SCOREBOARD
Saturday, April 28
Florida at Philadelphia (7:05 p.m. EDT). Dontrelle Willis tries to join Boston’s Josh Beckett as the only five-game winners in the major leagues.
STARS
Thursday
-Bartolo Colon, Angels, allowed four hits in seven innings and struck out 11 to lead Los Angeles to an 11-3 victory over Tampa Bay.
-A.J. Burnett, Blue Jays, pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing only four hits and Toronto beat New York 6-0.
-Tony Clark, Diamondbacks, hit two home runs to lead Arizona to a 7-4 win over San Diego.
-Wily Mo Pena, Red Sox, hit a grand slam to lead Boston to a 5-2 win over the Orioles.
-Shawn Hill, Nationals, allowed one run on four hits over eight innings and Washington beat Philadelphia 4-2.
FLAILING
Toronto’s A.J. Burnett dominated the struggling Yankees, sending last-place New York to its sixth straight loss in a 6-0 victory Thursday night. Missing injured Derek Jeter, the Yankees (8-12) are on their longest skid since also dropping six in a row from May 28 to June 3, 2005.
SLAMMIN’ SAMMY
Sammy Sosa set a major league record Thursday when he homered for Texas at Jacobs Field – the 44th big league ballpark in which has homered in his career. Sosa added another homer in the eighth inning of the Rangers’ 9-4 loss to Cleveland. Sosa had been tied with Ken Griffey Jr., and Fred McGriff with homers in 43 ballparks.
GREAT EIGHT
San Francisco defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-4 Thursday night for its eighth consecutive victory. The Giants have won eight straight for the first time since taking 10 in a row in May 2004. The Giants earned their fourth consecutive series sweep and their first three-game sweep at Dodger Stadium since April 2-4, 2002.
INJURED
Twins star Torii Hunter was hit by a pitch in the mouth from Kansas City’s Zack Greinke on Thursday and was taken to a hospital, where he received three stitches. Hunter was cut on the inside of his mouth. He was listed as day-to-day. Minnesota beat Kansas City 1-0 in 11 innings.
SNAPPED
Washington beat Philadelphia 4-2 on Thursday to snap the Phillies’ five-game winning streak.
STREAK
Aaron Rowand hit a solo home run in the Phillies’ 4-2 loss to the Nationals on Thursday night to extend his career-best hitting streak to 14 games.
EXTENSION
John Smoltz and the Atlanta Braves agreed to a contract extension on Thursday. Smoltz, who turns 40 next month, will return for a 20th season in 2008 with a deal that will guarantee him about $14 million. The contract includes an option for 2009 that can become guaranteed and a club option for 2010.
SPEAKING
“There’s going to be panic soon if the winning doesn’t start. We have to stay close. If we can’t start getting victories, I’m sure there’s not going to be too many happy people.” – Johnny Damon, after the Yankees lost their sixth straight game, 6-0 to the Blue Jays on Thursday night. It is their longest skid since also dropping six in a row from May 28 to June 3, 2005.
SEASONS
April 28
1901 – Cleveland pitcher Bock Baker gave up a record 23 singles as the Chicago White Sox beat the Indians 13-1.
1930 – The first night game in organized baseball was played in Independence, Kan., In a Western Association game, Muskogee defeated Independence 13-3.
1934 – Detroit’s Goose Goslin hit into four double plays, but the Tigers still beat Cleveland 4-1.
1961 – Warren Spahn, at the age of 40, no-hit the San Francisco Giants 1-0 at Milwaukee.
1971 – Hank Aaron connected off Gaylord Perry for his 600th career home run in the Atlanta Braves’ 10-inning, 6-5 loss to the San Francisco Giants.
1988 – The winless Baltimore Orioles set an American League record by losing their 21st straight, falling to the Minnesota Twins 4-2.
1989 – Rickey Henderson of the New York Yankees set a major league record when he led off a game with a home run for the 36th time in his career, breaking a tie with Bobby Bonds.
1999 – Colorado’s Larry Walker hit three home runs and drove in eight runs to lead the Rockies to a 9-7 win over the St. Louis Cardinals.
Today’s birthday: Shawn Hill 26.