Orlando Hernandez gave up three home runs before he was ejected for a beanball and the Washington Nationals got an impressive pitching performance from Shawn Hill in a 6-2 victory over the New York Mets on Saturday.
Dmitri Young, Ryan Church and Chris Snelling homered for the Nationals, who improved to 3-9 and gave rookie manager Manny Acta a victory against former boss Willie Randolph.
After Snelling's two-run shot made it 6-1 in the sixth, El Duque's next delivery ran up and in and hit Hill around the right forearm. Plate umpire Mike Winters quickly ejected an incredulous Hernandez (1-1), who argued vehemently.
PHOTO: AP
Hill (1-2) earned his third major league win -- his first since June 11 last year.
Cubs 7 Reds 0
At Chicago, Rich Hill limited the Reds to three singles over seven innings on a cold and windy day at Wrigley Field as Chicago snapped a four-game losing streak.
The Cubs finally broke through against Bronson Arroyo (0-2) in the fifth, using a sacrifice fly by Ronny Cedeno and a suicide squeeze bunt by Cesar Izturis to take a 2-0 lead.
Phillies 8, Astros 5
At Philadelphia, Chase Utley homered and drove in the go-ahead run with an RBI double in the sixth and Jimmy Rollins hit his National League-leading sixth homer for Philadelphia.
Cole Hamels (1-0) picked up the win in his worst outing of the season, allowing five runs and eight hits in six innings.
Francisco Rosario pitched a scoreless seventh, Antonio Alfonseca worked the eighth and Tom Gordon finished for his second save in three chances.
Brewers 3, Cardinals 2
At St. Louis, Jeff Suppan beat St. Louis in his first chance since leaving the World Series champion as a free agent.
Rickie Weeks hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the fifth inning for Milwaukee, which snapped the Cardinals' four-game winning streak.
Suppan (1-2) allowed one run and five hits in six-and-a-third innings, a day after the Cardinals presented him with his World Series ring.
Diamondbacks 5, Rockies 4
At Phoenix, Orlando Hudson hit three singles, then brought home the go-ahead run with a clutch eighth-inning sacrifice fly to give Arizona the win.
With the Rockies leading 4-3 in the eighth, Diamondbacks rookie Miguel Montero tied the score with his first big-league homer.
Hudson hit a fly ball to center to bring home Scott Hairston with the winning run.
Padres 7, Dodgers 2
At Los Angeles, Jake Peavy allowed a run and three hits over seven innings, Brian Giles and rookie Kevin Kouzmanoff homered in San Diego's win over Los Angeles.
Peavy (2-0) struck out three, walked two and gave up his only run on Jeff Kent's sacrifice fly in the sixth. The right-hander has yielded two runs in 20 innings over his first three starts.
Pinch-hitter Marcus Thames hit a go-ahead, two-run double off B.J. Ryan in the ninth inning to help the Detroit Tigers rally for a 10-7 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League on Saturday.
Toronto led 7-6 when Ryan issued consecutive walks to Gary Sheffield, Magglio Ordonez and Carlos Guillen. Thames, hitting for Sean Casey, then dropped a broken-bat double into left field to give the Tigers the lead.
Indians 4, White Sox 0
At Cleveland, Paul Byrd pitched six sharp innings in his first start of the season for Cleveland.
Ryan Garko and Josh Barfield connected for their first homers in the second inning off Chicago rookie John Danks (0-2) to put Cleveland ahead 2-0.
Red Sox 8, Angels 0
At Boston, Curt Schilling pitched eight innings to extend his scoreless streak to 14 and David Ortiz hit a three-run homer for Boston.
Schilling (2-1) allowed four hits, struck out four and walked one to pick up his second consecutive win.
Mariners 8, Rangers 3
At Seattle, Miguel Batista pitched into the seventh inning, Adrian Beltre hit his first homer of the season and Seattle overcame Texas slugger Sammy Sosa's 590th career homer.
Other than Sosa, Batista (1-1) otherwise handled the Rangers' potent lineup, allowing three runs and five hits in six innings.
Twins 12, Devil Rays 5
At Minneapolis, Michael Cuddyer had three hits and two RBIs and Sidney Ponson won for the first time in almost a year.
Torii Hunter also drove in three runs and Justin Morneau two for Minnesota, which had scored 16 runs in its last seven games.
Orioles 6, Royals 4
At Baltimore, Chris Gomez hit a grand slam in the sixth inning, and Baltimore rallied to hand Kansas City its fourth straight loss.
It was the second career grand slam for Gomez, a utility player who started with only eight at-bats this season. The home run, on a 3-1 pitch from reliever Joel Peralta (0-1), erased Baltimore's 4-2 deficit.
Yankees 4, Athletics 3
At Oakland, California, Jason Giambi homered with one out in the 13th inning and eight New York pitchers held Oakland scoreless for the final 12 frames.
The game remained tied until Giambi's homer to right-center off Lenny DiNardo (0-1) gave the Yankees their first lead of the game and ended their five-game losing streak against the A's.
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