Mike Lowell hit one of Boston’s three homers for his first RBIs this season as the Red Sox beat the Detroit Tigers 6-3 on Monday behind a wild Daisuke Matsuzaka.
Kevin Youkilis and David Ortiz also connected for Boston, which won its fourth straight game and sent the Tigers to their fourth consecutive defeat.
Matsuzaka (5-0) won despite walking a career-worst eight batters in five innings, which also tied the major league high for walks this season. But he didn’t allow a hit until Curtis Granderson’s two-out RBI single in the fourth.
Craig Hanson gave up two runs in 1 2-3 innings. Hideki Okajima worked 1 1-3 scoreless innings before Jonathan Papelbon pitched the ninth for his 10th save in 10 chances.
Angels 4, Royals 0
At Kansas City, Missouri, Ervin Santana extended his outstanding start by pitching a four-hitter, and Garret Anderson and Brandon Wood hit consecutive homers in a four-run ninth inning to lead Los Angeles past Kansas City.
Santana joined teammate Joe Saunders at 6-0, becoming the third and fourth Angels pitchers to open a season 6-0 or better. Saunders and Santana are just the eighth pair of teammates to start a season 6-0 since 1920.
Santana gave up just four hits, striking out nine without a walk.
It was his second career complete game, his first since hurling a five-hit shutout against the White Sox on May 23, 2005, for his first major league win.
Blue Jays 1, White Sox 0
At Toronto, Dustin McGowan outpitched Javier Vazquez in an entertaining duel, and Matt Stairs homered to help Toronto beat slumping Chicago for a four-game sweep.
Blue Jays closer B.J. Ryan walked the bases loaded in the ninth inning but got Pablo Ozuna to ground into a 1-2-3 double play to end the game, earning his fifth save.
It was Toronto’s first four-game sweep since May 2003 against the New York Yankees.
McGowan (2-2) gave up four hits in seven innings to win for the first time in three starts. He walked none and struck out six.
Stairs hit a leadoff homer in the seventh off Vazquez (3-3), who struck out nine while throwing 120 pitches in seven-and-two-third innings.
Mariners 7, Rangers 3
At Seattle, Wladimir Balentien and Richie Sexson homered to back starter Jarrod Washburn, and Seattle beat Texas to end a five-game losing streak.
Washburn had a 7-0 lead and had allowed just one hit entering the seventh. He gave up three consecutive hits, then left with tightness in his right calf.
Washburn (2-4) beat the Rangers for the first time in three years, a run of 10 starts. It was his first home win in 11 months.
Kevin Millwood (2-3) allowed nine hits and seven runs in three innings, his shortest start of the season, and lost his 10th consecutive road decision.
That tied the franchise record by Joe McClain of the Washington Senators from 1961-1962.
Athletics 2, Orioles 1, 10 innings
At Oakland, California, Emil Brown singled home the winning run in the 10th inning to give Oakland a victory over Baltimore.
With two outs, Daric Barton singled against Jim Johnson (0-1), and Frank Thomas followed with a walk to set up Brown’s third hit of the game.
Joey Devine (3-0) pitched a scoreless 10th for the win, handing the Orioles their third consecutive defeat in a game mostly dominated by the starting pitchers — Oakland’s Dana Eveland and Baltimore’s Garrett Olson.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
AP, CINCINNATI
Adam Dunn hit a two-run homer deep into the seats in right field and rookie Johnny Cueto rebounded from two subpar starts on Monday, leading the Cincinnati Reds to a slump-busting 5-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs.
The Reds ended a five-game losing streak by taking advantage of a pair of errors that set up five unearned runs off Ryan Dempster (4-1), who lost for the first time since switching from closer to starter.
The 22-year-old Cueto (2-3) struck out five in the first two innings around a solo homer by Geovany Soto. The right-hander gave up three runs and six hits in six innings, striking out eight. In his previous two games, Cueto gave up seven runs in only eight-and-two-third innings.
The Cubs loaded the bases with one out in the ninth off Francisco Cordero, but Mike Fontenot was out at the plate when he tried to score from third on a pitched that bounced away from catcher Paul Bako. Cordero walked Ryan Theriot to load the bases again, then retired Derrek Lee on a grounder, leaving him perfect in five save chances.
Cardinals 6, Rockies 5
At Denver, Albert Pujols scored from second base on a groundout in the ninth inning to lift St. Louis over Colorado.
After a one-out double to right, Pujols took off on contact as Rick Ankiel grounded out to second baseman Jonathan Herrera, who never glanced at Pujols before lofting a throw to Todd Helton at first.
Pujols turned on the speed after rounding third and slid just out of the reach of catcher Yorvit Torrealba, who lunged forward in an effort to tag him.
Randy Flores (1-0) earned the win after working out of a jam in the eighth, and Jason Isringhausen pitched ninth for his 11th save in 14 chances.
Phillies 11, Diamondbacks 4
At Phoenix, Jamie Moyer pitched seven strong innings and had an RBI double as Philadelphia routed Arizona in a matchup of division leaders. Eric Bruntlett had a three-run triple and Geoff Jenkins and Carlos Ruiz both had three hits as the Phillies managed a season-high 17 hits.
In his longest outing this season, Moyer (2-2) allowed two runs and six hits, struck out five and walked none. Moyer, a career .141 hitter, singled and doubled for the fifth multi-hit game in his career.
The 45-year-old Moyer made his 558th start. Arizona’s 23-year-old Max Scherzer made his first.
Dodgers 5, Mets 1
At Los Angeles, Rafael Furcal hit a leadoff homer and Blake DeWitt connected for his first home run in the major leagues as surging Los Angeles downed New York.
Matt Kemp also homered, helping the Dodgers win for the ninth time in 10 games.
Chad Billingsley (2-4) allowed a run and five hits in six-plus innings, walking four. The right-hander worked with men on base in every inning except the first, and stranded four runners in scoring position.
Oliver Perez (2-3) lost his third straight start, allowing five runs and six hits over six innings.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
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