Ken Griffey Jr hit his 599th career home run and rookie Jay Bruce won the game with a dramatic 10th inning homer to spark the Cincinnati Reds to an 8-7 victory over the visiting Atlanta Braves on Saturday.
In Baltimore, Boston's Manny Ramirez became the 24th Major League Baseball player to hit 500 career homers when he connected in the seventh inning of the Red Sox's 6-3 win over the Orioles
Griffey, a 38-year-old outfielder, rapped a two-run shot in the first inning to edge closer to the 600 mark. Only five major-leaguers have achieved the milestone: Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays and Sammy Sosa.
Bruce drove a fastball into the right field deck for his first homer in the majors and was mobbed when he touched home plate. "That was my first walk-off home run ever, at any level," Bruce, 21, said. "I knew it was gone."
The hit was the rookie's 11th in his first five games in the major leagues. He went 3-for-5 and scored three runs to boost his batting average to a stunning .579.
Atlanta led 7-6 going into the bottom of the ninth but could not hold on.
Cincinnati's Ryan Freel raced home on an infield out to tie the score in the ninth and Bruce delivered his game-winner in the 10th.
First-inning homers by Griffey and Brandon Phillips gave Cincinnati a 3-0 lead before Atlanta rallied.
Greg Norton's two-run homer brought the Braves to within 3-2 in the second and Mark Teixeira tied the score at 5-5 with a three-run blast in the third. Another homer by Jeff Francoeur in the seventh gave the Braves their final lead at 7-6.
Elsewhere in the National League, it was: Mets 3, Dodgers 2; Cubs 5, Rockies 4; Padres 5, Giants 1; Diamondbacks 4, Nationals 0; Marlins 7, Phillies 3; Pirates 14, Cardinals 4; and Brewers 4, Astros 1.
In other American League games, it was: Rays 2, White Sox 0; Mariners 5, Tigers 0; Royals 4, Indians 2; Rangers 8, Athletics 4; Yankees 7, Twins 6 (in 12 innings); and Angels 3, Blue Jays 2 (in 10 innings).
In Baltimore, Ramirez drove former teammate Chad Bradford's first pitch into the right-center field seats for the milestone.
The home run was Ramirez's 10th of the season and came three games after he hit No. 499 in Seattle on Tuesday.
The 500-home run club has only two dozen members, but Ramirez, 36, also joined an even smaller fraternity. He is only the seventh player in MLB history with 500 homers, 1,500 RBI, 1,000 walks, 475 doubles and a .300 batting average. The others are Aaron, Ruth, Mays, Mel Ott, Frank Thomas and Ted Williams.
(Agencies via Shanghai Daily June 2, 2008)