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Lee swings Houston to victory over Phillies

The San Francisco Giants' Barry Bonds, second right, hits a solo home run off Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Shawn Chacon on Friday in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Bonds hit two homers as the Giants won 8-5. Pirates catcher Ronny Paulino is at right. PHOTO: AP

National League

Carlos Lee's three big swings helped the Houston Astros overcome a rare erratic outing from Roy Oswalt.

Lee hit three homers -- including a grand slam -- and drove in six runs, Morgan Ensberg had a three-run shot and the Astros beat the Philadelphia Phillies 9-6 on Friday night.

Oswalt (2-0) lost his control early and his cool later. He was uncharacteristically wild, walking a career-high six batters while allowing six runs and seven hits in five innings on a chilly night.

Oswalt nearly got ejected after balking in a run in the fifth, but stayed in and struck out Jimmy Rollins to end the inning. Dan Wheeler struck out the side in the ninth for his second save.

Lee hit a solo homer off Brett Myers (0-2) in the second inning and his slam came off Myers in the third. Lee connected again to straightaway center field off Ryan Madson in the ninth for his first three-homer game.

Giants 8, Pirates 5

Giants slugger Barry Bonds shook off an early season slump to hit his 736th and 737th career homers and Russ Ortiz ended a 12-game losing streak.

Bonds, hitting .192 with only one homer in 26 at-bats coming into the game, hit a two-run shot down the right-field line in the second inning off Zach Duke (1-1) and a deeper shot in the right-center stands in the fourth off Shawn Chacon. Bonds needs 19 more homers to break Hank Aaron's record.

With the Giants up 8-2 by the fourth, Bonds was lifted after his 70th career multihomer game, two short of Babe Ruth's record of 72.

Mets 3, Nationals 2

At New York, Pinch-hitter Julio Franco singled up the middle to drive in the go-ahead run, and the Mets beat the Nationals in Manny Acta's first managerial matchup with his former boss, New York's Willie Randolph.

Washington's John Patterson left with a 2-1 lead but Carlos Delgado hit a tying single in the sixth, Ryan Wagner (0-1) gave up the lead in the seventh and the Nationals (2-9) lost for the seventh time in eight games.

New York got the go-ahead run after David Wright singled leading off the seventh and stole second.

Reds 6, Cubs 5

At Chicago, Josh Hamilton, Adam Dunn and Ken Griffey Jr. had consecutive RBI hits during a six-run fifth inning on Friday and the Reds overcame a 5-0 deficit against Carlos Zambrano to beat the Cubs.

Zambrano (1-2) doubled and homered and allowed just one hit through four innings, but failed to record an out in the fifth.

Aaron Harang, who beat Zambrano in the season opener at Cincinnati, allowed nine hits and five runs in four innings.

Marlins 11, Braves 4

At Atlanta, Dontrelle Willis pitched seven innings in another sharp start to help the Marlins get the win.

It was also the first game and victory for Florida manager Fredi Gonzalez against the Braves, where he was the third-base coach the previous four seasons.

Willis (3-0) is a career 12-1 with a .923 winning percentage in April -- the second-best career percentage in April after the 13-1, .929 of Babe Ruth.

Hanley Ramirez had two hits and scored three runs for the Marlins, who had lost two straight.

Rockies 6, Diamondbacks 3

At Phoenix, Brad Hawpe hit a tiebreaking two-out, two-run double in the seventh inning and Todd Helton drove in two runs, including the 1,000th of his career, for Colorado.

The Rockies handed Diamondbacks ace Brandon Webb his first April loss in 15 starts dating back to April 17, 2004, in San Diego. Webb (1-1) allowed five runs and eight hits with four walks in seven innings. He struck out two.

Eric Byrnes drove in all three Arizona runs on a single and a two-run homer.

American League

Roy Halladay pitched a six-hitter and Alex Rios hit a sacrifice fly in the 10th inning to lift the Toronto Blue Jays to a 2-1 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Friday night.

Halladay (2-0) struck out two and walked none. He threw 107 pitches to become the first pitcher with a 10-inning complete game since Mark Mulder pitched St. Louis to a 1-0 victory over Houston on April 23, 2005.

Jeremy Bonderman matched Halladay for much of the game. The Tigers right-hander allowed one run and six hits in nine innings.

Red Sox 10, Angels 1

At Boston, David Ortiz and Mike Lowell drove in three runs each and Doug Mirabelli homered and drove in two to give Tim Wakefield some welcome run support.

Wakefield (1-1) allowed one run in seven innings in his second solid outing of the season.

Mirabelli hit his first homer of the season in the fifth off John Lackey (2-1) gave the Red Sox a 2-1 lead. The Red Sox added six runs in the eighth off Darren Oliver and Greg Jones.

Orioles 8, Royals 1

At Baltimore, Erik Bedard pitched six innings of five-hit ball and Baltimore's struggling offense struck early and late.

The Orioles provided Bedard with a 4-0 lead after three innings and Nick Markakis sealed the win with his first career grand slam in the eighth against Todd Wellemeyer.

Aubrey Huff had two hits, two RBIs and scored a run for the Orioles, who scored a total of four runs in their previous three games.

White Sox 6, Indians 4

At Cleveland, Juan Uribe hit a three-run homer, Jermaine Dye added a two-run shot off Fausto Carmona (0-1) and the White Sox spoiled Cleveland's 107th home opener.

Chicago starter Javier Vazquez (2-0) struck out Travis Hafner with the bases loaded to end the fourth.

Just getting the game in was a victory of sorts for the Indians, who haven't been able to stay dry or warm for much of the early season because of adverse weather.

Devil Rays 4, Twins 2

At Minneapolis, Johan Santana's amazing Metrodome winning streak finally ended against Tampa Bay.

Carl Crawford hit an inside-the-park home run and Santana (2-1) lost at home for the first time since Aug. 1, 2005, despite striking out 10 in seven innings. He had won 17 in a row at home and the Twins had won all 24 games in which the two-time All Star pitched.

Scott Kazmir allowed two runs on six hits without a walk and struck out six in eight sharp innings for the Devil Rays.

Rangers 5, Mariners 2

At Seattle, Eric Gagne returned to the major leagues with his second save in 22 months and Ian Kinsler hit his third home run in four games as Texas downed Seattle.

Rangers starter Kevin Millwood (2-1) allowed a run and seven hits in six innings. Akinori Otsuka worked the eighth and Gagne pitched a scoreless ninth for his first save since June 6 with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Kinsler put the Rangers up 4-0 in the fifth with a two-run homer off Seattle starter Jarrod Washburn (0-1). Kinsler has a team-leading five home runs in nine games this season. In 120 games for Texas last season, he hit 14 home runs.

Athletics 5, Yankees 4, 11 innings

At Oakland, California, rookie Travis Buck tripled and scored the winning run, beating New York first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz's throw to the plate on Bobby Kielty's fielder's choice.

Down 4-1 in the sixth, the Athletics clawed back with a two-run homer by Eric Chavez off Yankees starter Kei Igawa. In the seventh, Oakland tied the score on Nick Swisher's solo homer off Kyle Farnsworth.

Huston Street (2-1) pitched the 11th for the win. Brian Bruney (0-1), who hit Mark Ellis with a pitch after Buck's triple and loaded the bases with an intentional walk, was tagged with the loss.
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