Print

Mail

wiki links

Wang wins sixth straight as Yankees smash Angels

Taiwan's Wang Chien-ming (王建民) threw six-and-one-third scoreless innings for his sixth straight victory as the Yankees thrashed the Angels 12-0 on Sunday.

Alex Rodriguez, Hideki Matsui and Robinson Cano hit three-run homers and New York hammered its way into the All-Star break.

Rodriguez hit his major league-leading 30th homer and drove in four runs. Still recovering from a strained left hamstring, he'll sit out Monday's Home Run Derby in San Francisco but play in the All-Star game the next night.

Despite winning five of seven, the Yankees headed into the break with a losing record for the first time since 1995.

The AL West-leading Angels matched their most-lopsided shutout loss in 20 years.

Ervin Santana (5-10) gave up nine runs and sevens hits in three innings. He is 4-2 with a 3.42 ERA at Anaheim this season, and 1-8 with an 8.59 ERA elsewhere. He wound up with his fourth straight loss, matching a career worst.

Tigers 6, Red Sox 5

At Detroit, Gary Sheffield hit one of Detroit's three homers off Daisuke Matsuzaka, and the Tigers beat the Boston Red Sox 6-5 to complete a three-game sweep in the American League.

Carlos Guillen and Marcus Thames also homered against the Japanese star, who gave up three homers for the first time in the major leagues. Sheffield added two doubles off the right-hander.

Detroit heads into the All-Star break after winning five straight and 14 of 19. The Red Sox still have a double-digit lead in the AL East, but have lost six straight road games.

White Sox 6, Twins 3

At Chicago, Rob Mackowiak, Jim Thome and Paul Konerko homered during a five-run third inning to help Javier Vazquez win his third straight start for Chicago.

Blue Jays 1, Indians 0

At Toronto, Alex Rios hit a RBI single in the ninth inning to lift Toronto over Cleveland.

Reed Johnson hit a one-out double in the ninth, chasing Cleveland starter Paul Byrd. Rafael Betancourt came on to face Rios, who lined a 1-1 pitch up the middle.

Royals 12, Devil Rays 4

At Kansas City, Missouri, Tony Pena Jr. drove in four runs and Jorge De La Rosa won his third consecutive start for Kansas City.

Pena had three doubles to help send Tampa Bay to its 13th loss in 14 games. The Devil Rays finished their road trip with a 1-9 record, the worst three-city trip in franchise history.

Rangers 2, Orioles 1

At Arlington, Texas, Kenny Lofton hit a tiebreaking homer, Kevin Millwood won for the fourth time in five starts and Texas claimed another series.

Chris Duncan drove in three runs for St. Louis and the Cardinals avoided a three-game sweep by defeating the San Francisco Giants 7-0 in the National League on Sunday.

Duncan's two-run double in the fifth knocked out Barry Zito (6-9), who ended his disappointing first half of the season with a six-start winless stretch and four straight dropped decisions.

That's hardly what the Giants or the US$126 million man himself expected after he received the richest deal ever for a pitcher.

Ryan Ludwick doubled twice, drove in a run and matched his career high with three hits, and Todd Wellemeyer (3-1) pitched five shutout innings.

Four relievers finished the five-hit shutout, St. Louis' first at home this season and third overall. Duncan also hit an RBI single in the seventh.

Barry Bonds went 0-for-3 in his final game of the first half and remained at 751 home runs.

Pirates 6, Cubs 2

At Pittsburgh, Jason Bay, slumping for more than a month, hit a two-run home run off Chicago ace Carlos Zambrano while driving in four Pittsburgh runs, and left-hander Shane Youman held Chicago to two runs over six innings.

The Cubs were one of the majors' hottest teams with 11 wins in 13 games before dropping two of three to the Pirates, who go into the All-Star break off a modest surge of four consecutive series victories and five wins in six games against division rivals Chicago and Milwaukee.

Zambrano (10-7) limited the Pirates to four hits over seven innings but still lost.

In other NL action it was:

* Nationals 7, Brewers 2

* Reds 4, D'backs 3, 11 innings

* Astros 8, Mets 3

* Phillies 8, Rockies 4

* Dodgers 9, Marlins 3
This story has been viewed 818 times.