Major League Baseball
Mets squeeze past Dodgers NEW YORK (AP) – David Wright went 3-for-3, including a go-ahead, two-run single, and Orlando Hernandez allowed one earned run in seven innings to lift the New York Mets to a 3-2 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday.
New York won for the second time in three games against the Dodgers in the matchup of NL division leaders. The Mets lowered their magic number for clinching the East to five, while Los Angeles maintained a 11/2-game lead over San Diego, which lost to San Francisco 5-4 in 11 innings Saturday.
Giants 5, Padres 4
SAN FRANCISCO – Barry Bonds hit his 731st career home run and Mark Sweeney drove in Ray Durham with a fielder’s choice in the 11th inning to lift the Giants to the win.
Bonds pulled within 24 of tying home run king Hank Aaron’s record 755 with a two-run drive over the wall in right-center off San Diego’s David Wells with two outs in the first inning.
Braves 7, Cubs 3
ATLANTA – Adam LaRoche, Brian McCann and Andruw Jones homered for the Braves to back the solid pitching of Chuck James.
Atlanta has a 5-0 record this season against the last-place Cubs, who have totally fallen apart down the stretch by losing 17 of 20. Chicago hasn’t won at Turner Field since April 11, 2004, losing six straight.
Marlins 4, Phillies 3
MIAMI – Cody Ross singled in pinch-runner Eric Reed with one out in the 10th inning to lead the Marlins to the win.
Dan Uggla homered and drove in three runs for Florida, which moved within 21/2 games of the NL wild card-leading San Diego. Hanley Ramirez went 3-for-4 with a walk, stole two bases and scored a run.
Yankees 3, Orioles 2
BALTIMORE – Chien-Ming Wang pitched effectively into the eighth inning to earn his 17th victory, and Derek Jeter had two hits and an RBI to help the New York Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles 3-2 Saturday.
Wang (17-5) allowed one run and eight hits in 7 1-3 innings, striking out one and walking none. He permitted only one runner past second base despite retiring the side in order just twice.
Twins 2, Tigers 1
MINNEAPOLIS – Boof Bonser brought Minnesota a little bit closer in the tightening three-team race in the AL Central.
Bonser struck out five and allowed only five hits in seven strong innings, leading the Twins over the Tigers that closed the gap in the standings to three games.
White Sox 10, Indians 8
CHICAGO – Paul Konerko homered twice and Jon Garland pitched six innings to help the White Sox beat Cleveland.
Garland yielded five hits and one run for his 17th victory, tying Minnesota’s Johan Santana and the Yankees’ Chien-Ming Wang for the major league lead.
Devil Rays 9, Athletics 6
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Rocco Baldelli and Carl Crawford had RBI singles during a tiebreaking three-run sixth inning as Tampa Bay beat the AL West-leading Athletics.
Tampa Bay took a 7-5 lead on the hits by Baldelli and Crawford off Esteban Loaiza (9-8). Ty Wigginton extended the advantage to 8-5 with a bases-loaded walk off reliever Chad Gaudin.