American League
Chi White Sox 5 Cleveland 6, 11 innings -
Ryan Garko smacked a 2-run pinch-hit homer in the bottom of the ninth to tie it, then added a bloop single in the bottom of the 11th to send Jason Michaels home with the game winner. It was Cleveland's 28th come-from-behind win of the season.
Toronto 2 NY Yankees 3, 10 innings - With their 4th straight win, the Yankees picked up another game on Boston and now trail the Red Sox by 8 games in the AL East. It wasn't the prettiest of wins for the Bombers, as Melky Cabrera scored the tying run on a balk in the 9th, and Robinson Cano singled home Alex Rodriguez with the game winner in the 11th. The Yankees stranded 12 runners, but A-Rod got his 90th RBI on a single in the 1st inning.
Detroit 1 Minnesota 0 -
Nate Robertson (W, 6-6), shut out the Twins on 3 hits over 7, and
Todd Jones picked up his 24th save with a hitless 9th, keeping the Tigers a game clear of relentless Cleveland. Minnesota dropped to 7 behind in the division.
LA Angels 3 Tampa Bay 8 - After going 4-4 against the Yankees on Sunday,
Ty Wigginton (right) matched that with another 4-4 effort, tying the Tampa Bay record for most hits in consecutive plate appearances set by Aubrey Huff in 2004. The major league record for consecutive plate appearances with a hit is 12. Mike Higgins did it for Boston in 1938 and Walt Dropo matched it with Detroit in 1952.
Other AL Scores
Kansas City 9 Boston 3 - KC, 7-14 vs. AL East
Texas 11 Oakland 4 - A's, 9 straight losses
Baltimore 8 Seattle 3 - J. Gibbons, 2-5, HR (6), 5 RBI
National League
Philadelphia 15 LA Dodgers 3 - The top of the Phillies' lineup put a serious hurt on 5 Dodger pitchers Tuesday night. The Gang of Five -
Jimmy Rollins, Shane Victorino, Chase Utley (left), Ryan Howard (right) and Aaron Rowand - knocked out 18 hits in 36 at-bats (.500), including 5 doubles, a triple and 3 homers. As a group, they drove in 11 runs and scored 12 times. Rowand went 5 for 6 with 3 doubles, 2 RBI and 3 scores; Howard banged out a pair of homers (23, 24), drove in 4 and scored twice; Victorino went 5 for 7, with 2 scores and 2 RBI.
The loss didn't hurt the Dodgers too badly, as the Padres also lost, keeping LA a game in front. The Phillies failed to gain ground on the Mets, who beat San Diego. Philly trails the Mets by 5 and Atlanta by 2 1/2.
Colorado 6 Pittsburgh 2 - The Rockies did benefit from the Phillies onslaught, picking up a game on all three teams in front of them in the West division. Colorado is now just 1 back of Arizona, 4 1/2 behind the Padres and 5 1/2 behind LA. Starter
Josh Fogg (5-6) went 7 innings, allowing 2 runs on 5 hits. The Rockies' offense did the rest.
NY Mets 7 San Diego 0 -
Orlando Hernandez (W, 6-4) blanked the Padres on 2 hits over 7 innings and the Mets expanded their lead on Atlanta to 2 1/2 games.
San Francisco 4 Chi Cubs 2 - Bonds watch: Last night,
Barry Bonds sat out for the second night in a row, was called on to pinch hit and . Barry's definitely slowing down. After slugging 8 bombs in his first 20 games (pitchers obviously were testing their stuff), he hit just 9 over his next 62 games. This included homerless stretches of 14 games in May and 12 from late May into June. Currently, Barry's in an 0-21 funk and hasn't hit one out in his last 8 games.
Looking ahead, Bonds better get busy. If he doesn't get his 4 to tie and 5 to break Aaron's record by the end of August, September doesn't figure to be any easier, with 18 games against Arizona, San Diego and Los Angeles, divisional foes with solid pitching staffs. Not only would Bonds be facing some of the top pitchers in the league, he'd likely be pressing, and that's never good. On the other hand, the divisional games are likely to be meaningful for his opponents, meaning that pitchers would be loathe to pitch around him. Barry turns 43 in a week (July 24).
