SEATTLE — Albert Pujols had three hits, including the 450th home run of his career, Dan Haren struck out a career-high 14 in tossing his sixth career complete-game shutout, and the Los Angeles Angels won their third straight with a
SEATTLE — Albert Pujols had three hits, including the 450th home run of his career, Dan Haren struck out a career-high 14 in tossing his sixth career complete-game shutout, and the Los Angeles Angels won their third straight with a 3-0 win over the Seattle Mariners on Thursday night.
The Angels and Mariners met for the first of 19 games this season, and Pujols, a newcomer to the AL West rivalry, made his presence known immediately. He lined a two-run shot off Seattle starter Jason Vargas (5-4) with one-out in the top of the first, and he added line-drive singles in the fourth and sixth innings. It was just his third three-hit game this season.
The three runs were plenty for Haren (2-5), who tossed the 16th complete game of his career. He allowed only four hits, and just one Seattle baserunner reached third base.
PHILLIES 10, CARDINALS 9
ST. LOUIS — Shane Victorino and Freddy Galvis each drove in three runs, including Galvis’ go-ahead single in the sixth inning, and Philadelphia beat St. Louis.
Placido Polanco, Carlos Ruiz and Ty Wigginton added three hits apiece for Philadelphia, which had a season-high 18.
Raul Valdes (1-0) got the last two outs of the fifth after starter Joe Blanton couldn’t finish. Jonathan Papelbon pitched the ninth for his 13th straight save.
Yadier Molina, Matt Holliday and David Freese homered for St. Louis.
Fernando Salas (0-3) gave up Galvis’ RBI single to make it 8-7 in the sixth.
GIANTS 14, MARLINS 7
MIAMI — Melky Cabrera had three hits and drove in four runs for San Francisco, which gave starter Ryan Vogelsong robust run support for a change.
Vogelsong (3-2) allowed three runs in 6 1/3 innings, which hiked his ERA to 2.50. The Giants had 22 runs in his previous seven starts.
The Giants came into the game leading the majors in stranded runners, but went 7-for-17 with runners in scoring position. Their run total and 15 hits were both season highs. Angel Pagan had four RBIs, while Cabrera raised his average to .362.
Giancarlo Stanton drove in three runs and hit another tape-measure home run for the Marlins.
Anibal Sanchez (2-3) gave up five runs in 5 1/3 innings.
INDIANS 2, TIGERS 1
CLEVELAND — Justin Masterson matched Justin Verlander pitch for pitch for first his career win over Detroit, and first-place Cleveland did just enough to complete a three-game sweep of the underperforming Tigers.
Shin-Soo Choo homered on the third pitch from Verlander (5-2) as the Indians won for the eighth time in 10 games and opened a six-game lead over third-place Detroit in the AL Central.
Detroit has dropped six of eight, and manager Jim Leyland was ejected in the fifth inning.
Masterson (2-3) entered the game 0-4 in seven starts against the Tigers. He allowed one run and five hits in seven innings.
WHITE SOX 11, TWINS 8
CHICAGO — Paul Konerko and Alex Rios hit back-to-back homers, and Alejandro De Aza added a grand slam to cap a six-run sixth, leading the White Sox past the Twins.
A.J. Pierzynski and Dayan Viciedo also went deep as the White Sox won for the sixth time in seven games.
Konerko had two hits and drove in two runs. Rios also had two hits and knocked in three, and Chicago pulled this one out even though Philip Humber couldn’t protect an early 4-1 lead.
The Twins knocked him out during a four-run fifth, sending 10 batters to the plate. Joe Mauer homered in the inning, and Brian Dozier capped the rally with a two-run single to give Minnesota a 5-4 lead, but the debuting Cole De Vries couldn’t hold it.
Reds 6, Braves 3
CINCINNATI — Rookie catcher Devin Mesoraco capped a series full of homers with his first career grand slam, leading the Reds over the Braves.
The Reds completed their first four-game sweep of the Braves in Cincinnati since 1980 at Riverfront Stadium. They’ve won six straight, their longest winning streak since August 2010 when they started their push toward the NL Central title.
The teams combined for 16 homers — 13 solo shots — accounting for 21 of the 24 runs in the series.
Mesoraco connected off Kris Medlen, who relieved Randall Delgado (2-5) with the bases loaded in the sixth. Drew Stubbs added a solo shot for Cincinnati.
Homer Bailey (3-3) gave up four hits in six innings, including Michael Bourn’s two-run homer.
PADRES 11, METS 5
NEW YORK — Will Venable hit a pair of RBI doubles, and Cameron Maybin had two run-scoring singles as San Diego broke out the offense after a long rain delay.
Jesus Guzman hit a two-run double in a four-run third to help the Padres rebound from being swept in a three-game series in St. Louis. Everth Cabrera had a career-high four hits, and Eric Stults (1-0) pitched five innings to earn his first win with San Diego.
Both starters wearing No. 53 returned to the mound following a delay of 1 hour, 8 minutes after the second inning. Stults adjusted better than Jeremy Hefner (0-2), shutting down the Mets for three more innings.
