Sunday, August 19, 2007

Ortiz keeps Sox on top; Owings hits, pitches D-backs to victory

American League Detroit 2 NY Yankees 5 - Roger Clemens (5-5) stymied the Tigers, allowing only 2 earned runs on 10 hits over 6 innings, while fanning 8. The win kept New York 5 behind Boston in the AL East and 1/2-game behind Seattle in the wild card race. Cleveland 8 Tampa Bay 1 - Jake Westbrook won for the third time in his last four starts, giving up just 2 hits over 7 innings while his teammates built a healthy lead. Cleveland's won 3 straight and has a 1 1/2-game lead over Detroit in the AL Central. LA Angels 5 Boston 10 - David Ortiz (right) helped erase a 5-0 Angels lead with a grand slam in the Red Sox' 6-run 5th inning. Julio Lugo had already driven in a pair of runs in the inning, when Ortiz popped one into the right field stands. Chi White Sox 5 Seattle 7 - Seattle drew to within 2 games of the Angels in the Western division with their 2nd straight over Chicago. The series concludes on Sunday. The Mariners play a 3-game series at Minnesota and 4 at Texas before returning home for a three game showdown with the Angels, August 27-29. Other AL Scores Baltimore 5 Toronto 3 Texas 5 Minnesota 0 Kansas City 7 Oakland 3 National League Arizona 12 Atlanta 6 - The Diamondbacks have a found themselves a rookie who can hit with power. Micah Owings (right) went 4-5, with a single, double and a pair of homers, drove in 6 runs and scored 4 times against the Braves on Saturday. Oh, and he was the starting pitcher and got the win, by the way, allowing 3 hits - all 2-out solo homers - over 7 innings. Owings (6-6) struck out seven and walked none, but his performance at the plate overshadowed his mound work. The Diamondbacks won their 4th straight and are 12-4 in August. In a division that was a dead tight race between San Diego, Los Angeles and Arizona until just two weeks ago, the D-Backs have now sprinted ahead of the pack, opening up a 5-game bulge on the Padres and have left the slumping Dodgers (6-11 in August) for dead, 7 1/2 back. NY Mets 7 Washington 4 - Try as they like, nobody can catch the Mets in NL East. New York won for the 5th time in their last 6, as both Philadelphia and Atlanta lost. The Mets have a 4-game lead over the Phillies and lead Atlanta by 5 1/2. Luis Castillo hit his first home run of the season and first as a Met, drove in a pair of runs and scored twice. Castillo, brought over from Minnesota on July 31, has hit safely in 14 of 17 games with the Mets. Notable for making consistent contact, home runs are rare for the native of the Dominican Republic. His 24 career long balls have come in 1372 games for a ratio of 1 per 57 games. Barry Bonds need not worry. St. Louis 3 Chi Cubs 5 - Daryle Ward hoisted a grand slam over the ivy in center field and the Cubs scored all of their run in the 3rd inning, besting the Cardinals for the second straight day. The win kept the Cubs in first place, 12-game to the good over Milwaukee and 4 games better than St. Louis. Other NL Scores Philadelphia 6 Pittsburgh 11 San Francisco 4 Florida 3 Cincinnati 4 Milwaukee 8 - G. Jenkins, 3-run HR (19) Houston 3 San Diego 2 Colorado 7 LA Dodgers 4, 14 innings

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