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'Big Unit' gets big strikeout
Randy Johnson recorded his 4,000th career strikeout in a losing cause as the struggling Arizona Diamondbacks went down 3-2 to the San Diego Padres in the National League on Tuesday. The 41-year-old Johnson, whose 6-foot-10, 250-pound build earned him the nickname "Big Unit", joined Nolan Ryan (5,714), Roger Clemens (4,200) and Steve Carlton (4,136) as the only pitchers to reach the milestone when he struck out Jeff Cirillo in the eighth inning in Phoenix. But Johnson (9-6) was still saddled with another frustrating loss, a franchise-record 11th straight for the D-Backs. Johnson was sharp all night, allowing three runs on four hits over eight innings. He struck out eight and did not walk a batter. Khalil Greene homered off the veteran pitcher earlier in the eighth, the winning run for the Padres. Brian Sweeney (1-0) gave up one run on four hits in 5 1/3 innings to win his first major league start after seven relief appearances. Trevor Hoffman pitched the ninth for his 18th save of the season. Danny Bautista homered and had three hits for the D-Backs. In Pittsburgh, rookie Sean Burnett tossed six shutout innings for his first major league win as he led the Pirates past the St Louis Cardinals 3-0. Burnett (1-2) allowed five hits, striking out four batters and walking two. Jose Mesa pitched the ninth for his 18th save of the season and Tike Redman drove in two runs. Chris Carpenter (8-3) gave up three runs on five hits over six innings to take the loss. In New York, Gary Sheffield belted a three-run homer and Javier Vazquez pitched 6 2/3 strong innings to inspire the New York Yankees to an 11-3 rout of the Boston Red Sox in the American League on Tuesday. It was the opener of a three-game series between the East Division rivals and the easy win allowed the host Yankees to open up a season-high 6 1/2 game lead over the Red Sox before a sellout crowd of 55,231 fans. New York trailed the Red Sox by 4 1/2 games in April when Boston won six of seven contests against the Yankees. The Yankees have since taken control of the division. New York went up 4-2 Tuesday with three runs in the third inning before another three runs in the fourth gave Vazquez all the offensive help he would need. |
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