Baseball roundup
Holliday socks pair of homers as Rockies down Cardinals ST. LOUIS (AP) – Jeff Francis had another strong start and Matt Holliday hit two homers Monday night to lead Colorado to its fourth straight victory, 6-2 over St. Louis.
Francis (2-2) allowed six hits, struck out one and walked three in 7 2-3 innings. He had a scoreless streak of 14 2-3 innings snapped when Hector Luna singled home a run with two outs in the eighth.
Holliday was 3-for-4 and scored three runs. He hit both homers leading off innings against Cardinals starter Jason Marquis (3-4) and has nine this season.
Brad Hawpe singled twice and drove in three runs for the Rockies (20-13), who moved seven games over .500 for the first time since July 7, 2000, when they were 45-38.
Marquis, who has lost his last four decisions, gave up 10 hits and six runs in six innings.
Blue Jays 5, Angels 1
TORONTO – Roy Halladay pitched a four-hitter and Bengie Molina and Alex Rios homered to lead Toronto over struggling Los Angeles.
The Angels have lost nine of 11. They managed just two hits in a 3-1 loss to the Blue Jays on Sunday.
Halladay (4-1) didn’t allow a hit until Tommy Murphy led off the sixth with a double. One batter later, Orlando Cabrera hit an RBI single to cut the Toronto lead to 5-1.
Halladay improved to 3-0 in four starts since missing time due to a right forearm strain in mid-April, and he appeared to have a little more velocity on his pitches in his latest outing. The 2003 AL Cy Young winner struck out a season-high five and walked one for the 21st complete game of his career and the first of the season for Toronto.
Angels starter Jeff Weaver (1-5) didn’t allow a hit until Lyle Overbay singled in the fifth. Eric Hinske followed with an RBI double to give the Blue Jays a 1-0 lead. Shea Hillenbrand fouled out but Molina then hit a two-run homer, stomping on home plate when he scored against his former team.
Rangers 6, Twins 4
ARLINGTON, Texas – Hank Blalock went 4-for-4 and John Koronka allowed seven hits in 6 1-3 innings for the Rangers.
Texas finished with 13 hits against three Minnesota pitchers.
Koronka (4-1) allowed three runs in his 10th major league start, seventh with the Rangers this season. He struck out one and walked two.
Akinori Otsuka allowed one run in the ninth and earned his fourth save in four chances.
Twins starter Brad Radke (3-4) had a rough outing, allowing six runs and 11 hits in five innings.
Luis Castillo had three RBIs for the Twins.
Royals 4, Indians 3
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Doug Mientkiewicz drove in two runs and John Buck hit his first homer of the season for Kansas City.
Mike Wood (3-0) gave up three hits in 4 1-3 shutout innings in relief of Denny Bautista, who gave up four hits and two runs in three-plus innings in his first start since going on the disabled list April 14 with a sore right pectoral muscle. Ambiorix Burgos got the last four outs for his fifth save.
Mientkiewicz gave the Royals a 2-1 lead in the first with a two-run single.
Buck led off the fifth with a homer and went 2-for-3 to raise his batting average to .217.
Paul Byrd (4-3) went seven innings, allowing nine hits and four runs, three earned, for Cleveland.