Today in Major League Baseball

Today

Texas at L.A. Angels (8:05 p.m.). John Lackey looks to be the majors first 17-game winner.

STARS

Friday

Scott Baker , Twins, allowed one hit and struck out nine in a 5-0 victory over Kansas City.

Hunter Pence , Astros, homered twice and drove in a career-high five runs in Houston's 6-1 victory over Chicago.

Carlos Pena and Andy Sonnanstine , Devil Rays. Pena homered twice and Sonnanstine allowed two hits in eight innings in a 9-1 win at New York.

Yovani Gallardo , Brewers, gave up two runs in seven innings and hit his second home run of the season in a 3-2 win over Pittsburgh.

So close

Scott Baker came within three outs of a perfect game and two outs of a no-hitter, falling short of history but leading the Minnesota Twins over the Kansas City Royals 5-0 in the second game of a doubleheader Friday night. Baker entered the ninth inning with a chance for just the 18th perfect game in major league history. Baker then walked John Buck and allowed a single to pinch-hitter Mike Sweeney. The 25-year-old right-hander recovered to get the one-hitter, struck out a career-high nine and threw 111 pitches in just his second complete game in 44 major league starts.

Trade

The Cardinals, acquired power-hitting Russell Branyan from the Phillies on Friday for a player to be named. Branyan is a .229 hitter with 120 homers and 298 RBIs. He hit a career-high 24 homers with the Indians and Reds in 2002. Branyan batted a combined .198 with nine homers and 24 RBIs this year for the Phillies and Padres.

Suspended

Yankees rookie sensation Joba Chamberlain was suspended for two games and fined $1,000 Friday, a day after he threw two 98-99 mph pitches over the head of Boston's Kevin Youkilis. Chamberlain missed Friday night's game against Tampa Bay and was to sit out again on Saturday. Chamberlain has thrown 11 1-3 scoreless innings in the majors, striking out 17, walking four and allowing just five hits.

Comeback kid

Houston right-hander Brandon Backe is to start Tuesday in his first appearance in almost a year following elbow ligament replacement surgery. Backe's first start of 2007 will come in Milwaukee and will be three days shy of a year since his elbow was operated on last Sept. 7. He hasn't appeared in a major league game since Aug. 18, 2006, at Milwaukee. Backe is 19-14 with a 4.71 ERA in his big league career.

Streaking

Philadelphia beat Florida 9-2 on Friday night to extend their winning streak to a season-best six games. ... Cleveland beat the White Sox 8-5 Friday night for their season-high seventh straight win.

Snapped

The Mets snapped a five-game losing streak with a 7-1 victory over the Braves on Friday night. ... Baltimore snapped a nine-game losing streak after beating Boston 9-8 on Friday night. It was the first time the Orioles won since announcing manager Dave Trembley would return next season.

Slumping

Seattle lost to Toronto 7-5 on Friday night. The Mariners have lost seven straight. ... San Francisco beat Washington 3-2, extended the Nationals' skid to seven games. ... The White Sox lost to Cleveland 8-5 Friday night, losing their 10th straight on the road for the first time since 1977.

Speaking

"It's been so long since I had a hit in the big leagues I was going to ask him for the ball." -- Kansas City's Mike Sweeney after singled off of Scott Baker to break up his no-hitter. Sweeney, activated from the disabled list between games, pinch hit and blooped a two-seam fastball to left-center for his first hit since June 16 in the Royals 5-0 loss to Minnesota.

Seasons

Sept. 2

1952 - Mike Fornieles of the Washington Senators, in his major league debut, pitched a one-hitter for a 5-0 victory over the Philadelphia Athletics in the second game of a doubleheader.

1965 - Ernie Banks hit his 400th home run as the Chicago Cubs beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5-3 at Wrigley Field. The blow came off Curt Simmons in the third inning.

1971 - Cesar Cedeno's 200-foot fly ball in the fifth inning fell for an inside-the-park grand slam as second baseman Jim Lefebvre and right fielder Bill Buckner of the Dodgers collided. The hit helped the Houston Astros beat Los Angeles 9-3.

1972 - Milt Pappas of the Chicago Cubs retired 26 consecutive San Diego Padres before walking pinch-hitter Larry Stahl on a 3-2 pitch. Pappas then retired Gary Jestadt to finish his 8-0 no-hitter.

1987 - Houston's Kevin Bass went 4-for-4, including home runs from both sides of plate, and drove in three runs as the Astros posted a 10-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs. Bass became the first National League player to homer from both sides of the plate twice in one season.

1990 - Dave Stieb, who had lost three no-hit bids with one out to go in the previous two seasons, finally pitched one as the Toronto Blue Jays beat Cleveland 3-0. It was the record ninth no-hitter of the season.

1993 - The expansion Colorado Rockies drew 47,699 fans for their 6-1 loss to Montreal to set a single-season NL attendance record with a 62-game total of 3,617,863. Los Angeles set the previous record of 3,608,881 in 1982. Toronto set the major league record of 4,028,318 in 1992.

1996 - Mike Greenwell set a major league record by driving in all nine Boston runs, the final one on a 10th-inning single to give the Red Sox a 9-8 victory over Seattle.

1999 - Cal Ripken Jr. hit his 400th career home run, joining an exclusive circle of sluggers. Ripken connected off right-hander Rolando Arrojo in the third inning of the Baltimore Orioles' game against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

2001 - New York's Mike Mussina came within one strike of pitching the first perfect game in the 89-year history of Fenway Park in a 1-0 win over Boston. Mussina's bid was broken up when Carl Everett knocked a pinch-hit single.

2002 - Miguel Tejada had his second straight game-ending hit as he singled home Terrence Long with the bases loaded in the ninth inning as Oakland tied the longest winning streak in AL history with a 7-6 victory over Kansas City. Oakland, which overcame a 5-0 deficit, equaled the 19 straight wins by the 1906 Chicago White Sox and the 1947 New York Yankees.

2003 - Eric Gagne set a major league record with his 55th consecutive save in Los Angeles' 4-1 victory over Houston.

2004 - Gary Sheffield became the second player in history to drive in 100 runs for five different teams, picking up three RBI in the New York Yankees 9-1 win over Cleveland. Sheffield joined Hall of Famer Dan Brouthers (1887-94) as the only players to accomplish the feat. Sheffield previously drove in 100 runs for San Diego (1992), Florida (1996), Los Angeles (1999-01) and Atlanta (2003).