American LeagueRaul Ibanez homered and drove in four runs and the Seattle Mariners ended a season-high six-game losing streak by beating the Texas Rangers 14-5 on Wednesday.
Seattle built a 7-0 lead and had 11 hits in 2 2-3 innings against rookie left-hander John Koronka (4-3). The Mariners finished with 18 hits, all but one singles.
Ichiro Suzuki went 3-for-5 with a walk and scored four times for the Mariners, who finished 1-5 on their road trip.
PHOTO: AP
Gary Matthews Jr went 3-for-4, including his first career grand slam for the Rangers.
Felix Hernandez (4-6) allowed seven hits over six innings.
A day after being ejected from a game for the first time in his career, Ibanez put the Mariners ahead 1-0 with a single in the first. His eighth homer came during a six-run third.
PHOTO: AP
Athletics 7, Royals 0
At Oakland, California, Jason Kendall hit his first home run in nearly two years and Frank Thomas hit the 459th of his career for Oakland, which had lost three straight and 10 of 11.
Kendall hit a two-run shot in the eighth, his first homer in 247 games and 961 at-bats.
Joe Blanton (5-5) pitched a five-hitter for his first career shutout to win for the second time in six starts. Bobby Crosby homered for the second straight day, and Eric Chavez had a two-run triple for the A's.
Indians 5, White Sox 0
At Cleveland, Jake Westbrook shut out Chicago for seven innings and Cleveland's bullpen didn't allow a run for a second straight game.
Westbrook (5-3) allowed six hits -- five singles -- didn't walk a batter and struck out five. The White Sox, who won the series opener 11-0, were blanked for the first time this season. Chicago hasn't scored in the last 15 innings.
Grady Sizemore went 3-for-4 with two RBIs, a triple and a steal, and Ben Broussard homered off Freddy Garcia (7-3) for the Indians, who despite two inconsistent months are back at .500 (26-26).
Orioles 6, Devil Rays 5, 11 innings
At Baltimore, Melvin Mora singled in the winning run with two outs in the 11th inning as Baltimore overcame three Tampa Bay homers and a four-run deficit.
Baltimore trailed 5-1 in the fifth before rallying to hand the Devil Rays their season-high sixth straight loss. Tampa Bay is 1-8 on a 10-game road trip that ended yesterday.
Luis Matos, who entered as a pinch runner in the eighth inning, led off the 11th with a single off Tyler Walker (1-3). After a sacrifice bunt and a line out, Mora hit a hooking liner to left that bounced off the wall.
Red Sox 8, Blue Jays 6
At Toronto, David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez homered and rookie closer Jonathan Papelbon earned his 19th save in as many chances as Boston avoided a three-game sweep.
Ortiz and Ramirez went a combined 2-for-12 in the first two games of the series, but Ortiz homered in the first off Ted Lilly (5-5) and Ramirez hit a two-run homer off Francisco Rosario in the fifth.
Mark Loretta, who extended his hitting streak to 15 games with a two-run shot off Lilly in the third, and Trot Nixon also homered for the Red Sox. Nixon's solo shot off Pete Walker in the sixth made it 8-6.
Yankees 6, Tigers 1
At Detroit, Mike Mussina threw his first complete game of the season, losing a shutout with two outs in the ninth inning to lead New York to a third straight win over the team with the best record in the majors.
Alex Rodriguez went 3-for-4 and drove in two runs for the Yankees, who have won five straight.
The AL Central-leading Tigers (35-18) have lost four straight.
Twins 7, Angels 1
At Anaheim, California, Francisco Liriano pitched six shutout innings, allowing his only hit on a disputed call at first base, and Minnesota avoided a sweep of Anaheim.
Joe Mauer had three hits, including a two-run double, and Torii Hunter also drove in two runs for the Twins, who had lost four straight in Anaheim dating to last season.
National League
Alfonso Soriano hit a two-run homer and a tiebreaking single, and the Washington Nationals avoided a three-game sweep with a 3-2 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday.
Livan Hernandez (4-5) allowed two runs and five hits over seven innings to get his third straight win. Chad Cordero retired pinch-hitters Pat Burrell and David Bell with two runners on for his eighth save.
Aaron Rowand and David Dellucci hit solo homers for Philadelphia, which began an 11-game road trip in Los Angeles yesterday night.
Soriano gave the Nationals a 3-2 lead in the seventh on the RBI single off Cory Lidle (4-5), who gave up three runs and seven hits in 6 1-3 innings.
