SCOREBOARD
Monday, April 9
Houston at Chicago (2:20 p.m. EDT). Ted Lilly makes his Wrigley Field debut for the Cubs.
STARS
Saturday
-Alex Rodriguez, Yankees, homered twice, including a game-winning grand slam to lead New York to a 10-7 victory over Baltimore.
-Adrian Gonzalez, Padres, hit an RBI double with one out in the ninth to give San Diego a 3-2 win over Colorado.
-Derek Lowe, Dodgers, pitched seven innings, giving up four hits and one run, to lead Los Angeles to a 4-1 win over San Francisco.
-Javier Vazquez, White Sox, gave up one hit over 6 2-3 scoreless innings to lead Chicago to a 3-0 victory over Minnesota.
-Roy Oswalt, Astros, pitched a complete game, giving up one run and five hits, in leading Houston to a 5-1 win over St. Louis.
-Brandon Webb, Diamondbacks, struck out eight, allowed seven hits and one run over seven innings to lead Arizona over Washington 7-1.
KING FOR A DAY
Alex Rodriguez hit a grand slam off Chris Ray with two outs in the ninth inning, giving the Yankees a memorable 10-7 victory over Baltimore on Saturday. Rodriguez homered twice, doubled and drove in six runs. Rodriguez has 14 slams and three of them ended games, tying the major league mark shared by Vern Stephens (1946, 1949, 1950) and Cy Williams (1924 and twice in 1926).
SNOW DAYS
A holiday weekend snowstorm and a forecast for more snow caused the postponement of Saturday’s day-night doubleheader between the Cleveland Indians and Seattle Mariners. The doubleheader had been scheduled after Friday’s home opener at Jacobs Field was postponed following 2 hours, 53 minutes of delays. The teams played four innings in blustery and brutally cold weather before the game was finally called.
OLD FRIENDS
John Smoltz outpitched former teammate Tom Glavine to help the Atlanta Braves beat the New York Mets 5-3 on Saturday. It was the second time Smoltz had faced Glavine after 15 years as teammates and golf buddies. Smoltz went six innings and allowed two runs, seven hits, walked four and struck out four. The Atlanta right-hander also won on July 15, 2005. Glavine fell to 3-10 against the Braves since signing a free agent contract with the Mets in 2003.
SAMMY SLAMS ONE
Sammy Sosa hit his first home run since Aug. 4, 2005 on Saturday night, a two-run shot for the Texas Rangers against the Boston Red Sox. The 409-foot drive was the 589th homer of his career, fifth on the all-time list. It was Sosa’s first homer at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, the 43rd different stadium where he has homered. That tied Ken Griffey Jr. and Fred McGriff for the most stadiums with a homer.
VLAD THE IMPALER
Vladimir Guerrero drove in his major league-leading 10th run for Los Angeles in a 2-1 win over Oakland Saturday night. He went 2-for-3 and is hitting .524 (11-for-21) this season. The Angels are off to their best start since 1991 when they also won five of their first six.
RETURNING CHAMP
The Pittsburgh Pirates activated NL batting champion Freddy Sanchez off the 15-day disabled list following Saturday’s 7-5 loss to Cincinnati. Sanchez, who hit .344 last season, sprained his right knee while turning a double play in a spring training game March 6.
SPEAKING
“I was so excited, I felt like a fool running around the bases, like it was Little League.” – Alex Rodriguez on his game-winning grand slam with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning to give New York a 10-7 win over Baltimore on Saturday.
SEASONS
April 9
1913 – Ebbets Field opened in Brooklyn and the Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Dodgers 1-0 before a crowd of 10,000. The stadium, which cost $750,000 to build, was named after Charles Ebbets, the club’s principal owner.
1947 – Dodgers manager Leo Durocher was suspended for one year by commissioner Happy Chandler for “the accumulation of unpleasant incidents” detrimental to baseball.
1965 – The Houston Astrodome opened with an exhibition game between the New York Yankees and Astros. President Johnson attended and Gov. John Connally threw out the first ball. Mickey Mantle hit the first home run, but the Astros won 2-1 in 12 innings.
1969 – Billy Williams of Chicago hit four consecutive doubles to lead the Cubs to an 11-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.
1981 – Fernando Valenzuela made his first major league start a stunning success by pitching a 2-0, five-hit triumph over the Houston Astros in Los Angeles. He would go on to win his first eight games.
1985 – Chicago’s Tom Seaver made his 15th opening day start to break Christy Mathewson’s record. Seaver pitched 6 2-3 innings and was credited with the victory as the White Sox beat the Milwaukee Brewers 4-2.
1993 – The Colorado Rockies beat the Montreal Expos 11-4 for their first win and set a National League record for attendance in their home debut. The crowd of 80,227 broke the record of 78,672 set on April 18, 1958, by the Los Angeles Dodgers.
2000 – In a 13-7 win over Kansas City, Minnesota’s Ron Coomer, Jacque Jones and Matt LeCroy hit consecutive home runs. The Royals’ Carlos Beltran, Jermaine Dye and Mike Sweeney repeated the feat, marking the first time in major league history that both teams hit three consecutive home runs in the same game.
2003 – Detroit became the second major league team to start successive seasons 0-7 after a 9-6 loss to Kansas City. The Tigers started 0-11 the previous year. The 1962-63 New York Mets started 0-9 and 0-8 in their first two seasons.
2006 – Cory Sullivan tied a major league record by hitting two triples during a seven-run fifth inning, helping Colorado rout San Diego 10-4.
Today’s birthday: Adam Lowen 23.
