Finishing touches
Johan Santana practically coasted through his first complete game of the season. Going the distance was a bit tougher for Ben Sheets, but he was still going strong at the finish.
Santana needed only 92 pitches to earn his fourth career shutout and lead the Minnesota Twins to a 9-0 victory over the New York Mets at Shea Stadium on Wednesday night.
The two-time Cy Young award winner's first shutout in nearly two years was about as easy as it gets. the Twins staked him to a 5-0 cushion in the second inning and the Mets managed only four base runners. Santana (7-6) struck out just one, whiffing Paul Lo Duca for the first out in the ninth.
Sheets threw 118 pitches, but was still reaching 95 mph on the radar gun in the ninth inning as he closed out the Milwaukee Brewers' 6-2 victory over the slumping San Francisco Giants ay Miller Park.
Like Santana, Sheets (8-3) also got some early runs with the Brewers scoring six against hard-throwing rookie Tim Lincecum (2-2) in the first two innings.
In New York, Santana walked none and retired 15 of his final 16 batters in his sixth career complete game and first since May 17, 2006, at Detroit.
Rockies 3, Yankees 1At Denver, Josh Fogg (3-5) held the Yankees to four hits over seven innings and out-pitched Mike Mussina (3-4) to win for the first time at Coors Field this season.
Phillies 9, Indians 6At Cleveland, Philadelphia's Ryan Howard had an RBI single in the first, homered into the second deck in the third off Jason Stanford (1-1) and added a two-run double in the ninth.
Tigers 15, Nationals 1At Washington, Sean Casey hit his first home run of the season off Jason Simontacchi (4-5), and Detroit tied a season-high with 17 hits to make a winner of Chad Durbin (6-3).
Dodgers 10, Blue Jays 1At Toronto, Los Angeles' Brad Penny (9-1) became the second nine-game winner in the National League while Dustin McGowan (3-3) allowed six runs in 1 2-3 innings, his shortest career start.
Cardinals 5, Royals 1At St. Louis, Brad Thompson (5-2) pitched seven sharp innings in place of Kip Wells, who was told three hours before the game that he was being sent to the bullpen.
Red Sox 4, Braves 0At Atlanta, Josh Beckett (10-1) pitched six scoreless innings and had a run-scoring double.
Marlins 7, White Sox 5At Chicago, Dan Uggla homered off Matt Thornton (2-3) in the ninth inning, and Florida rebounded after starter Dontrelle Willis was forced to leave with a tight left forearm.Armando Benitez (1-3) pitched one inning to get the win.
Cubs 5, Rangers 4At Arlington, Texas, Carlos Marmol (2-0) pitched three perfect innings for the win.Astros 9, Angels 5At Anaheim, Calif., Carlos Lee homered and drove in four runs, and Jason Jennings (1-1) beat Bartolo Colon (6-3) for his first win in seven starts with the Astros.
Reds 5, Athletics 2At Oakland, Calif., Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 582nd career home run and 19th of the season to lead Cincinnati to its first regular-season victory in eight games against Oakland.
Padres 12, Orioles 6At San Diego, Jake Peavy (9-1) struck out seven in six innings, and Marcus Giles and Khalil Greene both homered off Steve Trachsel (5-5) as San Diego handed Baltimore its ninth straight loss.
D'Backs 10, Devil Rays 8At Phoenix, Chris Young hit a game-ending, two-run homer off Al Reyes (1-1) for Arizona's first win in eight games against its 1998 expansion partners. Brandon Lyon (5-2) pitched the 10th for the Diamondbacks.
