Meanwhile, the Rangers sign former All-Star P Mark Prior and assign him to AAA Oklahoma City. A month ago, Prior began a comeback with the Orange County Flyers of the independent Golden Baseball League, during which he did not allow an earned run in 11 innings and struck out half the batters he faced. He will fail to make it back to the majors, however.

Jim Thome hits two homers to pass Mark McGwire and take over 9th place on the all-time list in the Twins’ 12 – 4 drubbing of Texas. Thome drives in 4 runs, and 3B Matt Tolbert adds two triples and 5 RBI to pace Minnesota’s attack. Carl Pavano wins his 16th of the year.

Stephen Strasburg undergoes reconstructive elbow surgery in which Dr. Lewis Yocum takes a piece of ligament from the 22 year-old right-hander’s left leg and transplants it into the rookie’s pitching elbow. The ‘Tommy John’ surgery might keep the Nationals’ much-heralded phenom out of the starting rotation until the start of the 2012 season.

Major League Baseball penalizes six players, both skippers, and a coach following an ugly brawl which occurred two days ago between the Nationals and Marlins in Miami that was the result of Chris Volstad throwing at Nyjer Morgan for the second time in the game. The Florida outfielder, who became a target when he ran over Brett Hayes, separating the catcher’s shoulder in the previous contest, retaliated to being hit in the fourth by stealing two bases, but charges the mound after the sixth inning incident, setting off the melee.

With a number of pitchers unavailable following a 13-inning loss to Detroit during which starter Scott Baker had to leave after only two innings, the Twins turn to rookie Matt Fox to start a key game against the Rangers. Fox delivers in his major league debut, pitching 5 2/3 solid innings after being called up from AAA Rochester in the middle of the night. His teammate in the minors, Alex Burnett, then pitches 1 1/3 innings to get credit for the 4 – 3 win.

The Phillies pull to within one game of the NL East-leading Braves with a 1 – 0 win over the Brewers. Cole Hamels pitches 7 scoreless innings, while the lone run scores after Shane Victorino’s fly ball drops between LF Ryan Braun and CF Lorenzo Cain for a double; the Flyin’ Hawaiian then scores on two consecutive ground ball outs. Meanwhile, the Braves drop a 6 – 1 decision to Florida as rookie Logan Morrison hits a pair of triples.

2010 – Chase Utley hits a grand slam and drives in 6 runs as the Phillies use a nine-run 7th inning to defeat Colorado, 12 – 11, in a make-up game for a May rainout. Both teams need to travel to Denver just for the occasion. The Rockies collect 20 hits, including a homer by Carlos Gonzalez, who hits an extra-base hit for the 10th consecutive game, but they waste a good start by Jhoulys Chacin, who gives up a single earned run in 5 1/3 innings. The Rox bullpen is ripped apart by the Phillies’ bats, with Manny Delcarmen giving up four hits and four runs while retiring only one batter in his first appearance after being acquired from Boston. Besides Utley, Ryan Howardand Jayson Werth hit homers for Philly, while Chris Iannetta and Dexter Fowler join Gonzalez for Colorado.

Brandon Allen, just recalled form AAA Reno, hits a grand slam to lead the Diamondbacks to a 5 – 2 win over San Diego for the Padres’ 7th consecutive loss. The Pads waste a ten-strikeout effort by starter Mat Latos, who is lifted for a pinch-hitter in the 7th as they take a short-lived 2 – 1 lead.

Already appealing a seven-game suspension for throwing a baseball into the crowd in anger and hitting a fan in Philadelphia on August 21st, Nationals OF Nyjer Morgan is at the center of a bench-clearing brawl in today’s 16 – 10 loss to the Florida Marlins. The brawl starts when Chris Volstad thows a ball behind Morgan, who has already been hit by a pitch earlier in the game; Morgan charges the mound and throws a punch at Volstad before 1B Gaby Sanchez tackles him. He needs to be escorted from the field, with his shirt ripped and his face bruised, but pounds his chest and screams at the crowd as he departs. He, Volstad, Marlins manager Edwin Rodriguez and reliever Jose Veras are all ejected from the game after the dust settles, then one inning later, Nats manager Jim Riggleman and P Doug Slaten are also thrown out when Sanchez is hit by a pitch. The trouble started the day before, when Morgan slammed into Marlins catcher Brett Hayes in the 10th inning, separating his shoulder; he infuriates his opponents further when, after his hit-by-pitch, he steals second and third base even though his team trails, 14 – 3. In two days, the National League will hand out suspensions to all involved, including 8 games for Morgan, 6 for Volstad and shorter suspensions for both managers, Nats coach Pat Listach, Slaten, Sanchez and Marlins reliever Alex Sanabia, while Veras escapes with a simple fine and warning. The league cites the succession of incidents in which Morgan has been involved in recent days to explain the unusually long verdict. Morgan will appeal, but now faces the prospect of two weeks of forced inaction.