Carlos Beltran homered twice for the second straight game, leading the New York Mets to an 8-3 victory and handing the Philadelphia Phillies their third straight loss.
Paul Lo Duca and David Wright also connected and Jorge Sosa (7-3) pitched five effective innings before he left after straining his left hamstring running to first in the sixth.
Beltran had a pair of solo homers Friday off Cole Hamels, helping New York complete a sweep of a day-night doubleheader. Ryan Howard hit his 19th homer for injury-riddled Philadelphia, which fell six games behind the Mets.
Brewers 13, Cubs 4
In Chicago, Milwaukee bounced back from a tough defeat, scoring nine runs in the first three innings to make it easy for Ben Sheets (10-3), who had a season-high 11 strikeouts in his sixth straight win.
Ryan Braun hit a two-run homer and went 4-for-5 with four RBIs for Milwaukee, which finished with 15 hits in ending Chicago's seven-game winning streak.
Braves 6, Marlins 5
At Miami, Tim Hudson pitched seven sharp innings and Edgar Renteria hit a tiebreaking double in the eighth as Atlanta beat Florida.
Renteria's double off reliever Armando Benitez (2-4) drove in Willie Harris, breaking a 1-1 tie.
Reds 5, Cardinals 1
At Cincinatti, Kyle Lohse (4-10) rebounded from the worst outing of his career with one of his best, pitching into the eighth inning and hitting a sacrifice fly while leading Cincinnati to victory over St Louis.
The Reds reached the halfway point of their season at 31-50, the worst record in the majors.
Rockies 5, Astros 0
At Houston, Jeff Francis allowed three hits in seven innings and Colorado beat its former ace Jason Jennings (1-3) as the Rockies ended an eight-game losing streak by downing Houston.
Garrett Atkins drove in two runs, Matt Holliday had an RBI double.
Pirates 7, Nationals 2
At Pittsburgh, Tom Gorzelanny (8-4) improved his chances of being Pittsburgh's All-Star representative by limiting Washington to two runs over seven innings and Adam LaRoche drove in three runs in the Pirates victory.
LaRoche had a two-run double and Jack Wilson and Freddy Sanchez each had two-run singles in a six-run second inning against Jason Bergmann (1-5), giving Pittsburgh a 6-1 lead.
Giants 4, Diamondbacks 1
At San Francisco, Barry Bonds barely missed his 751st home run and settled for an RBI double to help San Francisco end a three-game skid by beating Arizona.
It was the 376th double for Bonds with the Giants.
Padres 3, Dodgers 1
At Los Angeles, Jake Peavy and Brad Penny pitched to a stalemate, Jose Cruz Jr. and pinch-hitter Geoff Blum hit RBI doubles in the 12th and the Padres won to take a two-game lead over the Dodgers in the West Division.
Chad Gaudin combined with Rich Harden on a one-hitter and the Oakland Athletics connected for three home runs off Kei Igawa in a 7-0 victory over the lethargic New York Yankees on Saturday.
Light-hitting Jason Kendall was 3-for-3 with a homer and a walk to lead an Oakland offense that ranks 13th out of 14 American League teams in runs scored.
Twins 8, Tigers 5
In Detroit, Michael Cuddyer and Lew Ford homered and drove in three runs apiece in Minnesota's victory over Detroit.
Cuddyer hit a three-run homer, went 2-for-3 and scored two runs.
Minnesota has won the first two games of the series.
Rangers 5, Red Sox 4
At Boston, Sammy Sosa hit his 602nd career homer to break a fifth-inning tie, leading Texas to victory over Boston and spoiling Josh Beckett's last start before the All-Star rosters are announced.
Sosa lined a solo shot off the front row of the Monster Seats to break a 4-4 tie.
Indians 8, Devil Rays 6
At Cleveland, C.C. Sabathia became the majors' first 12-game winner and Grady Sizemore drove in three runs to lead Cleveland over Tampa Bay.
Sabathia (12-2) matched last season's win total and is 7-1 with a 2.62 ERA in his past 10 starts.
Orioles 6, Angels 3
At Baltimore, Brian Burres gave up just three hits entering the eighth inning, Ramon Hernandez hit a three-run homer and the Orioles improved to 6-4 under interim manager Dave Trembley by beating Los Angeles.
Kevin Millar drove in two runs and scored twice and Melvin Mora recorded straight three-hit games for the Orioles.
White Sox 3, Royals 1
At Kansas City, Tadahito Iguchi poked a two-run single into right field with two out in the 10th inning, helping Chicago snap Kansas City's five-game win streak.
Octavio Dotel (0-1) started the 10th. He gave up a pinch single to A.J. Pierzynski, then hit Scott Podsednik, who reached base for the fourth time in the game.
Mariners 8, Blue Jays 3
At Seattle, Miguel Batista pitched into the seventh inning and Ben Broussard tied a career-high with four hits as Seattle won its seventh straight game by downing Toronto.
It's Seattle longest win streak since it took nine in a row in 2003.
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
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
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