Since being traded from St. Louis to Toronto in the off-season, Scott Rolen hasn't been very productive, but Tuesday night, he homered and doubled in 4 at-bats, driving in 4 runs and scoring twice to lead the Blue Jays to a 14-1 win over Cincinnati.
A. J. Burnett (7-7) worked 8 innings for the Jays, allowing 1 run on 4 hits and 3 walks.
Notes: The Angels won for the 9th time in their last 10 road games, 8-3, at Washington, and lead the AL West by 5 games over the A's.
National League
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Ryan Doumit singled, doubled and hit a solo homer (10) driving in 2 runs and scoring twice as the Pirates humbled the Yankees, 12-5.
Doumit is batting .350 and has driven in 24 runs in part-time duty.
Notes: Philadelphia has lost six straight, all to American League teams, their latest, a 5-2 no-show at Oakland, but still lead the NL East by a single game over the Marlins.
Wakefield, who has earned a decision in each of his 25 starts this season, won for the 8th time in his last ten outings. Boston regained a 5-game bulge over the Yankees in the AL East when New York lost to the Angels later in the evening.
NY Yankees 6 LA Angels 7, 10 innings - Little-used Ryan Budde, sporting a 1-11 at-bat record this season, got his second hit - and first career double - at an opportune moment. His 10th inning walk-off two-bagger sent Howie Kendrick home with the winning run in a compelling matchup of AL contenders. Alex Rodriguez gave the Yankees a 4-3 lead in the sixth inning with a two-run - his 40th - home run, but the Angels countered with 3 of their own in the 7th. Jorge Posada tied the game at 6 with a two-run shot in the eighth.
The win kept the Angels 2 games clear of the pressing Mariners, who won their 4th straight. Seattle also moved 1 1/2-games ahead of the Yankees in the wild card race.
Seattle 9 Minnesota 4 - Raul Ibanez homered twice, drove in 3 runs and scored 3 times as the Mariners routed the Twins in the first of their 3-game series.
Other AL Scores
Oakland 6 Toronto 4
Kansas City 3 Chi White Sox 4
National League
Atlanta 14 Cincinnati 4 - Mark Teixeira single-handedly pounded the Reds with a pair of 3-run homers and 6 RBI, smacking one in the 2nd and the other in the 4th inning. Teixeira also doubled and walked, scoring four times in the rout. The Braves tied the idle Phillies for 2nd place in the NL East, five games back of the Mets. Atlanta is also one game behind San Diego in the wild card hunt.
Milwaukee 9 Arizona 0 - The Brewers offense exploded early, scoring 3 runs in each of the 1st, 2nd and 4th innings. Prince Fielder (right) pounded his league-leading 39th home run and a double, racking up 4 RBI, tying him with the Rockies' Matt Holliday for third place at 96. Meanwhile, rookie hurler Yavani Gallardo (5-6) was working 6 innings of shutout ball, allowing just 5 hits and a walk while punching out 6 on strikes. Gallardo also added to the offensive onslaught with a solo homer in the 2nd inning - his first in the majors.
St. Louis 6 Chi Cubs 4 - A couple of recent additions have paid off handsomely for manager Tony LaRussa's Cardinals. Joel Piniero reeled off his third straight win and Rick Ankiel hit his 4th homer in 10 games to lead the Cards to a crucial win over the Cubs. Scott Rolen continued his hot hitting (10-26) with a single, two doubles and 3 RBI and Albert Pujols chipped in with a solo homer - his 28th.
The Cardinals salvaged the win in Chicago after losing two straight to the Cubs and having Sunday's game rained out. Overall, it was a great week to be a Cardinal, as the Redbirds took 4 of six from Milwaukee and Chicago, having swept the Brewers earlier in the week. St. Louis trails both the Cubs and Brewers by 3 games in the division even though they are 3 games under .500.