The Cubs loss dropped them to 4 1/2 behind Milwaukee in the NL Central race.
Other NL Scores
Houston 4 Washington 2 - H. Pence, 2-5, HR (12), .334 ba
St. Louis 0 Florida 4 - Marlins use 6 pitchers for combined shutout
Cincinnati 6 Atlanta 5 - B. Phillips, 3-5, 2 RBI, 10 RBI in last 5 games
Arizona 2 Milwaukee 3 - D-Backs, 2-8 last 10
LA Angels 5 Minnesota 7 - Justin Morneau (right) singled and drove in three runs with his 26th home run as the Twins ended their 3-game losing skein. The loss by the Angels allowed the Mariners to close to within 1 game of first place in the AL West.
Seattle 4 Toronto 2 - Adrian Beltre socked a 2-run homer to lift the Mariners over Toronto and get to within one game of AL West leader Los Angeles. Beltre has 5 homers and 13 RBI in his last 11 games. J.J. Putz picked up his 29th save, tops in the AL.
Other AL Scores
Baltimore at Oakland - E. Bedard, W (9-4), 11 K
National League
Arizona 2 Chi Cubs 6 - Aramis Ramirez (right) stroked a 3-run homer and singled in another run to lead the Cubs over stumbling Arizona. The Cubs have won 12 of 16 in July and continue to gain on Milwaukee. The D-Backs are going completely in the other direction, having lost 12 of 16 in July.
San Francisco 8 Milwaukee 4 - Later in the night, Milwaukee lost for the 9th time in 16 tries in July. Their loss, coupled with the Cubs' win, trimmed the Brewers' lead to a mere 2 1/2 games.
Colorado 3, Washington 1 - Aaron Cook hurled 7 innings of shutout ball on 4 hits and the Rockies hung tough in the NL West race, tying Arizona for 3rd place, 4 1/2 behind LA and San Diego.
Other NL Scores
Cincinnati 2 Florida 10 - M. Cabrera, 2-4, HR (23), 3 RBI (69)
Houston 2 Pittsburgh 1 - R. Oswalt (W, 9-6) 6 IP, 7 H, 1ER
St. Louis 4 Atlanta 2
NY Mets 4 LA Dodgers 1 - O. Perez, W (9-6) 7 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 8 K
Philadelphia 7 San Diego 4 - C. Utley, HR (17), 2 RBI (81) leads NL
LA Angels 3 Tampa Bay 0 - Kelvim Escobar (11-3, right) blanked the Devil Rays on 9 hits over 7 2/3, for his 5th straight win over a span of 8 starts. The Angles increased their suddenly slim lead over idle Seattle to 2 games in the AL West.
Other AL Scores
Chi White Sox 4 Boston 2 - Red Sox have lost 3 straight
Toronto 3 NY Yankees 2 - Yankees remain 7 behind Boston
Cleveland 7 Texas 5 - Indians trail Detroit by 2 games
National League
San Francisco 8 Chi Cubs 9 - Even though the Cubs won the game, there was little doubt that this was all about Barry Bonds and his quest for the all-time home run mark. Bonds (right) blasted a pair of homers sandwiched around a two-run single for a six RBI day. He hit #552 - a solo shot - in the 2nd inning, singled in the 3rd and popped a three-run shot, #553, in the seventh. The last homer got the Giants within a run, but they failed to score after that. The Giants have lost 7 of their last 8 and dropped 3 of 4 to the Cubs.
Bonds had sat out the last three games - except for a pinch-hit line-out on Tuesday - before getting off an 0-21 schneid with his 3-3 effort Thursday and is now just two short of tying Hank Aaron with 755 homers. The Giants play their next 3 games at Milwaukee, before returning home to play Atlanta, two teams for which Aaron played. It's expected that if Bonds hits one homer in Milwaukee, he will be benched so he can tie and break the record at home. Like it or not, history is about to be made.
