Last Updated on May 25, 2007 11:37 am by admin
SCOREBOARD
Saturday, May 26
Colorado at San Francisco (9:05 p.m. EDT). Giants right-hander Matt Morris threw a two-hitter with nine strikeouts in a 4-1 win over Oakland on Sunday.
STARS
Thursday
-Carlos Guillen, Tigers, homered twice and drove in five runs in a 12-0 rout of the Los Angeles Angels.
-Micah Owings, Astros, struck out a season-high eight in his first complete game to lead Houston to a 9-1 win over Arizona.
-John Smoltz, Braves, pitched seven shutout innings and became baseball’s first pitcher with 200 wins and 150 saves with a 2-1 win over the Mets.
FAST START
Ichiro Suzuki went 3-for-6 with a homer in his 1,000th major league game. Suzuki, who extended his hitting streak to 17 games, has 1,414 hits – the second most by a player in his first 1,000 games since 1900. Hall of Famer Al Simmons (1924-44) had 1,443 hits in that span.
MILESTONES
John Smoltz became baseball’s first pitcher with 200 wins and 150 saves, achieving the feat by throwing seven shutout innings to lead the Atlanta Braves to a 2-1 win over the New York Mets on Thursday night. Smoltz saved an Atlanta-record 154 games as the Braves’ closer from 2001 through 2004. … Frank Thomas hit his 493rd career home run in Toronto’s 5-4, 10-inning win over Baltimore Thursday night, tying Lou Gehrig and Fred McGriff for 21st on the career list.
BAD NEWS BUCCANEERS
St. Louis beat Pittsburgh 3-1 on Thursday to complete a three-game sweep. Both of the Cardinals’ sweeps this season have come against the Pirates, the other on the road in April. Before the series, the defending World Series champions had lost five in a row and were nine games below .500.
RUSTY ROCKET
Roger Clemens probably will make another minor league start before rejoining the New York Yankees. Clemens struggled Wednesday night for Double-A Trenton, allowing three runs and six hits with four walks, five strikeouts, a hit batter and a wild pitch in 5 1-3 innings. If the 44-year-old right-hander starts Monday at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, he would be on track to make his first start for the Yankees at Fenway Park on June 2 or 3 against Boston.
WELCOME BACK
Jeremy Bonderman made a strong return from the disabled list Thursday to help Detroit beat the Los Angeles Angels 12-0. Bonderman (3-0), pitching for the first time since May 8 after missing two starts with a blister on his right middle finger, gave up four hits, walked five and struck out six in eight innings to win for the third time in as many starts.
STREAKS
The Arizona Diamondbacks routed Houston 9-1 on Thursday night, sending the Astros to their fifth straight loss.
WILD ONE
Carl Crawford had three RBIs and triggered a seven-run third inning, leading the Tampa Bay Devil Rays past the Seattle Mariners 13-12 on Thursday. Seven of Tampa Bay’s nine starters drove in at least one run. Jae Seo (3-4) gave up seven runs and 13 hits over 5-plus innings to earn the win.
SPEAKING
“Sometimes you need a little fire. I’m not going to back down from anything. … It’s over with. We won. So keep moving.” – Dontrelle Willis, angry because he thought the Phillies’ Jon Lieber intentionally threw behind him in Florida’s 5-4, 11-inning win over the Phillies on Thursday. Willis began shouting at the Philadelphia dugout and the benches and bullpens emptied, but no players were ejected during the fourth-inning episode.
SEASONS
May 26
1925 – In Detroit’s 8-1 win over the Chicago White Sox, Ty Cobb became the first to collect 1,000 career extra-base hits. He finished his career with 1,139.
1929 – Pinch-hitters Pat Crawford of the Giants and Les Bell of the Boston Braves hit grand slams in New York’s 15-9 victory.
1930 – Joe Sewell of the Cleveland Indians, who fanned only three times in 353 at-bats during the season, was struck out twice in the same game by Pat Caraway of the White Sox.
1937 – Billy Sullivan and Bruce Campbell appeared for the Cleveland Indians as pinch hitters. Each hit a home run, making this the first time two American League pinch hitters hit home runs in the same game. The Indians beat the Athletics, 8-6.
1956 – Cincinnati Reds pitchers John Klippstein, Hershell Freeman and Joe Black combined for 9 2-3 hitless innings, but lost 2-1 in 11 innings to the Philadelphia Phillies.
1959 – Harvey Haddix of Pittsburgh pitched 12 perfect innings before losing to Milwaukee 1-0 in the 13th on an error, a sacrifice and Joe Adcock’s double.
1962 – Sandy Koufax struck out 16 Phillies to lead the Dodgers to a 6-3 victory.
1995 – Southern California and Fresno State combined for an NCAA postseason baseball record of 39 runs in the Trojans’ 22-17 win in the West Regional. USC scored three runs in the top of the ninth to break the record of 37 set by the Trojans and Houston in 1990.
1996 – The Chicago White Sox became the 16th team in AL history to hit four homers in one inning in their 12-1 win over Milwaukee. Frank Thomas, Harold Baines and Robin Ventura hit consecutive homers and Chad Kreuter added another in Chicago’s seven-run eighth.
1997 – Chicago’s Sammy Sosa and the Pirates’ Tony Womack hit inside-the-park homers in the sixth inning of the Cubs’ 2-1 win. It was the first time two inside-the-park homers had been hit in the same inning in 20 years.
2004 – Daryle Ward hit for the cycle and tied his career best with six RBIs in Pittsburgh’s 11-8 win over St. Louis.
Today’s birthday: Carlos Martinez, 25; Ben Zobrist, 26.