1997 – OF Luis Gonzalez bashes a double and two home runs, and drives in 6, as he leads Houston to a 9 – 0 white-washing of the Expos. The victory moves Houston two games ahead of Pittsburgh in the National League Central.

1997 – The Cubs sweep two from the visiting Rockies, 7 – 0 and 6 – 5, to hand Colorado its 15th loss in 16 games. Steve Trachsel tosses seven shutout innings in the opener for the win, and the Cubs score the winning run in the nitecap on Mark Grace’s sacrifice fly. The Rocks have 13 hits in the nitecap, but strand 14 runners. Larry Walker is 0 for 9 for the afternoon, dropping his average 10 points to .392.

1997 – The Mariners, seeking pitching help, trade Scott Sanders (3-6) and two minor leaguers (pitcher Dean Crow and 3B Carlos Villalobos) to the Detroit Tigers for right-handers Omar Olivares (5-6) and Felipe Lira (5-7). Lou Piniella practically begged for a trade after the M’s lost to Minnesota, 9 – 7 in 12 innings, cutting Seattle’s lead to over Anaheim in the American League West to one-half game.

At Shea Stadium, RF Sammy Sosa’s running catch with the bases loaded in the 7th, and catcher Scott Servais’s pickoff in the 8th, key Chicago to a 6 – 5 win over the Mets. Before the game, New York reassigns general manager Joe McIlvaine and replaces him with his assistant, Steve Phillips.

Kevin Brown tosses his first career one-hitter, leading Florida over Los Angeles, 5 – 1. Brown, who no-hit San Francisco on June 10th, faces just two batters over the minimum, allowing a lead-off single to left by Raul Mondesi in the 5th. He strikes out eight and retires his final 15 batters to hand the loss to Hideo Nomo.

Visiting San Francisco scores 13 runs in the 7th inning – the most in the National League since the Dodgers scored 15 in the 1st inning against the Reds in 1952 – to coast to a 16 – 2 win over the Padres. The Giants send 19 men to the plate in the 7th and face 80 pitches in the 52-minute inning. They score seven runs before J.T. Snow grounds out for the first out. Five Giants score two runs each, including starting pitcher Kirk Rueter (6-4). The only player not to score is Snow, who Ks with the bases loaded for the second out.

Despite a sluggish performance, Hideki Irabu wins his second major league start, leading the New York Yankees over the Cleveland Indians, 12 – 6. Irabu gives up five runs and nine hits in five innings, allowing homers to Tony Fernandez, Marquis Grissom, and Matt Williams. Cecil Fielder, the Yank’s 270-pound DH, tries to score from first on a double and his head-first slide results in a broken right thumb. Fielder will miss eight weeks.

The Kansas City Royals trade OF Jon Nunnally and IF-OF Chris Stynes to the Cincinnati Reds for pitchers Hector Carrasco and Scott Service.