Upton's walk-off homer wins it for Rays
Tampa Bay Rays' B.J. Upton celebrates along the first base line after hitting a home run in the bottom of the ninth inning of a baseball game. (May 3, 2011) Credit: AP
B.J. Upton hit a walk-off two-run homer in the ninth inning, giving the Tampa Bay Rays a 3-2 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays Tuesday night.
The Blue Jays were without slugger Jose Bautista, who didn't play because of neck spasms. Manager John Farrell said before the game that Bautista might be out until this weekend.
Rays All-Star third baseman Evan Longoria was activated from the 15-day disabled list after missing 26 games with a left oblique strain and had a single in four at-bats. He struck out twice.
Toronto's Jo-Jo Reyes had his personal winless streak reach 24 straight games. The lefthander, who hasn't won since June 13, 2008, while with Atlanta, allowed one run and four hits in six innings. He is on the longest major-league winless start streak since Anthony Young's 27 in a row from April 1992 until May 1994, according to STATS LLC.
Red Sox 7, Angels 3: Adrian Gonzalez and David Ortiz hit consecutive homers and Jon Lester (4-1) struck out 11 as host Boston pulled within one game of .500.
Phillies 4, Nationals 1: Cole Hamels (4-1) pitched a five-hitter and Raul Ibañez doubled twice as he stopped an 0-for-35 slump for host Philadelphia. Jayson Werth was 0-for-3 with a walk in his first game in Philadelphia since signing a seven-year, $126-million deal with Washington.
Astros 10, Reds 4: J.A. Happ singled home a run during Houston's six-run fourth inning -- its biggest of the season -- and the visiting Astros left Cincinnati with its first losing record in nearly a year.
The defending NL Central champion Reds fell to 14-15, the first time they've been below .500 since they had an identical mark last May 7.
The Astros sent 10 batters to the plate in the fourth, knocking Mike Leake (3-1) out of the game. It was the right-hander's first start since he settled his shoplifting case.
Ethier streak at 29
The Dodgers' Andre Ethier extended his hitting streak to 29 games.
Ethier lined a 1-and-2 pitch from Chicago Cubs righthander Ryan Dempster just beyond the leaping attempt of rookie second baseman Darwin Barney and into rightfield with one out in the fourth inning.
The hit was Ethier's eighth in 21 career-at-bats against Dempster to that point. His streak is the longest by a Dodgers since Willie Davis' franchise-record 31-game stretch in 1969.
A hit by Ethier in his next game would make him the 44th major leaguer in the modern era (since 1900) with a streak of at least 30. The All-Star rightfielder has gone hitless in only one of the team's first 31 games.
Choo arrested for DUI
Indians outfielder Shin-Soo Choo was arrested Monday on suspicion of drunken driving after a breathalyzer test showed he had a blood-alcohol level of .201 -- more than double Ohio's legal limit of .08.
Choo, the sixth major-league player to be cited on a drunken driving charge this year, was in the starting lineup in the opener of a series at Oakland.-- AP
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