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Tigers sweep series with Cards

Justin Verlander stayed unbeaten this month and Brandon Inge homered to help the Detroit Tigers beat the St. Louis Cardinals 6-3 on Sunday, completing a sweep of Major League Baseball's defending champions.

Verlander (5-1) pitched eight strong innings to pick up his fourth victory in four starts this month and hand the Cardinals their fifth straight defeat. He retired 10 straight batters after surrendering Chris Duncan's solo homer in the fifth.

The Tigers, who split the first two games of the World Series here, outscored the Cardinals 28-14 in the weekend series.

Indians 5, Reds 3

In Cleveland, Paul Byrd stayed unbeaten this season at Jacobs Field and the Indians matched the best home start in their 107-year history.

Byrd (4-1) improved to 4-0 in Cleveland and the Indians pushed the major leagues' best home record to 16-4.

The only other time they started as well in home games was in the 1995 season, when the Indians also opened 16-4 on the way to their first World Series appearance in 41 years.

Yankees 6, Mets 2

In New York, Tyler Clippard made his major league debut by striking out Jose Reyes on three pitches and delivered the poised performance the banged-up Yankees needed.

With Mets fans playfully chasing Yankees' rooters with brooms around Shea Stadium, the Yankees avoided a Subway Series sweep and stopped a three-game losing streak.

Alex Rodriguez hit his big league-leading 17th homer and Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada also connected.

The Yankees begin their upcoming home set against Boston trailing the AL East leaders by 10.5 games.

David Wright homered for the third time in two days for the Mets and Damion Easley hit two-out homer off Mariano Rivera in the ninth.

Their four-game winning streak ended, the Mets head to Atlanta leading the NL East by 2.5 games.

Promoted from Triple-A earlier in the day after Darrell Rasner broke a finger, Clippard became the seventh rookie pitcher to start for the Yankees this season.

The 22-year-old Clippard (1-0) was magnificent over six innings and allowed just three hits, including Wright's solo homer.

He retired the first four batters, later got Reyes on a fly ball to leave the bases loaded and breezed through the final seven hitters.

John Maine (5-2) was the loser.

Marlins 4, Devil Rays 3

In St. Petersburg, Florida, Sergio Mitre allowed three runs over seven innings and Florida rallied from a three-run deficit to complete a three-game sweep.

Mitre (2-2) gave up five hits and had three strikeouts, retiring 11 in a row at one point. Kevin Gregg pitched the ninth for his third save in three opportunities.

Phillies 5, Blue Jays 3

In Philadelphia, Adam Eaton tossed four-hit ball over six-plus shutout innings and Pat Burrell and Aaron Rowand both homered to lead Philadelphia.

Eaton (4-3) was backed by two double plays and a caught stealing to erase some early baserunners. The win put the Phillies (22-22) back at .500 for the third time in five days.

Nationals 4, Orioles 3

In Washington, Nook Logan's two-run single off reliever Danys Baez with two outs in the eighth inning capped a comeback and helped Washington beat Baltimore, which blew a chance for its first three-game road sweep since 2005.

Orioles starter Erik Bedard tied a career high with 12 strikeouts, contributed his first two major league hits and first RBI and left with a 3-1 lead after pitching seven innings.

Brewers 6, Twins 5

In Milwaukee, Geoff Jenkins hit his 200th career homer and had five RBIs, including the go-ahead run in the seventh inning, helping Milwaukee rally from a four-run deficit.

The Brewers fell behind 4-0 early, but tied it at 5-5 in the fifth and Jenkins hit the go-ahead single in the seventh off reliever Dennys Reyes (0-1).

Rangers 14, Astros 1

In Houston, Mark Teixeira and Victor Diaz each hit two of Texas' season-high six home runs and Ramon Vazquez also homered and drove in five runs for Texas.

Teixeira and Diaz each had three RBIs to help the Rangers win their second series in the last nine and rebound from Saturday's one-run performance. The 14 runs tied a season high for Texas.

Brandon McCarthy (4-4) allowed four hits and one run in six innings.

He struck out two and walked two.

Angels 4, Dodgers 1

In Anaheim, California, Kelvim Escobar rebounded from his worst outing of the season with eight shutout innings and the Los Angeles Angels completed a sweep of the three-game interleague series between the division leaders.

The win extended the Angels' winning streak to a season-high five games and they've won 10 of their last 12 to move a season-high nine games over .500.

White Sox 10, Cubs 6

In Chicago, A.J. Pierzynski hit a grand slam in a seven-run seventh inning and Nick Masset won his first major league start on Sunday as the White Sox averted a sweep.

Pierzynski greeted former teammate Neal Cotts with his homer to right-center field, pumping his fist as he started rounding the bases. The White Sox scored all seven runs with two outs.

Giants 4, Athletics 1

In Oakland, California, Matt Morris pitched a 2-hitter and struck out a season-high nine and San Francisco avoided getting swept in the first interleague installment of the Bay Bridge Series.

Randy Winn and Rich Aurilia each homered to back up Morris and Dan Ortmeier had a career-high three hits.

Padres 2, Mariners 1

In Seattle, Justin Germano held Seattle to an unearned run and six hits in six innings and San Diego beat the Mariners.

Germano (2-0), promoted from Triple-A Portland on May 8 to replace injured Clay Hensley (strained groin), has allowed one run and 12 hits in 19 innings for a 0.47 earned run average.

Royals 10, Rockies 5

In Denver, Ryan Shealy's broken-bat single to right in the 12th inning brought in the go-ahead run and Joel Peralta added a two-run double in his first major league at-bat as Kansas City won its first road series of the season.

The Royals scored five runs off reliever Ramon Ramirez (1-1) in the 12th inning.

Peralta (1-2) pitched two innings for the win.

Red Sox 6, Braves 3

In Boston, Kason Gabbard came up from Triple-A and struck out a career-high seven batters while shutting Atlanta out for the first five innings.

Called up earlier in the day to make his season debut, Gabbard (held Atlanta hitless through three-and-two-thirds innings and retired 12 of the first 13 batters he faced.

Hideki Okajima allowed a pair of hits in the eighth but escaped with his scoreless inning streak intact at 20-and-two-thirds innings. Jonathan Papelbon pitched the ninth in a non-save situation.

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