Rockies Roll Mets; Santana Strums Yankees

American League Cleveland 4 Detroit 6 - The Tigers snapped the Indians' 6-game winning streak and clawed back to within 2 games in the AL Central. Ivan Rodriguez and Carlos Guillen each had run-scoring triples in the game. Minnesota 6 NY Yankees 2 - The Yankees had won two straight from the Twins, so it was up to Minnesota's ace, Johan Santana (right) to quell the uprising, and he did, with 7 innings of 4 hit work, allowing only 2 earned runs while striking out 5. Santana got win #10 against 5 losses and kept Minnesota 7 12 behind the Indians and 5 1/2 behind 2nd-place Detroit in the AL Central. The Twins will have ample opportunity to make up some of that ground later this month as they play a series at home against the Tigers and visit Cleveland late in July for a 3-game set. Seattle 4 Kansas City 0 - Jarrod Washburn (8-6) hurled 8 innings of shutout ball and J.J. Putz finished the game with a perfect 9th for his 25th save of the season, getting manager John McLaren his first win as manager of the Mariners. Coupled with the Angels' loss at Texas, Seattle has drawn to within 3 1/2 games of LA in the AL West. Other AL Scores Tampa Bay 5 Boston 7 - Boston leads AL East by 11 1/2 Toronto 10 Oakland 3 - D. McGowan, W (5-4) 7 IP, 4 H, 0 ER Baltimore 9 Chi White Sox 6 LA Angels 2 Texas 4 National League NY Mets 7 Colorado 17 - David Wright blasted a 3-run homer in the top of the first to give the Mets an early lead, but it didn't last long as Colorado scored in every inning from the 2nd through the 8th, hammering out 20 hits and getting 10 free passes from Mets' pitchers. The Rockies accomplished the unthinkable - sweeping both the Mets and the Yankees in the same season. Todd Helton and Garrett Atkins both tallied 5 RBI in the game and Matt Holliday boosted his league-leading average to .352 with 3 hits in 3 at-bats while being the recipient of 3 walks. The schizophrenic Rockies, who went 11-3 from June 6-21, then lost 8 straight, have bounced back to win four of their last five. They are still in the NL West mix, in 4th place, 7 games behind San Diego. San Francisco 9 Cincinnati 5 - If rookie Fred Lewis (right) could get more playing time, fans might just forget all about Barry Bonds and his steroid-induced assault at Hank Aaron's home run record. Lewis cracked his second grand slam homer of the season. In just 99 at-bats, he's already hit for the cycle in one game and won two others with bases-loaded long balls. At .291, Lewis could easily challenge for rookie of the year honors with more plate appearances, but, as we all sadly know, this season is supposed to be all about Barry, so, step aside, youngster, there's history being made. (Meanwhile, Giants fans are drooling over the kids obvious skills.) Philadelphia 8 Houston 3 - With the Mets stumbling at Colorado, the Phillies have fought back to within 4 games of New York and are just a game behind Atlanta in the NL East, where it's beginning to look like an all-or-nothing proposition as the wild card will almost surely come from the Western division. The Phils banged out 4 homers against the Astros, including Ryan Howard's 20th. The Phils have their work cut out for them, with three games at the suddenly-hot-again Rockies, then, after the All-Star break tree at home against St. Louis followed by 3 at LA and 4 at San Diego. Should the Phillies survive that stretch, they may be in position for another run at the Amazins' and perennial NL East contender Atlanta. Florida 0 San Diego 1 - Chris Young stopped Florida on 5 hits over 7 innings, but the Padres waited until the bottom of the 9th to score when the Miguel to Miguel connection came up empty. With the bases loaded, Kevin Kouzmanoff grounded to Miguel Cabrera at third, who threw home to Miguel Olivo. Olivo couldn't handle the throw and dropped the ball, allowing Mike Cameron to score. The Padres took a 1-game lead on the Dodgers, who lost to Atlanta. Other NL Scores Chi Cubs 0 Washington 6 - M. Chico, W (4-5), 7 IP, 4 H, 0 ER Arizona 4 St. Louis 5 Milwaukee 3 Pittsburgh 5 Atlanta 5 LA Dodgers 2

