Major League Baseball
Santana pitches Twins past A’s, drops ERA to 2.60 MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Johan Santana allowed four hits and struck out eight in seven scoreless innings to lead Minnesota to a 5-3 victory over Oakland on Friday night.
Santana (11-6), the reigning AL Cy Young winner, is a 41-4 with a major league-leading 427 strikeouts in games played after the All-Star break since 2003.
The left-hander didn’t allow a runner past first base and retired 10 of the last 11 batters he faced to drop his ERA to 2.60.
Blue Jays 6, Red Sox 5
BOSTON – Alex Rios had three hits and drove in the go-ahead run for Toronto, and Shaun Marcum survived a shaky start to win for the first time in nearly a month.
Rios and Reed Johnson hit consecutive RBI doubles in the sixth inning to erase a 5-4 deficit and help the Blue Jays snap a four-game losing streak to the Red Sox.
After allowing all five of his runs in the first three innings, Marcum (5-3) settled down to earn his first win since June 16, and improve to 4-1 since joining the rotation on May 13.
Devil Rays 6, Yankees 4
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Scott Kazmir allowed four hits in six innings to outpitch Roger Clemens and earn his first win at home in more than a year.
Kazmir (6-6), an All-Star a year ago who then missed much of the second half because of an injury, yielded one unearned run and struck out seven. He won at Tropicana Field for the first time since pitching a two-hit shutout against Boston on July 3, 2006. He was 0-4 in 14 starts during the stretch of futility at home.
Orioles 2, White Sox 0
BALTIMORE – Erik Bedard allowed three hits over seven innings and Nick Markakis and Corey Patterson homered off Mark Buehrle to lead Baltimore.
Bedard (8-4) struck out seven to increase his AL-leading total to 156. The left-hander walked two and allowed only three runners past first base in extending his run of scoreless innings to 16.
Indians 5, Royals 4
CLEVELAND – Ryan Garko singled home the winning run with one out in the ninth inning for Cleveland.
Victor Martinez drove in two runs for the Indians, who improved baseball’s best home record to 32-12. Cleveland has won nine of its last 10 at Jacobs Field, where it plays 15 of its next 19 games.
Travis Hafner doubled with one out off Zach Greinke (4-5) in the ninth and was replaced by pinch-runner Mike Rouse. After an intentional walk, Garko lined the first pitch to center.
Reds 8, Mets 4
NEW YORK – Brandon Phillips hit a first-inning grand slam and drove in six runs to lead Cincinnati.
Phillips’ second slam in 11 days put John Maine in a four-run hole before he retired a batter. Phillips added an RBI double in the fifth and a run-scoring single in the sixth, matching his career high for RBIs.
That made it an easy night for Aaron Harang (10-2), who struck out eight in six innings to win his fifth straight decision.
Lastings Milledge homered late for the NL East leaders, who dropped to 3-7 in July.
Ryan Freel opened the game with a double, Norris Hopper reached on a bunt single and Ken Griffey Jr. walked to load the bases. Phillips drove the next pitch over the left-field fence for his 18th home run of the season and third career slam. He also hit a grand slam July 3 against San Francisco.
Maine (10-5) gave up a season-high seven runs – four earned – and six hits.
Cubs 6, Astros 0
CHICAGO – Carlos Zambrano allowed three hits over 6 2-3 innings and had two singles and an RBI as Chicago won for the 13th time in 17 games.
Zambrano (11-7) left with the bases loaded in the seventh. Carlos Marmol relieved and got Eric Munson on a fly ball to center.
The Astros, who committed four errors, made two on the same play in the fourth when the Cubs scored three runs off Jason Jennings (1-5).
Nationals 14, Marlins 10
MIAMI – Dmitri Young hit a three-run double to cap Washington’s six-run fourth inning.
Young drove in four runs for the Nationals, who set a season-high for runs and chased Florida starter Dontrelle Willis after 3 2-3 innings. Ronnie Belliard added three hits and Nook Logan scored four runs for Washington, which has won three straight and four of its last six.
Josh Willingham and Alfredo Amezaga each had three-run homers, and Mike Jacobs hit his sixth of the year for the Marlins.
Phillies 13, Cardinals 3
PHILADELPHIA – Kyle Kendrick had another effective outing and drove in two runs and Philadelphia stayed on 9,999 losses.
Chase Utley had a homer, four hits and three RBIs, and Greg Dobbs also had four hits for the Phillies, who had a season-high 23, four shy of the team record.
Albert Pujols of the Cardinals hit his 17th homer, his first since June 14.
Kendrick (4-0) has pitched at least six innings in all six of his starts and hasn’t allowed more than four earned runs.
Rockies 10, Brewers 6
MILWAUKEE – Troy Tulowitzki and Yorvit Torrealba hit two-run homers in a decisive fifth inning for Colorado.
Matt Holliday also homered and Todd Helton had a two-run double for Colorado, which won for the sixth time in seven games by scoring twice in the third, three times in the fourth and four times in the fifth.
Ryan Braun had two homers and drove in four runs for Milwaukee, which has lost six of seven and has seen its lead in the NL Central shrink to 31/2 games over Chicago.
Jeff Francis (9-5) gave up six runs and seven hits in five innings to win his fourth straight decision. He hit a two-run double in the fourth.
Carlos Villanueva (6-1) pitched three innings in relief and gave up five runs and three hits – all home runs.