The schedule looks positive for the Cards, as their next four 3-game series are against Florida (6 straight losses), Atlanta, Houston and Cincinnati. The Cubs have San Francisco (5 straight wins), Arizona, Milwaukee and Houston upcoming, while the Brewers have Arizona, San Fran, Chicago and Pittsburgh.
It's winner-takes-all in the Central, as none of the teams has any hope of taking the wild card spot.
Other NL Scores
San Francisco 8 Florida 7
Washington 7 Houston 0
Pittsburgh 4 Colorado 2, 11 innings
allowing 1 earned run off 4 hits over 8 innings while striking out 10. Carmona improved to 14-7 with a 3.16 ERA
Each of the AL contenders - the Yankees, Red Sox, Mariners and Angels - lost on Wednesday, keeping the standings in the same order as when the day started. Daisuke Matsuzaka took his 9th loss (14 wins) for Boston and Mariano Rivera took his 4th loss, just two nights after blowing a save and getting his 3rd win in New York's 7-6 win on Monday. Torii Hunter's 9th inning grand slam took care of Seattle.
Other AL Scores
Tampa Bay 6 Boston 5
Baltimore 6 NY Yankees 3, 10 innings
Minnesota 6 Seattle 1
LA Angels 1 Toronto 2
Kansas City 3 Texas 4
Chi White Sox 2 Oakland 3
National League
San Francisco 3 Atlanta 6 - Tim Hudson (right) gave up a home run to Barry Bonds (#759), but lasted eight innings, allowing just 3 earned runs, to improve to 14-5 and vault the Braves over Philly into 2nd place in the NL East. Bonds' 6th-inning blast tied the game at 2-2, but Atlanta responded with a 4-spot in the bottom of the inning and Hudson continued. Hudson won his 8th straight and kept his ERA in a quality area at 3.02.
Manager Bobby Cox, who set a major league record for being ejected the night before, was tossed for the 133rd time in the 3rd inning for arguing a balk called on Hudson. The Braves and Giants play the rubber game of the series tonight.
NY Mets 10 Pittsburgh 8 - The Mets won their 3rd straight, and with their lineup intact, they look like heavy favorites to win the NL East title for the second straight year. The win maintained their 3 1/2-game lead over Atlanta, and 4 better than Philadephia. The two teams chasing them have flip-flopped 2nd and 3rd places over the past weeks and months, though neither has been able to catch the Mets.
Moises Alou proved his worth again on Wednesday, driving in 3 runs with a 2-run homer in the first inning and an insurance-run single in the 9th to complete the Mets' scoring.
Colorado 3 San Diego 0 - The Rockies continue to hang around, evening their series at San Diego. They are 2 games behind the Padres and 5 back of division-leading Arizona.
Tampa Bay 4 Detroit 6 - Carlos Guillen (right)singled, doubled and tripled and drove in 2 runs to help Detroit snap a five-game losing streak and remain just a half game behind Cleveland in the Al Central. Guillen has been a key element to Detroit's success, batting behind slugger Magglio Ordonez in the lineup. He's batting .315 with 14 home runs and 74 RBI.
Boston 2 LA Angels 4 - Curt Schilling came back from the disabled list but couldn't get anyone out in the 7th as the Angels scored twice to break a 2-2 tie. The win gave the Angels a 4-game lead over idle Seattle.
Other AL Scores
Oakland 9 Texas 7, 13 innings
National League
Chi Cubs 1 Houston 2, 10 innings - Playing without Alfonso Soriano (right), who was injured trying to go from first to third in Sunday's game, the Cubs could muster only 4 hits against Houston starter Wandy Rodriguez and eventually lost the game in the 10th inning when Eric Munson singled home Ty Wigginton. The Cubs could have caught Milwaukee for first place in the NL Central, and without their star - who is expected to be out 4-6 weeks - that task becomes much more difficult.
Milwaukee 2 Colorado 6 - With the Cubs breathing down their necks, the Brewers will have to do better than this. Matt Holliday hit his 21st home run - a 2-run shot - and Brad Hawpe slugged a 3-run shot - his 19th - to keep Colorado close in the NL West.