Lackey Leads Majors With 9th Win; Rookie Lewis Slams Phils

American League LA Angels 3 Baltimore 2 - John Lackey (right) became the majors' first 9-game winner as he and the Angels ended the O's 6-game winning streak Friday at Anaheim. Lackey (9-3) gave up 5 hits and 2 earned runs over 7 1/3 innings and the Angels' bullpen did the rest. Francisco Rodriguez picked up his league-leading 19th save. The Angels lead Seattle by 5 1/2 in the West. Chicago White Sox 3 Toronto 0 - Javier Vazquez allowed just 6 hits over 8 innings to even his record at 3-3 and Bobby Jenks worked the 9th to get his 15th save as the Sox ended their 5 game skid amid hopes that June would turn out better. Chicago ended May with a 12-14 record and are in danger of falling out of the AL Central and Wild Card races. Any ground they make up in June will be against non-divisional opponents. The Sox play only two games at the end of the month against any teams in the AL Central, and those are against last place Kansas City. NY Yankees 9 Boston 5 - The Yankees took the first of a 3-game series at Boston, and now trail the Red Sox by only 12 1/2 games. The Yanks beat up on knuckleballer Tim Wakefield (5-6), who couldn't locate his pitches, allowing 5 hits, 6 walks and 8 earned runs over just 3 2/3rds innings.

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Jorge Posada led the effort with a pair of doubles and 3 RBI. His .358 batting average leads the league. Boston's Kevin Youkilis went 1-3 to keep his 23-game hitting streak going. Cleveland 12 Detroit 11 - In five tries, the Tigers haven't beaten the Indians this year, but they came close Friday night, carrying a 4-run lead into the bottom of the 9th with closer Todd Jones looking to finish off the Tribe. Things didn't quite go right from there, however, as Cleveland scored 5 runs in the frame and extended their AL Central lead to 4 1/2 days over Detroit. The Indians are 19-4 at home. This game was an offensive showcase, with the two teams combining for 31 hits. Cleveland's Victor Martinez had two of the bigger ones - a pair of 2-run homers - with one coming in the decisive 9th inning. Martinez' 4 RBI gave him 48, 2 behind the Tigers' Magglio Ordonez, who leads the AL. Other AL Scores Kansas City 4 Tampa Bay 1 - B. Bannister (W, 1-3) 8 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K Minnesota 3 Oakland 2, 10 innings - Twins 4th straight W Texas 9 Seattle 8 - I. Suzuki, 2-5, 3 R, 25-game hitting streak National League Atlanta 8 Chicago Cubs 5 - Unfortunately, the best action in this game occurred in the Chicago clubhouse. Carlos Zambrano, lifted after 5 innings, got into it with his catcher, Michael Barrett, sending Barrett to the hospital with a reported pair f black eyes and a split lip. Zambrano had complained to Barrett about his fielding, after a passed ball and throwing error added to the day's frustration. Of course, Zambrano (5-5) might just as well punched himself out after allowing 13 hits, 2 walks and 6 earned runs without a strikeout. Manager Lou Piniella promised that both players would be reprimanded. MLB will certainly impose fines as well. Both of these players richly deserve some bench time. Zambrano is hoisting around a 5.62 ERA and Barrett isn't exactly scorching the record books with his .241 batting average. San Francisco 13 Philadelphia 0 - Matt Morris gave up just one hit over 6 innings to go to 6-2 as the Giants stormed into Philly for the first of a 4-game series. Ray Durham and Pedro Feliz each cracked 3-run homers, but rookie Fred Lewis (right) outdid them both with a grand slam. Lewis also singled and scored 3 times in 5 at-bats. A leading early candidate for Rookie of the Year honors, Lewis hit for the cycle earlier this season. In 18 games, he's batting .268 with 2 homers, 12 RBI and 2 steals. The Phillies, after getting over the .500 mark for the first time all season, have promptly lost 4 straight to drop back to 26-28. Arizona 5 NY Mets 1 - Brandon Webb kept the Mets at bay on 4 hits - the lone run was unearned - over 8 innings as the Diamondbacks won their 8th straight and remain deadlocked with the Dodgers atop the NL West. Webb (5-3) walked just one batter and struck out 8. Shortstop Stephen Drew put the game out of reach with a 3-run blast in the 8th. For the Mets, Jose Reyes stole his league-leading 30th base and Julio Franco stole his 2nd, leading all 48-year-olds in that - and every other - department. Other NL Scores Washington 4 San Diego 3, 10 innings - C. Guzman, 4-5, 3 R; D. Young, 4-4, 2 RBI LA Dodgers 5 Pittsburgh 4 - Dodgers share 1st in West with D-Backs St. Louis 8 Houston 1 - Cards plate 7 in top of 9th Milwaukee 8 Florida 5 - F. Cordero, 20th Save leads majors Cincinnati 4 Colorado 2 - Ken Griffey Jr., HR (12), career #575

