Former big-leaguer Howe dies in crash
Steve Howe, the relief pitcher whose promising career was derailed by cocaine and alcohol abuse, died Friday when his pickup truck rolled over in Coachella, Calif. He was 48.
Howe was killed at 5:55 a.m. PDT about 130 miles east of Los Angeles, said Dalyn Backes of the Riverside County coroner’s office. He had been in Arizona on business and was driving back home to Valencia, Calif., business partner Judy Welp said.
Toxicology tests had not yet been performed.
The hard-throwing lefty was the 1980 National League Rookie of the Year with Los Angeles, closed out the Dodgers’ 1981 World Series championship and was an All-Star the next year.
But for all of his success on the field, Howe was constantly troubled by addictions – he was suspended seven times and became a symbol of the rampant cocaine problem that plagued baseball in the 1980s.
During the 1992 season, he became the first baseball player to be banned for life because of drugs. An arbitrator reinstated him after the season.
In recent years, he owned an energy drink company in Arizona.
Rangers’ Mench homers again
Kevin Mench of the Texas Rangers homered in his seventh straight game, moving within one game of the major league record.
Mench led off the eighth inning against Cleveland’s Guillermo Mota by hitting a 0-2 pitch just over the left-field wall for his seventh homer of the season to pull the Rangers within 6-5.
Dale Long, Don Mattingly and Ken Griffey Jr. share the major league record with homers in eight straight games.
Mench became the first right-handed batter to homer in seven straight games, joining Jim Thome, Mattingly, Long and Griffey.
Nineteen players have homered in six straight, with Houston’s Morgan Ensberg of Houston also doing it this season.
Pujols’ homer ties April record
St. Louis slugger Albert Pujols hit his 13th home run in April to tie the major league record.
Pujols’ drive in the eighth inning came off a 2-0 pitch from Felix Rodriguez of the Washington Nationals and matched the mark shared by Ken Griffey Jr. in 1997 with Seattle and Luis Gonzalez in 2001 with Arizona. His first homer in four games left him with two games this month to break the record.
Pujols also had an RBI single in the fifth and leads the majors with 31 RBIs to go with a .351 average.
Smoltz moves up strikeout list
Atlanta pitcher John Smoltz struck out 10 against the New York Mets to move up to No. 22 on the career strikeout list.
He entered the game tied for 23rd with Bob Feller. He struck out Carlos Delgado in the first inning to break the tie and then struck out two more in the second to overcome Warren Spahn.
Mesa suspended 4 games
Colorado Rockies pitcher Jose Mesa was given a four-game suspension by Major League Baseball for intentionally throwing at San Francisco Giants shortstop Omar Vizquel.
Mesa appealed the suspension and was available for this weekend’s series against Florida.
Giants pitcher Matt Morris and pitching coach Dave Righetti were fined.