>>De Aza, Danks Lead White Sox Over Tigers
(Chicago, IL) -- Alejandro De Aza belted a two-run homer in his first at-bat of the year and the White Sox held on to trim the Tigers, 2-1, on Wednesday afternoon at The Cell. De Aza was just called up to take the place of Mark Teahen, who was traded with pitcher Edwin Jackson to the Blue Jays earlier in the day. His home run in the second inning was all Chicago needed. John Danks fired six shutout innings before giving up a solo homer to Austin Jackson leading off the seventh. He struck out 10 over six-plus innings of one-run ball for the win. The Southsiders are off today. They open up a three-game series against the Boston Red Sox starting tomorrow evening in the Windy City. Gavin Floyd gets the nod in the opener.
>>Astros Strike Late To Sink Cards
(St. Louis, MO) -- Jose Altuve singled home the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth inning to lift the Astros to a 4-2 win over the Cardinals. Clint Barmes clubbed a two-run homer for Houston, which put the brakes on a five-game skid. Fernando Rodriguez tossed two scoreless innings to get his second win. Mark Melancon notched his ninth save. Jon Jay and Yadier Molina plated a run apiece for the Cardinals. Chris Carpenter struck out eight over seven innings of two-run ball in a no-decision. Mitchell Boggs was charged with the loss. The four-game set concludes tonight as Jaime Garcia opposes Wandy Rodriguez.
>>Greinke, Brewers Blank Cubs
(Milwaukee, WI) -- Zack Greinke fanned nine through six-and-two-third scoreless innings as the Brewers blanked the Cubs, 2-0. Greinke gave up just three hits and a trio of walks to improve to 8-and-4 on the season. John Axford worked a 1-2-3 ninth to nail down his 29th save. Prince Fielder clubbed a solo home run and Yuniesky Betancourt added a sac-fly for Milwaukee, which has won back-to-back games. Rickie Weeks left the game in the second inning with an ankle injury. Carlos Zambrano allowed the two runs through six-and-two-third frames of duty to absorb the tough-luck loss for Chicago. The Northsiders have dropped two straight on the heels of their first three-game winning streak of the season. The three-game set wraps up today with Randy Wells opposing Shaun Marcum.
MLB NL
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San Francisco Giants 2, Philadelphia Phillies 1
Florida Marlins 7, Washington Nationals 5
New York Mets 8, Cincinnati Reds 2
Atlanta Braves 2, Pittsburgh Pirates 1 (10 inn)
Arizona Diamondbacks 4, San Diego Padres 3
Colorado Rockies 3, Los Angeles Dodgers 1
MLB AL
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LA Angels of Anaheim 3, Cleveland Indians 1
Seattle Mariners 9, New York Yankees 2
Toronto Blue Jays 3, Baltimore Orioles 0
Boston Red Sox 12, Kansas City Royals 5
Minnesota Twins 7, Texas Rangers 2
Oakland Athletics 13, Tampa Bay Rays 4
>>Cards Deal Rasmus To Jays
(St. Louis, MO) -- The Cardinals got some pitching help for the stretch run, trading outfielder Colby Rasmus to the Blue Jays in an eight-player deal. The Cards acquired Edwin Jackson, Octavio Dotel, Marc Rzepczynski [[ zep-CHIN-skee ]] and outfielder Corey Patterson for Rasmus and pitchers Trever Miller, P.J. Walters and Brian Tallet. Rasmus had been in manager Tony La Russa's doghouse. It marks the second straight year Jackson has been traded just before the July 31st deadline. Jackson, eligible for free agency after the season, is 7-and-7 with a 3.92 earned run average in 19 starts. He became the odd-man out in a rotation for the White Sox that also includes Mark Buehrle, Jake Peavy, John Danks, Gavin Floyd and Philip Humber.
