Randy Johnson won despite lasting only five innings, and the New York Yankees got home runs from Gary Sheffield, Jason Giambi and Johnny Damon to polish off a three-game sweep of the Kansas City Royals with a 9-3 victory on Thursday.
Bernie Williams, who finished with three hits, and Robinson Cano each had an RBI single off Denny Bautista (0-1) for the Yankees, who have won 14 straight home games against Kansas City since August 2002.
The loss matched the Royals' record for consecutive defeats in an opposing ballpark, set at Detroit's Tiger Stadium from August 1987 to May 1990.
PHOTO: AFP
Johnson (2-1) was pulled after 87 pitches. The Big Unit has 16 strikeouts and no walks in three solid starts this year. He had never gone two starts into a season without walking a batter.
He cruised into the fifth inning with a 4-0 lead, but with two outs, the Royals strung together three hits. Shane Costa poked an 0-2 pitch to left-center for an RBI single. Johnson retired Tony Graffanino to end the inning, and never came out for the sixth. Scott Proctor worked 1 1-3 scoreless innings, and Mike Myers fanned Costa with two on to end the seventh.
Graffanino homered against Tanyon Sturtze leading off the eighth, cutting it to 4-2.
PHOTO: AP
White Sox 13, Tigers 9
At Detroit, Jim Thome homered in his fourth straight game to lead Chicago.
Tadahito Iguchi also homered and drove in three runs and Alex Cintron had a pair of RBI triples for the White Sox, who have won four straight. Chicago swept the three-game series and is 10-2 at Comerica Park since the start of last season.
Despite three hits, including a homer, from red-hot Chris Shelton, Detroit fell to 5-4 after winning its first five games. Shelton is hitting.514 with a 1.297 slugging percentage.
Jon Garland (1-1) got the win despite allowing seven runs and 13 hits, tying a career high, in five innings.
Justin Verlander (1-1) gave up seven runs and seven hits in just 2 2-3 innings in the loss.
Mariners 9, Indians 5
At Cleveland, Ichiro Suzuki hit a two-run homer and the Seattle Mariners turned a rash of wildness by the Cleveland Indian relievers into a 9-5 comeback win.
The Indians led 5-3 after five innings but three Seattle relievers combined to throw 4 1-3 shutout innings, allowing five hits and no walks. The Mariners won the final two games of the three-game series at Jacobs Field.
Cleveland reliever Rafael Betancourt got out of a bases-loaded, two-out jam in the sixth by striking out Jeremy Reed to preserve the Indians' two-run lead.
Jose Lopez hit a two-run homer off the right-hander with one out in the seventh to tie it at 5-5.
Left-hander Scott Sauerbeck (0-1) then yielded a sharp single to Raul Ibanez and was replaced by Guillermo Mota. Richie Sexson greeted him with a double to left, sending Ibanez to third. Adrian Beltre was intentionally walked to load the bases, but Mota also walked Carl Everett to make it 6-5.
Kenji Johjima followed with a bouncer to third baseman Aaron Boone, whose throw home pulled catcher Victor Martinez off the plate. Sexson scored to give the Mariners a two-run lead.
Johjima added a two-run double in the ninth off Fernando Cabrera to make it 9-5. Reed then lined a ball off Cabrera's right ankle. The right-hander made the play for the out, but left the game and was replaced by Danny Graves.
Johjima played with a sore right hand, hurt Wednesday night when he hit it on Michaels' bat while following through on a throw back to the pitcher.
Ichiro's two-run shot in Seattle's three-run fifth got the Mariners within one but Ronnie Belliard singled home a run in the bottom half to make it 5-3.
Suzuki went 4-for-7 over the final two games after breaking an 0-for-18 streak. He's batting .356 (68-for-191) in his career against Cleveland.
Blue Jays 8, Red Sox 6
At Boston, Vernon Wells hit a grand slam in a six-run second inning and Ted Lilly dominated Boston again, striking out 10 in seven innings.
Eric Hinske had three hits for the Blue Jays, who have won two in a row. Toronto outhit the Red Sox 12-7.
David Ortiz homered to make it 8-3 in the eighth.
Lilly (1-0) gave up Mark Loretta's double and then Ortiz's single in the first for his only earned run before settling down and retiring 20 of his last 23 batters.
Matt Clement (1-1) gave up seven runs and eight hits with four walks, striking out one in four-plus innings.
Twins 8, Athletics 2
At Minneapolis, Torii Hunter hit a two-run homer, Kyle Lohse threw six innings for his first win and Minnesota finished a three-game sweep over Oakland.
Luis Castillo and Mike Redmond each had three hits, and Shannon Stewart drove in two runs for Minnesota, which had three-run innings in the first and fifth against Oakland starter Joe Blanton.
After allowing a total of eight hits in three previous games, Oakland gave up 34 hits in this series. Minnesota batted only .225 last week.
Frank Thomas went 2-for-4 with two RBIs for the A's.
Joe Blanton (1-1) gave up 11 hits, seven runs and two walks in six innings while striking out four. Lohse (1-1) made up for a bad first start by giving up only five hits, two walks and two runs while striking out two.
