Jake Westbrook pitched a four-hitter for his first major league shutout and the Cleveland Indians trounced the Baltimore Orioles 14-0 Monday for their fourth straight win.
"It means a lot," Westbrook said. "Any first you get in the majors is pretty special. It's very, very nice."
PHOTO: AP
John McDonald, getting a rare start and batting only .107, got a career-high four hits and Lou Merloni had two of the Indians' eight doubles.
"I don't want to see that I'm barely hitting .100 and if I get a hit, I might be hitting .120," McDonald said. "That's not a good thing to look at."
Cleveland scored seven times in the third inning and led 14-0 after five. Casey Blake drove in three runs.
The Orioles lost for the sixth time in nine games.
"They must be frustrated. I hope they are after a game like that," Orioles manager Lee Mazzilli said.
Westbrook (6-2) struck out four and walked two in his third career complete game. This was his 43rd start in the majors.
Westbrook has won three of his last four starts and hasn't lost since May 22.
"The seven runs made me feel more relaxed and to get another six was great," Westbrook said.
The game was a makeup from a May 2 rainout at Jacobs Field.
Blake's two-run single, and two-run doubles by Merloni and Tim Laker highlighted the big third inning. McDonald added an RBI single.
Eric DuBose (4-5) was charged with eight runs in 2 2-3 innings. He gave up six hits and walked four.
The Indians roughed up Rick Bauer for six runs in the fifth.
Jody Gerut hit a two-run double and Coco Crisp had a two-run single. An RBI double by Ronnie Belliard and an RBI single by Travis Hafner accounted for the scoring.
Indians catcher Victor Martinez, who missed three games because of a sprained right foot, started at designated hitter. He extended his hitting streak to 12 games with a second-inning double.
Mark Prior pitched five shutout innings in his third start since coming off the disabled list and Todd Walker homered twice, ending Roger Clemens' unbeaten start with a 7-2 win over the Houston Astros on Monday night.
Prior (1-1) allowed only five hits and struck out eight, denying his childhood idol a chance to become the first pitcher in the big leagues with 10 wins.
Walker went 4-for-5 with homers in the sixth and ninth and a triple in the third. He also scored four runs. Aramis Ramirez and Moises Alou also homered, handing the Astros their third loss in four games.
Clemens (9-1) gave up five runs in six innings on a season-high 10 hits. He struck out six.
Jimmy Anderson went the final four innings for his first save.
Phillies 10, Reds 7, rain
In Philadelphia, while Ken Griffey Jr. decided to wait at least another day to try for a milestone homer, Jim Thome hit his 400th to help the Philadelphia Phillies to a win over the Cincinnati Reds.
The game was stopped three times by rain, with delays totaling 3 hours, 54 minutes, and ended at 2:06am on Tuesday morning.
Ryan Madson (4-1) earned the win and John Riedling (4-1) lost -- both in relief. The Phillies used seven pitchers; the Reds six. There were 13 hits by each team.
It was an odd ending to a night that started with plenty of buzz over the chance for Thome and Griffey to both get milestone homers. Griffey, however, was out of the lineup, giving him a better chance to hit his 500th home run at home in Cincinnati.
Thome crushed a two-run blast off Jose Acevedo in the first inning to become the 37th player to join the 400 club. Then there was a 2 hour, 18 minute rain delay before the start of the bottom of the third inning. It was easy to wonder if Thome and the fans would have to re-enact the celebration at a later date.
When the Phillies came back, they wiped out a two-run deficit with a four-run fifth inning.
Jimmy Rollins hit an RBI triple and Placido Polanco blooped a run-scoring single to center that tied the game at 5. David Bell added a two-run single to gave the Phillies a 7-5 lead.
Adam Everett of the Astros has retaken the lead among National League shortstops in fan voting for next month's All-Star game at Houston.
Everett (625,055) passed St. Louis' Edgar Renteria (545,697) in the closest race at any position.
If elected, Everett would become the first Astros shortstop to start the All-Star game.
He is batting .278 with seven stolen bases and 42 runs scored this season.
Also in line to start at Minute Maid Park on July 13 are New York Mets catcher Mike Piazza (950,296), St. Louis first baseman Albert Pujols (892,603), Astros second baseman Jeff Kent (1,089,924) and Cardinals third baseman Scott Rolen (998,851).
Giants outfielder Barry Bonds leads all NL players with 1,196,386 votes. Cincinnati's Ken Griffey Jr. (980,733) passed Chicago's Sammy Sosa (920,182), but both hold strong leads over fourth-place outfielder Lance Berkman (762,248).
Updated All-Star-voting totals for the American League are to be released today.
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