The Astros pound out 6 runs on 5 hits in the 9th inning to keep Jordan Lyles from losing his major league debut against the Cubs. Trailing 3 – 1 against hard-throwing Carlos Marmol at Wrigley Field, Houston starts the inning with a single by Brett Wallace; Chris Johnson, Matt Downs and Michael Bourn also get hits, and after a walk, Hunter Pence puts the game out of reach with a three-run homer. Lyles, the youngest player in the majors, keeps the Cubs scoreless through 7 before coughing up a pair of runs – one of them unearned – to start the 8th. Reliever Fernando Rodriguez gets credit for his first career win.

Bartolo Colon pitches his first shutout since 2006 in blanking the Athletics, 5 – 0. The 38-year-old Yankees pitcher has made a remarkable comeback after being out of the majors all of last year.

Torii Hunter hits a dramatic two-run homer in the 9th inning off the Royals’ Joakim Soria to collect his 1,000th career RBI and give the Angels a 10 – 8 win. Hunter has two homers and 4 RBI on the day. After the game, the Royals announce that Soria is being replaced by rookie Aaron Crow as the team’s closer.

The Tigers beat the Twins, 7 – 6, on a controversial 8th-inning double by Alex Avila. Avila hits a low line drive down the third base line that rolls into foul territory; two fans stretch over the railing and attempt to grab the ball, which goes past them, skips on the concrete base of the stands, and bounces into another group of fans, hitting one in the chest, before ending its run back in foul territory. Umpire Gary Darling calls fan interference and sends runner Jhonny Peralta, who was on first base, all the way home, ruling that the first spectators deflected the ball’s trajectory and that Peralta would have otherwise scored. Twins manager Ron Gardenhire comes out to argue but loses the argument, is ejected, and Peralta’s run is the deciding one in the game.

The Diamondbacks unexpectedly find themselves in first place in the NL West after beating Houston, 4 – 2, completing a three-game sweep. It is the D-Backs’ 14th win in their last 16 games, but manager Kirk Gibson is not there to enjoy it, having been ejected in the 4th inning for arguing a balk call against starter Josh Collmenter. Losing pitcher J.A. Happ hits his first major league homer for the Astros.

The Angels’ Jered Weaver is still winless since notching a 6-0 record in April, but not for lack of trying. Today, he pitches 9 scoreless innings, but ends up with a no-decision as the Twins’ Anthony Swarzak gives up only a one hit – an 8th-inning double by Peter Bourjos – and the Twins win, 1 – 0, on Danny Valencia’s bases-loaded single in the bottom of the 10th. Swarzak is filling in for a sore-armed Francisco Liriano but still manages to turn a 75-pitch pitch count limit into 8 innings of brilliant work on the mound.

In his 23rd season in the majors, 44-year-old Omar Vizquel gets to play first base for the first time. His untested defensive skills are called for in the 11th inning, after Carlos Quentin comes in as a pinch-hitter for the White Sox, and manager Ozzie Guillen must shuffle his remaining players to accommodate him. The Sox still lose to the Blue Jays, 9 – 8, on Corey Patterson’s walk-off home run in the bottom of the 14th inning. Earlier in the game, the Jays’ Jose Bautista hit a three-run homer to become the first 20-home run hitter in the majors this year.

The Red Sox win their 12th game in their last 14 to move into first place in the AL East. Today, they roll for a 6 – 3 win over Detroit behind ageless pitcher Tim Wakefield and homers by Jacoby Ellsbury and Carl Crawford.

SS Brandon Crawford hits a grand slam in his first major league game to lead the Giants to a 5 – 4 win over Milwaukee. Tim Lincecum is the winner over Shaun Marcum. The Giants get a scare in the 8th when Prince Fielder bowls over C Eli Whiteside in a collision at the plate; the play comes only two days after starting catcher Buster Posey was lost for the season with a broken ankle as the result of a similar collision, but Whiteside is okay and can complete the game.

New York Mets owner Fred Wilpon sells a minority stake in the team to investor David Einhorn for $200 million. Wilpon’s financial troubles, stemming from losses incurred in the Bernard Madoff fraudulent investment scheme, and from a $1 billion lawsuit from other victims of Madoff’s fraud, have been much talked about in recent weeks; the sale should give him some financial breathing room.