Other Sports

Red-hot Penny guides Dodgers to rout of Toronto

(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-06-20 16:59

TORONTO, June 19 - The Los Angeles Dodgers rode the red-hot form of pitcher Brad Penny to cruise to a 10-1 interleague rout of the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday.

The win, the ninth in 10 decisions by Penny, came after the Dodgers found out key right-hander Jason Schmidt will have exploratory shoulder surgery on Wednesday and is out indefinitely.

Penny gave up a run on six hits in seven innings, lowering his ERA to 2.12 as he became the National League's second nine-game winner.

"I got away with a lot of mistakes," he told reporters.

Dodgers catcher Russell Martin, a Canadian playing his first game in his native country, hit a home run, Luis Gonzalez went 3-for-4 and drove in four runs and Juan Pierre had two hits, three stolen bases and scored three runs to lift Los Angeles, which is showing signs of offensive life after changing batting coaches.

Toronto's Dustin McGowan, who handled the Dodgers in Los Angeles last month, was shelled on Tuesday and fell to 3-3.

The Blue Jays also got more bad injury news as right-hander A.J. Burnett was placed on the disabled list for the ninth time in his career, this time with a sore right shoulder.

*The visiting Minnesota Twins crushed the New York Mets 9-0 as Johan Santana (7-6) pitched his first shutout in almost two years and the Mets, losing for the 12th time in the last 15 games, made four errors.

*The Boston Red Sox tied their series with the Braves in Atlanta with a 4-0 victory as Josh Beckett became the second 10-game winner in the Major Leagues. David Ortiz homered for Boston.

*The Milwaukee Brewers scored a 6-2 victory over the floundering San Francisco Giants in Milwaukee in the only intraleague game on Tuesday's slate. Ben Sheets pitched his 13th career complete game and Prince Fielder drove in three runs as the last-place Giants lost their sixth straight.

*A day after firing manager Sam Perlozzo, the Baltimore Orioles lost their ninth straight, falling 12-6 to the San Diego Padres in San Diego. Jake Peavy moved to 9-1 for the Padres.

*The Colorado Rockies beat the New York Yankees 3-1 as Josh Fogg picked up his first home victory this season.