Grand Slam

Right-hander Tommy Hunter had his shortest outing of the season today in the Orioles' series finale against the Red Sox at Fenway Park. Hunter lasted just 4 1/3 innings, allowing five runs -- all earned -- on eight hits. He allowed four of those runs in the sixth inning, which included a game-tying grand slam by Will Middlebrooks, the third baseman's first big league homer. Hunter's outing was just the third time in 13 games in which an Orioles starter has not thrown a quality start (six or more innings, three or fewer earned runs)

Right-hander Tommy Hunter had his shortest outing of the season today in the Orioles' series finale against the Red Sox at Fenway Park. Hunter lasted just 4 1/3 innings, allowing five runs -- all earned -- on eight hits. He allowed four of those runs in the sixth inning, which included a game-tying grand slam by Will Middlebrooks, the third baseman's first big league homer. Hunter's outing was just the third time in 13 games in which an Orioles starter has not thrown a quality start (six or more innings, three or fewer earned runs)

Among all the statistics that have swirled around the Orioles' all-or-nothing slugger Mark Reynolds through the years, there was one that was particularly hard to explain. Reynolds is absolutely terrible in his career with the bases loaded. Head-shaking, mind-numbingly bad. He had struck out in half of his 52 official at-bats with the bases juiced and had never hit a homer in that situation. Until the sixth inning on Saturday night, when he smashed a 94-mph fastball from Toronto's electric lefty Ricky Romero into the left field seats for his first career grand slam, one that gave the Orioles an eventual 5-3 win. "Obviously, that's the best result possible, but I'm just trying to get a pitch to hit," said Reynolds, who entered the at-bat hitting .186 on the season.

His throwing arm wrapped in a huge bag of ice, he and his Orioles teammates taken through a roller coaster of a night, catcher Matt Wieters put it perfectly. “This year nothing's really come easy so far,” he said. On a night when the Orioles nearly gift-wrapped a win to the White Sox on a chilly Chicago night at U.S. Cellular Field, frustration and elation merged within a matter of innings. The Orioles went into the eighth inning down three runs, unable to give starter Jake Arrieta the run support he deserved while committing three errors in the field.

HAGERSTOWN -- Chris Harmes' grand slam in the bottom of the sixth inning capped a five-run rally and gave the Hagerstown Suns (13-6) a 6-5 win over the Capital City Bombers and a sweep of their Single-A South Atlantic League doubleheader last night.The Suns scored eight runs in the second inning and rolled to a 14-1 win in the opener. Keith Hines was 3-for-4 with three RBI.Harmes was 2-for-2 with five RBI in the nightcap.

ELMONT, N.Y. -- If you were looking for a horse to challenge Real Quiet on the lip of the Triple Crown, look no further: Grand Slam, trained by D. Wayne Lukas, won the Peter Pan Stakes yesterday to stay undefeated at Belmont Park and create a new role as the potential spoiler.This is a horse whose past is filled with agony and ecstasy. Last year, he won the Belmont Futurity in September and outran Lil's Lad to win the Champagne Stakes at Belmont in October. But in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile in November, he suffered a deep cut in his left hind leg and missed four months of racing.

C NEW YORK -- There will be no Grand Slam this year for the top-ranked women's doubles team of Natalia Zvereva and Gigi Fernandez. And there will be yet another day of tennis for the No. 2 seeds, Helena Sukova and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario.Sukova and Sanchez Vicario stopped a run of six Grand Slam doubles titles for Zvereva and Fernandez with a 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory in last night's U.S. Open semifinal. Sukova and Sanchez Vicario will play the ninth-seeded team of Amanda Coetzer and Ines Gorrochategui in today's noon final.

CLEVELAND -- Chris Hoiles understands that one day can't change an entire season, or alter a career. But he also knows that what happened to him 48 hours ago can be more that just a temporary reprieve.Hoiles' numbers suggested a refresher course in Rochester might have been in order, though manager John Oates says the thought never crossed his mind. The young catcher had a batting average that was under two dollars (.198) and his two home runs had produced only four runs batted in.Then, with one swing of the bat the RBI count doubled and before the day was over Hoiles had left an impressive reminder of his offensive potential.

Tim DeCinces, Calvin Pickering and Ryan Minor each had run-scoring doubles as the Delmarva Shorebirds edged the Hagerstown Suns, 7-6, yesterday in a Single-A South Atlantic League game in Salisbury.Shorebirds starter Brian Falkenborg (4-4) had allowed just one run over seven innings before being relieved by Josh Towers with one out and the bases loaded in the eighth.But three more runs were added to Falkenborg's line when Hagerstown's Luis Lopez, the league's top hitter at .388, then hit a grand slam off Towers to pull the Suns within 7-6.But Towers went on to record his first save of the season by getting the final five outs of the game.

