Sports

Baseball

Homers help Pirates keep Cards at bay

Associated Press
Published June 27, 2005

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ST. LOUIS - Jason Bay hit a pair of game-tying home runs and Jose Castillo hit a tiebreaking shot in the 10th inning, leading the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 5-4 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday.

Bay had four RBIs for the Pirates, who earned a split in the four-game series and beat the Cardinals for only the second time in 16 meetings after losing the previous two games by a combined score of 16-1.

Yadier Molina homered for the third straight game and had three RBIs for the Cardinals, who hit 11 homers in the series. Reggie Sanders also homered but St. Louis hurt itself by hitting into six double plays.

Castillo lined his fifth homer, and second in four days, on an 0-1 pitch from Al Reyes leading off the 10th.INTERLEAGUE

INDIANS 4, REDS 3: Pinch-hitter Victor Martinez singled in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning, and host Cleveland completed interleague play with a major league-best 15-3 record.

Martinez's hit extended his hitting streak to eight games during which he has hit .464 with nine RBIs.

BRAVES 8, ORIOLES 1: Andruw Jones hit another home run, John Smoltz pitched his second consecutive complete game and host Atlanta sent the Orioles to their fifth straight defeat.

During Atlanta's 5-1 homestand, Jones had five homers and 11 RBIs.

Baltimore's Rafael Palmeiro hit his 562nd home run, leaving him one behind Reggie Jackson for ninth on the career list.

BLUE JAYS 9, NATIONALS 5: Orlando Hudson hit two home runs - including a tiebreaking two-run shot in the eighth inning - and visiting Toronto snapped Washington's 12-game home winning streak.

Eric Hinske led off the eighth with a double to right, and one out later Hudson hit his sixth homer to right-center off Luis Ayala.

RED SOX 12, PHILLIES 8: Manny Ramirez hit his 19th grand slam and drove in five runs, leading visiting Boston to its season-high seventh consecutive victory.

Boston blew a seven-run lead, but Mark Bellhorn hit a go-ahead RBI double in the eighth inning. Bellhorn finished with a homer, three RBIs and four runs scored. TWINS 5, BREWERS 2: Rookie Luis Rodriguez hit his first major league home run and Kyle Lohse became just the second Minnesota starter in 13 games to get a win.

Geoff Jenkins hit a two-run home run off reliever Joe Nathan in the ninth for Milwaukee, which had a four-game winning streak snapped. Nathan gave up four hits in the inning, but was able to close out the game without further damage.

ASTROS 5, RANGERS 4: Andy Pettitte pitched nine strong innings and Morgan Ensberg drove in the winning run in the bottom of the 10th to lead host Houston.

Reliever Juan Domingues walked Craig Biggio and Lance Berkman to lead off the 10th before Ensberg slapped his game-ending single between third and shortstop.

The Astros tied it in the seventh when Orlando Palmeiro doubled, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt and scored on Brad Ausmus' bunt down the first-base line.

ROCKIES 9, ROYALS 4: Joe Kennedy pitched seven strong innings for his first victory in six starts, and host Colorado completed a three-game sweep of Kansas City.

Kennedy allowed two runs and seven hits, with six strikeouts and no walks. He was 0-3 since beating Pittsburgh on May 22.

ANGELS 5, DODGERS 3: Garret Anderson hit a two-run double in the eighth to drive in the go-ahead runs and give him 1,000 RBIs in his career, lifting the host Angels to sweep the three-game interleague series.

The win extended the Angels' winning streak to a season-high six games and moved them 61/2 games ahead of second-place Texas.

The Angels beat the Dodgers in five of their six games this season and have won 12 of 16 meetings between the teams. The Dodgers went 2-11 on a 13-game road trip and fell 61/2 games behind the NL West-leading San Diego Padres.

YANKEES 5, METS 4: Taking advantage of more sloppy defense by their crosstown rivals, the visiting Mets scored three unearned runs in the seventh off Randy Johnson to take a 4-1 lead. But Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez hit RBI singles in the bottom half, and the Yankees came back in the ninth against Braden Looper. Jason Giambi singled into the right-center gap in the ninth to bring home pinch-hitter Tino Martinez.

ATHLETICS 16, GIANTS 0: Nick Swisher hit a pair of two-run homers, Rich Harden threw seven innings of one-hit ball and host Oakland swept the three-game series.

The A's matched the franchise record for largest margin of shutout victory, most recently on May 23, 1959, against the White Sox. It broke the Oakland record for biggest shutout win - the previous was 15 on Aug. 30, 2001, at Baltimore.

PADRES 5, MARINERS 4: Damian Jackson homered twice and had four hits, and Xavier Nady homered for the third straight game for host San Diego, who took two of three games.

Jackson's second homer, on a 3-1 pitch from Julio Mateo leading off the eighth, broke a 4-4 tie. Jackson also hit his third career leadoff homer, off Joel Pineiro. He has three homers this year.

D'BACKS 13, TIGERS 7: Shawn Green hit two of Arizona's four homers, and Alex Cintron drove in three runs to help host Arizona.

Jose Cruz Jr. and Tony Clark also connected for the Diamondbacks, who finished 8-10 against the AL Central but 4-2 against Detroit. Detroit starter Jeremy Bonderman, who had not gone less than six innings in any of his 15 starts, allowed eight runs and seven hits in two innings.

[Last modified June 27, 2005, 01:06:04]