Jason Kubel hit two homers and drove in five runs to power the Minnesota Twins to an 8-2 win over the New York Yankees on Thursday in American League action.
Kubel hit a solo homer in the sixth inning, a three-run shot in the seventh and had an RBI double for the Twins, who had gone eight games and 349 plate appearances without a home run before he broke out.
For New York, Robinson Cano had two hits and two RBIs, while Mark Teixeira had two hits.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Minnesota starter Nick Blackburn (6-1) gave up two runs in seven innings.
Yankees starter Javier Vazquez (3-5) allowed five runs in five-and-two-third innings and took the loss.
Rays 5, White Sox 1
In St Petersburg, Florida, Evan Longoria and Carl Crawford both homered for Tampa Bay in the win over Chicago.
Crawford hit a solo homer in the first inning and drove in a run off Gavin Floyd (2-5) with a fifth-inning sacrifice fly. Longoria’s solo shot off the Chicago starter put Tampa Bay ahead 3-0 in the sixth inning.
The Rays snapped a three-game losing streak, improving baseball’s best record to 33-15.
Tampa Bay starter Jeff Niemann (5-0) limited the White Sox to two singles, before giving up a solo homer to Mark Teahen leading off the eighth inning.
Thursday’s other results:
• Royals 4, Red Sox 3
• Athletics 7, Orioles 5
AP, SAN DIEGO, California
Albert Pujols hit his first homer and drove in his first runs for 12 games, helping the St Louis Cardinals beat the San Diego Padres 8-3 in the National League on Thursday.
St Louis star slugger Pujols was homerless with no RBIs for two weeks before he lined a shot off Wade LeBlanc (2-3) in the fifth inning that hit off the third-story balcony.
St Louis’ Brendan Ryan tied a career high with four hits.
Cardinals rookie P.J. Walters (1-0) won his first major league game with five shutout innings.
Cubs 1, Dodgers 0
In Chicago, Ted Lilly pitched seven scoreless innings to direct Chicago over Los Angeles.
Lilly had his best start this season, but is still searching for his first win in five weeks, with the win being credited to his replacement Sean Marshall (1-0).
Tyler Colvin drove in the lone run with a double in the eighth inning, ending the night for Dodgers starter John Ely (3-2), who was the unlucky loser.
Giants 5, Nationals 4
In San Francisco, Freddy Sanchez hit a tie-breaking, two-run single in the seventh inning to lift San Francisco over Washington.
Aubrey Huff added a solo home run for the Giants.
Santiago Casilla (1-0) pitched two-thirds of an inning to get the win in relief of Giants starter Barry Zito.
Adam Dunn hit his 10th homer of the season for Washington, but was denied the 11th after umpires used instant replay to uphold their original ruling.
Nationals starter Sean Burnett (0-2) took the loss.
Thursday’s other results:
• Mets 3, Phillies 0
• Braves 8, Marlins 3
• Reds 8, Pirates 2
• Rockies 8, Diamondbacks 2
• Brewers 4, Astros 3, 10 inningsS
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