Roger Clemens won his fourth straight start with another dominant road performance, and Jason Lane's three-run homer capped the Houston Astros' eighth-inning rally for an 8-1 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Sunday.
Clemens (11-4) earned his 339th career win and lowered Major League Baseball's lowest ERA to 1.38 with seven innings in the first appearance of his career in San Francisco.
Houston's 43-year-old right-hander allowed an unearned run in the first, but didn't let another runner reach third base while improving to 7-1 in his last 11 starts.
PHOTO: AFP
Cardinals 5, Braves 3
In St. Louis, David Eckstein hit a game-winning grand slam off Chris Reitsma with one out in the ninth inning to rally the Cardinals.
Eckstein hit his fourth career grand slam and the second game-winning home run of his career on a 1-0 pitch from Reitsma (3-3), who had entered the game with nine straight saves. Eckstein also doubled, walked twice and stole a base.
Mets 6, Cubs 1
In New York, Victor Zambrano pitched eight strong innings, David Wright drove in three runs and New York finished a three-game sweep.
Cliff Floyd hit his 26th homer for the Mets, who won for the 10th time in 13 home games and handed Chicago its fifth straight loss and ninth in 12 games.
Carlos Beltran scored three times for New York, while Floyd had three hits and reached safely all four times up. Jose Reyes extended his hitting streak to a career-best 20 games, the longest current run in the majors.
Victor Zambrano (6-9) allowed one run and five hits.
Carlos Zambrano (8-5) left after three innings because of tightness in his lower back. He gave up two earned runs and four hits.
Al Leiter won for the second time since returning to New York, and Alex Rodriguez homered and had three hits as the Yankees defeated the Blue Jays 6-2.
Leiter (2-3) gave up four hits in 5 2-3 scoreless innings, walking four and striking out two in his fifth start with New York.
Mariano Rivera got the final out with runners on first and second to earn his 29th straight save.
Red Sox 11, Twins 7
In Minneapolis, Manny Ramirez went 4-for-4 with a homer and three RBIs, Tim Wakefield pitched eight innings, and Boston beat Minnesota to avoid a three-game sweep.
Ramirez doubled in a run in a five-run first, when the Red Sox batted around and tied a season high with six hits in the inning against Joe Mays (5-7), who had his worst start of the year.
Mays yielded a career-high 13 hits in 4 2-3 innings and tied season highs by allowing eight runs -- seven earned. He has not won in six starts since July 3.
White Sox 3, Mariners 1
In Chicago, Jon Garland earned his 16th win, Paul Konerko and Joe Crede homered, and center fielder Aaron Rowand preserved the lead with a spectacular catch.
The White Sox's major league-high 72nd victory came on the day they unveiled a life-sized statue of No. 72, Hall of Fame catcher Carlton Fisk. Chicago won two of three against the Mariners to finish their six-game homestand.
Garland (16-5) -- the AL leader in victories -- allowed a run and five hits in 7 1-3 innings, struck out three and walked two.
Angels 10, Devil Rays 4
In Anaheim, California, Casey Kotchman had his first career grand slam and homered twice, and Los Angeles kept a share of first place in the AL West Division with a victory over Tampa Bay.
Bartolo Colon (14-6) allowed two runs and seven hits in seven innings. He struck out six.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
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Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
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