Around the Cactus League..Sosa Homers

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Around the Cactus League

Texas Rangers: Showing he still has a few big swings in his bat, Sammy Sosa hit his first home run in 19 months Sunday to help the Texas Rangers beat the Kansas City Royals 5-0 in Surprise, Ariz.

"It was good to get the first one out of the way," said Sosa, attempting a comeback after sitting out last season. "That was huge for me. Everyone wanted me to do that."

The former Chicago Cubs slugger, who has 588 career homers, drove a 1-1 pitch from Luke Hudson over the left-center fence to lead off the second inning. It was Sosa's first home run since Aug. 4, 2005, with Baltimore.

Elsewhere in the Cactus League:

Arizona Diamondbacks: The Diamondbacks turned a triple play against the Mariners in the second inning Sunday.

With runners on first and second, Michael Garciaparra lined Edgar Gonzalez's pitch to shortstop Stephen Drew. He stepped on second base to retire Mike Morse, then threw to first baseman Tony Clark to get Michael Wilson and complete the triple play.

"It was amazing," Gonzalez said. "It's the first time in my life I've been in the game" for a triple play.

It was the second triple play in Tucson in two days. The Los Angeles Angels turned one against the Colorado Rockies at Hi Corbett Field on Saturday.

Also, Arizona lefty Randy Johnson, who had back surgery in October, threw breaking pitches for the first time this spring during a 63-pitch bullpen session. He'll throw again in the bullpen before the Diamondbacks' game against Texas in Surprise on Wednesday, but the club has not announced a timetable for his first spring training game.

Oakland Athletics: Shortstop Bobby Crosby faced live pitching Sunday for the first time this spring and showed no lingering effects from the back injury that sidelined him for the final two months last season.

"It's been a long time to wait but it was good," said Crosby, the 2004 AL Rookie of the Year. "I was antsy coming into spring but I didn't want to rush it. When you rush it, you hurt it."

Crosby missed 63 games in 2006 with a stress fracture in his back and other injuries. Team doctors originally diagnosed the back injury as a strain, but Crosby later met with a private doctor who discovered the fracture.

On Sunday, Crosby took four rounds of batting practice against Tony DeFrancesco, manager of the A's Triple-A affiliate in Sacramento. Crosby said he swung at 70-75 percent strength, but that was due more to a change in his swing than concerns about his back.

San Diego Padres: Padres pitcher David Wells participated in a morning batting-practice session and said he expects to throw a bullpen session in the middle of the week. "It went very well," Wells said. "I don't feel 100 percent velocity-wise, but it's getting there."

San Francisco Giants: Barry Bonds missed the Giants' spring training workouts Sunday for the second straight day because of the flu.

Bonds wasn't in the Giants' lineup for a home exhibition game against the Seattle Mariners after coming down with the same bug that has affected much of the Giants' roster in the last two weeks.

The seven-time NL MVP went 0-for-2 in his spring debut Friday, but won't play again until at least Tuesday. The Giants travel to face the Arizona Diamondbacks in Tucson on Monday, and Bonds rarely makes any road trip, let alone the longest in the Cactus League.

Bonds has 734 homers entering the season, 22 shy of breaking Hank Aaron's major league record.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.