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Memorial Day American Legion — Chico at Bulls, 2:30 p.m. Tennis — French Open, 9 a.m., ESPN2 MLB — Athletics at Tigers, 10 a.m., CSNCA MLB — Cubs at Pirates, 10:30 a.m., WGN MLB — Rockies at Giants, 1 p.m., CSNBA MLB— Diamondbacks at Dodgers, 6 p.m., MLBN Sports 1B Monday May 31, 2010 Flawless Franchitti gets a break to win Indy INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — One lap to go, running on empty and someone bearing down on his tail. After having the dominant car and the perfect game plan, Dario Franchitti still needed more Sun- day — one break to win his sec- ond Indianapolis 500. He got it in the form of a spec- tacular, airborne crash that brought out a yellow flag and allowed him to cross the line with a scant 1.6 gallons of fuel left. That 1.6 gallons left him hold- ing a quart of milk, a winner at the Brickyard for the second time in four years. ‘‘Still running,’’ the winner told his crew over the radio as he crossed the finish line, while wreckers were moving out to scoop up debris from an accident that sent Mike Conway into the wall and to the hospital with a bro- ken left leg. The victory made Franchitti’s boss, Chip Ganassi, the first owner to win Indy and NASCAR’s Day- tona 500 in the same year. ‘‘All he wants to do is win,’’ Franchitti said. This win validated the Scottish driver’s return to the IndyCar cir- cuit two years after celebrating his 2007 Indy victory by making an unsuccessful move with Ganassi to NASCAR. It also made Franchitti and crew look like the master tacti- cians they were on this day — working the gas pedal perfectly to stretch their final fill-up for the last 37 laps and edge out 2005 cham- pion Dan Wheldon of England. ‘‘You have to be prepared for all eventualities there,’’ Ganassi said. ‘‘We had to play that game being the leader to keep those guys behind us, but also stay in front of them to make it to the fin- ish.’’ Franchitti was holding off Wheldon when Ryan Hunter- Reay ran out of gas and slowed suddenly with Conway coming up alongside him. Conway went air- borne, flipped upside down and flew into the wall, nearly landing on top of Hunter-Reay. That brought out the caution flag for the final lap. ‘‘That car should have come down on my head,’’ Hunter-Reay said. ‘‘I don’t know how it didn’t.’’ And so, Franchitti’s second victory turned out to be the story instead of Helio Castroneves’ fourth. Spiderman’s quest to tie A.J. Foyt, Al Unser Sr., and Rick Mears for most wins ever at the Brickyard essentially ended with Buster Posey adds a bat to Giants SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Andres Torres imagined a game- winning hit would one day happen for him in the major leagues after he spent more than a decade in the minors. Torres singled with two outs in the 10th inning for his career-high fourth hit, leading the San Francis- co Giants past Arizona 6-5 on Sun- day and sending the Diamondbacks to their seventh straight loss. ‘‘It’s pretty exciting. I’ve been through a lot,’’ Torres said. ‘‘For me, being here in the majors has been a lot of work. I try to always give 100 percent.’’ Torres hit a sharp liner to right off Carlos Rosa (0-1) to drive in Juan Uribe, who started the rally with a two-out single. Torres’ team- mates rushed out to celebrate — and he just tried to protect himself from injury. ‘‘They punched me and they hit me,’’ he said, smiling. Brian Wilson (1-0) pitched a 1- 2-3 10th with two strikeouts for the win, the closer’s third straight out- ing not allowing a baserunner. The Giants rallied in the ninth against closer Chad Qualls, getting an RBI single from Freddy Sanchez and a tying RBI groundout from Pablo Sandoval. Arizona’s skid matches its worst of the season. Torres is batting .370 since being moved into the leadoff spot May 23 at Oakland — and the Giants are 5- 2 in those games. He also scored twice. ‘‘His play has been really a plea- sure to watch,’’ Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. ‘‘Defensively, offensively, he’s really playing some great ball.’’ This finish should give San Fran- cisco a nice boost heading into Monday’s anticipated Memorial Day matchup with the Rockies at AT&T Park. It looks to be a dandy: Colorado ace and nine-game win- ner Ubaldo Jimenez vs. two-time reigning NL Cy Young Award win- ner Tim Lincecum. ‘‘I’m looking forward to it and an uncharacteristic mistake — stalling out while leaving the pits on the 146th lap. It left Castroneves in need of a yellow-flag miracle at the end that never came, and he finished ninth after one last pit stop on the 192nd lap. ‘‘Unfortunately, silly mistakes put us in the back,’’ Castroneves said. ‘‘I’m very disappointed. I’m more disappointed with the mis- take.’’ Danica Patrick made no such mistakes. After being booed dur- ing qualifying for complaining See INDY, page 2B Scherzer helps Tigers beat A’s DETROIT (AP) — Max Scherzer responded quite nicely to his demotion. Scherzer struck out 14 in 5 2-3 shutout innings hours after he was recalled from Triple-A Toledo, helping the Detroit Tigers beat the Oakland Athletics 10-2 on Sunday to end a four-game losing streak. Scherzer allowed two hits, walked four and hit a batter in his first game since he was sent down following a rough opening stretch of the season. He was only called back up because Armando Galarraga, Sunday’s scheduled starter, pitched in relief on Friday and wasn’t available. The right-hander fell just two strikeouts short of Mickey Lolich’s team record despite being taken out in the sixth inning. ‘‘I don’t want to get crazy and carried away, because MCT photo The San Francisco Giants' Buster Posey connects on a double against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the first inning. I’m sure America is, too,’’ Wilson said. Eli Whiteside added a single in the 10th in his