Ken Griffey Jr became the sixth player in Major League Baseball history to hit 600 home runs on Monday.
The Cincinnati Reds outfielder homered off Florida Marlins lefty Mark Hendrickson in the first inning of the Reds’ 9-4 win. Griffey joined Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays and Sammy Sosa.
The 38-year-old homered with Jerry Hairston on third and one out.
The left-handed swinger launched a 3-1 pitch 413 feet into the right-field seats.
Griffey received a standing ovation from the crowd of 16,003 and responded by coming out of the Reds dugout and waving his helmet to the fans.
Controversy ensued in the stands following the home run. Justin Kimball, a 25-year-old from Miami, said he caught the home run ball, put it in a wool cap and then had the cap ripped from his hands.
Kimball said someone ran off with the ball.
Police said they had found the fan with the baseball and would look at video tape to see if Kimball’s claims could be supported.
However, the Marlins announced MLB authenticated the home run ball for a middle-aged male fan who would only give his first name as Joe.
Griffey ended the game 1-for-4 with a strikeout and an intentional walk. He exited in the middle of the eighth.
Griffey, one of MLB’s most prolific sluggers before injuries began to take their toll, started the season with 593 home runs.
His previous homer came on May 31.
Unlike Bonds and Sosa, Griffey has stayed clear of questions about whether he came by all of his homers legitimately. His name has never come up in MLB’s steroids scandal. Unlike Sosa, he’s never been caught using a doctored bat.
Although Junior is linked numerically with Hammerin’ Hank and the Babe, he has never been defined by the home run.
His game is so well-rounded that he was voted an All-Century outfielder with Seattle before his 30th birthday. By then, his backward cap and light-up smile were the face of baseball.
Pirates 5, Diamondbacks 3
The Pittsburgh Pirates took advantage of a rattled Randy Johnson and a reversed home run call to beat the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Johnson (4-3) limited the Pirates to six singles and struck out three in 5 2-3 innings but was hurt by three errors — including one by himself. He was also hurt by wildness; of the five batters he walked, four scored.
Zach Duke (4-4) gave up two runs, including one Mark Reynolds homer and nearly another, in six-plus innings.
Arizona manager Bob Melvin was ejected in the second by home plate umpire Jeff Kellogg, after Reynolds hit a ball that a fan leaned several feet over the railing to catch. It was initially called a home run before the umpires reversed the call, sending Reynolds to second with a double.
Giants 3, Nationals 2
At Washington, Ray Durham, Randy Winn and Bengie Molina had consecutive hits as San Francisco came alive in the fifth inning against a starter making a one-game visit from minor league Columbus.
Matt Cain (3-4) allowed one run and eight hits over 6 1-3 innings to get his first victory since May 13 for the Giants, who outscored the Nationals by a combined 22-4 to complete their first four-game sweep of the franchise since 1994.
Tyler Clippard (0-1), whose previous big league experience was a 3-1 record in six starts for the New York Yankees last year, allowed three runs and five hits with four walks and six strikeouts in four and a third innings in his Nationals debut.
San Francisco has won six of eight overall, and its seven-game road winning streak is its longest since 2003.
On Sunday, the Giants used a four-run fifth to chase Garrett Mock, who was making his major league debut because of an injury to Odalis Perez.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
AP, CHICAGO
Switch-hitter Nick Swisher homered from both sides of the plate and the Chicago White Sox completed a dominant four-game sweep, beating the Minnesota Twins 7-5 in the American League on Monday.
Paul Konerko hit a go-ahead home run as Chicago won its seventh straight game, all at home. The White Sox outscored the Twins 40-15 in the series.
The White Sox trailed 5-4 when Cabrera doubled against Matt Guerrier (3-2) to start a three-run rally in the seventh. Alexei Ramirez singled and Carlos Quentin tied it with a RBI grounder.
Konerko followed with his eighth home run of the season.
Royals 3, Yankees 2
At New York, Jose Guillen finished off his big series against New York in style, hitting a tiebreaking solo home run on an 0-2 pitch off longtime closer Mariano Rivera in the ninth inning to lift Kansas City.
Guillen went 9-for-16 in the four-game series with four homers and 10 RBIs, and also scored six runs to help the Royals gain a split.
Yasuhiko Yabuta (1-0) got Bobby Abreu to ground out with runners on first and second to end the eighth and earn his first major league win.
Mike Mussina, bidding to become the first 10-game winner in the AL, allowed two runs and seven hits in eight innings. He is 8-1 with a 3.11 ERA in his last 10 starts.
Mariners 3, Blue Jays 2
At Toronto, Miguel Cairo’s safety squeeze after Jason Frasor walked the bases loaded in the 10th inning lifted Seattle over Toronto.
Frasor (1-1) walked Raul Ibanez leading off the 10th.
Pinch-runner Willie Bloomquist stole second and Adrian Beltre struck. Frasor then intentionally walked Jose Lopez and walked Wladimir Balentien to load the bases.
Brian Wolfe came on to face Cairo, who bunted back to the mound, scoring Bloomquist.
Indians 8, Tigers 2
At Detroit, Ryan Garko and Kelly Shoppach both homered in the first two innings against Dontrelle Willis, helping Cleveland build an eight-run lead in a victory over Detroit.
The Indians kept Cliff Lee on the mound after a 57-minute rain delay in the fifth inning and he became the AL’s first 10-game winner. Lee (10-1) allowed two runs, six hits and two walks while striking out five over five innings.
Willis (0-1) gave up eight earned runs — matching a career high — three hits and five walks in one and a third innings.
He made his second start since going on the disabled list with a hyperextended right knee. In Willis’ last start, he didn’t give up a run, but walked five in four innings.
Rays 13, Angels 4
At Anaheim, California, Evan Longoria had a pair of solo homers and an RBI double, Dioner Navarro drove in four runs with four hits as Tampa Bay trounced the Angeles.
Edwin Jackson (4-5) allowed four runs and 10 hits in seven innings, striking out two and walking one. The right-hander is scheduled to begin serving a five-game suspension on June 13 for his part in a bench-clearing brawl with the Boston Red Sox tomorrow at Fenway Park.
Longoria, Willy Aybar and Navarro hit consecutive homers in the second inning off Joe Saunders (9-3), helping manager Joe Maddon get his first win in Anaheim as a big league manager after eight losses at the “Big A.”
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