Monroe Homer Leads Tigers; Thorman's Pair Powers Braves

Saturday's Peak Performers and Fabulous Flops American League Craig Monroe (right) blasted his 5th home run - a 2-run shot in the 5th inning - added a pair of singles and scored twice in 4 at-bats to lead the 1st place Detroit Tigers to an 8-2 win at Minnesota. The Tigers lead the AL Central by 1 1/2 over Cleveland and dropped the Twins to 4th place, 6 1/2 back. The Twins have lost 4 straight. Detroit has been on fire, winning 11 of their last 12 including their last 3 straight. Boston 13 Baltimore 4 - 9 different players drove in at least a run in Boston's rout of the O's at Fenway. The Sox lead the AL East by 7 games over the Orioles and Yankees and have won 8 of their last 10. Other AL Scores Chicago White Sox 5 Kansas City 4, 10 innings Cleveland 6 Oakland 3 - F. Carmona, (W, 4-1) LA Angels 6 Texas 3 - B. Colon, (W, 4-0) NY Yankees 7 Seattle 2 - D. Jeter, 3-5, .376 leads AL Toronto 5 Tampa Bay 4 National League Scott Thorman (right) socked a pair of home runs - a 3-run shot in the 2nd and a 2-run blast in the 9th - to lead the Atlanta Braves to a 9-2 win at Pittsburgh. Thorman, who's been getting regular playing time at 1st base, has decent power numbers, with 5 home runs and 19 RBI in just 82 at-bats. At 6'3", 235, he has the profile of a serious power hitter. Bradon Looper stifled the Padres on 3 hits and a walk over 7 innings to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 5-0 win at San Diego. Looper, a converted reliever, struck out 7 and lowered his ERA to 2.29. At 5-2 he's one of the few bright spots for the Cards, who are mired in the middle of the NL Central at 15-19, 9 games behind the Milwaukee Brewers. J. J. Hardy had just one hit in 4 at-bats, but it was a big one - an 8th inning grand slam to lead the Brewers to a 12-3 win at New York. Hardy's homer was his 11th of the season, tying him with Barry Bonds, Adam Dunn and teammate Prince Fielder. Hardy also drove in another run with a sac fly in the 9th. The Brewers are now 8 games ahead of Houston and Chicago in the NL Central. The Mets trail Atlanta by 1 1/2 in the East. Mike Lamb got the Astros on their way to a 10-4 home win over Arizona with a first-inning solo homer, later singled in another run and ended the day 3-5 with 3 runs scored. Lamb's effort helped starter Roy Oswalt improve to 6-2. Matt Holliday whacked a 3-run homer in the 1st inning and a solo shot in the 5th, both off starter Barry Zito and the Rockies cruised to a 6-2 win over visiting San Francisco. Holliday's 4 RBI tied him for 3rd in the NL. The Phillies placed 1st baseman Ryan Howard on the 15-day disabled list on Saturday, but his replacement, Greg Dobbs filled in just fine as the Phillies rallied to an 11-7 home win over Chicago. Dobbs rapped out 3 singles and a triple, went 4-4, scored 2 and drove in a pair. Catcher Carlos Ruiz went 3-3 with a 2-run homer, a double and a single, drove in 3, scored 2 and also put out 2 base runners at the plate on throws from right fielder Shane Victorino. Other NL Scores LA Dodgers 7 Cincinnati 3 - B. Penny (W, 5-0), 6 1/3 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1.39 ERA leads NL Washington 7 Florida 3 - R. Zimmerman, walk-off Grand Slam home run (2)