The Padres use a 9th-inning rally, capped by a three-run homer by Ryan Ludwick against his former teammates, as they defeat St. Louis, 8 – 4, and regain a half-game lead over San Francisco in the NL West. The Rockies are only a game back of both teams after they win their 20th in their last 26 games, 12 – 2 over Los Angeles. Red-hot Troy Tulowitzki hits two more homers and has now gone long 14 times in his last 15 games.

Jose Bautista sets a Toronto Blue Jays franchise record by hitting his 48th home run of the season, passing the 47 hit by George Bell in 1987, in the 6th inning of Toronto’s 11 – 9 win over Boston. The Jays lead the game 10 – 2 at that point, but the Red Sox make it close by scoring two runs in the 8th and 2 more in the 9th at Fenway Park. Kevin Gregg retires C Victor Martinez, author of two homers earlier in the game, on a pop-up with a runner on base to end the game.

Ubaldo Jimenez wins his 19th game of the year as the Rockies defeat the Dodgers, 7 – 5, to gain a game on the Giants and Padres, who both lose today. Troy Tulowitzki hits a two-run homer in the 1st, his 12th in 14 games, for the winners, who are now 1 1/2 games back of San Francisco and a half-game behind San Diego in the tight NL West race.

Nyjer Morgan, following appeals, will serve an eight-game suspension in place of the two original bans that totaled 15 games. The Nationals outfielder had been given a seven-game suspension when the commissioner’s office alleged he had deliberately thrown a baseball into the stands, resulting in a Philadelphia fan getting hit, and then a week later was handed an eight-game suspension for his instigation and participation in a brawl with Florida.

2010 – The Rays take back first place in their see-saw battle with the Yankees for top spot in the AL East with a 4 – 3 win at Tropicana Field. Dan Johnson hits a pair of two-run homers off Phil Hughes to account for all of Tampa Bay’s runs.

The Cubs beat the Cardinals at Busch Stadium, 7-3, to complete their first three-game sweep in St. Louis in more than twenty years. The victory marks the first time since June 12, 1988 that the visiting Chicago fans can break out the brooms in the Gateway City.

At Fenway Park, Jose Bautista establishes a new Blue Jay record for home runs in a season when he hit his 48th, a two-run blast on a 3-2 fastball thrown by Michael Bowden. The 29 year-old outfielder, who has never gone deep more than 16 times in a year, breaks the mark established by George Bell in 1987.

2010 – The Giants lose a frustrating game to the Dodgers, 1 – 0, on a fielding error by Juan Uribe. Barry Zito suffers his 9th consecutive loss in spite of giving up only one hit in 5 2/3 innings. The Dodgers’ run comes in the 6th after they load the bases on a hit batsman and two walks; with two outs, Casey Blake bounces a ball towards the mound, which SS Uribe fields but bobbles, allowing Reed Johnson to score. Clayton Kershaw throws a four-hit shutout for the win, even though Matt Kemp’s single is Los Angeles’s only base hit of the contest.

Reid Brignac hits a walk-off homer in the 11th inning to lead the Rays to a 1 – 0 win over the Yankees and puts Tampa Bay into first place in the AL East. Brignac enters the game in the 9th inning, after Carl Crawford is ejected for arguing a called third strike, but his blast off Sergio Mitre ends a great pitching duel that started with CC Sabathia and David Price facing each other.