Arizona 1 Milwaukee 10 - The Brewers turned to rookie Yovani Gallardo to retain their 3 1/2-game lead on the Cubs, and the Mexican native turned in an impressive performance, allowing 3 hits and no earned runs over 6 innings, extending his personal scoreless streak to 13 innings. The Brewers gave him plenty of support, especially Tony Graffanino, who doubled and homered in four at-bats, driving in 3 and scoring 3 times.
Colorado 4 Washington 5, 10 innings - The surging Rockies could have moved into a tie for third place in the NL West, but squandered a 4-1 lead, dropping a key game at Washington. Colorado remains 5 1/2 back of San Diego and LA and a game behind Arizona.
Philadelphia 0 San Diego 1 - Chris Young outdueled Phillies ace Cole Hamels over 7 innings to improve to 9-3. Both starters gave up just 2 hits apiece, though Hamels' both came in the 3rd inning when Geoff Blum singled, was sacrificed to second and scored on Brian Giles' double. Trevor Hoffman picked up his 7th save. The win put San Diego percentage points ahead of the Dodgers, who were blasted by the Mets.
NY Mets 13 LA Dodgers 9 - The Mets made more of their opportunities as the Dodgers actually outhit them, 19-16, and retained their 2 1/3-game lead over Atlanta.
Other NL Scores
Cincinnati 7 Florida 5 - Reds, 4th straight win; R. Freel, 3-4, HR (3), 3 RBI, SB (15)
St. Louis 1 Atlanta 10 - A. Jones, HR (19), 3 RBI (65)
Detroit 3 Minnesota 2 - Magglio Ordonez singled, doubled and hit his 14th homer, driving in all of Detroit's runs against Johan Santana and the Twins. The win was Detroit's 3rd straight and second in a row over the Twins. The teams wrap up their 3-game set tonight at Minnesota. Detroit has a 2-game bulge over Cleveland in the division and lead Minnesota by 8.
Toronto 1 NY Yankees 6 - Roger Clemens scattered 9 hits over 6 innings, allowing just 1 run and Alex Rodriguez drove in a pair of runs with a double in the 7th to give him 92 RBI on the year. New York closed to within 7 games of the AL East-leading Red Sox, who dropped their second straight to the Royals. The Yankees have won 5 straight and will be looking for the 4-game sweep over Toronto tonight.
Baltimore 5 Seattle 6 - Adrian Beltre's bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the 8th forced home Jose Vidro with the winning run as the Mariners crept to within 1 1/2 games of the struggling Angels. 
Cincinnati 5 Atlanta 4, 15 innings - Ken Griffey Jr. (right) reached another milestone in his certain Hall of Fame career with his 2,500th hit and scored the go-ahead run in the 15th on Brandon Phillips' 2-run single. Jeff Francoeur knocked home Andruw Jones in the bottom frame, but the Braves fell a run short and were swept at home by the last-place Reds.
San Francisco 1 Chi Cubs 12 - Barry Bonds sat out his third straight game and watched as Koyie Hill - a .179 back-up catcher - drove in five runs with a pair of doubles. The Cubs improved to 10-4 in July and trail Milwaukee by 3 1/2 games as the Brewers lost to Arizona. Meanwhile, the rest of the NL West clubs all won, sinking the Giants further into the cellar, 13 1/2 games out.
Colorado 5 Pittsburgh 3 - Jeff Francis (W, 10-5) worked 7 innings, allowing just 2 earned on 6 runs while fanning 6, helping the Rockies to their 3rd straight win. Colorado remains in 4th place in the NL West, but they are only 5 1/2 behind division-leader Los Angeles.
NY Mets 4 San Diego 5 - David Wright erased a 4-1 Padres' lead with a 3-run shot in the 8th, but San Diego responded with a run in the bottom of the inning and Trevor Hoffman set the New Yorkers down in order in the 9th for his 26th save. Neither team made any move in the standings as all the contenders in the East lost, while all the Western division teams were winners.
Other NL Scores
Houston 6 Washington 7
Philadelphia 4 LA Dodgers 5
St. Louis 6 Florida 0 - K. Wells, W (4-12), 8 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K
Arizona 5 Milwaukee 2