SCOREBOARD

Tuesday, Aug. 19

New York at Toronto (7:05 p.m. EDT). Darrell Rasner (5-9, 5.18 ERA) needs to step it up if the Yankees want to contend in the AL wild card race. He'll face A.J. Burnett (15-9, 4.67), who has won five straight starts for the Blue Jays.

STARS

Sunday

- Melvin Mora, Orioles, had two homers and two doubles among his five hits and drove in a career-high six runs to pace a 22-hit attack in a 16-8 win over Detroit.

- Alex Rios, Blue Jays, went 5-for-6 and matched a club record with four doubles and Toronto knocked Boston ace Josh Beckett out after 2 1-3 innings in a 15-4 victory over the Red Sox.

- Alex Rodriguez, Yankees, went 3-for-3 with a three-run homer and five RBIs in a 15-6 drubbing of Kansas City.

- Johan Santana, Mets, pitched a three-hitter for his fifth career shutout and streaking New York beat Pittsburgh 4-0.

- Roy Oswalt, Astros, gave up one single in eight shutout innings, striking out 10 to help Houston beat Arizona 3-0.

- Andre Ethier, Dodgers, hit his second homer of the game in the ninth inning and Los Angeles recovered to beat Milwaukee 7-5 moments after blowing a four-run lead.

AL EAST HIT PARADE

Three AL East teams scored at least 15 runs. Melvin Mora and Luke Scott hit two home runs apiece to pace a 22-hit attack as the Orioles routed the Tigers 16-8. It was the most hits in a game for Baltimore since they had 22 on July 22, 2006, at Tampa Bay. Their 16 runs and 12 extra-base hits were season highs. … Jason Giambi hit a grand slam, Alex Rodriguez sent a three-run homer bouncing into Monument Park and the Yankees battered the Royals 15-6. … Alex Rios went 5-for-6 and matched a club record with four doubles and the Blue Jays beat up on Boston ace Josh Beckett in a 15-4 win over the Red Sox. Toronto scored in all but two innings and equaled its season high with 22 hits, the most Boston pitchers have given up this year.

RESTED

A little rest was all that Edinson Volquez needed. A revived Volquez pitched seven shutout innings, leading the Reds to a 7-3 victory that ended the Cardinals' four-game winning streak. The 25-year-old pitcher looked run-down after he made his first All-Star appearance in July. In his next four starts, he gave up nearly a run per inning. Manager Dusty Baker gave him two extra days of rest before his last start, and it fixed the problem. Volquez was back in form last Tuesday at Pittsburgh, giving up only one run. He threw 96 mph fastballs and was nearly unhittable at the outset Sunday, allowing only one ball out of the infield in the first four innings.

WELCOME BACK

Ryan Braun returned to the starting lineup for Milwaukee and hit a tying home run with two outs in the top of the ninth off the Dodgers' Chan Ho Park, who slammed his glove to the ground when the ball cleared the fence. Braun, who leads the Brewers with a .301 average, 31 homers and 86 RBIs, was 2-for-4 in his return to the starting lineup. He missed six games because of tightness in his lower back, then entered Saturday night's game as a pinch hitter and doubled in two at-bats as the Brewers won 4-3 in 10 innings.

AILING

Red Sox right fielder J.D. Drew left the game against the Blue Jays after three innings due to tightness in his lower back. Drew, who walked in his only at-bat and was doubled off second on Alex Cora's line drive to center field, has been slumping. He entered the game with just six hits in his last 31 at-bats. … The Tigers placed reliever Todd Jones on the 15-day disabled list with a sore right shoulder, two days after he came off the DL and gave up five unearned runs. … Pirates left fielder Brandon Moss left the game against the Mets after spraining his left ankle while batting against Johan Santana. Tests on the ankle were negative, and Pittsburgh manager John Russell said Moss will be further evaluated Monday. … Mets closer Billy Wagner was examined by a team doctor in New York. He has stiffness in his pitching elbow and will be re-evaluated Tuesday after a day of rest.

WILD CHILD

Mariners knuckleballer R.A. Dickey tied a major league record by throwing four wild pitches in an inning against the Twins. Mariners catcher Kenji Johjima also was charged with a passed ball on another errant pitch in the fifth. The Twins scored on two of Dickey's wild pitches. In and out of the rotation this season, Dickey has thrown 11 wild pitches in 97 innings. Dickey became the fifth major league pitcher to throw four wild pitches in an inning. Philadelphia's Ryan Madson was the last to do it, in 2006.

STAY AWAY, FAY

After a 10-game road trip, the Tampa Bay Rays may be heading home to a hurricane. Tropical Storm Fay, which could gain momentum Monday and reach hurricane force after passing over Cuba, is expected to make landfall on Florida's Gulf Coast Tuesday. The Rays wrapped up their road trip Sunday night against the Texas Rangers with a 7-4 win, and are scheduled to begin a three-game homestand on Monday night, all against the Los Angeles Angels. The Angels flew to the Tampa Bay area after Sunday's game in Cleveland. "We're in communication with the Angels," Rays president Matt Silverman said. "We hope to get at least two games in this week." The Rays have made contingency plans with officials of St. Petersburg, where Tampa Bay plays at the Tropicana Dome.

