Prior Dazzles Mariners, Sosa Hits 21st

Sammy Sosa hit his 21st home run and rookie right-hander Mark Prior had a career-high 11 strikeouts and gave up four hits in seven innings as the visiting Chicago Cubs defeated the Seattle Mariners, 2-0, Friday.

Sosa took over the major league home run lead from Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez. He homered on Joel Pineiro’s first pitch of the sixth inning to break a scoreless tie.

Fred McGriff hit his 10th homer of the season off Pineiro with two out in the eighth.

Sosa also doubled in his first regular-season game at Safeco Field. He went 0 for 2 for the National League at Safeco in last summer’s All-Star game.

In the first game between the Cubs and the Mariners, Prior (2-1) made up for a poor performance in Houston last Saturday, when he lasted only 3 2/3 innings and gave up seven runs.

Making his fourth start since being called up from triple-A Iowa on May 22, the former USC standout dazzled the Mariners with his curve and a fastball clocked at 99 mph.

In his career-high seven innings, Prior threw 124 pitches, 86 for strikes, and walked one.

Arizona 7, Boston 5--Miguel Batista pitched seven innings to help the Diamondbacks defeat the Red Sox in their first Fenway Park appearance.

Batista (3-3) held Boston to one run and three hits through five innings before giving up three runs in the sixth and one in the seventh. In all, he gave up five runs and seven hits, two walks and a wild pitch and struck out five.

Byung-Hyun Kim recorded the last two outs for his 15th save in 17 chances.

Atlanta 13, Texas 7--Every Atlanta batter either drove in a run or scored by the third inning at Arlington, Texas, as the Braves roughed up Chan Ho Park in the shortest start of his career.

Park (2-3), making his sixth start of the season after signing a $65 million, five-year contract last winter, gave up nine runs and eight hits and got only four outs.

About the only good news for Texas was Ivan Rodriguez returning from the disabled list and going four for four with a walk, scoring twice and driving in a run. Rodriguez, who was out with back problems, doubled in his first two at-bats since April 14.

Minnesota 12, Florida 7--Torii Hunter had three hits and three RBIs at Minneapolis as the Twins ended the Marlins’ four-game winning streak.

Every Twin starter had a hit and an RBI other than Corey Koskie. David Ortiz was the only starter who failed to score a run.

Johan Santana (1-0), making his first start of the season, had a career-high eight strikeouts and gave up four hits in 5 1/3 innings.

St. Louis 12, Kansas City 6--Tino Martinez homered and had a season-high four hits as the Cardinals won at Kansas City, Mo.

Albert Pujols doubled three times and drove in three runs for the Cardinals, whose 12 runs were a season high.

Darryl Kile (4-3) went 5 1/3 innings, giving up three earned runs and six hits.

Montreal 4, Chicago White Sox 3--Tony Armas Jr. won for the first time in five starts, and Troy O’Leary hit a two-run homer as the Expos won at Chicago.

Kenny Lofton stole his 500th career base in the sixth inning for Chicago, and Frank Thomas hit his 12th home run of the season.

Toronto 8, Colorado 0--Roy Halladay pitched a two-hitter for his first shutout of the season and the Blue Jays won at Toronto.

Halladay (7-2) didn’t allow a baserunner until Benny Agbayani led off the sixth with a double into the gap in right-center. It was his third career shutout.

New York Mets 4, Cleveland 3--Roberto Alomar won in his return to Jacobs Field and Al Leiter, facing the Indians for the first time since the 1997 World Series, pitched into the eighth as the Mets ended a five-game losing streak.

Alomar went one for four in his first appearance in Cleveland since being traded to New York on Dec. 11 in a blockbuster, eight-player trade. Edgardo Alfonzo drove in two runs.

Philadelphia 11, Detroit 1--Scott Rolen went four for four and drove in five runs to lead the Phillies at Detroit.

Jimmy Rollins and Marlon Anderson had three hits each in Philadelphia’s sixth victory in 28 road games. Detroit has lost four in a row and eight of nine.

San Diego 8, Tampa Bay 4--Ramon Vazquez hit a grand slam and Brian Lawrence gave up three runs in seven innings as the Padres ended a seven-game losing streak with a victory at St. Petersburg, Fla.

San Diego’s Bubba Trammell had a solo homer in his return to Tropicana Field.

Oakland 5, Houston 3--Terrence Long hit two solo homers, and Mark Mulder won his third consecutive start as the Athletics won at Oakland.

Mulder (5-4) gave up three runs and five hits in 7 1/3 innings, striking out eight. The lanky left-hander has rebounded after losing a career-high four consecutive starts and spending nearly a month on the disabled list.