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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Monday, May 29, 2006

Braves slug 8 homers in win

Associated Press

Atlanta's Edgar Renteria, left, hit two homers and Marcus Giles added a three-run shot in the Braves' 13-12, 11-inning victory over the Cubs. The Braves' eight homers broke a club record set Aug. 3, 1967.

JEFF ROBERSON | Associated Press

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CHICAGO — Even the windiest days at Wrigley Field hadn't produced a power display like this.

Edgar Renteria hit two of the Atlanta Braves' club-record eight homers in a 13-12 victory in 11 innings over the Chicago Cubs yesterday.

Marcus Giles hit a three-run homer and Adam LaRoche homered twice for the Braves. Atlanta also got solo shots from Andruw Jones, Ryan Langerhans and Brayan Pena to complete the three-game sweep of the Cubs, who have lost 21 of their past 25 games.

"Crazy day at Wrigley, that's the only way I can describe it," said Atlanta manager Bobby Cox, who saw his team blow a four-run lead in the ninth and then come back to win it thanks to Cubs third baseman Aramis Ramirez dropping a routine pop-up in the 11th.

The eight home runs by the Braves broke a club record set Aug. 3, 1967, against the Cubs in Milwaukee. Chicago also set a club record for giving up the most home runs in one game. The Cubs broke the old record of seven, most recently set Sept. 9, 2000, by Houston.

Pena set the club's franchise record in the seventh inning. He hit his first career homer leading off the inning against Cubs reliever Roberto Novoa making it 12-8.

Cox wasn't surprised by Atlanta's display of power.

"Whoever expects to hit eight home runs? You would take the bet that there would be eight home runs on a day like this because you don't have to hit the ball extremely hard to do it," Cox said.

After blowing a four-run lead in the ninth, the Braves scored in the 11th when Langerhans hit a routine pop-fly that Ramirez couldn't catch. Langerhans reached second on the error.

Ramirez was camped under the ball but lost concentration at the last second and had the ball bounce off his head.

"I just missed it. I thought I already had it and I took my eyes off of it. I have no excuses, I just missed the ball. It could happen to anybody," said Ramirez.

After a groundout advanced Langerhans to third, Giles followed with a single.

Phillies 6, Brewers 2: Ryan Howard hit a two-run homer in the fifth inning to help host Philadelphia salvage the finale of the season series. Howard's drive was his 17th of the season and his major league-leading 12th this month. Ryan Madson (5-3) pitched five solid innings and struck out a career-high seven to win his first start since May 6.

Astros 5, Pirates 4: Preston Wilson singled in the go-ahead run in the 10th inning and visiting Houston snapped a five-game losing streak. Houston scored four runs in the ninth inning to tie it after losing in 18 innings the night before. Jason Bay homered in a sixth consecutive game for the Pirates.

Padres 10, Cardinals 8: Mark Bellhorn homered and drove in four runs and Josh Bard connected twice and had three RBIs for host San Diego. Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols hit a three-run drive for his major league-leading 24th homer.

Reds 5, Diamondbacks 4: Javier Valentin hit a pinch-hit, two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift host Cincinnati. Austin Kearns hit a pinch-hit single off Arizona closer Jose Valverde (2-2) with one out in the ninth. Valentin followed with his first career pinch-hit drive.

Mets 7, Marlins 3: Orlando Hernandez won his first start with the Mets, and Carlos Beltran homered for visiting New York. Hernandez (3-4), who was acquired from the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday, allowed three runs and five hits in five innings.

Nationals 10, Dodgers 4: Nick Johnson hit two home runs and Washington completed its first winning homestand of the season. Ryan Zimmerman and Alfonso Soriano also homered for the Nationals.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

RED SOX 5, DEVIL RAYS 4: Tim Wakefield (4-6) pitched eight shutout innings and Willie Harris threw out the potential tying run at the plate to end the game as host Boston beat Tampa Bay. The Devil Rays scored four runs with two outs in the ninth to pull within one. Carl Crawford singled to left with the bases loaded allowing Greg Norton to score and make it 5-4, but Harris easily threw out Joey Gathright for the final out.

Yankees 6, Royals 5: Johnny Damon hit a leadoff home run and Alex Rodriguez had a two-run single to highlight a five-run first inning, and host New York beat Kansas City. The Yankees seemed to have their fourth victory in five games wrapped up before the Royals came back by scoring one run in each of the fourth, fifth and sixth innings and two in the seventh.

Twins 4, Mariners 3: Lew Ford led off the 10th inning with a game-winning home run off former teammate Eddie Guardado as host Minnesota beat Seattle. The homer, a 414-foot drive to right-center, came on a 1-2 pitch from Guardado (0-3), who played for the Twins for 11 seasons before signing with the Mariners in 2003.

Orioles 7, Angels 6: Melvin Mora and Javy Lopez each went 3 for 5 with an RBI double, and Miguel Tejada had a two-run single for visiting Baltimore. Kurt Birkins (1-0) recorded his first major league victory, retiring all four batters he faced in relief of starter Kris Benson.

Indians 9, Tigers 0: Jason Johnson pitched six shutout innings, Jason Michaels hit a grand slam and Travis Hafner homered to help visiting Cleveland snap Detroit's eight-game winning streak. Johnson (3-4) allowed six hits, didn't walk a batter and struck out two in six innings.

Rangers 4, Athletics 3: Jason Botts hit his first career home run and Ian Kinsler drove in the go-ahead run with a broken-bat grounder for host Texas. Vicente Padilla (5-3) allowed three runs and five hits over six innings to get the win.

White Sox 7, Blue Jays 5: Jermaine Dye and Rob Mackowiak homered to help visiting Chicago beat Toronto. Jon Garland (4-2) got the win despite allowing five runs and seven hits in six innings.