Helton reaches milestone with 500th career double
DENVER — Todd Helton has become the 50th player to hit 500 doubles, driving one off the right-field scoreboard in the third inning of Colorado’s game Wednesday against Arizona.
The Rockies first baseman received an ovation and the game was halted briefly as a team employee ran out to remove the bag as a memento. Helton’s hit off Jon Garland drove in Seth Smith.
Helton is the 19th player in major league history to have 500 or more doubles with the same team and the 16th left-handed hitter overall to reach the mark.
It was the second major milestone for Helton this season. May 19 at Atlanta, he singled to become the 255th big league player with 2,000 hits.
He got his 800th extra-base hit, 1,000th walk and 1,100th RBI last season.
Red Sox make 2 trades
ARLINGTON, Texas — The Boston Red Sox added some depth a day after they dropped out of first in the AL East and got rid of shortstop Julio Lugo in one of Wednesday’s deals. Boston traded Lugo and cash to the St. Louis Cardinals for outfielder Chris Duncan, announcing the swap hours after they acquired first baseman Adam LaRoche from Pittsburgh for two minor leaguers. Lugo, who signed a $36 million, four-year free-agent deal before the 2007 season, was designated for assignment Friday and is owed about $13 million through next season. General manager Theo Epstein has called Lugo’s contract “a mistake” and “a lesson learned.”
Mattingly’s son arrested
EVANSVILLE, Ind. — Taylor Mattingly, son of former New York Yankees star Don Mattingly and a Yankees draft pick, was arrested Tuesday for allegedly shoving his mother and then spitting in her face. The younger Mattingly, 24, was booked into the Vanderburgh County Jail on preliminary charges of battery by bodily waste, battery and criminal mischief, all misdemeanors. Mattingly, whose father is now hitting coach for the Los Angeles Dodgers, was released on a $250 cash bond late Tuesday night. According to a Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Office probable cause affidavit, Mattingly admitted jumping the brick fence of his mother’s residence and confronting her. Mattingly told investigators his mother, Kim Mattingly, had earlier sent him a text message insulting him, his girlfriend and his father, authorities said.
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