Windy City Massacre; Griffey ties Robinson with #586

American League Minnesota 20 Chi White Sox 14 - You're supposed to win games in which you score 14 runs, but, for the White Sox, this is the kind of season it's been. The Twins and Sox combined for 39 hits and Chicago committed 5 errors in this season's highest scoring game. How about some highlights. Torii Hunter would normally be getting high fives for his 2 doubles and 18th home run in 4 at-bats, but he only drove in 3 and scored the same number. Joe Mauer went 4-6 (all singles), but crossed the plate 4 times and drove in 5. The hitting star for the Twins was Jason Kubel, who knocked a grand slam, hoisted 2 sac flies and singled to drive in 7 runs, going 2-3. The Sox' #8 hitter, Alex Cintron, did some damage, going 3-4 with 4 RBI and 2 runs scored, but it was not nearly enough. Jon Garland (6-6) took the loss, allowing 11 hits and 3 walks for 12 runs in just 3 1/3 innings, though winning pitcher Scott Baker didn't fare much better, giving up 9 hits and 7 earned over 5 innings. Between the two teams, there was scoring in every inning. Minnesota scored in all but the 6th and 9th, while the White Sox put numbers on the board in every inning except the 1st and 4th. As if that wasn't enough, the game was only the first half of a double header. Minnesota 12, Chi White Sox 0 - Justin Morneau slammed three home runs - giving him 23 for the year - and drove in 6 as the Twins completed the sweep of the double bill at Chicago. Morneau's big night at the plate overshadowed a fine pitching performance by Matt Garza, who hurled 6 innings of shutout ball on five hits. Adding his two game totals together, Morneau was 6-10, scored 6 runs and drove in 9, numbers that normally would be a great week. LA Angels 9 NY Yankees 14 - It seems like Yankee superstar Alex Rodriguez is just fine. To the dismay of pitchers around the AL, Rodriguez came back after missing a game to bop his 29th home run of the season, score three times and drive in a pair of runs as the Yankees outslugged the Angels. A-Rod was injured in a collision with Justin Morneau in a Monday game and had to leave that contest early.

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On Tuesday and Wednesday, he matched up a pair of 0-4 efforts, before taking Thursday off. Seems like the rest helped. Boston 2 Detroit 9 - In a potential playoff matchup, the Tigers banged out 15 hits against Boston starter Julian Tavarez and three other pitchers to take the first game of the series handily. Marcus Thames drove in five runs with a grand slam and sac fly. The Tigers took over first place in the AL Central by .002 over the Cleveland Indians, losers at Toronto. Seattle 7 Oakland 1 - Adrian Beltre went 5-5, with 2 doubles and 2 homers, driving in 3 runs and scoring twice as the Mariners continued to dog the Angels in the AL West. Seattle closed to within 3 1/2 games of first place. Other AL Scores Cleveland 6 Toronto 8 - V. Wells, 2-4, HR (13), 3 RBI Tampa Bay 6 Kansas City 5 Baltimore 3 Texas 4, 10 innings National League NY Mets 0 Houston 4 - Wandy Rodriguez (6-7), pitched his best game of the season, blanking the Mets on 4 hits in a complete game victory. Rodriguez struck out 8 and issued only 1 walk. Rookie Hunter Pence continued his hot hitting, going 2-4 to get to .347, right behind league leader Matt Holliday at .349. Arizona 1 Cincinnati 8 - Ken Griffey Jr. (right) smacked a 2-run homer in the 5th inning, giving him 23 on the year and 586 for his career, tying him with Frank Robinson for 6th place on the all-time homers list. Milwaukee 6 Washington 2 - Ryan Braun hit a pair of solo homers and Milwaukee increased its lead over the Cubs to 5 1/2 games in the NL Central. Philadelphia 6 Colorado 7, 11 innings - Yorvit Torrealba singled home Garrett Aktins with the winning run as the Rockies got back to .500 at 43-43 and closed to within 5 1/2 of the NL West lead as the Padres, Dodgers and Diamondbacks all lost. The Rockies battled back from a 6-1 deficit in the fifth inning scoring 2 in the 6th and one in each of the 7th, 8th and 9th. Other NL Scores San Francisco 4 St. Louis 3 Chi Cubs 4 Pittsburgh 8 - Pirates, 4 straight wins Atlanta 7 San Diego 4 - Braves, 3 straight wins Florida 6 LA Dodgers 5, 10 innings

