Twins recall replacement for Liriano

With Francisco Liriano's pitching arm still bothering him, the Minnesota Twins purchased the contract of righthander Matt Garza from Triple A Rochester yesterday. Liriano, 22, who pitched four innings Monday in Detroit, will probably be shelved soon. He said after the game that the pain had gotten worse and moved closer to his elbow. Garza, the team's first-round draft pick in 2005, was 3-1 with a 1.85 ERA and 33 strikeouts in five starts for the Red Wings.

The Cleveland Indians placed outfielder Casey Blake on the 15-day disabled list with a sprained right ankle. Blake, 32, who rolled his ankle Saturday night, was batting .310 with 16 homers and 51 RBIs. The Indians did have some good news, though: Lefthander Cliff Lee, 27, signed a three-year, $14 million contract extension. Lee is 9-8 with a 4.75 ERA . . . Mets catcher Paul Lo Duca denied he has a gambling problem after a report in the Daily News yesterday alleged Lo Duca had significant gambling debts and the Mets were aware of it. ``I don't have a gambling problem," said Lo Duca. ``All of those allegations are false." . . . Righthander Daniel McCutchen, a New York Yankees farmhand, was suspended 50 games by Major League Baseball for testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance . . . Dave Gassner and two relievers combined on a four-hit shutout to lead the Rochester Red Wings in a 1-0 home win over the Pawtucket Red Sox . . . Beltran Perez allowed one unearned run over 7 1/3 innings and the Harrisburg Senators sent the Portland Sea Dogs to their 10th straight loss, 4-3, at Hadlock Field . . . Sean Glabicky threw a one-hitter and Matthew Tehan and Kevin Church hit solo homers as Peabody West Little League beat Colchester, Vt., 2-0, in New England Regional tournament action in Bristol, Conn. Earlier, Portsmouth, N.H., scored six runs in the third inning in beating Yarmouth, Maine, 8-3.

Track and field

Defending men's champion Gilbert Okari and three-time women's titlist Catherine Ndereba will be up against a bunch of former victors in the 34th Falmouth Road Race Sunday morning. Okari, the course record-holder who is bidding to join John Korir and Bill Rodgers as the only three-time men's winners of the 7-mile event, will line up alongside Kenyan countrymen Korir and 2002 winner James Koskei , plus 19-year-old rising star Lawrence Kiprotich . Ndereba, the Olympic marathon silver medalist who'll be chasing her first crown since 1999 after a two-year absence, will face a pair of fleet Russians in 2004 champion Alevtina Ivanova , who broke Ndereba's course record in last weekend's Beach to Beacon 10K race in Maine, and Olga Romanova. JOHN POWERS

The lawyer for Justin Gatlin's track coach asked the US Olympic Committee to lift its ban of Trevor Graham, saying he passed a lie-detector test when he denied giving performance-enhancing drugs to athletes. Joe Zeszotarski said Graham will pursue ``all legal avenues" to regain access to the USOC's training centers and sites. But the USOC said yesterday it will not reconsider. ``Access to our training facilities is a privilege, not a right, and we are operating fully within the scope of our authority," said USOC spokesman Darryl Seibel.

WNBA

Katie Douglas scored 19 points before leaving in the third quarter with a strained calf and the Connecticut Sun beat the host Chicago Sky, 85-59, to extend their franchise-best winning streak to 11 games. At 25-6, the Sun are a win away from clinching the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs . . . At Phoenix, Diana Taurasi set a WNBA season scoring record, getting 21 points in the Mercury's 99-68 win over the Minnesota Lynx. Taurasi needed just 2 points to tie the record of 739 set by Minnesota's Katie Smith in 2001 . . . Lauren Jackson's layup with 10 seconds left helped the Seattle Storm beat the Detroit Shock, 81-79, after blowing a 25-point second-half lead in Auburn Hills, Mich. Seattle clinched a playoff berth . . . Alana Beard scored 22 points and the Washington Mystics beat the visiting San Antonio Silver Stars, 91-79 . . . Sheri Sam had 13 points and 11 rebounds to help the host Charlotte Sting beat the Houston Comets, 68-57 . . . Tamika Whitmore had 14 points -- all in the first half -- to lead the Indiana Fever to a 77-44 victory over the Liberty in New York.

Miscellany

Michelle Wie didn't make it through her first year as a professional without firing her caddie, getting rid of Greg Johnston after a tie for 26th in the Women's British Open, her worst finish on the LPGA Tour in two years. Golf World magazine reported on its website that Wie's agent told Johnston at the airport Monday in Manchester, England, that he had been fired . . . The Buffalo Sabres rejected forward J.P. Dumont's one-year, $2.9 million salary arbitration award, allowing the seven-year veteran to become an unrestricted free agent. The team exercised its ``walkaway" option, as allowed under NHL rules. Dumont's salary, set last week, represented a $1.3 million raise over what he made last season . . . The St. Louis Blues signed free agent goaltender Manny Legace to a one-year contract . . . Former NBA All-Star Eddie Johnson was arrested and charged with sexually assaulting an 8-year-old girl, authorities in Ocala, Fla., said. Johnson, 51, was charged with sexual battery on a child under 12 and residential burglary for entering the apartment where the girl was staying while her mother was out. Johnson was being held without bond at the Marion County jail . . . Imperialism, who finished third in the 2004 Kentucky Derby, has been retired and will stand at stud in Florida.