Safeco Field No Problem for Sosa

It didn’t take Sammy Sosa any time to figure out Seattle’s Safeco Field.

Sosa hit his major league-leading 22nd home run and Jon Lieber pitched the Chicago Cubs past the Seattle Mariners, 5-1, Sunday.

Sosa played for the National League All-Stars last summer at Safeco Field, which has a reputation for being a pitcher’s park.

“It’s a beautiful ballpark and these are great fans,” Sosa said. “This is one of the places that I feel very, very comfortable in. The gaps are a little deep, but the balls jump down the line.”

Lieber (4-4) blanked the Mariners until Desi Relaford hit a run-scoring single with two out in the ninth inning.

The Cubs held Ichiro Suzuki, who leads the majors with a .369 batting average, to one hit in 12 at-bats in the series. His batting average dropped 15 points in the series.

Cleveland 8, New York Mets 3--Rookie Ryan Drese (6-4) shut out the Mets for 5 2/3 innings and Omar Vizquel had two more runs batted in to help the Indians salvage the finale of a three-game series at Jacobs Field. Vizquel had a two-run single in a five-run fourth, giving him 39 RBIs.

Chicago White Sox 13, Montreal 2--Magglio Ordonez drove in six runs to tie a career high, leading Mark Buehrle (9-4) and the White Sox at Comiskey Park. Ordonez had three hits, including two doubles, as the White Sox finally got offensive. They averaged three runs in their last 13 games.

Toronto 3, Colorado 2--Rookie Joe Lawrence’s sacrifice fly capped a two-run rally in the bottom of the ninth inning and the Blue Jays completed a three-game sweep and improved to 6-1 under new Manager Carlos Tosca. The Rockies fell to a major league-worst 25-42 in six seasons of interleague play, including 8-27 away from Coors Field.

San Diego 9, Tampa Bay 6--Julius Matos hit his first major league home run and drove in four runs to lead the Padres at St. Petersburg, Fla. He had a three-run homer in the second--in only his 11th big league at-bat since being called up from triple-A Portland on May 30.

Philadelphia 7, Detroit 5--Brandon Duckworth (3-4) won for the first time in six starts and Pat Burrell drove in two runs with a double and a triple as the Phillies completed their first road sweep of the season, winning three in a row.

Kansas City 3, St. Louis 2--Raul Ibanez led off the bottom of the ninth inning with a home run into the right-field bullpen against reliever Mike Timlin (1-3) and the Royals avoided their first series sweep by the Cardinals.

Oakland 7, Houston 6--Miguel Tejada hit a tiebreaking home run in the bottom of the eighth inning and the Athletics completed a three-game sweep of the Astros. Tejada drove in four runs as the Athletics won their fourth in a row.

Atlanta 9, Texas 3--Javy Lopez drove in four runs, one more than he had in his last 19 games, and the Braves extended their season-best winning streak to six games. The Braves became only the second NL team to sweep a series in Texas.

Florida 6, Minnesota 3--Derrek Lee homered twice and Mike Lowell drove in three runs as the Marlins avoided a three-game sweep at the Metrodome.

Pittsburgh 5, Milwaukee 4--The Pirates swept the three-game series and are 6-0 against the Brewers this year. They are 12-1 in two seasons at PNC Park against Milwaukee and have beaten the Brewers in nine consecutive games overall.