Cueto wins 10th as Reds crush Oswalt, Astros

Johnny Cueto allowed four hits in eight scoreless innings to improve to 10-2 and Joey Votto and Ramon Hernandez each homered as the visiting Cincinnati Reds beat the Houston Astros, 7-0, last night.

Chris Heisey added a pinch-hit home run in the ninth; he leads the major leagues with four pinch-hit homers this season.

Cueto struck out six and didn't allow a hit until the fourth inning. Roy Oswalt (6-12) had one of his worst outings of the season. He allowed nine hits and six runs in five innings.

Cubs 6, Cardinals 5

Rookies Starlin Castro, Tyler Colvin and Andrew Cashner have host Chicago excited about their future. Castro and Colvin homered to complete an outstanding first week atop the batting order and Cashner used his triple-digit fastball to pitch out of two late-inning jams.

A's 10, White Sox 2

Jack Cust hit two home runs and Kurt Suzuki added one of his own as host Oakland won for the eighth time in 10 games.

Giants OF carried off

San Francisco outfielder Eugenio Velez was carried out of the dugout on a stretcher after being struck in the head by a foul ball last night in Arizona.

Velez was standing in the dugout in the fourth inning when teammate Pat Burrell hit a sharp liner into the dugout. Velez was knocked off his feet and teammates immediately gathered around. Giants trainers continued to work on Velez into the bottom half of the inning before strapping him to a stretcher. He was carried into the tunnel leading to the visitors clubhouse, then was taken to a hospital.- AP