Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Wigginton's 8 Straight; Philly's Gang of 5

American League Chi White Sox 5 Cleveland 6, 11 innings - Ryan Garko smacked a 2-run pinch-hit homer in the bottom of the ninth to tie it, then added a bloop single in the bottom of the 11th to send Jason Michaels home with the game winner. It was Cleveland's 28th come-from-behind win of the season. Toronto 2 NY Yankees 3, 10 innings - With their 4th straight win, the Yankees picked up another game on Boston and now trail the Red Sox by 8 games in the AL East. It wasn't the prettiest of wins for the Bombers, as Melky Cabrera scored the tying run on a balk in the 9th, and Robinson Cano singled home Alex Rodriguez with the game winner in the 11th. The Yankees stranded 12 runners, but A-Rod got his 90th RBI on a single in the 1st inning. Detroit 1 Minnesota 0 - Nate Robertson (W, 6-6), shut out the Twins on 3 hits over 7, and Todd Jones picked up his 24th save with a hitless 9th, keeping the Tigers a game clear of relentless Cleveland. Minnesota dropped to 7 behind in the division. LA Angels 3 Tampa Bay 8 - After going 4-4 against the Yankees on Sunday, Ty Wigginton (right) matched that with another 4-4 effort, tying the Tampa Bay record for most hits in consecutive plate appearances set by Aubrey Huff in 2004. The major league record for consecutive plate appearances with a hit is 12. Mike Higgins did it for Boston in 1938 and Walt Dropo matched it with Detroit in 1952. Other AL Scores Kansas City 9 Boston 3 - KC, 7-14 vs. AL East Texas 11 Oakland 4 - A's, 9 straight losses Baltimore 8 Seattle 3 - J. Gibbons, 2-5, HR (6), 5 RBI National League Philadelphia 15 LA Dodgers 3 - The top of the Phillies' lineup put a serious hurt on 5 Dodger pitchers Tuesday night. The Gang of Five - Jimmy Rollins, Shane Victorino, Chase Utley (left), Ryan Howard (right) and Aaron Rowand - knocked out 18 hits in 36 at-bats (.500), including 5 doubles, a triple and 3 homers. As a group, they drove in 11 runs and scored 12 times. Rowand went 5 for 6 with 3 doubles, 2 RBI and 3 scores; Howard banged out a pair of homers (23, 24), drove in 4 and scored twice; Victorino went 5 for 7, with 2 scores and 2 RBI. The loss didn't hurt the Dodgers too badly, as the Padres also lost, keeping LA a game in front. The Phillies failed to gain ground on the Mets, who beat San Diego. Philly trails the Mets by 5 and Atlanta by 2 1/2. Colorado 6 Pittsburgh 2 - The Rockies did benefit from the Phillies onslaught, picking up a game on all three teams in front of them in the West division. Colorado is now just 1 back of Arizona, 4 1/2 behind the Padres and 5 1/2 behind LA. Starter Josh Fogg (5-6) went 7 innings, allowing 2 runs on 5 hits. The Rockies' offense did the rest. NY Mets 7 San Diego 0 - Orlando Hernandez (W, 6-4) blanked the Padres on 2 hits over 7 innings and the Mets expanded their lead on Atlanta to 2 1/2 games. San Francisco 4 Chi Cubs 2 - Bonds watch: Last night, Barry Bonds sat out for the second night in a row, was called on to pinch hit and . Barry's definitely slowing down. After slugging 8 bombs in his first 20 games (pitchers obviously were testing their stuff), he hit just 9 over his next 62 games. This included homerless stretches of 14 games in May and 12 from late May into June. Currently, Barry's in an 0-21 funk and hasn't hit one out in his last 8 games. Looking ahead, Bonds better get busy. If he doesn't get his 4 to tie and 5 to break Aaron's record by the end of August, September doesn't figure to be any easier, with 18 games against Arizona, San Diego and Los Angeles, divisional foes with solid pitching staffs. Not only would Bonds be facing some of the top pitchers in the league, he'd likely be pressing, and that's never good. On the other hand, the divisional games are likely to be meaningful for his opponents, meaning that pitchers would be loathe to pitch around him. Barry turns 43 in a week (July 24). The Cubs loss dropped them to 4 1/2 behind Milwaukee in the NL Central race. Other NL Scores Houston 4 Washington 2 - H. Pence, 2-5, HR (12), .334 ba St. Louis 0 Florida 4 - Marlins use 6 pitchers for combined shutout Cincinnati 6 Atlanta 5 - B. Phillips, 3-5, 2 RBI, 10 RBI in last 5 games Arizona 2 Milwaukee 3 - D-Backs, 2-8 last 10

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