WPPA / T-102 SPORTS / Tuesday

READING PHILLIES

Reading, Pa. -- On a hitters' night, in the end pitching triumphed.
Nursing a one-run lead over the Trenton Thunder after eight innings Tuesday night at FirstEnergy Stadium, the Phillies called on left-hander Chris Key to close out the game. However, righty-swinging Grant Plumley fisted a double just inside the right-field line to open the inning. He moved up a base on Matt Carson's sacrifice. With the infield at double-play depth, Key struck out lefty-swinging Vince Faison.
Phillies left fielder Gary Harris went high up on the wall in the fourth inning to take at least a double away from Matt Carson, then fired a strike back to the infield to turn it into a double play.
That brought up former Phillies slugger Randy Ruiz. The 6-3, 240-pounder began the game in a 2-for-19 slump, but he had put on an awesome power display up to then, ripping two doubles and two home runs in his first four at-bats and knockng in four runs. His 17 home runs vaulted him among the league leaders.
He had smacked a solo homer in the first, added an RBI double in the third, nailed another solo shot in the fifth and tied the game 7-7 with an opposite-field double in the sixth Both homers and the game-tying double came with two out.
Could he repeat his brutish power surge on a hot, sultry night?
The big righty fell behind in the count when he fouled off Key's first two pitches. He looked at a ball before swinging wildly on a pitch in the dirt, and the Phillies walked off with an 8-7 victory, their fourth straight.
The game-winning hit came off the bat of veteran Gary Burnham, who lined a solo home run to right in the eighth inning off Charlie Manning, who fell to 8-3. it was Burnham seventh home run of the season and his 47th as a Phillie, putting him two behind Aaron Royster for third on the all-time list.
"I've been watching those David Ortiz clips on SportsCenter and they kind of get you brain-washed a little bit," Burnham said. "Ruiz rhymes with Ortiz. He was unbelievable tonight."

The Reading Phillies take on Trenton again tonight at 7:05pm.

Major league scores

AMERICAN LEAGUE
Cleveland Indians 6 Boston Red Sox 3
Baltimore Orioles 2 Seattle Mariners 0
New York Yankees 5 Toronto Blue Jays 1
Detroit Tigers 10 Tampa Bay Devil Rays 4
Chicago White Sox 7 Kansas City Royals 5, 10 Innings
Texas Rangers 9 Minnesota Twins 0
L.A. Angels 3 Oakland Athletics 2

NATIONAL LEAGUE
Atlanta Braves 4 Pittsburgh Pirates 2
Florida Marlins 6 New York Mets 5
L.A. Dodgers 10 Cincinnati Reds 4
Chicago Cubs 9 Arizona Diamondbacks 3
Philadelphia Phillies 5 St. Louis Cardinals 3
Milwaukee Brewers 1 Colorado Rockies 0
Houston Astros 1 San Diego Padres 0
Washington Nationals 4 San Francisco Giants 1

Today's pitching probables and 2006 records (all times EDT)
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Texas Rangers (Vicente Padilla 10-7) at Minnesota Twins (BoofBonser 2-2), 1:10 p.m.
Cleveland Indians (C-C Sabathia 7-7) at Boston Red Sox (KyleSnyder 2-2), 7:05 p.m.
Toronto Blue Jays (A-J Burnett 2-4) at New York Yankees (JaretWright 6-6), 7:05 p.m.
Seattle Mariners (Jamie Moyer 6-9) at Baltimore Orioles (RodrigoLopez 7-11), 7:05 p.m.
Detroit Tigers (Justin Verlander 13-4) at Tampa Bay Devil Rays(Jay Howell 0-0), 7:15 p.m.
Texas Rangers (Adam Eaton 0-1) at Minnesota Twins (Scott Baker3-6), 8:10 p.m.
Chicago White Sox (Mark Buehrle 9-9) at Kansas City Royals(Odalis Perez 0-0), 8:10 p.m.
Oakland Athletics (Joe Blanton 11-8) at Los Angeles Angels(Bartolo Colon 1-5), 10:05 p.m.

NATIONAL LEAGUE
Atlanta Braves (John Smoltz 8-5) at Pittsburgh Pirates (IanSnell 9-6), 7:05 p.m.
New York Mets (Matt Pelfrey 2-1) at Florida Marlins (Scott Olsen9-4), 7:05 p.m.
Los Angeles Dodgers (Brad Penny 10-5) at Cincinnati Reds(Bronson Arroyo 9-7), 7:10 p.m.
Arizona Diamondbacks (Claudio Vargas 8-7) at Chicago Cubs (RichHill 0-4), 8:05 p.m.
Philadelphia Phillies (Scott Mathieson 0-2) at St. LouisCardinals (Jeff Suppan 5-8), 8:10 p.m.
Milwaukee Brewers (David Bush 6-8) at Colorado Rockies (JoshFogg 7-5), 9:05 p.m.
Houston Astros (Andy Pettitte 9-11) at San Diego Padres (JakePeavy 5-10), 10:05 p.m.
Washington Nationals (Livan Hernandez 8-8) at San FranciscoGiants (Matt Cain 7-7), 10:15 p.m.

W-N-B-A
Tuesday's Scores
Connecticut 66, New York 52
Washington 84, Los Angeles 74
Phoenix 90, Chicago 70
Seattle 77, Minnesota 75
Detroit 70, Indiana 66
Charlotte 68, San Antonio 65
Sacramento 74, Houston 62

No games scheduled today