Paul Byrd and two Cleveland relievers combined for the Indians' fourth shutout in seven games as they defeated the Oakland Athletics 4-0 on Tuesday.
Byrd (2-3) allowed five hits over seven-and-a-third innings, striking out seven without a walk.
The right-hander extended the Indians’ scoreless streak to 34 innings by their starting staff. The last run allowed by a Cleveland starter came on Friday night in the fifth inning against Toronto by C.C. Sabathia — the only run yielded by an Indians starter in the last 39 innings.
Travis Hafner singled home a first-inning run off Justin Duchscherer (3-2) and Ryan Garko hit a three-run homer off Andrew Brown in the eighth.
Rafael Perez retired the only Oakland batter he faced and Masahide Kobayashi worked the final one-and-two-thirds innings for his first save. The 33-year-old right-hander, signed as a free agent in November, had 227 saves over the last eight seasons in Japan.
Orioles 5, Red Sox 4
In Baltimore, Maryland, Luke Scott homered and had three of Baltimore’s 11 hits off Josh Beckett and Baltimore received a fine pitching performance from Jeremy Guthrie in a victory over Boston.
Scott was mired in a seven-for-55 skid before going three-for-three against Beckett, who came in 4-0 with a 2.05 ERA in four career starts at Camden Yards. Scott’s three-run homer in the third inning put Baltimore ahead 5-3 and the advantage stood up.
The Red Sox were without manager Terry Francona, who will miss the two-game series following the death of his mother-in-law. He was replaced by bench coach Brad Mills, now 5-4 when subbing for Francona.
Rays 2, Yankees 1, 11 innings
In St. Petersburg, Florida, Gabe Gross singled with no outs in the 11th inning to drive in the first run Mariano Rivera has allowed all season, giving Tampa Bay a victory over New York and sending the Rays into first place in the American League East.
Cliff Floyd began the 11th with a single and pinch-runner Jonny Gomes stole second before Gross delivered the winner up the middle on a 1-1 pitch. Rivera (0-1) had not allowed a run in 14 previous appearances.
J.P. Howell (3-0) pitched two scoreless innings for the win, the Rays’ 15th in 20 games. Tampa Bay have won a club-record 11 straight at home and are a half-game ahead of Boston in the AL East after the Red Sox lost 5-4 at Baltimore. It’s the first time the Rays have sat alone atop the division standings beyond the first week of a season.
Royals 3, Tigers 2
In Kansas City, Missouri, Jose Guillen drove in a pair of runs to help Kansas City rally to beat Detroit.
With the game tied at 2-2 in the eighth inning, Guillen doubled with two outs off Francisco Cruceta (0-1). Esteban German ran for Guillen. After Billy Butler walked, Mark Teahen had an infield single, but Edgar Renteria committed a throwing error on a backhanded flip to second base, allowing German to score an unearned run.
Leo Nunez (3-0), the third of four Kansas City pitchers picked up the victory. Joakim Soria worked a perfect ninth to earn his ninth save in as many opportunities.
Blue Jays 5, Twins 3
In Minneapolis, Minnesota, Matt Stairs homered and scored twice for the struggling Blue Jay’s offense in Toronto’s victory over Minnesota.
Lyle Overbay and former Twin Shannon Stewart each had two hits, including RBI-doubles, for the Jays.
Carlos Gomez and Jason Kubel hit solo homers for Minnesota, but reliever Dennys Reyes was charged with his first earned run of the season after a so-so start from Kevin Slowey (0-3) and the Twins lost at home for just the second time in 13 games.
Rangers 5, Mariners 2
In Arlington, Texas, Ramon Vazquez drove in the go-ahead run with a sixth-inning sacrifice fly as the surging Texas beat Seattle.
Vazquez went deep in the 10th inning on Monday night to give the Rangers a 13-12 victory over the Mariners in the opener of the three-game series. He finished with two RBIs in the second game as Texas won for the 12th time in 14 games.
Josh Rupe (2-1) allowed one hit in one-and-two-third scoreless innings and Eddie Guardado pitched the ninth for his first save since Aug. 12, 2006, for the Cincinnati Reds.
Angels 2, White Sox 0
In Anaheim, California, Jered Weaver and two relievers combined to pitch a three-hitter as the Angels beat Chicago.
A.J. Pierzynski’s leadoff single in the fifth was the only hit off Weaver, who pitched seven innings. The right-hander struck out six and walked one, coming out of the game after 109 pitches. He was 1-4 with a 7.02 ERA in his previous six starts after pitching seven scoreless innings of three-hit ball in a 2-1 win over Texas on April 5.