SAVED

Minnesota's Joe Nathan earned his 33rd save with four pressure-filled outs against the free-swinging Seattle Mariners in an 11-8 victory. Nathan faced bases-loaded jams in the eighth and the ninth, and the Twins survived. He got Ichiro Suzuki to ground out to end the game. In the eighth, the right-hander struck out Adrian Beltre to end that threat.

LOST CAUSE

After the Nationals lost their 10th straight game, manager Manny Acta had a few things to say to his team. Enjoy a barbeque, spend time with your family. These were some of his suggestions on getting the Nationals back to a winning mind-set after Washington's 7-2 loss to the Rockies. At a postgame meeting, Acta reacted to the freefall reaching double digits not by chewing out his struggling players, but by imploring them to focus on family, barbecues and relaxation, anything but baseball, on Monday's scheduled off day. It's the longest skid for the Nationals since they moved to Washington before the 2005 season, and the franchise's worst since the Montreal Expos dropped 11 games in a row from June 23-July 4, 1991.

TRADED

The Mets found help for their struggling bullpen, acquiring durable right-hander Luis Ayala from the Nationals for a player to be named. A reliable reliever for the first four years of his career, Ayala has dipped to 1-8 with a 5.77 ERA this season. He's appeared in 62 games, which ranks among the major league leaders. In return, New York is expected to send minor leaguer Anderson Hernandez to Washington once he clears waivers. A smooth-fielding middle infielder, Hernandez has a .138 career average in 87 big league at-bats.

HONORED

The Astros retired Craig Biggio's No. 7 before their game against Arizona, and the seven-time All-Star waved to fans and touched his heart during a lively ceremony. Dressed in a blue suit, Biggio hopped out of the dugout and walked across a red carpet toward a podium set up at home plate. He was flanked on both sides by about two dozen family members and friends, including ex-teammates Jeff Bagwell, Brad Ausmus, Bill Doran and the widow of Ken Caminiti, Biggio's teammate from 1989-94 and 1999-2000.

SPEAKING

"Wow! I grew a beard there in that game." Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire after closer Joe Nathan got out of bases-loaded situations in the eighth and ninth to help the Twins beat the Mariners 11-8 for a three-game sweep.

SEASONS

Aug. 19

1909 - The Philadelphia Phillies were rained out for the 10th consecutive day, a major league record.

1913 - The Chicago Cubs tagged Grover Alexander for nine straight hits and six runs for a 10-4 triumph over the Philadelphia Phillies.

1921 - Detroit's Ty Cobb got his 3,000th career hit at age 34, the youngest player to reach that plateau. The milestone hit was a single off Elmer Myers of the Boston Red Sox.

1951 - Eddie Gaedel, a 65-pound midget who was 3-foot-7, made his first and only plate appearance as a pinch-hitter for Frank Saucier of the St. Louis Browns. Gaedel, wearing No. 1/8, was walked on four pitches by Detroit Tigers pitcher Bob Cain and then was taken out for pinch-runner Jim Delsing. The gimmick by Browns owner Bill Veeck was completely legal, but later outlawed.

1957 - New York Giants owner Horace Stoneham announced that the team's board of directors had voted 9-1 in favor of moving to San Francisco.

1965 - Jim Maloney of the Cincinnati Reds no-hit the Cubs 1-0, in 10 innings in the first game of a doubleheader at Chicago. Leo Cardenas homered in the 10th for the Reds. Earlier in the year, Maloney lost 1-0 in 11 innings after holding the Mets hitless for 10 before Johnny Lewis homered leading off the 11th.

1969 - Ken Holtzman of the Cubs blanked the Atlanta Braves with a 3-0 no-hitter at Wrigley Field. Ron Santo's three-run homer in the first inning provided the Cubs' offense.

1990 - Bobby Thigpen recorded his 40th save of the season as the Chicago White Sox beat the Texas Rangers 4-2. Thigpen became the eighth - and fastest - to accomplish this feat.

1992 - Bret Boone made history when he became part of the first three-generation family to play in Major League Baseball. Boone is the grandson of Ray Boone, who played from 1948-60, and son of Bob Boone, from 1972-90. Bret, 23, completed the triangle when he started at second base for the Seattle Mariners against Baltimore.

2000 - Houston's Jeff Bagwell became the eighth player in major league history to record five straight seasons with 30 home runs, 100 RBIs and 100 runs scored. He hit two homers and drove in five runs in a 10-8 win over Milwaukee.

2002 - A rare event in the major leagues happened as all 10 games took less than three hours to play. The shortest was Bartolo Colon's two-hitter, which took just 1 hour, 55 minutes as Montreal defeated San Diego 4-0.

2005 - The Kansas City Royals dropped their 19th straight game, 4-0 to the Oakland Athletics, to move within two defeats of the American League record.

2007 - Johan Santana finished with a franchise-record 17 strikeouts in eight innings to help Minnesota edge Texas 1-0.

Today's birthdays: J.J. Hardy 26; Lance Cormier 28.