Ken Griffey Jr. hit the 586th home run of his career, tying Hall of Famer Frank Robinson for sixth place on the career list. In the fifth, the Reds slugger hit Micah Owings’ 0-1 pitch 419 feet into right-center field for his 23rd homer — four short of his total all of last season.
Vernon Wells is taking off at the top of the order. The Toronto center fielder went 2-for-4 with a solo homer and three RBIs. In 11 games at leadoff, Wells is batting .354 (17-for-48) with seven HRs, 15 RBIs. “It’s just coincidence it happened when I got to the 1-hole,” he said.
A day after a strained left hamstring forced him to miss his only game this year, Alex Rodriguez snapped his season-worst 0-for-19 skid with a three-hit effort — including his 493rd career homer to tie Lou Gehrig and Fred McGriff for 22nd place the all-time list.
THREE DOWN
Jose Reyes failed to run out a ground ball that he apparently thought would be foul to end the eighth inning in the Mets’ 4-0 loss to Houston. The All-Star shortstop was replaced by Ruben Gotay — the second time this week Reyes was pulled after failing to run hard.
Down 4-1, Boston’s Terry Francona chose an intentional walk to load the bases with two outs in the fifth and Julian Tavarez was a strike away from ending the inning. Francona: “That worked out about as badly as it could have.” Detroit’s Marcus Thames hit a grand slam.
Center fielder So Taguchi’s costly misplay allowed three runs to score in the fifth inning of the Cardinals’ 4-3 loss to the Giants. Taguchi couldn’t keep Bengie Molina’s hard-hit ball in his glove on a tough play for a 4-1 deficit that St. Louis couldn’t overcome.
