck out five and walked one.
Tom Gordon pitched the ninth for his 23rd save in 25 opportunities. He gave up a two-run homer to Jeff Francoeur to make it 6-5. It was his 18th homer of the season.
John Smoltz allowed three runs and seven hits in seven innings for Atlanta. The Phillies got to Ken Ray (1-1) for three runs and four hits in two-thirds of an inning after Smoltz left the game.
Marlins 4, Pirates 1
At Miami, rookie Scott Olsen struck out 11 and Cody Ross hit a two-run homer for Florida.
Olsen (8-4) allowed one run and six hits in 6 2-3 innings. He struck out six straight hitters between the first and third innings. Joe Borowski pitched the ninth for his 20th save in 22 chances.
Ross was batting cleanup for only the third time this season and he homered for the second time in those games.
Mets 7, Astros 0
At New York, Jose Valentin hit his second grand slam in the last two weeks to back John Maine's four-hitter in the Mets' win over Houston.
Valentin hit the ninth grand slam of his career in the second inning. It was the Mets' fifth in the last two weeks.
Carlos Delgado added his 24th homer of the season, a two-run shot. It was his second homer in two days.
Nationals 7, Cubs 6
At Washington, Alex Escobar's two-run single in the eighth inning capped Washington's comeback over Chicago.
The Nationals led 4-1, then trailed 6-4 after Aramis Ramirez hit a tiebreaking two-run shot, his second homer of the game. But Washington scored three runs in the eighth off Bob Howry (3-3).
Jon Rauch (3-1) threw a perfect eighth to get the win and Chad Cordero pitched the ninth for his 15th save.
Giants 8, Padres 2
At San Francisco, Matt Cain took a shutout into the ninth to win for the first time in more than a month, and San Francisco beat San Diego, then traded for Shea Hillenbrand.
The Giants won their season-high fourth straight game and pulled within a half-game of the first-place Padres in the NL West.
Hillenbrand was designated for assignment by the Blue Jays on Wednesday after he wrote on the clubhouse bulletin board that the "ship was sinking" and Blue Jays manager John Gibbons challenged him to a fight.
Reds 6, Brewers 5
At Cincinnati, Ken Griffey Jr.'s bases-loaded single in the bottom of the ninth inning rallied Cincinnati past Milwaukee in a game delayed nearly three hours at the outset because of rain.
The Brewers took a 5-3 lead into the ninth, but closer Derrick Turnbow had another meltdown that helped the Reds rally for their sixth win in the last eight games.
Turnbow (4-7) blew his fifth straight save chance by loading the bases with one out on a single and a pair of four-pitch walks.
Diamondbacks 6, Rockies 2
At Phoenix, Orlando Hudson and Luis Gonzalez each had three hits and Claudio Vargas won for the second time in six weeks as Arizona beat Colorado.
Vargas (8-6) allowed two runs over six innings for Arizona, which won for the ninth time in 11 games. Vargas gave up six hits, walked two and struck out four.
Cardinals 2, Dodgers 0
At Los Angeles, Jeff Suppan scattered five hits over seven innings, Chris Duncan homered and St. Louis beat the stumbling Los Angeles for the seventh straight time.
Suppan (7-5) struck out two, walked three and hit a batter. The right-hander, who won 16 games in each of the previous two seasons, recorded his first victory since June 17 after going 2-3 with a 6.11 ERA in his previous 11 starts.
Alex Rodriguez became the youngest player to reach 450 home runs, but committed his team-leading 18th error as the New York Yankees loss to the Toronto Blue Jays 7-3 on Friday.
Troy Glaus homered and had four RBIs and A.J. Burnett earned his second win for the Blue Jays, who have won the first two games of their four-game series against the Yankees.
Rodriguez's three-run homer in the third inning off Burnett was also his 2,000th hit.
A-Rod, who turns 31 next Thursday, is the eighth player to get his 2,000th hit before his 31st birthday.
Ken Griffey Jr. was the previous youngest to reach 450. He was 31 years, 261 days old when he did it in August 2001.
Rodriguez continued to struggle defensively, failing to catch Vernon Wells' popup in foul territory in the fourth after he appeared to lose it in the lights.
Burnett (2-3) allowed three runs and six hits while striking out six and walking one in 7 1-3 innings.
Scott Schoeneweis pitched 1 2-3 innings for his first save of the season and the third of his career.
Toronto jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first off loser Jaret Wright (6-6).
Tigers 7, Athletics 4
At Detroit, Dmitri Young returned from the disabled list in dramatic style, getting two hits, including the go-ahead single for Detroit.
The designated hitter was playing his first game since leaving the team on May 22 to enter a California rehab clinic for what he described as drug and alcohol problems. His two-run single in the fourth inning broke a 1-1 tie, and he added a single in the eighth.
Devil Rays 14, Orioles 7
At St. Petersburg, Florida, Jorge Cantu hit a grand slam and drove in five runs to help Tampa Bay snap a season-high seven-game losing streak.
Carl Crawford, Dioner Navarro and Julio Lugo also homered in support of left-hander Casey Fossum (4-3), who overcame a shaky first inning to enable the Devil Rays to stop the longest skid to open the second half of a season since Arizona lost its first 11 following the All-Star break in 2004.
Twins 14, Indians 6
At Cleveland, Rondell White and Michael Cuddyer each had four RBIs and Minnesota beat Cleveland for its eighth straight win.
Justin Morneau scored four times and Dennys Reyes (2-0), the third of five Minnesota pitchers, worked two-thirds of an inning for the win, Minnesota's 30th in its last 37 games. Cleveland fell to 2-6 since the All-Star break.
Royals 8, Angels 3
At Kansas City, Missouri, David DeJesus and Mark Grudzielanek hit three-run homers as Kansas City downed Los Angeles.
Runelvys Hernandez (2-4) gave up five hits and three runs in 7 1-3 innings to get the win. He was recalled from minor league Triple-A Omaha prior to the game, taking Scott Elarton's spot in the rotation. Elarton had been placed on the disabled list on July 18 with a shoulder injury.
Rangers 10, White Sox 3
At Chicago, Michael Young and Mark Teixeira hit back-to-back homers to lead Texas over Chicago.
Jim Thome hit his 462nd career home run and Joe Crede also homered for the White Sox, who have lost eight of their last 10 games and are 1-6 since the All-Star break.
Kevin Mench hit a three-run homer in the eighth for the Rangers and Brad Wilkerson added a solo shot in the ninth.
Red Sox 9, Mariners 4
At Seattle, David Ortiz hit his major league-leading 33rd home run, Manny Ramirez hit his 26th and Boston added three more homers off Jamie Moyer as Boston beat Seattle.
Boston's season-high home run derby pushed the Red Sox 3 1/2 games ahead of the New York Yankees in the AL East.
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
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier