American League
Josh Hamilton belted four home runs and added a double, going 5-for-5 with eight RBI and four runs scored as the Rangers blasted the Orioles, 10-3, their second straight win at Camden Yards and 12th road win against five losses.
Hamilton's shots were all of the two-run variety; Elvis Andrus was on base for each of his towering shots. Three went to straightaway center, with one lifted over the wall in left.
It was the first time any player had hit four homers in one game since Carlos Delgado did it for Toronto on September 25, 2003, in a win over Tampa Bay. He becomes the 16th player to hit four homers in a game. With his double in the fifth inning, Hamilton's 18 total bases are a new American League record. The eight RBI are a career best for the Texas center fielder. He had never hit more than two homers in a game prior to Tuesday's prodigious, historic feat.
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| Hamilton: 4HR 8RBI |
With a .406 batting average and 36 RBI, Hamilton leads the three batting triple crown categories.
The 20-10 Rangers have the best record in the majors, leading Oakland by four games in the West. They've outscored the Orioles 23-6 in the first two games of the series and on Wednesday will go for the sweep.
Despite the loss, the Orioles remained tied for first place in the AL East with Tampa Bay, 5-3 losers to the Yankees on Tuesday.
National League
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| Beltran: 2HR GS 6RBI |
The Cardinals took their second straight from the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday, as Jake Westbrook turned in another valuable performance from the mound and Carlos Beltran provided more than enough offense in the 6-1 victory.
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| Jake Westbrook |
Westbrook shut down the D'Backs on four hits over seven innings before turning the ball over to the relief staff with a healthy 6-0 lead. Fanning eight and walking two, Westbrook improved to 4-2, dropping his ERA to 1.76, 8th-best among NL starters.
For Beltran, both of his hits came in the first two innings and both were home runs. The Cardinal right fielder socked his 9th homer in the first inning, then smacked a grand slam in the second for his 10th, his six RBI all the Cards needed for the win. Beltran is tied for second in the league with the Reds' Jay Bruce. Matt Kemp leads with 12. Beltran's slam was the 10th of his career.
St. Louis leads the NL Central by 3 1/2 games over Cincinnati and look for the sweep in Arizona Wednesday night.
Seattle 9 Texas 4 - The Mariners scored 7 times in the 6th inning, keyed by Ichiro Suzuki's (right) bases-loaded double. Suzuki went 3-5 and drove in 3 runs, raising his batting average to .352, just .001 behind Detroit's Magglio Ordonez for the major league batting lead. Suzuki is just 15 hits shy of the 200 mark, a number he's hit in all six of his previous seasons with the Mariners.
The Mariners, 14-6 during August, have closed to within one game of the LA Angels, who have led the division nearly the entire season. After 3 more games at Texas, Seattle heads home for a three-game series with the Angels.
Other AL Scores
Atlanta 7 Cincinnati 9, 12 innings - Adam Dunn (right) launched his 35th moon shot into the right field stands, sending Atlanta to their 3rd straight defeat and taking the series 3 games to 1. The Braves have lost 6 of their last 8 and are in danger of falling out of both the divisional and wild card races. They currently trail the Mets by 6 games and San Diego by 3 in the wild card.
Other NL Scores
LA Dodgers 5 Philadelphia 2
Pittsburgh 5 Colorado 1
Chi Cubs 1 San Francisco 4 - Cubs hold 1/2-game lead in NL Central
Washington 7 Houston 6
Florida 11 St. Louis 3
The Angels maintained their 4-game bulge over Seattle in the West, but the Red Sox are now just 5 games to the good over the charging New York Yankees.
NY Yankees 9 Toronto 2 - The Bombers won their fifth straight and 8th of their last nine. Since the All-Star break, New York has been on a 20-7 tear, and are closer to the Sox than they've been since April 25.
Both benches emptied twice, in the third, when Josh Towers plunked Alex Rodriguez, and again in the seventh, after Roger Clemens nailed Alex Rios in the back. Both Clemens and manager Joe Torre were ejected and both face possible suspensions. Clemens took the win (4-5), allowing just 2 hits and one earned over 6 innings. The Rocket fanned six. Bobby Abreu singled and tripled, driving in four runs. The Yankees look for the 3-game sweep tonight in Toronto.
Seattle 10 Baltimore 3 - Raul Ibanez socked a pair of homers, doubled, and drove in four runs as the Mariners stayed alive in both the AL West and wild card races, trailing the Angels by 4 and Detroit by 1 game.
Cleveland 2 Chi White Sox 1 - Jake Westbrook returned for his second straight solid performance, allowing 2 hits and 1 earned run over 8 innings. Westbrook, recently off the DL, shut out Texas over 6 innings on Aug. 2 and looks to be fully recovered after spending most of May and June nursing injuries. His presence on the mound will be important down the stretch for the Indians, who currently hold a 1/2-game lead over Detroit in the Central division.
Other AL Scores
Minnesota 1 Kansas City 5
Oakland 6 Texas 8
Tampa Bay 6 Detroit 9
National League
Atlanta 7 NY Mets 3 - The Braves crept to within 3 1/2 games of the Mets with a big win in the series opener in New York. Jeff Francoeur went 4-5 with a pair of doubles and a 3-run homer, driving in 3 and scoring twice.
Florida 1 Philadelphia 11 - Ryan Howard (right) drilled a couple of balls into the stands Tuesday, giving him 32 homers on the season, one behind NL leader Prince Fielder. Howard's 3 RBI gave him 93, and the National League lead. The Phillies are 1/2-game behind Atlanta and 4 back of New York.
