Baseball Today

[Louie]

Thursday, July 3



San Diego at Los Angeles (10:10 p.m. EST). Dodgers ace Kevin Brown goes for his 11th victory.

STARS

Wednesday



-- Sammy Sosa, Matt Clement, Mark Guthrie, Kyle Farnsworth and Joe Borowski, Cubs. Sosa homered on the first pitch of the ninth inning, and Clement, Guthrie, Farnsworth and Borowski combined on a one-hitter in Chicago's 1-0 victory over Philadelphia.

-- Frank Thomas, White Sox, hit two home runs, including the winner in the 12th inning of Chicago's 8-6 victory over Minnesota.

-- Carlos Delgado, Blue Jays, hit two homers -- his major league-leading 27th and 28th -- in Toronto's 8-2 win over Detroit.

-- Barry Bonds, Giants, homered twice as San Francisco beat St. Louis 4-1.

-- John Lackey, Angels, pitched a four-hitter for his first major league shutout in Anaheim's 5-0 win over Texas.

-- Rafael Furcal, Braves, led off the 13th inning with a homer in Atlanta's 2-1 win over Florida.

SOX DEBUT



In his debut with Chicago, Roberto Alomar scored the winning run on Frank Thomas' homer in the 12th as the White Sox beat Minnesota 8-6 Wednesday night. Alomar went 1-for-5 in the leadoff spot, a day after the 12-time All-Star second baseman was acquired from the Mets for three minor leaguers.

MOVIN' UP



Barry Bonds homered twice in San Francisco's 4-1 win over St. Louis on Wednesday night. It was Bonds' 63rd multihomer game, moving him past Hank Aaron and matching Willie Mays for third place. ... Pedro Martinez moved ahead of Cy Young into second place on the Red Sox's career strikeout list with 1,343 in Boston's 5-4 win over Tampa Bay. Roger Clemens is first with 2,590.

CHASING ROCKET



Roy Halladay led Toronto to an 8-2 win over Detroit on Wednesday night for his 12th win in a row. His streak is the second-longest in team history to Roger Clemens' 15-game string in 1998.

INDEFINITE RETURN



Randy Johnson's scheduled rehabilitation start for Triple-A Tucson on Thursday night was canceled. Arizona wants Johnson, who has been on the DL since April 28 following arthroscopic surgery on his right knee, to spend more time doing agility work before he returns to the mound.

MORTAL



Eric Gagne allowed two 10th-inning runs in Los Angeles' 4-3 loss to San Diego on Wednesday night, the Dodgers' fifth straight loss. Gagne (1-3) has lost his last two appearances.

SHUT DOWN



John Lackey pitched a four-hitter for his first major league shutout in Anaheim's 5-0 win over Texas on Wednesday night. Lackey retired his last 16 batters to become Anaheim's first complete-game shutout winner since Ramon Ortiz beat Baltimore 9-0 last Aug. 31.

REDS ZONE



Barry Larkin hit a two-out RBI single to give Cincinnati another ninth-inning rally Wednesday night -- a 4-3 win over Pittsburgh. The Reds won for a major league-leading 21st time in their final at-bat and lead the majors with 19 one-run victories.

BACK IN THE SADDLE



Darrell May pitched a six-hitter for his third career complete game as Kansas City beat Cleveland 8-2 on Wednesday night. May (2-4), who went 16 starts without a victory before winning his previous start, walked two and struck out three.

HITLESS WONDER



Raul Ibanez drove in three runs without getting a hit in Kansas City's 8-2 win over Cleveland on Wednesday night. Ibanez drew a bases-loaded walk in the first, drove in another run with a fielder's choice grounder in the fourth and added a sacrifice fly in the sixth.

SAVING GRACE



Byung-Hyun Kim pitched a perfect ninth, earning his first save since being moved from the starting rotation, in Boston's 5-4 win over Tampa Bay on Wednesday night.

SPEAKING



"You knew it was going to end with somebody popping one out of the ballpark. You could almost figure it. I didn't expect a little guy to hit one over the right-field fence, though.'' -- Florida manager Jack McKeon on shortstop Rafael Furcal's leadoff homer in the 13th inning as Atlanta beat Florida 2-1 on Wednesday night.

"Now that we are playing for something, I think it is a lot of fun.'' -- Chicago White Sox second baseman Roberto Alomar on playing in his first game since being acquired from the Mets.

SEASONS

July 3



1912 -- Rube Marquard of the New York Giants raised his season record to 19-0 with a 2-1 victory over the Brooklyn Dodgers. His winning streak ended five days later against the Chicago Cubs.

1939 -- Johnny Mize of St. Louis hit two home runs, a triple and a double, leading the Cardinals to a 5-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs.

1947 -- The Cleveland Indians purchased Larry Doby from the Newark Eagles of the Negro National League, making him the first black player in the American League.

1966 -- Atlanta pitcher Tony Cloninger became the first NL player to hit two grand slams in one game. He added a single for nine RBIs in a 17-3 triumph over San Francisco.

1968 -- Cleveland's Luis Tiant struck out 19 and walked none in a six-hit 1-0, 10-inning triumph over Minnesota.

1970 -- California's Clyde Wright used only 98 pitches to no-hit the Oakland A's 4-0 at Anaheim Stadium.

1973 -- Jim Perry of the Detroit Tigers and brother Gaylord of the Cleveland Indians faced each other for the only time as opposing pitchers. Neither finished the game. Gaylord took the loss, 5-4.

2001 -- D'Angelo Jimenez hit San Diego's fourth sacrifice fly of the game -- tying the NL record -- to lift the Padres over Colorado 6-5. Ryan Klesko, Wiki Gonzalez and Woody Williams also had sacrifice flies.

2002 -- Cleveland slugger Jim Thome homered in his seventh straight game, leaving him one shy of the major league record. Thome hit a solo shot off David Wells of the New York Yankees.

Today's birthday: Moises Alou, 37.