Braves' rally ends Gordon save streak

Greg Maddux won for the first time in more than a month becauseTom Gordon blew his first regular-season save in more than a year.

Javy Lopez's two-run double in the ninth inning gave the visitingAtlanta Braves a 6-5 victory Saturday against the Boston Red Sox.

Rookie Brian Daubach's second run-scoring single of the game hadgiven the Red Sox a 5-4 lead in the eighth, and Maddux (5-3) appearedto be on his way to his fourth consecutive loss since April 29.Gordon (0-1) retired the first two batters in the ninth beforefaltering. Singles by Chipper Jones and Brian Jordan put runners atfirst and third. Otis Nixon then ran for Jordan and stole secondbefore Lopez followed with a hard grounder just inside the third-baseline.It was Gordon's first blown save in the regular season since April14, 1998. He had converted a major league-record 54 consecutivechances during the regular season."It's disappointing, but it's over," Gordon said. "I've done alot of good things in this role, and it's something I've grown tolike."Maddux had been 0-3 in his previous six starts. He allowed fiveruns and 11 hits in eight innings before John Rocker pitched theninth for his 11th save.Dodgers 7, Angels 4: Devon White hit a grand slam off Tim Belcherin the sixth inning to boost host Los Angeles past Anaheim in a gamethat featured an altercation between the starting pitchers.White hit the first pitch from Belcher (3-5) into the right-fieldseats for his seventh career grand slam to give the Dodgers a 5-4lead. Belcher entered the sixth with a three-hit shutout and a 4-0lead, thanks to Matt Walbeck's grand slam in the fourth.The fisticuffs occurred in the fifth. Dodgers starter Chan HoPark laid down a sacrifice bunt and was tagged out by Belcher. Thetwo exchanged words before Park shoved Belcher, threw a forearm athim, then jumped and delivered a kick to his side. Both benchesemptied, and Park was ejected.Rockies 12, Brewers 11: Vinny Castilla's third home run of thegame capped a four-run rally in the eighth inning that carriedColorado past visiting Milwaukee. Castilla went 4-for-5 with fiveRBI in the first three-homer game of his career. He hit a two-runhome run in the second and bases-empty shots in the seventh andeighth.Astros 6, Twins 5: Richard Hidalgo homered and matched his careerhigh with four RBI, and Bill Spiers made two clutch defensive playsat third base to help Houston nip host Minnesota. Hidalgo went3-for- 4 and drove in the go-ahead run with a double in the eighth tohelp the Astros improve to 4-4 on their 12-game road trip.Reds 9-7, Royals 4-4: Barry Larkin hit a three-run home run in the10th inning of Game 2 to help visiting Cincinnati complete a sweep ofKansas City. In Game 1, Jeffrey Hammonds and Sean Casey each hit twohome runs and combined to drive in all nine runs to help the Redsovercome two home runs by the Royals' Carlos Beltran.Cardinals 7, Tigers 2: Eli Marrero drove in two runs, and KentBottenfield (9-2) won his ninth game as St. Louis trounced hostDetroit to end a three-game losing streak. Bottenfield is tied withthe Houston Astros' Jose Lima for the league lead in victories.Rangers 9, Diamondbacks 8: Rafael Palmeiro hit a grand slam andhad six RBI, and Royce Clayton scored the go-ahead run on a passedball in the eighth inning to lift visiting Texas past Arizona.Giants 8, Athletics 0: Kirk Rueter (5-2) pitched 5 1/3 scorelessinnings and had a two-out RBI single to start a four-run rally in thefourth that helped San Francisco hand Oakland its eighth consecutiveroad loss.Orioles 7, Phillies 6: Mike Bordick singled home the winning runwith two outs in the 10th inning to boost Baltimore past Philadelphiabefore a regular season-record crowd of 48,531 at Camden Yards.Expos 5, Blue Jays 0: Miguel Batista (5-2) pitched a three-hitterfor his first career shutout, and Orlando Merced hit a three-run homerun as visiting Montreal ended a six-game skid at the hands ofToronto.Marlins 9, Devil Rays 7: Jorge Fabregas' two-run triplehighlighted an eight-run burst in the sixth inning that rallied hostFlorida past Tampa Bay for its first four-game winning streak sincelast July.Padres 3, Mariners 2: Eric Owens' bases-loaded single with one outin the 10th inning lifted San Diego past visiting Seattle. ThePadres defeated the Mariners by the same score Friday.

