Adrian Gonzalez homers and drives in 6 runs to snap the Dodgers’ winning streak at 9 games, as San Diego wins, 10 – 5. Also for the Padres, Will Venable has four hits, including two doubles and a triple, while Jon Garlandrecords the win over his former team.

Another day, another epic Yankees-Red Sox battle. Today, the Yankees play the game under protest, claiming the Sox did not properly signal an injury before removing pitcher Josh Beckett trailing 5 – 0 in the 5th inning, thus giving reliever Manny Delcarmen more time to warm up than warranted. For the second night in a row, the Sox come back from a five-run hole, taking a 7 – 5 lead in the 9th thanks to an error by RF Marcus Thames on Marco Scutaro’s fly ball. Jonathan Papelbon, who blew a save the previous night, allows a run in the bottom of the 9th, but strikes out Randy Winn with runners on second and third to end the game. The contest starts almost an hour late because of rain, is played in a constant drizzle, and lasts a marathon 4 hours and 9 minutes, making it the longest nine-inning game played so far this season.

Carlos Silva improves his record to 5-0 as the Cubs beat the Rockies, 6 – 2. A huge disappointment for the Seattle Mariners the last two seasons, Silva has found his old form with Chicago, forcing manager Lou Piniella to make a difficult decision: who will be bumped from the starting rotation to make room for Carlos Zambrano, set to return after an unconvincing stint in the bullpen ?

Tyler Clippard falls to 7-3 as the Nationals drop a 3 – 2 game to the Cards. He becomes the second reliever to get 10 decisions in his team’s first 40 games, following Mike Marshall by 31 years.

It’s another epic battle between the Yankees and Red Sox at New Yankee Stadium. The Yanks take a 5 – 0 lead in the 1st inning against Daisuke Matsuzaka, but the Sox storm back to take the lead with five home runs, two by Victor Martinez, and one each by David Ortiz, J.D. Drew and Kevin Youkilis. Then, in the bottom of the 9th, Jonathan Papelbon gives up a pair of two-run homers, to Alex Rodriguez and Marcus Thames, and the Yankees end up on top, 11 – 9.

The Dodgers extend their winning streak to 8 games with a 6 – 2 victory over the Astros. Rookie John Ely allows only one run in 7 innings facing the worst offense in the major leagues; he has yet to allow a walk while striking out 25 in 25 1/3 innings this season. Blake DeWitt hits two triples for the Dodgers who have moved to within two games of the NL West lead after a slow start.

The Twins stun the Yankees with an 8th-inning grand slam by Jason Kubel against closer Mariano Rivera for a 6 – 3 win at New Yankee Stadium. Rivera had converted a record-tying 51 consecutive save opportunities at home and had not given up a grand slam since 2002; the runs are also the first he gives up this season.

The Cincinnati Reds defeat the St. Louis Cardinals, 4 – 3, in the annual Civil Rights Game, which honors those who have worked for racial equality in the country. For the occasion, both teams sport their 1947 uniforms. Skip Schumaker is thrown out at the plate by a relay from LF Chris Heisey to SS Orlando Cabrera to C Ramon Hernandez to end the game. The Reds’ Mike Leake, in his first professional season, is now 4-0.

Owasso High School junior Dylan Bundy, needing his team to win both ends of a doubleheader to stave off his team’s elimination from the state tournament, throws the final five innings of the opener and the first five innings of the nightcap. The future first-round pick (4th) of the Orioles, who will throw 181 pitches over the two games en route to striking out 20 batters in 10 innings, helps the Rams beat Jenks, 10-7 and 5-4, advancing his teammates to the Oklahoma state championship game. (Our thanks to Rick Heaton, sports editor/associate editor of the Owasso Reporter, for his help in providing details of this entry.)