NEW YORK, 12 June 2004 — John Flaherty belted a grand slam to guide the New York Yankees to a resounding 10-4 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Thursday and complete a three-game interleague sweep. While the Yankees claimed their 13th consecutive regular season interleague victory, the crumbling Rockies dropped their fifth straight game.
Bernie Williams sparked a three-run first inning lead and then singled twice to help New York’s cause, recording his 2,000th hit on the way. Although the game was deadlocked at 4-4 after the fourth inning, Flaherty’s sixth-inning blast put the Yankees firmly in the driving seat.
He had struck out his first two trips to the plate.
Alex Rodriguez singled and doubled and Gary Sheffield singled and sacrificed to drive in two more runs each. Jose Contreras (3-2) worked seven innings, scattering five hits, to earn the decision.
Three of the five hits were homers, Todd Helton, Luis Gonzalez and Choo Freeman all tagging the Cuban right-hander. Helton’s blast, in the third, plated two. Colorado starter Jason Jennings (5-6) was charged with six of New York’s 10 runs to take the loss.
In other interleague action in Detroit, Carlos Guillen, Dmitri Young and Craig Monroe had run-scoring singles in the seventh as the Tigers rallied to defeat the Atlanta Braves 7-4. Chipper Jones took winner Mike Maroth (5-3) deep to stake Atlanta to an early 3-0 lead.
In Boston, Curt Schilling (8-3) scattered six hits over seven innings and Nomar Garciaparra, in his second game back from a long injury layoff, doubled to plate two runs in a five-run fifth as the Red Sox thumped the San Diego Padres 9-3. Manny Ramirez homered and doubled to account for three more Boston runs.
In Kansas City, Brad Wilkerson drove in three runs and Zach Day (5-6) went all the way as the Montreal Expos snapped a three-game losing streak with an 8-0 win over the Royals in the opener of their doubleheader.
In the nightcap, Tony Batista homered twice and Sun-Woo Kim (3-2) tossed 4 1/3 innings of perfect relief as the Expos won 7-2 for the sweep.
In Baltimore, Steve Finley homered in the seventh to break up rookie Daniel Cabrera’s no-hit bid and the Arizona Diamondbacks went on to a 3-0 win over the Orioles.
In Cleveland, Carl Pavano (6-2) scattered four hits over 8 2/3 innings and Alex Gonzalez cracked a two-run homer as the Florida Marlins widened their lead at the top of the NL East Division with a 4-1 win over the Indians.
In Toronto, Kaz Ishii (8-3) tossed eight innings of six-hit ball and Adrian Beltre belted a two-run homer as the Los Angeles Dodgers pounded the Blue Jays 6-1.
In St Petersburg, Victor Zambrano (6-4) tossed six-innings of no-hit ball and Rocco Baldelli blasted a three-run homer as the Tampa Bay Devil Rays coasted to a 5-2 win over the San Francisco Giants.
In Arlington, Michael Young, Gary Matthews and Herbert Perry homered as the Rangers rallied to edge the Pittsburgh Pirates 9-7 in the opener of their doubleheader. Oliver Perez struck out 12 in six innings for Pittsburgh.
In the second game, Brad Fullmer cracked a grand slam home run and Mark Teixeira added a three-run shot, leading the hosts to a 10-4 victory and a sweep of their doubleheader. Kenny Rogers (9-2) worked seven innings for the win.
In Minneapolis, Michael Ryan’s 15th-inning single plated Luis Rivas with the winning run as the Minnesota Twins edged the New York Mets 3-2.
In Anaheim, the Angels rallied from a four-run deficit to edge past the Milwaukee Brewers 5-4 and avoid a series sweep. The Philadelphia Phillies-White Sox game, slated for Chicago, was rained out.
In the only National League game of the day in Chicago, the Cubs were quick to turn the tables on rival St Louis, avenging Wednesday’s 12-4 loss with a 12-3 pasting of the Cardinals.
The Cubs did most of their damage in the fourth inning, when they scored 10 times on 11 hits, with the number of hits in an inning tying a club record established in 1922 against Philadelphia.
Chicago had just four hits the rest of the afternoon. Winning pitcher Carlos Zambrano (7-2) gave up five hits over eight innings, striking out seven while walking four.
Loser Dan Haren (0-1) was charged with 10 Cubs runs before being removed with Chicago still batting in the fourth.
