Giants, Sanders Play Long Ball Against A’s

In the minors, Aaron Harang might have gotten away with the mistakes he made Saturday.

But at Pacific Bell Park against veteran slugger Reggie Sanders, the Oakland Athletics’ heralded rookie learned the price of making two bad pitches in the big leagues.

Sanders hit a grand slam and a solo homer as the San Francisco Giants ended the Athletics’ eight-game winning streak with a 6-2 victory.

Harang’s rise from the Texas League into the starting rotation has been one of the team’s most exciting developments this season. But in an otherwise solid outing, Harang (2-2) grooved two pitches to Sanders, who helped hand Oakland a rare interleague loss.

“Sometimes you have pitches that you just know when you let them go, you wish you could have them back before he swings,” Harang said. “I’ve got to learn from it and not take it into my next start.”

Sanders’ slam highlighted the eighth victory in 12 games for the Giants, who evened the Bay Bridge series after Oakland’s 3-2 victory Friday night.

Oakland set a franchise record by playing its 12th consecutive game without an error, but the A’s became the last team to lose an interleague game this season after winning their first seven. At 57-37, the A’s have baseball’s best interleague record.

Chicago Cubs 7, Chicago White Sox 3--Sammy Sosa drove in two runs with a broken-bat double during a five-run sixth inning, leading the Cubs to their second consecutive win over the White Sox at Wrigley Field.

Jon Lieber (5-4) gave up three runs and seven hits in six innings for his second win in a row after going seven starts without a victory.

St. Louis 5, Kansas City 3--Jason Simontacchi kept his impressive rookie run going, pitching into the seventh inning at St. Louis and also driving in a run for his fifth consecutive victory. Simontacchi (5-0) has a 2.45 ERA in seven starts.

He gave up two runs and six hits in 6 1/3 innings. He also went two for three and his RBI single in the sixth inning gave the Cardinals a 4-1 lead.

Houston 4, Texas 0--Wade Miller, the Astros’ opening-day starter, improved to 2-0 in four starts since coming off the disabled list. He sat out nearly three weeks because of a pinched nerve in his neck. He yielded only three hits in seven innings at Houston, striking out seven and walking one in his strongest outing of the season.

Montreal 9, Toronto 3--Zach Day pitched three hitless innings of relief to win in his major league debut, and Fernando Tatis homered and drove in five runs at Montreal.

Day (1-0), who celebrated his 24th birthday, came in during the fourth after the Blue Jays took a 3-0 lead. Day was recalled from triple-A Ottawa Friday.

Minnesota 5, Milwaukee 2--Eric Milton retired the first nine batters before Eric Young beat out a bunt to start the bottom of the fourth inning after the Twins had taken a 4-0 lead. Milton (8-5), who yielded five hits in eight innings, didn’t allow a runner past first base until Richie Sexson hit his 17th home run in the seventh.

Philadelphia 4, Baltimore 3--Scott Rolen’s single drove in the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning. With two out, Pat Burrell singled off Buddy Groom (2-2) and went to third on a single by Doug Glanville. Rolen followed with a liner to right-center, scoring Burrell.

Colorado 7, Cleveland 4--Larry Walker hit a two-run homer to cap a four-run seventh inning at Coors Field as the Rockies won for only the third time in 12 games overall and the second time in seven interleague games this season.

San Diego 3, Seattle 1--The Padres, who had won only four of their last 15 games, ended an eight-game losing streak. Bobby Jones pitched 6 2/3 strong innings and the Padres won despite the top third of the order going 0 for 12.