INTERLEAGUE
REUTERS AND AP, PHOENIX, ARIZONA
The Arizona Diamondbacks scorched struggling pitcher A.J. Burnett to slug their way to a 10-4 victory over the New York Yankees on Monday.
The Diamondbacks smashed three home runs in the first inning alone, where they scored five times to drop Burnett to his fourth straight loss.
Justin Upton hit two homers on the night and finished 3-for-3 with four RBIs, while Adam LaRoche had a three-run blast in the first.
“We talked about getting to him early and putting pressure on him, and we did,” D-Backs manager A.J. Hinch told the Arizona Republic.
Burnett (6-6) lasted just four innings and surrendered seven runs while working with catcher Jorge Posada.
The two players had trouble finding chemistry a year ago leading Burnett to pitch exclusively to Jose Molina who is no longer with the team.
Burnett has now coughed up 12 home runs in his last nine starts.
Opposing pitcher Rodrigo Lopez threw eight innings and got the win to snap his own four-game losing streak.
He got plenty of help from the Arizona (28-43) offense including three hits and two RBIs from Miguel Montero.
“Getting those runs early helped me out a lot,” Lopez said. “It got me motivated, and I was really hitting the strike zone.”
Brett Gardner went 4-for-4 for New York which scored twice in the sixth to cut their deficit to 7-3 before Upton drilled his three-run shot in the eighth.
The Yankees (43-27) maintained their Major League best record and have a half-game lead over the idle Tampa Bay Rays.
REDS 6, ATHLETICS 4
At Oakland, California, Ramon Hernandez hit a tiebreaking leadoff home run in the 10th inning, Joey Votto and Scott Rolen added back-to-back shots as the Cincinnati Reds broke out of their offensive slump to beat the Oakland Athletics.
Oakland’s Kevin Kouzmanoff tied the game with a leadoff home run in the bottom of the ninth off Reds closer Francisco Cordero before the Reds turned on the power in the 10th off relievers Michael Wuertz and Cedrick Bowers.
Cordero (3-3) got the win after his fifth blown save of the season. He gave up a pair of walks leading off the 10th before two more Cincinnati relievers were needed to close the game out.
NATIONALS 2, ROYALS 1
It Washington, Mike Morse and Cristian Guzman hit solo home runs and Livan Hernandez pitched seven strong innings as Washington snapped a six-game losing streak in a victory over Kansas City.
Hernandez gave up one run and eight hits to help the Nationals snap their longest losing streak since an eight-game skid last Aug. 28 to Sept. 5.
Matt Capps struck out the side — all on called strikes — in the ninth for his major league-leading 21st save in 25 chances.
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