Zambrano ‘retires’ after dismal 10-4 loss  —  Cubs ‘respect his wishes’ after he gives up 5 homers to Braves  —  Carlos Zambrano looks to first base vs. the Braves.  —  ATLANTA — Carlos Zambrano cleaned out his locker and told friends he was retiring Friday night after serving up five home runs …

Cardinals score 5 in 6th, beat Rockies 6-1  —  ST. LOUIS - Kyle Lohse worked into the seventh inning after a week between starts and Albert Pujols followed up a 4-for-4 game with two hits and the go-ahead RBI to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 6-1 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Friday night.

Game 117: Red Sox at Mariners  —  Here are the lineups as the road trip continues:  —  RED SOX (72-44)  —  Ellsbury CF  —  Pedroia 2B  —  Gonzalez 1B  —  Youkilis 3B  —  Ortiz DH  —  Crawford LF  —  Saltalamacchia C  —  Reddick RF  —  Scutaro SS  —  Pitching: RHP John Lackey (10-8, 6.14)

New York Yankees lefthanded throwing ace CC Sabathia says his dominant hand is actually his right  —  We wonder if CC Sabathia will ever spin around on the mound and throw a few breaking balls with his dominant right hand.  That certainly would change some scouting reports.

Stark: The road to October  —  AL East race is meaningless, future of wild-card expansion and realignment uncertain  —  It ought to be the best race in baseball.  Ought to be.  —  It's Red Sox and Yankees — two teams you might have heard about — separated by one game in the standings, with 46 games to play.

Kennedy wins 15th game leading Diamondbacks to win over Mets  —  PHOENIX — Ian Kennedy won his seventh straight start to become the National League's second 15-game winner and the Arizona Diamondbacks widened their newfound NL West lead with a 4-3 victory over the New York Mets on Friday night.

Wells homers in return to Toronto, Angels beat Blue Jays  —  TORONTO — Vernon Wells homered on the first pitch in his return to Toronto as an Angel and Ervin Santana pitched his fourth complete game of the season as Los Angeles beat the Blue Jays 5-1.  —  Right-hander Santana (9-8) …

Livan Hernandez leads Nationals over Phillies  —  PHILADELPHIA - Livan Hernandez had a feeling in batting practice that he would do some damage at the plate.  Oh, by the way, he did just fine on the mound, too.  —  Hernandez pitched 6 2-3 strong innings and drove in two runs with a pair of singles …

Greinke Sharp as Brewers Top Pirates 7-2  —  MILWAUKEE (AP) — Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder hit back-to-back homers and Zack Greinke remained perfect at Miller Park to lift the NL Central-leading Milwaukee Brewers to a 7-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday night.

Hollandsworth rips Ramirez for lack of effort  —  Although Aramis Ramirez continued his second-half surge with a two-run homer Thursday in the Chicago Cubs' 4-3 victory over Washington, his intensity and commitment have been called into question by analyst and former Cubs outfielder Todd Hollandsworth.

Butler, Cabrera Homer to Lead Royals Over ChiSox  —  CHICAGO (AP) — Billy Butler and Melky Cabrera homered to lead the Kansas City Royals to a 5-1 win over the Chicago White on Friday night.  —  Bruce Chen continued his mastery of the White Sox, holding Chicago to one hit over six innings.

Rays hit 5 solo HRs off Sabathia, beat Yanks 5-1  —  NEW YORK — Johnny Damon, Casey Kotchman and Kelly Shoppach all connected in the third inning for three of Tampa Bay's five solo home runs against CC Sabathia, and David Price again came out on top in a matchup of these elite lefties …