Lowell's Big Night; Maine Halts Mets' Skid

American League Cleveland 3 Detroit 12 - The Tigers teed off on C.C. Sabathia to the tune of 7 earned runs on 0 hits over 4 innings, closing the gap on the 1st-place Indians to a single game. Carlos Guillen, Gary Sheffield and Placido Polanco all homered off Sabathia, with Guillen driving in 4 runs and Sheffield three. Justin Verlander (10-3) took the win for the Tigers. Tampa Bay 4 Boston 15 - Boston completed its sweep of the Devil Rays, sending them to their 11th straight loss, the longest losing streak in the majors this season. The Sox were relentless, scoring 13 runs in the first 3 innings and banging out 21 hits for the whole game. Mike Lowell (right) was especially effective, whacking a home run and four singles in 6 at-bats, driving in 5 while scoring 3 times. Coco Crisp hit a grand slam in the 1st. Josh Beckett picked up his 12th win against just 2 losses in his final start before the All-Star game. Baltimore 6 Chi White Sox 11 - Tadahito Iguchi nearly hit for the cycle, with a double, triple and home run in 4 at-bats. Iguchi drove in 3 and scored 3 times. Other AL Scores Minnesota 6 NY Yankees 7 - H. Matsui, GW HR (10) Tampa Bay 4 Boston 15 LA Angels 5 Texas 2 - K. Escobar, W (10-3) Seattle 2 Oakland 3 National League Atlanta 8 LA Dodgers 6 - Chipper Jones became Atlanta's all-time home run leader, belting a pair of solo shots against the Dodgers Thursday night. Chipper hit one in the 6th inning, tying Dale Murphy's mark, and another in the 8th, breaking it. Jones has 15 homers this season and 372 lifetime. The 6th-inning shot broke a 6-6 tie and the 8th-inning dinger was icing on the cake. Atlanta's win was the Dodgers' loss, keeping LA a game back of San Diego in the NL West. NY Mets 6 Houston 2 - John Maine (right) improved to 10-4, striking out 9 over 7 2/3, while allowing 2 runs on six hits and 2 walks. Carlos Delgado went 4-4, as the Mets ended their 4-game skid. Chi Cubs 4 Washington 2 - The Cubs are determined to make the NL Central race interesting, winning for the 8th time in their last 10 games to close to within 4 1/2 of division leader Milwaukee. Milwaukee 3 Pittsburgh 6 - While the Cubs were winning the Brewers were losing their third straight to the lowly Pirates, after winning the first game of the 4-game series. The Pirates beat up on All-Star Ben Sheets, getting to him for 5 runs on 8 hits over 6 innings. Pittsburgh starter, Tom Gorzelanny, close to having an All-Star season himself, got the win, allowing only 3 earned off 4 hits and 2 walks. Adam LaRoche slammed a pair of homers, drove in 3 runs and scored 3. Other NL Scores Florida 3 San Diego 2 San Francisco 3 Cincinnati 6 Arizona 2 St. Louis 3

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

Bonds Gets Closer; Dice-K Stops D-Rays

American League Minnesota 0 NY Yankees 8 - The Yankees got back into 2nd place as Toronto lost at Oakland. Still, the Bombers continue to trail the Red Sox by 11 games in the AL East and are 7 1/2 behind Detroit for the Wild Card spot. Chien-Ming Wang gave up 4 hits over seven innings for his 8th win against 4 losses. Tampa Bay 1 Boston 4 - Daisuke Matsuzaka (right) tossed 8 innings of shutout ball, allowing just 4 hits while striking out 9 Devil Rays. Jonathan Papelbon finished up in the 9th, giving up a home run to Carlos Pena, the only Tampa Bay score of the game. Matusaka improved to 10-5. Cleveland 5 Detroit 4, 11 innings - Corey Blake smacked his 12 homer in the top of the 11th to give Cleveland their first lead of the game and Joe Borowski made it stand up, mowing down the Tigers in order in the bottom half of the inning for his 25th save. The Tribe has won 6 in a row and lead the Tigers by 3 games in the AL Central. Seattle 3 Kansas City 17 - Rookie Billy Butler singled, doubled and homered in 5 at-bats, driving in 6 runs and scoring 4 times as the Royals tied their season-high run output and scored in double digits for the 6th time this season. They took their second straight from the Mariners and are 7-3 over their last 10 games. Other AL Scores Baltimore 1 Chi White Sox 5 LA Angels 3 Texas 8 Toronto 1 Oakland 3 National League San Francisco 3 Cincinnati 7 - Barry Bonds cracked career home run #751, and needs just 5 more to break Hank Aaron's record. As usual, Bonds' blast was not enough to get the Giants a win. At 35-46, San Fran has a better record than only the Reds and Nationals, and the Reds have already fired their manager. Chi Cubs 3 Washington 1 - Chicago picked up another game on Milwaukee as the Brewers were losing in Pittsburgh. Carlos Zambrano was on his game again, allowing just one earned in 6 2/3 innings on 3 hits and 4 walks, striking out 8 to improve to 10-6. Other NL Scores NY Mets 3 Colorado 11 - R. Spilborghs, GS HR (4) Philadelphia 4 Houston 5, 13 innings - H. Pence, 3-6, GW HR (10) Arizona 7 St. Louis 1 Milwaukee 2 Pittsburgh 6 Florida 6 San Diego 4 Atlanta 6 LA Dodgers 7 - Dodgers and Padres tied for NL West lead