MILWAUKEE -- Greg Vaughn hit a grand slam in the ninth inning and drove in six runs yesterday as the Milwaukee Brewers, after blowing a six-run lead, beat the Oakland Athletics, 11-7, and knocked the A's out of first place in the American League West.Vaughn, who homered twice off Dave Stewart on Saturday, also hit a two-run double. Mark McGwire homered twice and drove in four runs for Oakland, and Jose Canseco added a two-run homer.Jim Gantner opened the ninth with a single off Gene Nelson (0-1)

September 22, 1961: Jim Gentile hit his fifth grand slam of the year, which set an American League mark.

Invincible no more Diane Pucin Los Angeles Times Roger Federer won't win another major title. There is always going to be a Jo-Wilfried Tsonga now, someone younger, who is a bigger hitter and fearless. Federer will have to be content with his 16 major titles and six Wimbledon championships. Pete Sampras will get to keep that record of seven Wimbledon wins. Federer, who turns 30 next month, is the tiniest step slower in reaching the net, a second tardy in arriving to hit a volley and, as was obvious Wednesday when Tsonga wasn't intimidated being down two sets to Federer, who is not invincible any more.

As a rookie in the big leagues, Orioles left-hander Zach Britton has encountered plenty of celebratory firsts this season. On Friday night, in an uninspiring 8-4 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays, Britton experienced several rather unpleasant ones, including his first grand slam allowed, first string of consecutive poor outings and first time he hasn't pitched into the sixth inning as a big leaguer. "He's a guy who spent half a season in Triple-A, and he's going to have some [tough]

Among all the statistics that have swirled around the Orioles' all-or-nothing slugger Mark Reynolds through the years, there was one that was particularly hard to explain. Reynolds is absolutely terrible in his career with the bases loaded. Head-shaking, mind-numbingly bad. He had struck out in half of his 52 official at-bats with the bases juiced and had never hit a homer in that situation. Until the sixth inning on Saturday night, when he smashed a 94-mph fastball from Toronto's electric lefty Ricky Romero into the left field seats for his first career grand slam, one that gave the Orioles an eventual 5-3 win. "Obviously, that's the best result possible, but I'm just trying to get a pitch to hit," said Reynolds, who entered the at-bat hitting .186 on the season.

The conventional wisdom explaining the Orioles' sweep of the Tampa Bay Rays in the season-opening series at Tropicana Field was that the defending American League East champs were caught at the right time, when they were dealing with key injuries and an unsettled bullpen. That theory was easy to buy after the Rays came to Baltimore last weekend and swept the Orioles, setting up what was supposed to be more dominance by the first-place Rays this weekend. But something funny happened on the way to the Trop this time around.

Saturday's drama between the Orioles and New York Yankees peaked in the late innings, when the Bronx Bombers completed a home-run cycle, witnessed their superstar make more baseball history and then watched as one of their hottest players got drilled in the back with a pitch after homering twice. The game itself, though, was basically over after 10 pitches. Paced by another gem from ace CC Sabathia, the Yankees embarrassed the Orioles 15-3 on Saturday night in front of an announced crowd of 39,054, the majority of which was wearing pinstripes and chanting, "Let's Go Yankees.

WIMBLEDON, England -- Steffi Graf began this year's Wimbledon as both defending champion and afterthought, confident in her chances yet obscured by the spotlight following Monica Seles and her chase for the Grand Slam.Graf is no longer an afterthought.And Seles is no longer chasing the Grand Slam.In a ladies' championship match that took more than five hours to complete because of rain, but less than an hour to play, Graf won her fourth Wimbledon title with a thoroughly convincing, 6-2, 6-1 victory over Seles on sodden Centre Court at the All England Club.

TORONTO -- Dave Winfield hit his ninth career grand slam and drove in five runs yesterday, as the California Angels took a six-run lead and hung on for an 11-8 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.Luis Polonia had his second five-hit game of the season, as the Angels sent the Blue Jays to their fifth loss in seven games.Winfield's RBI grounder in the first put California ahead, and his ninth home run made it 5-0 in the second off Willie Fraser, who replaced Dave Stieb as Toronto's starter just before game time.

Mark Reynolds hit a grand slam in his first at-bat with the Orioles on Sunday. Sure, it came in a meaningless intrasquad scrimmage, but Orioles fans are hoping his home run was a sign of things to come once Opening Day rolls around in April. The Orioles third baseman, acquired from the Diamondbacks in an offseason trade, put 76 long balls into the bleachers the past two seasons, including a career-high 44 in 2009. Meanwhile, Luke Scott led the Orioles with 27 home runs last season, and Ty Wigginton was the only other Orioles hitter to top 20 home runs (Wiggy had 22)