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Monday MLB — Reds at Giants, 7 p.m., CSNB Little League — 9 a.m., ESPN2; 11 a.m., 1 p.m., ESPN 3 p.m., 5 p.m., ESPN2 NFLPreseason — Cardinals at Titans, 5 p.m., ESPN EPL — Liverpool at Manchester City, 11:55 a.m., ESPN2 Sports 1B Monday August 23, 2010 Softball champions Garcia, Cards shutout Giants Giants 0 St. Louis 9 ST. LOUIS (AP) — Jaime Garcia threw a three-hit- ter for his first career shutout and fellow rookie Allen Craig hit a two-run home run for the St. Louis Cardi- nals in a 9-0 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Sunday. Courtesy photo Red Bluff Mayor Jeff Moyer (left) presents Chris Hurton (right) with the Dr.R.G.Frey Most Inspirational Player Award. Hurton, a player, umpire and scorekeeper,was unanimously chosen by Red Bluff Park and Recreation employees to receive the award. He gave 100 percent on and off the field making sure that all games were played. Co-ed winners will be printed in a coming edition. National League Champions — Young Guns Jon Jay had three hits and an RBI and Brendan Ryan and Yadier Molina each had two hits and an RBI for the Cardinals, who knocked out Barry Zito in the fourth inning. St. Louis rebounded from a five-game losing streak to take two of three from the Giants. St. Louis, which entered the day 3 1/2 games behind the NL Central-leading Reds, is 50-27 in games started by Garcia, Adam Wainwright and Chris Carpenter and 17-27 otherwise. During the game the Giants were awarded outfield- er Cody Ross on a waiver claim from Florida. Garcia (11-6) was razor sharp working on regular rest after getting two extra days the previous two out- ings, facing one batter over the minimum while strik- ing out six. He did not walk a batter and needed only 89 pitches. Prior to Sunday, the 24-year-old left-han- der had never pitched in the eighth. When Garcia came to the plate in the bottom of the eighth, he got a standing ovation. He made one of the best defensive plays to start the ninth, snaring Juan Uribe’s hot comebacker. Pat Burrell singled leading off the second and fifth and each time he was quickly erased on double-play balls by Jose Guillen. Nate Schierholtz singled with two outs in the ninth before Garcia finished it by get- ting Aaron Rowand to ground out. Garcia hasn’t allowed an earned run his last two starts, giving up three unearned runs in six innings in a 3-2 loss to the Brewers on Tuesday. Garcia, who leads NL rookies in victories, lowered his ERA to 2.42 Courtesy photo Young Guns, managed by Kyle Button, won the 2010 Red Bluff National League softball championships.The team won both halves of the season, going 6-0 and 5-1. American League Champions — DR 4 x 4 Zito (8-8) lasted only 3 2-3 innings, his shortest outing since June 15, 2009, against the Angels, sur- rendering five runs on seven hits. He handled the Car- dinals the first time through the order, allowing only a hit and a walk, but the second time around the Cardi- nals were 5 for 7 with a walk and sacrifice fly. Zito has won only one of his last 13 starts and is 1- 5 against the Cardinals. He’s allowed at least one homer in six of the last seven starts, totaling nine. Albert Pujols, Matt Holliday and Felipe Lopez had an RBI apiece in the third. Craig had been 2 for 18 on the homestand before hitting his second homer in the fourth for a 5-0 lead, and Garcia singled and scored in a three-run fifth that included RBIs from Molina, Ryan and Jay. Craig matched his career best of three RBIs on a bloop single in the eighth. Rays hold off A’s Tampa Bay 3 Athletics 2 OAKLAND (AP) — Matt Garza came out on top in a matchup between pitchers who threw no-hitters this season, outpitching Dallas Braden for his career-high 13th win and leading the Tampa Bay Rays to a 3-2 victory over the Oak- land Athletics on Sunday. Evan Longoria hit a tiebreaking two-run double in the sixth as the Rays secured a split of the four-game series. Carl Crawford singled twice and scored for the Rays, who remained one game behind the New York Yankees in the AL East. Garza (13-7) scattered four hits over 7 2-3 innings and overcame a balk that led to the only run he allowed. This marked the second time this season and the third time in 20 years that two pitchers have faced each other after throwing no-hitters earlier in the year. Arizona’s Edwin Jack- son and Roy Halladay of Philadelphia pitched against each other July 28. Braden (8-9) allowed only four hits but gave up all three Courtesy photo DR 4 x 4, managed by Bruce Patrick, won the 2010 Red Bluff National League softball championships.The team was the first half winner by going 5-1. Central League Champions — Beer Nuts Tampa Bay runs and took the loss. It’s only the second loss in six starts for the A’s lefty, who pitched a perfect game against the Rays on May 9. Garza went into a mini-tailspin after no-hitting Detroit on July 26 and lost two of his next three starts. He’s rebounded nicely since, pitching seven scoreless innings to beat Texas on Tuesday then handcuffing Oakland on Sunday. The right-hander cruised through the first four innings, allowing only a pair of singles, before briefly losing control and composure in the fifth. After the A’s loaded the bases with one out on a single, walk and error, home plate umpire James Hoye called a balk on Garza, forcing in Landon Powell with the tying run. A visibly frustrated Garza walked to home plate with his arms wide apart and talked briefly with Hoye before going back to the mound where he was met by Jason Bartlett, who tried to calm his pitcher down. It worked. Garza retired the next two batters to get out of the jam then settled into another groove before leaving with a runner on and two outs in the eighth. Joaquin Benoit recorded one out while Rafael Soriano struck out Cliff Pennington with the tying run on second in the ninth for his 37th save in 39 tries. The 37 saves ties Sori- ano with San Diego’s Heath Bell for most in the majors. Braden didn’t get much support from his teammates. The Courtesy photo Beer Nuts, managed by Mike Blaney, won the 2010 Red Bluff National League softball championships.The team was the second half winner by going 5-1. A’s, who were held to one-hit by Toronto’s Shaun Marcum on Monday before going on a four-game winning streak, didn’t get a runner to second base after the fifth inning. Kelly Shopach’s RBI double in the third gave the Rays a 1-0 lead. After Garza’s balk tied the score, Tampa Bay scored twice off Braden in the sixth. Bartlett walked and Crawford singled before Longoria’s two-run double. Tampa Bay scored its first run in the second after Sean Rodriguez hit a leadoff single and scored on Kelly Shop- pach’s double to right-center. Powell and Gabe Gross had two hits apiece for the A’s.