SF's Lewis Hits for Cycle; DeJesus Leads Royals to 11-1 Win

Sunday's Peak Performers and Fabulous Flops American League David DeJesus (right) doubled twice and stroked a pair of singles in 6 at-bats to help the Kansas City Royals to their most lopsided win of the season, an 11-1 decision over the White Sox in Chicago. DeJesus, one of the few bright spots for the otherwise dismal Royals, is batting .292 out of the leadoff spot. On Sunday, he drove in 2 runs and scored 3 times, more than enough needed by starter Jorge de la Rosa, who allowed just one run on 3 hits and 3 walks over 7 innings to improve his record to 4-3. The 11 runs scored by the Royals matched their season high from April 20, an 11-7 win over Minnesota. Jack Cust capped a 5-run 9th-inning rally with a 3-run homer to give the Oakland A's a 10-7 win over visiting Cleveland. The game-ending blast was his 5th home run in the last 4 games and 6th in 7 games total since joining the A's. Cust also doubled and scored in the 4th inning. Cust has 9 hits in 26 at-bats (.346), 7 of which have been for extra bases. Boston 6 Baltimore 5 - the Red Sox scored all 6 of their runs in the bottom of the 9th inning, capped off when O's reliever Chris Ray dropped the toss from Kevin Millar on Julio Lugo's grounder, which would have been the final out, but instead allowed Jason Varitek and Eric Hinske to score the tying and winning runs. The win gave Boston 2 of 3 in their home series against Baltimore and put them 8 games up on both the O's and Yankees. The Twins weren't about to let Detroit embarass them with a sweep at home, especailly not on national TV and Torii Hunter (right) made extra sure it didn't happen, leading Minnesota to a monstrous 16-4 beating of the Tigers. Hunter hit a 3-run homer in the 1st, doubled in a pair in the 4th and blasted a 2-run bomb in the 7th inning to account for a 3-5, 7 RBI night with 2 runs scored. Hunter, who had a 23-game hitting streak snapped on May 10, is batting .324 with 8 homers and 29 RBI through 35 games. Other AL Scores Tampa Bay 2 Toronto 1 - J. Seo (W, 2-3) 7 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 7 K Texas 7 LA Angels 6 Seattle 2 NY Yankees 1 National League Just called up this past Thursday when Dave Roberts was put on the 15-day DL, rookie Fred Lewis (right) hit for the cycle Sunday, going 5 for 6, driving in 4 runs and scoring 3 times as the San Francisco Giants slaughtered the Rockies, 15-2, to split their 4-game series in Colorado. Lewis led off the game with a double and scored on a balk. He then homered with two aboard in the 4th inning, tripled to drive in another run in the fifth, and singled twice in the 7th, scoring once again. Each of Lewis' extra base hits were his first of the season and the triple and homer the first of his major league career. Lewis played in 13 games last season for the Giants, going 5-11. Today's totals made him 7-14 with 7 RBI and 5 runs scored. Not a bad start for a leadoff center fielder. Rafael Furcal went 4-4, including two doubles, stole a pair of bases, scored twice and drove in a run and Nomar Garcaiparra stroked 3 singles in 5 at-bats, drove in 3 runs and scored once as the LA Dodgers completed a 3-game sweep of the visiting Cincinnati Reds with a 10-5 win. NY Mets 9 Milwaukee 1 - Damion Easley went 3-5, including his 5th home run of the season (a 2-run shot), drove in 4 total and scored twice in support of the 2-hit pitching of Oliver Perez who struck out 6 over 8 1/3 innings and allowed a run on Bill Hall's 1-out homer in the 9th. Prior to that, the only hit off Perez (4-3) was by opposing pitcher Chris Capuano, who faced defeat for the first time this season (5-1). Rookie Justin Germano worked 7 innings, allowing just 3 hits as San Diego whitewashed the visiting St. Louis Cardinals, 3-0. Germano didn't allow a walk and struck out 3 in his second start of 2007. Called up to replace Clay Hensley in the Padres' rotation, Germano pitched 6 innings at Atlanta on May 8, gave up just 3 hits and a run, but did not figure in the decision as the Padres lost, 3-2. Both Perez, who came to New York via trade in 2006 from Pittsburgh, and Easley, acquired in the off-season from Arizona, have solidified the Mets and contributed to their success. Perez sports an ERA of 3.00 and has 43 Ks in 42 innings. Easley is batting a solid .283 and often bats in the pivotal #2 hole. In his last 4 games as a regular, he's 8-16 with a pair of homers. Pittsburgh's Chris Duffy went 3-4, stole his 6th base of the season, drove in 2 runs and scored 3 times as the Pirates throttled the visiting Atlanta Braves, 13-2. Other NL Scores Washington 6 Florida 4 - Nationals sweep 3-game series from Marlins Chicago Cubs 4 Philadelphia 1 - A. Soriano, 0-4, snaps 20-gm. hit streak Houston 5 Arizona 2