Braves' rally ends Gordon save streak

Greg Maddux won for the first time in more than a month becauseTom Gordon blew his first regular-season save in more than a year.

Javy Lopez's two-run double in the ninth inning gave the visitingAtlanta Braves a 6-5 victory Saturday against the Boston Red Sox.

Rookie Brian Daubach's second run-scoring single of the game hadgiven the Red Sox a 5-4 lead in the eighth, and Maddux (5-3) appearedto be on his way to his fourth consecutive loss since April 29.Gordon (0-1) retired the first two batters in the ninth beforefaltering. Singles by Chipper Jones and Brian Jordan put runners atfirst and third. Otis Nixon then ran for Jordan and stole secondbefore Lopez followed with a hard grounder just inside the third-baseline.It was Gordon's first blown save in the regular season since April14, 1998. He had converted a major league-record 54 consecutivechances during the regular season."It's disappointing, but it's over," Gordon said. "I've done alot of good things in this role, and it's something I've grown tolike."Maddux had been 0-3 in his previous six starts. He allowed fiveruns and 11 hits in eight innings before John Rocker pitched theninth for his 11th save.Dodgers 7, Angels 4: Devon White hit a grand slam off Tim Belcherin the sixth inning to boost host Los Angeles past Anaheim in a gamethat featured an altercation between the starting pitchers.White hit the first pitch from Belcher (3-5) into the right-fieldseats for his seventh career grand slam to give the Dodgers a 5-4lead. Belcher entered the sixth with a three-hit shutout and a 4-0lead, thanks to Matt Walbeck's grand slam in the fourth.The fisticuffs occurred in the fifth. Dodgers starter Chan HoPark laid down a sacrifice bunt and was tagged out by Belcher. Thetwo exchanged words before Park shoved Belcher, threw a forearm athim, then jumped and delivered a kick to his side. Both benchesemptied, and Park was ejected.Rockies 12, Brewers 11: Vinny Castilla's third home run of thegame capped a four-run rally in the eighth inning that carriedColorado past visiting Milwaukee. Castilla went 4-for-5 with fiveRBI in the first three-homer game of his career. He hit a two-runhome run in the second and bases-empty shots in the seventh andeighth.Astros 6, Twins 5: Richard Hidalgo homered and matched his careerhigh with four RBI, and Bill Spiers made two clutch defensive playsat third base to help Houston nip host Minnesota. Hidalgo went3-for- 4 and drove in the go-ahead run with a double in the eighth tohelp the Astros improve to 4-4 on their 12-game road trip.Reds 9-7, Royals 4-4: Barry Larkin hit a three-run home run in the10th inning of Game 2 to help visiting Cincinnati complete a sweep ofKansas City. In Game 1, Jeffrey Hammonds and Sean Casey each hit twohome runs and combined to drive in all nine runs to help the Redsovercome two home runs by the Royals' Carlos Beltran.Cardinals 7, Tigers 2: Eli Marrero drove in two runs, and KentBottenfield (9-2) won his ninth game as St. Louis trounced hostDetroit to end a three-game losing streak. Bottenfield is tied withthe Houston Astros' Jose Lima for the league lead in victories.Rangers 9, Diamondbacks 8: Rafael Palmeiro hit a grand slam andhad six RBI, and Royce Clayton scored the go-ahead run on a passedball in the eighth inning to lift visiting Texas past Arizona.Giants 8, Athletics 0: Kirk Rueter (5-2) pitched 5 1/3 scorelessinnings and had a two-out RBI single to start a four-run rally in thefourth that helped San Francisco hand Oakland its eighth consecutiveroad loss.Orioles 7, Phillies 6: Mike Bordick singled home the winning runwith two outs in the 10th inning to boost Baltimore past Philadelphiabefore a regular season-record crowd of 48,531 at Camden Yards.Expos 5, Blue Jays 0: Miguel Batista (5-2) pitched a three-hitterfor his first career shutout, and Orlando Merced hit a three-run homerun as visiting Montreal ended a six-game skid at the hands ofToronto.Marlins 9, Devil Rays 7: Jorge Fabregas' two-run triplehighlighted an eight-run burst in the sixth inning that rallied hostFlorida past Tampa Bay for its first four-game winning streak sincelast July.Padres 3, Mariners 2: Eric Owens' bases-loaded single with one outin the 10th inning lifted San Diego past visiting Seattle. ThePadres defeated the Mariners by the same score Friday.