Cardinals 4, Astros 3, 11 innings
At St. Louis, So Taguchi's single with bases loaded in the 11th inning gave St. Louis the victory.
David Eckstein had two hits and scored twice and Albert Pujols drove in his major league-leading 65th run for the Cardinals, who took two of three in the series.
Braden Looper (3-0) struck out one in a perfect 11th for the Cardinals, who are a National League-best 20-8 at new Busch Stadium and have not lost a series there.
Orlando Palmeiro had two hits and scored twice for the Astros, who wrapped up a 3-7 trip.
Padres 3, Rockies 2
At San Diego, Mark Bellhorn doubled in the go-ahead run in the sixth inning for San Diego, which had only four hits in winning for the sixth time in 15 games.
Colorado's Jeff Francis (3-5) held the Padres to one hit through five innings and was leading 2-0 thanks to Todd Helton's fourth-inning homer. Pinch-hitter Rob Bowen drew a leadoff walk in the sixth and advanced on a bunt single. After two outs, Josh Bard singled to left, scoring Bowen.
Left fielder Matt Holliday let the ball get under his glove for an error, allowing the tying run to score from first. Bellhorn then doubled to right-center.
Pirates 6, Brewers 1
Jose Castillo homered at Pittsburgh for the fifth consecutive game and Freddy Sanchez scored three runs as Pittsburgh earned its first three-game winning streak of the season.
Jack Wilson extended his hitting streak to 11 games, and Castillo and Sanchez each had streaks of seven hits in seven at-bats snapped in the seventh inning.
Giants 6, Marlins 1
At Miami, Jason Schmidt won his fifth straight decision, striking out 10 before leaving in the sixth inning with an apparent injury during San Francisco's victory over Florida.
Schmidt (5-2) left the game with a full count on Josh Willingham with two outs in the sixth. Jeremy Accardo replaced Schmidt and struck out Willingham. Accardo pitched 2 1-3 perfect innings.
Schmidt allowed one run and five hits, including a sixth-inning triple by Hanley Ramirez, who scored on a sacrifice fly. The right-hander matched his season high for strikeouts and improved to 7-0 lifetime against the Marlins.
Florida fell behind 3-0 on Ray Durham's RBI single and Steve Finley's two-run homer off Josh Johnson (4-3). Jason Ellison also homered for the Giants, and Durham added another RBI single in the eighth, making it 5-1 and ensuring Florida would remain the only NL team that's never beaten Schmidt.
The Giants played without Barry Bonds for the second straight day.
Braves 9, Dodgers 3
At Atlanta, Chipper Jones and Andruw Jones each hit two-run homers, Tim Hudson finally slowed the Los Angeles offense and Atlanta avoided a sweep. The Dodgers haven't earned a sweep in Atlanta since 1988.
Andruw Jones homered with two outs in the first off Brett Tomko, who lasted only three innings in his shortest appearance of the season. Jones finished with three RBIs.
Chipper Jones hit his two-run shot in the third, sparking a five-run outburst that finished off the Los Angeles starter.
Mets 1, Diamondbacks 0, 13 innings
At New York, Endy Chavez's RBI single in the 13th inning lifted New York over Arizona, long after dueling starters Brandon Webb and Pedro Martinez left the game.
Arizona's Webb and New York's Martinez combined to throw 15 scoreless innings. Chavez came through with the big hit against Jason Grimsley (1-2).
Duaner Sanchez (3-0) tossed three scoreless innings for NL East-leading New York, which took two of three in the series.
Webb is unbeaten this season and was trying to become the majors' first nine-game winner. He tossed seven shutout innings to run his scoreless streak to 25, longest in the big leagues this year. He allowed four hits, struck out five and walked one.
Reds 3, Cubs 2
At Chicago, Eric Milton took a shutout into the eighth inning, and Cincinnati beat Chicago to avoid a three-game sweep.
Ken Griffey Jr. had two hits, including a home run off Carlos Zambrano (3-3) leading off the sixth, and drove in two runs.
Milton (3-2) ran into trouble in the eighth when Matt Murton led off with a double, and Jacque Jones hit a two-run homer to pull the Cubs within 3-2. Todd Coffey struck out Michael Barrett to end the inning and pitched a perfect ninth for his second save.
Zambrano left after allowing two runs in the sixth inning when he appeared to lose his composure.
The Cubs went 7-22 in May.
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