» Sports

 » Baseball

 » Pen Oilers

 » PGA Golf

 » Nascar

 » Outdoors

 » Fishing

 » Home

By The Associated Press

NEW YORK — Aaron Small won his second straight start since the Yankees brought him up from the minors and Gary Sheffield drove in four runs, leading New York over the Minnesota Twins 6-3 Thursday.

Small (2-0) hadn't started a major league game since 1996 before last week, when the 33-year-old right-hander helped New York to an 8-4 victory at Texas — his first big league win in seven years.

He gave up three runs and six hits in seven innings, walked none and struck out one, retiring his final 12 batters after Jacque Jones' tying double in the fourth. It was the longest outing in the major league career of Small, who has just five starts among his 149 appearances.

Rangers 2, Orioles 1

BALTIMORE — David Dellucci hit a tiebreaking ninth-inning homer, and Alfonso Soriano also connected to lead Texas past Baltimore.

The Rangers took three of four from the sinking Orioles, who lost starting pitcher Sidney Ponson with a bruised right thumb. Baltimore has dropped eight of nine and is one game over .500 for the first time since April 14.

Dellucci snapped a 1-all tie with his 18th homer, a two-out drive on a 1-2 pitch from Chris Ray (0-2).

Devil Rays 10, Royals 5

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Carl Crawford hit a two-run homer in a five-run fifth inning and Tampa Bay overcame a five-run deficit to beat Kansas City.

Tampa Bay's big inning gave it a 7-5 lead after falling behind 5-0 in the second.

Nick Green had an RBI single before Crawford tied it at 5-all with his homer off Kyle Snyder (0-2). Aubrey Huff added a run-scoring double and Damon Hollins had an RBI single.

Blue Jays 2, Angels 1

TORONTO — Orlando Hudson's RBI single in the 18th inning ended the longest game of the season and the longest in Toronto history as the Blue Jays beat Los Angeles.

Toronto's previous record was 17 innings, done three times previously. The last was April 19, 2001, a 6-5 loss to the New York Yankees.

National League

ATLANTA — Rookie Jeff Francoeur homered twice, Marcus Giles hit a two-run double in a three-run fourth inning, and the Atlanta Braves beat the Washington Nationals 5-4 Thursday to complete a three-game sweep.

Francoeur, who had three hits and drove in the go-ahead run with an eighth-inning double Wednesday night, had his first multihomer game as he continued to establish himself as a regular in the Braves' lineup.

Cardinals 11, Padres 3

SAN DIEGO — Chris Carpenter became the NL's first 15-game winner, Jim Edmonds hit a three-run homer and tied his career high with five RBIs, and St. Louis routed San Diego.

Albert Pujols had three hits and two RBIs and Abraham Nunez added three singles for the Cardinals, who took two of three in the matchup of division leaders. St. Louis got 10 runs and 15 of its 17 hits off two Padres rookies in the first seven innings.

Diamondbacks 6, Cubs 0

CHICAGO — Rookie Brad Halsey pitched six innings of four-hit ball, and Luis Gonzalez and Chad Tracy homered to lead Arizona.

Halsey (7-7), acquired from the New York Yankees in the Randy Johnson trade during the offseason, won his third straight decision by striking out two and allowing just one intentional walk.

Reds 6, Dodgers 1

LOS ANGELES — Jason LaRue drove in five runs with a pair of homers and Brandon Claussen pitched seven sharp innings, helping Cincinnati split the four-game series.

Claussen (5-8) won for the first time since June 21, allowing a run and four hits while striking out five. The left-hander, 0-4 with a 7.20 ERA over his previous five starts, retired 14 consecutive batters after giving up a leadoff homer in the first inning to Cesar Izturis and single by Milton Bradley one out later.

Marlins 3, Pirates 0

MIAMI — Dontrelle Willis threw seven shutout innings for his first win in four starts, outdueling Kip Wells and lifting Florida over Pittsburgh.

Florida scored twice in the seventh, on Juan Encarnacion's RBI double and Mike Lowell's sacrifice fly, and that was enough for Willis (14-6). The All-Star allowed 23 earned runs in his last 13 innings coming in, but held the Pirates to three hits and struck out seven.

Giants 3, Brewers 0

MILWAUKEE — Brad Hennessey pitched seven scoreless innings and took care of the offense with a three-run home run, leading San Francisco over Milwaukee.

Astros 3, Mets 2

HOUSTON — Brad Ausmus singled to right-center with one out in the bottom of the ninth, giving Houston a victory over New York and — much to the delight of their fans — ruining Carlos Beltran's return to Minute Maid Park.

Orlando Palmeiro began the winning rally with a single off Roberto Hernandez (5-4), then moved to second on a sacrifice by Adam Everett. Ausmus, who drove in the Astros' previous run on a safety squeeze bunt, solidly smacked the first pitch he saw high over the second baseman's head, leaving Beltran to jog after it, knowing the game was lost.

Phillies 8, Rockies 5

DENVER — Pinch-hitter Tomas Perez drove in the tiebreaking run with a two-out infield single in the ninth inning, and Chase Utley homered and had a career-high five RBIs to help Philadelphia beat Colorado.

Utley went 3-for-5 with his career-best 15th home run and Kenny Lofton scored two runs and drove in two for Phillies, who snapped a three-game losing streak.

Ugueth Urbina (1-0) worked the eighth inning and Billy Wagner pitched the ninth for his 22nd save in 24 chances.

David Bell doubled to left leading off the ninth against Mike DeJean (4-2), and moved to third on Ramon Martinez's sacrifice bunt. After Jimmy Rollins was walked intentionally, Perez hit the ball in the hole between first and second but second baseman Aaron Miles couldn't throw him out.

E-mail this Story a friend	E-mail a message to the editor	Read our paper on your PDA	Have our Headlines e-mailed to you

Discuss this story in our Discussion Forum