NATIONAL LEAGUE
REUTERS AND AP, ST LOUIS, MISSOURI,
AND CINCINNATI, OHIO
PHOTO: AFP
Matt Holliday drove in the winning run with two out in the ninth as the surging St Louis Cardinals rallied past the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-4 on Sunday.
Trailing 4-0, the Cardinals pushed across three runs in the bottom of the eighth to set the stage for some ninth inning drama.
Allen Craig tied the game on a two-out RBI single before Holliday singled home on a fly to earn St Louis a four-game sweep and their fifth consecutive win.
“Just a heck of an effort and it got better and better,” Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa told MLB.com. “Can’t give them enough credit for how they hung in there.”
Craig celebrated his 26th birthday by driving in three runs on two hits as the high-flying Cardinals moved to the top of National League Central standings.
Filling in for All-star Albert Pujols at first base, Craig sparked the rally with a one-out line drive double in the eighth scoring Brendan Ryan and Jon Jay, who had both reached on walks.
Randy Winn then singled in Craig to trim the Dodgers’ lead to 4-3.
Jeff Suppan (0-5) took the hill searching for his first win and produced his best performance of the season, pitching six solid innings for only one run from five hits. Reliever Ryan Franklin (4-1) pitched the ninth to take credit for the victory.
“I’ll tell you, he [Suppan] was very effective,” LaRussa praised. “Hopefully he will keep moving forward. He pitched very well.”
ROCKIES 1, REDS 0
Chris Iannetta homered off left-hander Travis Wood, who was coming off a nearly perfect performance and Aaron Cook got a breakthrough win on the road in the Colorado Rockies’ victory over the Cincinnati Reds.
Two of the National League’s top offenses had trouble on a hot, breezy afternoon.
Iannetta connected in the sixth, one of only three hits off Wood (0-1), the rookie who allowed only one hit over nine innings his last time out but got no decision.
Colorado salvaged the final game of the series behind Cook (4-5), who had been one of only four full-time NL starters without a road win this season. He’d been 0-5 away from Coors Field.
CUBS 11, PHILLIES 6
In Chicago, Roy Halladay hit Marlon Byrd twice and gave up two-run homers to Geovany Soto and Alfonso Soriano after each errant throw, sending Chicago over Philadelphia.
Byrd became the first Cubs player in 105 years to be hit by a pitch 16 times in a season and Chicago took advantage of a rare wild night for Halladay, winning three of four in its first series since the All-Star break.
Tom Gorzelanny (5-5) allowed three runs, two earned, and five hits in 6 2-3 innings. The left-hander walked five and struck out five while improving to 3-0 with a 3.06 ERA in his past three starts.
PADRES 6, DIAMONDBACKS 4
In San Diego, Chris Denorfia homered twice and had four hits and Everth Cabrera tripled in the go-ahead run moments before being ejected for a tussle with Mark Reynolds, as San Diego beat Arizona.
Both of Denorfia’s home runs were solo shots and his four hits matched a career high.
The win allowed the first-place Padres (54-37) to sweep Arizona and go 17 games over .500 for the first time this season. The Padres have won four straight and eight of 12.
Cabrera, who struck out his first two at-bats, tripled into the right-field corner off Edwin Jackson (6-8) in the sixth inning to score Denorfia and put San Diego ahead 4-3.
PIRATES 9, ASTROS 0
In Pittsburgh, Paul Maholm pitched a three-hitter for his second career shutout as Pittsburgh established a season high for hits for the second consecutive game.
Maholm (6-7) faced only two batters above the minimum in needing 103 pitches to throw his first shutout since April 24, 2007, against Houston.
Garrett Jones hit a two-run shot, the Pirates’ first multiple-run homer in five weeks, and Ronny Cedeno went 4 for 4 with three doubles. The Pirates had 19 hits a day after amassing 17.
In other NL play, it was:
• Mets 4, Giants 3 (10)
• Braves 11, Brewers 6
• Marlins 1, Nationals 0
AMERICAN LEAGUE
AP, CLEVELAND, OHIO
Jhonny Peralta’s flyball sent Detroit’s Ryan Raburn crashing through a bullpen door for an inside-the-park homer and Jeanmar Gomez won his major league debut as the Cleveland Indians beat the Tigers 7-2 victory on Sunday to complete a four-game sweep.
Gomez (1-0), called up from minor league side Columbus to make a spot start, allowed two unearned runs over seven innings.
With runners on first and second and two outs, Peralta hit a 1-1 pitch from Andy Oliver (0-4) toward the Cleveland bullpen.
Centerfielder Raburn tried for a leaping catch, but tumbled through the bullpen door. The ball caromed off the wall and by the time left fielder Brennan Boesch could retrieve it, Peralta, one of the slowest players on Cleveland’s roster, was chugging around the bases.
YANKEES 9, RAYS 5
In New York, Alex Rodriguez and the New York Yankees knocked around All-Star pitcher David Price, overcoming an early injury to Andy Pettitte with brilliant work by the bullpen to beat Tampa Bay.
Robinson Cano hit a two-run triple, Jorge Posada a two-run double and Rodriguez added his 598th home run for the Yankees, who took two of three in a series between the top two teams in baseball to move three games ahead of Tampa Bay in the AL East.
Five relievers picked up for Pettitte, who came out in the third inning because of a strained left groin. The 38-year-old All-Star was taken to New York-Presbyterian Hospital for an MRI, the team said.
Park Chan-ho (2-1) pitched 1 1-3 hitless innings for the win.
RANGERS 4, RED SOX 2
In Boston, C.J. Wilson struck out a career-high 10 batters and Texas capitalized on Boston’s throwing problems to beat the Red Sox.
The Rangers scored in the fourth when third baseman Adrian Beltre couldn’t handle catcher Dusty Brown’s throw as Nelson Cruz headed for the base.
They got another run in the fifth when Julio Borbon stole home after Brown threw to second where Andrus was trying to steal.
Wilson (8-5) worked 6 2-3 innings, allowing one run on three hits but walking five.
Jon Lester (11-4) pitched eight innings in the loss.
BLUE JAYS 10, ORIOLES 1
In Baltimore, Yunel Escobar hit his first career grand slam during a six-run second inning as Toronto completed a three-game sweep Baltimore.
Playing his third game with the Blue Jays since being traded by the Atlanta Braves, Escobar tied a career high with five RBIs and got three hits to increase his batting average with Toronto to .462.
He hit .238 with no homers in 75 games with Atlanta.
Escobar’s shot off rookie Brian Matusz (3-10) stretched Toronto’s major league-leading home run total to 140.
ATHLETICS 9, ROYALS 6
In Kansas City, Adam Rosales, Kevin Kouzmanoff and Jack Cust each went deep, and Vin Mazzaro (5-2) pitched into the eighth inning to help the Oakland finish a three-game sweep of Kansas City.
In other AL play, it was:
• Mariners 2, Angels 1 (10)
• Twins, 7, White Sox 6
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