Braves' rally ends Gordon save streak

Greg Maddux won for the first time in more than a month becauseTom Gordon blew his first regular-season save in more than a year.

Javy Lopez's two-run double in the ninth inning gave the visitingAtlanta Braves a 6-5 victory Saturday against the Boston Red Sox.

Rookie Brian Daubach's second run-scoring single of the game hadgiven the Red Sox a 5-4 lead in the eighth, and Maddux (5-3) appearedto be on his way to his fourth consecutive loss since April 29.Gordon (0-1) retired the first two batters in the ninth beforefaltering. Singles by Chipper Jones and Brian Jordan put runners atfirst and third. Otis Nixon then ran for Jordan and stole secondbefore Lopez followed with a hard grounder just inside the third-baseline.It was Gordon's first blown save in the regular season since April14, 1998. He had converted a major league-record 54 consecutivechances during the regular season."It's disappointing, but it's over," Gordon said. "I've done alot of good things in this role, and it's something I've grown tolike."Maddux had been 0-3 in his previous six starts. He allowed fiveruns and 11 hits in eight innings before John Rocker pitched theninth for his 11th save.Dodgers 7, Angels 4: Devon White hit a grand slam off Tim Belcherin the sixth inning to boost host Los Angeles past Anaheim in a gamethat featured an altercation between the starting pitchers.White hit the first pitch from Belcher (3-5) into the right-fieldseats for his seventh career grand slam to give the Dodgers a 5-4lead. Belcher entered the sixth with a three-hit shutout and a 4-0lead, thanks to Matt Walbeck's grand slam in the fourth.The fisticuffs occurred in the fifth. Dodgers starter Chan HoPark laid down a sacrifice bunt and was tagged out by Belcher. Thetwo exchanged words before Park shoved Belcher, threw a forearm athim, then jumped and delivered a kick to his side. Both benchesemptied, and Park was ejected.Rockies 12, Brewers 11: Vinny Castilla's third home run of thegame capped a four-run rally in the eighth inning that carriedColorado past visiting Milwaukee. Castilla went 4-for-5 with fiveRBI in the first three-homer game of his career. He hit a two-runhome run in the second and bases-empty shots in the seventh andeighth.Astros 6, Twins 5: Richard Hidalgo homered and matched his careerhigh with four RBI, and Bill Spiers made two clutch defensive playsat third base to help Houston nip host Minnesota. Hidalgo went3-for- 4 and drove in the go-ahead run with a double in the eighth tohelp the Astros improve to 4-4 on their 12-game road trip.Reds 9-7, Royals 4-4: Barry Larkin hit a three-run home run in the10th inning of Game 2 to help visiting Cincinnati complete a sweep ofKansas City. In Game 1, Jeffrey Hammonds and Sean Casey each hit twohome runs and combined to drive in all nine runs to help the Redsovercome two home runs by the Royals' Carlos Beltran.Cardinals 7, Tigers 2: Eli Marrero drove in two runs, and KentBottenfield (9-2) won his ninth game as St. Louis trounced hostDetroit to end a three-game losing streak. Bottenfield is tied withthe Houston Astros' Jose Lima for the league lead in victories.Rangers 9, Diamondbacks 8: Rafael Palmeiro hit a grand slam andhad six RBI, and Royce Clayton scored the go-ahead run on a passedball in the eighth inning to lift visiting Texas past Arizona.Giants 8, Athletics 0: Kirk Rueter (5-2) pitched 5 1/3 scorelessinnings and had a two-out RBI single to start a four-run rally in thefourth that helped San Francisco hand Oakland its eighth consecutiveroad loss.Orioles 7, Phillies 6: Mike Bordick singled home the winning runwith two outs in the 10th inning to boost Baltimore past Philadelphiabefore a regular season-record crowd of 48,531 at Camden Yards.Expos 5, Blue Jays 0: Miguel Batista (5-2) pitched a three-hitterfor his first career shutout, and Orlando Merced hit a three-run homerun as visiting Montreal ended a six-game skid at the hands ofToronto.Marlins 9, Devil Rays 7: Jorge Fabregas' two-run triplehighlighted an eight-run burst in the sixth inning that rallied hostFlorida past Tampa Bay for its first four-game winning streak sincelast July.Padres 3, Mariners 2: Eric Owens' bases-loaded single with one outin the 10th inning lifted San Diego past visiting Seattle. ThePadres defeated the Mariners by the same score Friday.