ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Josh Towers didn’t allow a hit until the seventh inning and won for the first time since May 17, leading the Toronto Blue Jays over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 12-3 on Wednesday.
Towers (6-7) allowed just one runner through six innings, hitting Nick Green with a pitch in the third, then gave up Aubrey Huff’s grounded single to left with one out in the seventh. Towers, 0-6 in his previous seven starts since winning at Minnesota, gave up one run and two hits in seven innings, struck out a season-high seven and walked one. Five of the strikeouts were called.
Coming in, opponents were batting .301 against him. Scott Downs and Justin Speier completed the four-hitter.
Royals 3, Twins 1
MINNEAPOLIS – David DeJesus had four hits with an RBI and D.J. Carrasco rebounded from a rough start last week to help the Kansas City Royals beat the Minnesota Twins 3-1 Wednesday and stop an eight-game losing streak.
Kansas City avoided a franchise-worst 0-9 road trip, a mark set in 1986 and matched in 2000. New manager Buddy Bell’s young team started 12-6 after he was hired, then skidded again. Carrasco (3-3), making his ninth start of the season, gave up eight runs in 3 1-3 innings at Colorado last week. He allowed one run and five hits in 6 2-3 innings.
Yankees-Orioles ppd.
BALTIMORE – A steady rain forced the postponement of Wednesday night’s game between the New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles.
The game never got underway and was called after a delay of more than two hours. No makeup date was immediately set.
Astros 7, Rockies 1
DENVER – Craig Biggio homered and set the modern record for being hit by pitches, and Roy Oswalt pitched seven scoreless innings for his fourth straight win to lift the Houston Astros over the Colorado Rockies 7-1 Wednesday.
Biggio was hit on the left elbow in the fourth inning by Byung-Hyun Kim, breaking Don Baylor’s post-1900 record of 267 times hit by pitches. Biggio calmly turned and trotted to first as he had so many other times, but this time he pointed to the ball and asked the ball boy to send it back to the Astros’ dugout as a keepsake for his years of pain.
Houston did plenty of damage to the Rockies, getting 12 hits for its seventh win in nine games. Morgan Ensberg hit his 20th homer, Jason Lane added 13th and Lance Berkman had three hits to extend his hitting streak to nine games.
Cubs 3, Brewers 2
CHICAGO – The Cubs won in Kerry Wood’s return, with Todd Hollandsworth hitting a run-scoring single in the ninth inning for a 3-2 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday that extended Chicago’s winning streak to four.
Wood, throwing at up to 97 mph, had not pitched since April 30 because of a strained right shoulder. Following three rehabilitation starts in the minor leagues, he faced off against Milwaukee ace Ben Sheets and allowed one run and two hits in six innings, striking out nine and walking two. He left after 91 pitches with a 2-1 lead.
Chicago, which began the day 81/2 games behind first-place St. Louis in the NL Central, got its top two starters back within a span of four days. Mark Prior started Sunday’s 2-0 win over the White Sox, his first appearance since a line drive broke a bone in his right elbow on May 27.
Dodgers 4, Padres 2
LOS ANGELES – Jeff Weaver pitched into the eighth inning, Antonio Perez hit a tie-breaking three-run homer in the fifth, and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Diego Padres 4-2 Wednesday in the rubber game of a three-game series.
The victory, just the fourth in 16 games for the Dodgers, moved them within 51/2 games of the NL West-leading Padres. Los Angeles has won eight of the 12 games between the teams this season. Weaver (7-7) allowed six hits and one run in 7 1-3 innings while walking three and striking out five. He has pitched six or more innings in each of his last seven starts and in 13 of his 17 this season.
Phillies 6, Mets 3
NEW YORK – Chase Utley hit a three-run homer and the Philadelphia Phillies snapped their five-game losing streak by capitalizing on Kazuhisa Ishii’s wildness for a 6-3 victory Wednesday night over the New York Mets.
Cory Lidle tossed seven solid innings in a steady rain, and David Bell drove in two runs to spark the Phillies to only their second win in 10 games.
Cliff Floyd hit his 21st homer and an RBI single for the Mets, who squandered a chance to climb out of the NL East cellar. Pinch-hitter Jose Offerman also connected.
White Sox 4, Tigers 3
DETROIT – Frank Thomas homered leading off the 13th inning to give the Chicago White Sox a 4-3 win over the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday night.
Paul Konerko also homered for Chicago, and Chris Shelton, who had a career-high four hits, connected for Detroit.
Shinjo Takatsu (1-2) pitched 2 2-3 innings for the win. He worked out of a one-out bases loaded jam in the 13th, striking out Brandon Inge and getting Placido Polanco to hit a grounder to second to end it.
Dodgers 4, Padres 2
LOS ANGELES – Jeff Weaver pitched into the eighth inning, Antonio Perez hit a tie-breaking three-run homer in the fifth, and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Diego Padres 4-2 Wednesday in the rubber game of a three-game series.
The victory, just the fourth in 16 games for the Dodgers, moved them within 51/2 games of the NL West-leading Padres. Los Angeles has won eight of the 12 games between the teams this season.
Weaver (7-7) allowed six hits and one run in 7 1-3 innings while walking three and striking out five. He has pitched six or more innings in each of his last seven starts and in 13 of his 17 this season.
Marlins 6, Braves 5
MIAMI Juan Encarnacion’s single to right field with two outs in the 13th inning drove home Miguel Cabrera with the winning run, capping Florida’s second comeback of the night and giving the Marlins a 6-5 win over the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday.
The Marlins were down to their final strike one batter earlier, before Paul Lo Duca singled to center off Adam Bernero (4-3), the ninth Atlanta pitcher. That brought Luis Castillo home with the tying run, and Encarnacion ended the 4-hour, 43-minute game soon after.
Andruw Jones hit his major league-leading 25th home run to lead off the 13th inning, a towering shot to left field that put the Braves up 5-4. But the Marlins were able to rally, just as they did in the ninth when they managed two runs off Atlanta closer Chris Reitsma.
, who blew his fourth save in 10 chances.
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