Orioles 6, Devil Rays 5
At St. Petersburg, Florida, Melvin Mora hit a go-ahead two-run homer during a three-run ninth inning to lift Baltimore over Tampa Bay.
Brian Roberts cut the Devil Rays' lead to 5-4 with a sacrifice fly and Mora's two-out drive off closer Dan Miceli (0-1) gave Baltimore the lead.
Ty Wigginton homered for the third consecutive game and Travis Lee, Tomas Perez and Jonny Gomes also had solo shots for the Devil Rays, who have 16 homers in 10 games this season.
Baltimore starter Bruce Chen gave up five runs and five hits in 7 2-3 innings. Chris Ray (1-0) pitched a scoreless ninth for the win.
Carlos Beltran, David Wright and Cliff Floyd homered in the first inning, and Carlos Delgado later tacked on a two-run shot, all off All-Star Livan Hernandez, helping the New York Mets crush Washington 13-4.
Victor Zambrano (1-0) allowed three runs in five innings in his first start of the season for the Mets, who've won six straight games.
Washington, meanwhile, has lost five in a row, outscored 35-13 in that span. After Wednesday's defeat to the Mets, veteran Jose Vidro renewed a complaint heard often from the Nationals in the second half of 2005: RFK Stadium's dimensions are too big, and that's hurting the home team.
The Mets went to work on Hernandez (1-2) right away. New York's 4-5-6 hitters, Delgado, Wright and Floyd, went a combined 7-for-9 with six RBIs against the burly right-hander.
The Mets finished with 16 hits, adding five runs when they sent 10 men to the plate in the seventh against reliever Joey Eischen.
Dodgers 13, Pirates 5
At Pittsburgh, Cody Ross hit a grand slam and a three-run homer in successive at-bats and Los Angeles rode a big game from a player whose roster status is in doubt.
Bill Mueller added a two-run double in the Dodgers' five-run sixth inning, and Olmedo Saenz had a two-run homer among his three hits and drove in four runs. Saenz went 8-for-14 with two homers and seven RBIs as the teams split the four-game series.
Ross started only because J.D. Drew got the afternoon off after playing the night before, and went on to hit a go-ahead grand slam in the fifth off Oliver Perez (0-2) and a three-run drive an inning later against Damaso Marte.
By hitting the bases-loaded homer, Ross became one of the few major leaguers in history to hit grand slams for each of his first two career homers. That homer was Ross' first since his only previous career shot, a grand slam for Detroit in September 2003, against Cleverland.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the only other active major leaguer to begin his career by hitting grand slams for each of his first two homers was Craig Counsell for the Marlins in 1997-`998.
Marlins 9, Padres 2
At Miami, Dewon Brazelton gave up eight runs in four-plus innings and fell to 0-16 lifetime on the road.
Florida's Mike Jacobs hit a three-run homer, his third, and Dan Uggla added a two-run homer, the first of his career. The Marlins, who came into the game with the league's worst record, broke a five-game losing streak and improved to 2-6.
Brazelton (0-2) gave up two homers, two doubles, two infield singles and four walks. He has allowed four homers in 6 1-3 innings this season and has an ERA of 24.16.
On the road, the right-hander's career ERA is 8.59 in 25 games. His winless streak on the road is the longest since Kent Peterson of Cincinnati lost his first 18 away decisions in 1947-49.
Jason Vargas (1-1) walked five but limited the Padres to two hits and two runs in six innings. Three relievers completed a four-hitter.
Brewers 4, Cardinals 3,
11 innings
At St. Louis, Carlos Lee hit a tiebreaking home run in the 11th inning to lift Milwaukee to the win.
Lee also made a pair of game-saving catches at the left-field wall in the bottom of the 10th to help the Brewers avoid a three-game sweep.
St. Louis couldn't overcome the first two-error game of center fielder Jim Edmonds' career, which led to a pair of unearned runs off starter Jeff Suppan and a 3-1 deficit in the fifth. St. Louis lost for the first time in three games at new Busch Stadium. Jorge De La Rosa (1-0) retired Edmonds in the 10th to get the win. Derrick Turnbow got the last three outs for his fifth save in five chances
Lee's drive just inside the left-field foul pole in the 11th was his fourth of the season and came off closer Jason Isringhausen (0-2).
Reds 8, Cubs 3
At Chicago, Adam Dunn hit a solo homer, and Felipe Lopez and Austin Kearns added three-run shots for Cincinnati.
Dunn homered in the first, Lopez went deep in the third, and Kearns hit one out in the eighth.
Eric Milton (2-0) allowed three runs -- two earned -- in 6 2-3 innings in his second solid outing of the season.
Milton also tripled with one out in the fifth and scored his second run of the game on an errant pickoff throw by Carlos Zambrano that increased the Reds' lead to 5-1.
Matt Murton hit a home run for Chicago.
Zambrano (0-1) allowed five runs (four earned) on four hits, walked three, hit a batter and struck out eight in his third start of the season.
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The panel has been hearing evidence for more than a month about whether Bonds lied to a different grand jury that was investigating the BALCO scandal. The existence of the grand jury was first reported by CNN on Thursday.
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