Scot Shields (2-0) pitched one inning for the win and Francisco Rodriguez got three outs for his major league-leading 16th save.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
AP, CINCINNATI, OHIO
Edinson Volquez (6-1) pitched six effective innings and Joey Votto homered in the Cincinnati Reds’ 5-3 win on Tuesday over the Florida Marlins, but shortstop Jeff Keppinger fouled a pitch off his leg in the second and X-rays revealed a broken left kneecap.
Keppinger, the Reds’ leading hitter, was scheduled for an MRI exam yesterday.
Pinch-hitter Cody Ross homered in the eighth to cut Cincinnati’s lead to 5-3 and Jeremy Hermida had a leadoff walk in the ninth against Francisco Cordero. Hermida advanced to second on a wild pitch, but Cordero retired Hanley Ramirez and Jorge Cantu on groundouts and struck out Dan Uggla for his seventh save.
Padres 4, Cubs 3
In Chicago, Khalil Greene hit a three-run homer to help Shawn Estes earn his first victory since 2005 in San Diego’s win over Chicago.
Estes (1-0) pitched five-and-a-third innings and the Padres’ bullpen secured the win with three-and-two-third innings of hitless relief. Trevor Hoffman pitched a scoreless ninth for his seventh save and the 531st of his career.
Alfonso Soriano led off the first inning with a home run and Reed Johnson had a two-run double for the Cubs.
Cubs starter Jason Marquis (1-3) could not hold an early 3-0 lead, giving up back-to-back singles to Adrian Gonzalez and Scott Hairston in the fourth inning, before Greene homered to tie it.
Mets 6, Nationals 3
In New York, Ryan Church homered, doubled and drove in four runs against his former team and John Maine pitched six sharp innings to lead the New York Mets over Washington.
Maine (5-2) was mostly dominant for his second straight start, allowing just two runs — one earned — and two hits and retiring 11 of the last 12 batters he faced after giving up Ryan Zimmerman’s two-run homer to left in the third.
Phillies 5, Braves 4
In Philadelphia, Jayson Werth drove in four runs and Kyle Kendrick pitched six effective innings as Philadelphia beat Atlanta.
Kendrick (3-2) shook off a shaky first inning and allowed three runs and six hits. Brad Lidge finished for his 10th save in as many chances, though he allowed his first earned run of the season.
Chipper Jones went three-for-four for the Braves, raising his major league-leading average to .415.
Brewers 5, Dodgers 3
In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Ryan Braun delivered another big hit and Eric Gagne made a bid to reclaim his job as Milwaukee’s closer.
Gagne earned his 10th save, but it was not easy. Gagne allowed a leadoff single to Russell Martin before getting Blake DeWitt to hit into a fielder’s choice and Mark Sweeney to fly out. DeWitt advanced to second on a passed ball and Gagne walked Andruw Jones before getting Juan Pierre to pop out to end the game.
Coming off one of the worst outings of his career last week, Los Angeles starter Brad Penny (5-4) gave up two runs in the first four innings, then got in trouble in the fifth after issuing a leadoff four-pitch walk to Brewers pitcher Carlos Villanueva (2-4).
Pirates 8, Cardinals 4, 10 innings
In St. Louis, Missouri, Ronny Paulino drove in the go-ahead run in a four-run 10th inning to lead Pittsburgh over St. Louis for its seventh win in eight games.
Adam LaRoche added a three-run double off Ron Villone (1-1) in the 10th for the Pirates, who are one game below .500. Nate McLouth hit a two-run homer and Paulino, who entered in the second after catcher Ryan Doumit hurt his left thumb muffing a pitch on a passed ball in the first, hit a tying double in the seventh.
Troy Glaus hit a three-run homer and Albert Pujols tied it in the eighth for the Cardinals. Pujols, who had a day off on Monday, also walked twice and has reached base in all 40 games.
Giants 4, Astros 2
In San Francisco, Matt Cain hit a solo home run and earned his first victory in three starts as San Francisco snapped Houston’s four-game winning streak.
It was the fourth career homer and the second this season for Cain (2-3), whose drive to left leading off the fifth put the Giants up 4-1. He also connected on April 12 against St. Louis.
Omar Vizquel and Randy Winn hit back-to-back RBI doubles in the first as the Giants jumped to an early lead on the way to handing Houston their second loss in 11 games.
Carlos Lee hit his eighth home run in the eighth inning for Houston.
Diamondbacks 8, Rockies 4
In Phoenix, Arizona, Randy Johnson went five shaky innings for his 287th career victory, backed by Stephen Drew’s three-run homer in Arizona’s win over Colorado.
The “Big Unit” (3-1) gave up four runs and nine hits, striking out four and walking none.
Chris Young had three hits as the Diamondbacks hammered Colorado starter Jeff Francis (0-4), a 17-game winner for the National League champions a year ago.
Garrett Atkins hit his seventh homer and Ryan Spilborghs doubled twice for the Rockies, who fell nine games behind the NL West leaders.
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Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
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