Zach Duke pitched into the ninth inning, and Jose Castillo and Chris Duffy both homered to lead the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 4-1 victory on Monday, ending the Atlanta Braves' six-game winning streak.
Duke became the first Pirates starter in 35 years to begin his career with a 4-0 record and Pittsburgh ended a five-game losing streak.
The left-hander gave up seven hits and one walk in 8 1-3 innings Monday, the longest outing of his brief career. He struck out two, helping Pittsburgh avoid a four-game sweep.
With the scored tied 1-1, Castillo's ninth homer in the sixth drove in Rob Mackowiak, who led off with a single, for a 3-1 lead.
Duffy, the rookie leadoff hitter, hit his first Major League Baseball homer in the seventh to push the lead to 4-1. Duffy had two hits.
Marlins 6, Cardinals 5
In St. Louis, Career pinch-hit leader Lenny Harris had a three-run go-ahead double in the sixth inning and Mike Lowell hit only his second road home run of the season and had three RBIs for Florida, which has won five of six.
Albert Pujols hit his 29th homer, John Rodriguez had two hits and two RBIs, and So Taguchi had three hits for the Cardinals, who opened a seven-game homestand against NL East opponents. St. Louis is an NL-best 66-39 but only 7-9 against the East.
Harris' hit off Jason Marquis (9-9) was his major league-leading 205th as a pinch-hitter. The 40-year-old Harris is 12-for-39 (.308) in the pinch for the Marlins with seven RBIs, and has only eight at-bats as a position player.
Ismael Valdez (1-0) allowed four runs on eight hits in five innings for his first victory since Sept. 28 at Montreal.
Hours after Rafael Palmeiro was suspended for violating Major League Baseball's doping policy, the Chicago White Sox capped a miserable day for the Baltimore Orioles by completing a four-game sweep on Monday.
Mark Buehrle's streak of pitching at least six innings ended at 49 games with an ejection for hitting a batter with a pitch, but the White Sox finished off their first four-game sweep in Baltimore since 1954 with a 6-3 victory.
Without Palmeiro on Monday, the Orioles stranded 10 runners and completed a dismal 1-7 homestand in which they were outscored 52-31.
Buehrle had gone six innings or more in every start since May last year, at Baltimore.
He was well on his way to extending the streak until he hit B.J. Surhoff in the back with a pitch with two outs in the sixth and was immediately ejected by home plate umpire Brian Gorman.
After Orioles starter Daniel Cabrera hit A.J. Pierzynski with a pitch in the top of the sixth, no warning was issued. But Gorman wasted no time tossing Buehrle in the bottom half.
Upon reaching the dugout, Buehrle (12-4) bumped fists with teammates.
Despite the early departure, he earned the win after allowing no earned runs on five hits.
Dustin Hermanson, the sixth Chicago pitcher, worked the ninth for his 25th save.
Jermaine Dye snapped a 1-all tie with an RBI single off Cabrera (8-9) in the sixth.
Athletics 2, Twins 1
In Minneapolis, Rookie Joe Blanton allowed two hits over seven innings and Scott Hatteberg singled home the go-ahead run in the seventh as Oakland won its fifth straight.
Blanton (6-9) struck out four and walked two to get the first road victory of his career. Entering the game, Blanton was 0-6 with a 5.18 ERA in nine road starts.
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