lone at-bat, helping the Giants win their sixth in a row at home against Arizona after also sweeping the D-backs here from Sept. 29-Oct. 1. Adam LaRoche drew a go- ahead, bases-loaded walk with one out in the eighth inning for Arizona, which couldn’t hold a 5-3 lead. Chris Snyder hit a two-run homer in the second for the D-backs. Aubrey Huff homered leading off the eighth for the Giants, just the second time in Aaron Heilman’s last nine road appearances that he gave up a run. Make it six hits and four RBIs in two games for Giants rookie sensa- tion Buster Posey. Posey doubled twice, singled and drove in a run a day after he Johnson adds plaid jacket FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Zach Johnson now has a plaid jacket to go along with his green one, after an extend- ed wait before slip- ping on his prize at the Colonial. Johnson won at Hogan’s Alley with a tournament record 21-under 259, seal- ing his victory with a pair of birdies in the short span of play in between two late weather delays Sunday. When Johnson drained a 14-foot birdie putt at the 17th hole to take a two-stroke lead over Brian Davis, he had a wide smile on his face and emphatical- ly pumped his fist. MCT photo Zach Johnson finishes 21 under par to win the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial. But the real celebration had to wait. ‘‘As far as momentum and a big putt, that was a big one,’’ said Johnson, the 2007 Masters champion. ‘‘I didn’t have a number in my head, but I figure if you get to 21, you have See PLAID, page 2B was called up and had three hits in his season debut in a 12-1 win Sat- urday night. The Giants’ fifth over- all pick in the 2008 draft was hitting .349 for Triple-A Fresno before being promoted to the big leagues. He received a rousing ovation when he stepped in to hit in the first. There were chants of ‘‘Posey! Posey!’’ when he batted in the eighth and 10th. Arizona finally produced after managing just three hits in 57 at- bats and getting outscored 17-1 in the first two games of the series. Manager A.J. Hinch benched strug- gling left fielder Conor Jackson and moved Justin Upton into the No. 2 hole. Upton had an RBI double in the ninth. ‘‘We have to find a way to have that edge every single night,’’ Upton said. See GIANTS, page 2B this was one outing, but obviously that was pretty impressive,’’ Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. ‘‘I think he was hungry to get back here, and it shows. Sending a guy down isn’t punishment, it is hopefully to get results like this.’’ Scherzer was acquired from Arizona over the winter and went 1-4 with a 7.29 ERA in his first eight starts with the Tigers. He fixed a mechanical flaw and gave up one run in 15 innings over two starts with the Mud Hens. ‘‘My arm was wrapping too much around my body — it’s very complex, but I needed to shorten my arm action,’’ he said. ‘‘That’s what I did, and all of a sudden, my fastball had that zip again.’’ Miguel Cabrera had four hits, including his 14th homer, and four RBIs for the Tigers, who finished with 15 hits. Carlos Guillen and Brandon Inge also connect- ed, and Joel Zumaya pitched two scoreless innings for his first save. Daric Barton hit a two-run homer for Oakland. Dal- las Braden (4-5) allowed five runs and 11 hits in six innings. ‘‘They got the leadoff hitter on in every inning and scored in all but one of them,’’ Braden said. ‘‘I’m not a math major, but that doesn’t seem good for me. Plus we were going against a team that had just woke up Cy Young and brought him to the park. He didn’t give us a chance, and I didn’t give us a chance.’’ Detroit scored single runs in the first four innings and five of the first six. Cabrera doubled in a run in the third and hit a three-run shot in the Tigers’ five-run eighth. Scherzer (2-4) struck out seven in the first three See A'S, page 2B Kurt Busch wins Coca-Cola 600 CONCORD, N.C. (AP) — Kurt Busch used a lightning fast final pit stop to chase down the leaders and give team owner Roger Penske a coveted Memorial Day weekend victory. That the win came in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speed- way, and not at his beloved Indianapolis Motor Speedway, proba- bly didn’t matter to Penske. After all, it came at the expense of Chip Ganassi, Penske’s top rival in open-wheel racing and the winning car owner of the Indianapolis 500 earli- er Sunday. ‘‘Roger, this one is for you,’’ Busch said. Busch and Ganassi dri- ver Jamie McMurray were the class of the field at the end of NASCAR’s longest race of the season, and McMurray was hop- ing to give Ganassi a sweep of the two presti- gious Memorial Day weekend races. Earlier Sunday, Dario Franchitti won in Indianapolis and, after the celebration, Ganassi flew to North MCT photo Sprint Cup Series driver Marcos Ambrose (47) slides in front of oncoming cars coming out of Turn 4 Sunday during the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, NC, Sunday. Carolina to catch the sec- ond half of the NASCAR race. He arrived in time to see McMurray work his Chevrolet through the field and ultimately take over the lead from Busch. But a late caution for a Marcos Ambrose crash with 24 laps to go took it out of McMurray’s hands. He led most of the leaders down pit road, but was beat back onto the track by Busch and Matt Kenseth. Jeff Gordon was the first of three cars not to pit, and restarted as the leader with 19 laps remaining. Busch blew past the three lead cars and steadi- ly pulled away from the pack. McMurray quickly moved into second, but ran out of time to run down Busch, who held on to sweep the May races at Charlotte. Busch won the $1 million All-Star race last weekend. ‘‘I thought about the Ganassi car behind me,’’ Busch said in Victory Lane, ‘‘he wasn’t getting by us.’’ Ganassi didn’t seem to mind the defeat. ‘‘It was a great race, See BUSCH, page 2B