Barry Bonds singled in three at-bats in what might be his farewell to the city where his major league career began as Pittsburgh left-hander Paul Maholm dominated as the Pirates beat the San Francisco Giants 3-1 in the first game of a doubleheader on Monday.
Bonds sat out the second game as the Giants won 10-3 behind Ryan Klesko's grand slam, their first victory against Pittsburgh in five games over four days.
Noah Lowry (13-7) gave up two runs and six hits over seven innings as the Giants avoided a rare occurrence: being swept in multiple-game series on consecutive days and in two cities. The Pirates finished off a three-game sweep in San Francisco by winning 5-0 on Sunday.
PHOTO: AP
Bonds, usually booed in Pittsburgh because of his playoff failures with the Pirates, received a brief standing ovation as he took the field in the bottom of the first. It was easily the warmest ovation that baseball's new home run king has received in the city where he played from 1986 to 1992.
Klesko's 10th career grand slam came in the sixth against Shane Youman (2-4), who is 0-4 since the All-Star break. The Pirates looked to be out of the inning when Daniel Ortmeier grounded to the mound with the bases loaded, but Josh Phelps -- catching for the first time since 2001 -- settled for the out at the plate and didn't make the throw to first. Klesko then homered on a 3-2 pitch.
Maholm (8-14), who would have become the majors' leader in losses if he had lost, checked the Giants on three hits in the opener. He went the distance for his second career complete game, and second this season. Maholm struck out four and walked none, needing only 91 pitches -- 61 of them strikes. The game lasted only 1 hour, 51 minutes.
Astros 4, Dodgers 1At Los Angeles, Jason Lane hit a two-run homer and Roy Oswalt won his fifth consecutive decision as Houston sent slumping Los Angeles to its ninth loss in 11 games.
Oswalt (13-6) gave up a run and six hits in eight innings with two walks and three strikeouts. The right-hander hasn't allowed more than one run in any start during his winning streak.
Chad Qualls pitched a perfect ninth for his third save in six chances.
Chad Billingsley (7-4) allowed four runs and six hits, struck out seven and walked four in losing his fourth consecutive outing.
Mark Ellis homered, Marco Scutaro drove in three runs and Chad Gaudin struck out a career-high nine, leading the Oakland Athletics to a 7-2 win over the Detroit Tigers on Monday.
The Tigers won the two previous games and had a chance to win a series for the first time since sweeping Minnesota from July 17 to July 19. Since then, they are 8-17.
The latest loss dropped Detroit into a first-place tie in the AL Central with idle Cleveland the day before traveling to play the Indians in a two-game series.
Detroit's Placido Polanco set a major league record for second baseman by playing his 144th straight game without an error, breaking the record set by Luis Castillo earlier this year while playing for Minnesota.
Ellis hit his 16th homer, tying an Oakland season record for second basemen, joining Davey Lopes (1983) and Jimmy Dykes (1921).
Gaudin (9-8) gave up two runs, four hits and two walks over six innings, winning for the first time since July 5. He was 0-5 with a 8.54 ERA in first six starts after the All-Star break.
Chad Durbin (7-5) gave up six runs -- five earned -- six hits and four walks in four innings.
Red Sox 2, Devil Rays 0
At Boston, Tim Wakefield held Tampa Bay hitless into the seventh inning and Julio Lugo had three hits for slumping Boston.
Wakefield (14-10) allowed two hits in eight innings, striking out six and walking two to improve to 18-2 lifetime against the Devil Rays. The only batter to reach second or third base was Carl Crawford, who spoiled the no-hit bid when he led off the seventh with a hard grounder between the first and second basemen.
Jonathan Papelbon pitched the ninth for his 28th save.
Yankees 7, Orioles 6
At New York, Melky Cabrera raced home on Derek Jeter's grounder in the ninth inning to lift New York over Baltimore.
Baltimore tied it in the top of the ninth against Mariano Rivera but couldn't stop streaking New York, which has won four straight and nine of 10.
Chad Bradford (1-5) hit Cabrera with a pitch with one out and pinch-hitter Jason Giambi then singled to right, advancing the speedy center fielder to third. Jeter followed with an infield tapper that Bradford couldn't bring in. Second baseman Brian Roberts rushed in to pick up the ball but Cabrera was already crossing home.
Bobby Abreu and Wilson Betemit hit home runs for New York, which stayed within four of AL East-leading Boston.
Royals 6, Blue Jays 2
At Kansas City, Missouri, Mark Teahen homered for the first time in more than two months and Kansas City took advantage of three Toronto errors.
Teahen, who led the Royals with 18 home runs last year, hit his sixth home run in the first inning, ending a drought of 250 at-bats without a homer. Teahen's previous home run was May 29 against Baltimore.
The Royals took advantage of fielding errors by Aaron Hill and Lyle Overbay in the third to score two unearned runs and grab a 3-2 lead. In the fifth inning, Hector Luna couldn't handle Pena's grounder to third, leading to an RBI single by Billy Butler.
Perez (7-11) worked out of a bases loaded jam in the fifth by striking out Frank Thomas to end the inning.
Mariners 4, Twins
At Seattle, Richie Sexson homered on the second pitch of the bottom of the ninth to give Seattle the win that put the Mariners a season-high 16 games over .500 (66-50).
Sexson, who had been struggling to keep his average above .200 until a recent surge, hit a 1-0 pitch from Matt Guerrier (1-4) for Seattle's first game-ending homer of the season.
Seattle remained one percentage point ahead of the New York Yankees in the wild card standings. The Mariners moved within three games of first-place Los Angeles in the AL West.
J.J. Putz (2-1) pitched a scoreless ninth for the win.
Jose Vidro had three hits, including an RBI single in the fifth off Johan Santana immediately after Minnesota had cut its deficit to 2-1. Sexson added a two-run double off the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner.
Santana allowed three runs and seven hits.
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