Donnie Murphy who carried the big stick in Oakland's 11-2 romp over the Minnesota Twins.
Murphy, who has spent parts of the last two seasons with the A's but still qualifies as a rookie since he's never had more than 130 at-bats in a season, stroked a single and a pair of solo homers in 5 at-bats, scored three times and drove in four runs.
Notes: The Detroit Tigers are picking up steam quickly. After starting horribly (0-7), they've gone 10-6 and won their last four straight. On Thursday, Magglio Ordonez whacked a pair of homers and drove in four runs as the Tigers completed a three-game sweep over Texas with an 8-2 win. The Tigers still trail the White Sox by 3 games in the Central Division. Texas dropped their 7th straight, as did KC, 2-0 losers to Cleveland as Cliff Lee (left) improved to 4-0 with a 3-hit, complete game shutout. Lee struck out 9 and extended his scoreless innings streak to 21 innings.
National League
Leadoff hitters
aren't supposed to be big run-producers, but on Thursday Felipe Lopez singled in two runs in the 5th and knocked a grand slam in the 6th inning, blowing open a 3-3 tie and leading the Nationals to a 10-5 win over the stumbling Mets.
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For Lopez, it was his first home run of the season and the six RBI gave him 8 on the year.
Notes: Arizona continues to dominate the NL West, last night topping the Dodgers, 6-4, to improve their record against teams in their own division to 15-4. The D-Backs still hold a 6-game lead in the West. Other clubs doing well against teams in their own division are the Cubs (11-4), the Mets (10-6) and the Marlins (9-5).
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Justin Morneau (right) blasted a 2-run homer in the 4th inning and a 3-run shot in the 5th to lead the Minnesota Twins to a 7-1 win at Texas. Morneau, last season's AL MVP, also singled to go 3-4. Torii Hunter also added his 11th home run of the season, a 2-run job in the 8th in support of starter Johan Santana. The Minnesota ace worked 7 innings, allowing one earned run on Sammy Sosa's 10th homer. Santana gave up just 4 hits, walking 2 while striking out 13.
Jim Thome went 3-3 with a single, a 2-run double in the 2nd and a 3-run home run (7) in the 4th inning to lead the White Sox to a 10-4 win over visiting Oakland. The win was the 2nd straight for the Sox over the A's, who will complete their 3-game set on Wednesday. Thome, who spent most of May on the DL, has started the last 2 games at DH. The Sox have won 3 straight overall and trail Cleveland by 3 1/2 games in the hotly-contested AL Central.
Other AL Scores