Milwaukee 4 Colorado 11 - Todd Helton cracked a pair of home runs and drove in four as the Rockies caught the slumping Dodgers for 3rd place in the NL West, 4 behind Arizona.
San Diego 4 St. Louis 0 - Jake Peavy (12-5) blanked the Cardinals on 3 hits over 7 innings, getting the Padres back to just a game behind Arizona.
Pittsburgh 8 Arizona 3 - Tom Gorzelanny (10-5) gave up just 2 runs on 4 hits while striking out 9 in 7 innings, handing the Diamondbacks only their 3rd home loss in 11 games since the All-Star break.
Washington 8 San Francisco 6 - Barry Bonds took a 3-2 pitch from Mike Bacsik and deposited it in the right field stands. Home run #756 had finally arrived and for a night at least, everyone was gushing with praise for Barry Bonds.
The laudatory sentiments expressed by Hank Aaron (who appeared in a special pre-taped scoreboard video), MLB Commissioner Bud Selig, who was not in attendance, and sportswriters around the world, are, frankly, some of the most hypocritical mutterings ever seen and heard, even in this twisted media-driven world.
After years of divisive commentary over Bonds' supposed use of performance-enhancing drugs, the media is suddenly gushing with praise for the new home run "king", trotting out such phrasing as, "the drugs don't hit the ball", and "breaking the record took years of effort and hard work," or, "he only hit more than 50 once."
Balderdash. The media attempts at justification for Bonds' behavior and his record-breaking are hollow and cynical. Sure, he only hit more than 50 once, but that year - 2001 - he hit 73! And he followed that up with seasons of 46, 45 and 45, playing in 143, 130 and 147 games, respectively. Prior to 2000, when he knocked 49 in just 143 games, Bonds had only cracked the 45 mark once, in 1993, when he had 46.
The argument that Bonds committed himself to the gym and a serious conditioning program after 1999 overlook the fact that Bonds admitted to using performance-enhancers, saying he was unaware that HGH or steroids were in the cream he was using. If Bonds had played the game within the rules, last night's home run might have been #625 or 650, which would have been a grand accomplishment, though apparently not big enough for the vastness of Bonds' overgrown ego.
So, now it's done, and the world can get back to baseball. The final chapters to the Barry Bonds saga have yet to be written. He may still be indicted for lying to a grand jury or maybe Greg Anderson, Bonds' one-time trainer, who still is in prison for refusing to testify, may break his silence. Maybe Bud Selig, the real criminal in all of the steroid mess for not cracking down sooner, will strip Bonds of 100 home runs or instruct statisticians to put an asterisk next to the record.
Time will tell.
Other NL Scores
LA Dodgers 0 Cincinnati 4
Chi Cubs 2 Houston 5
Texas 0 Cleveland 5 - The Indians liked what Jake Westbrook (2-6, right) did on Thursday, hurling 6 innings of shutoff ball on 5 hits. His best performance of the season may be a sign that he is coming around to last season's form, when he posted 15 wins. This season, injury kept him sidelined for most of May and June, and when he returned, he was largely ineffective, posting 4 losses and 3 no decisions in his 7 starts.
The win over Texas was his first since an April 27 victory over Baltimore. The Indians snapped a 4-game skid and now trail Detroit by just 1/2 game.
LA Angels 6 Oakland 4 - Vladimir Guerrero socked a pair of homers, the second one a 3-run shot in the fifth that broke a 1-1 tie, leading the Angels with 4 RBI. LA improved its lead on Seattle to 3 1/2 games in the West.
Other AL Scores
Baltimore 4 Boston 7
National League
NY Mets 12 Milwaukee 4 - David Wright (right) went 4-5 with a double and his 19th home run and scored 3 times as the Mets pressed their edge in the NL East. The Mets pulverized the Brewers in the final 2 games of this series after dropping the opener, 4-2. In the finale, the New Yorkers pounded out 18 hits, 10 of them off Brewers starter Chris Capuano (5-8), who lasted 6 innings and allowed 5 earned. The Cubs lost to the Phillies, leaving the standings unchanged in both divisions, except that Atlanta fell 1/2-game behind the Phillies, 4 1/2 games out.
Houston 12 Atlanta 11, 14 innings - Jason Lane and Mike Lamb each drove in 4 runs as the Astros stole one from Atlanta. Lane whacked a three-run homer in the 3rd inning and scored the winning run 11 frames later, while Lamb's grand salami in the 8th inning tied the game at 9.
Arizona 0 San Diego 11 - Jake Peavy (right) fanned 10, allowing just 3 hits over 7 innings for his 11th win against 5 losses. 
The Padres tightened the race in the wild NL West, drawing to within 1 1/2 of the division-leading Diamondbacks, with the Dodgers sandwiched in between, one game out. Peavy's 154 strikeouts lead the league.
Colorado 4 Florida 3 - The Rockies stayed in the race with a come-from-behind win over the Marlins. Once again, Matt Holliday was smack in the middle of the action. His double in the 8th plated Kazuo Matsui with the tying run, and he scored on Garrett Atkins' sac fly one out later. Holliday is batting at a brisk .337 pace and his 86 RBI have him just 2 behind league leader Prince Fielder.
Other NL Scores
St. Louis 4 Pittsburgh 5, 11 innings
Philadelphia 10 Chi Cubs 6
Cincinnati 3 Washington 7 - A. Dunn, HR (28)
Houston 12 Atlanta 11, 14 innings
San Francisco 4 LA Dodgers 2