Sox blow huge lead to O's
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The Associated Press - Published: July 1, 2009
BALTIMORE — The Boston Red Sox squandered a nine-run lead and trailed the Baltimore Orioles 11-10 in the bottom of the eighth at press time. Boston held a 9-1 lead in the middle of the fifth when the rain began to fall. The Sox added a run in the seventh but the Orioles touched up Justin Masterson for five in the bottom of the inning and touched up Hideki Okajima for three more in the eighth before Jonathan Papelbon came on with one out.
After striking out Felix Pie, Papelbon gave up a two-run triple to Nick Markakis that put the O's on top.
John Smoltz allowed just one run on three hits in four innings but did not return after the rain delay. Kevin Youkilis hit a two-run homer and Jacoby Ellsbury a solo shot. Oscar Salazar slammed a three-run home run off Masterson in the seventh.
Rays 4, Blue Jays 1
TORONTO — B.J. Upton, Carl Crawford and Willy Aybar hit solo homers and the Tampa Bay Rays won their seventh straight game, 4-1 over the Toronto Blue Jays 4-1 on Tuesday night.
Matt Garza (6-5) allowed one run and seven hits in seven innings to win consecutive starts for the first time since April 30 and May 5. The right-hander is 4-2 with a 0.60 ERA in his past six starts against the Blue Jays.
J.P. Howell worked the ninth for his sixth save.
Upton hit the first pitch of the game from Scott Richmond (6-5) for his seventh homer. Crawford put the Rays in front to stay in the third with his eighth of the year.
Aybar made it 3-1 with a leadoff shot in the sixth, his seventh, giving the Rays a team-record 41 homers in June.
Brewers 6, Mets 3
MILWAUKEE — Ryan Braun hit a three-run double and scored on Johan Santana's throwing error, sending the Milwaukee Brewers to a 6-3 victory over the Mets on Tuesday night that extended New York's losing streak to a season-high five games.
Prince Fielder added a 452-foot solo homer for the NL Central leaders, who have won four of five and provided a fitting end to New York's worst month in nearly six years.
The Mets finished June with a 9-18 mark and head into July still missing injured stars Carlos Beltran (knee), Jose Reyes (calf, hamstring) and Carlos Delgado (hip).
Giants 6, Cardinals 3
ST. LOUIS — Randy Johnson won his third straight decision and 303rd of his career despite surrendering two home runs to Albert Pujols in the San Francisco Giants' 6-3 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday night.
The Cardinals couldn't overcome Chris Carpenter's first shaky outing of the season, which left them trailing 6-1 after five innings. St. Louis has lost three straight since acquiring Mark DeRosa, who is a quiet 0 for 9 thus far, and has dropped six of seven overall.
Johnson (8-5) allowed three runs and four hits in 5 1-3 innings.
Pujols leads the major leagues with 30 homers and 77 RBIs after his third multihomer game in 10 games.
Carpenter (5-3) lasted five innings and allowed six runs and 11 hits.
Braves 5, Phillies 4
10 innings
ATLANTA — Martin Prado hit a game-ending RBI single in the 10th inning for his career-best fourth hit and the Atlanta Braves beat Philadelphia 5-4 on Tuesday night for their first home win over the Phillies since 2007.
Prado also homered and finished with a career-high four RBIs for Atlanta, which went 0-9 against the Phillies at Turner Field last year.
Matt Diaz started the winning rally with a one-out single off Chan Ho Park (3-2). He moved to third on Gregor Blanco's single to left and Prado followed with a liner over left fielder John Mayberry Jr.
Blanco had three hits and scored twice.
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