AL roundup: Indians' Sizemore bashes Royals

CLEVELAND (AP) " Grady Sizemore greeted reliever Ron Mahay with a tiebreaking, three-run homer in the eighth inning Thursday and the Cleveland Indians beat the Kansas City Royals 5-2.

Royals starter Gil Meche (1-1) had retired 16 straight batters and took a 2-1 lead into the eighth. An error by second baseman Alberto Callaspo let the tying run score and finished Meche.

Sizemore followed with his sixth home run.

Jensen Lewis (2-2) worked two scoreless innings. Kerry Wood pitched a perfect ninth for his third save in as many chances.

Plate umpire John Hirschbeck was examined in the sixth after getting hit in the mask by Mike Aviles' foul ball. Hirschbeck dropped to one knee, but stayed in the game. Hirschbeck was struck in the mask three times and once in the foot during the day.

Ryan Garko led off the Cleveland eighth with a double and Tony Graffanino pinch-ran. Ben Francisco bunted for a single and when Meche's throw skipped away, Graffanino ran through third-base coach Joel Skinner's stop sign and was thrown out at the plate.

Pinch-hitter Travis Hafner followed with a single and Asdrubal Cabrera hit a grounder that Callaspo misplayed, making it 2-all.

Meche was lifted for the left-handed Mahay, who gave up Sizemore's home run. Mariners 1, Rays 0

SEATTLE (AP) " Ichiro Suzuki lined James Shields' second pitch of the game for a home run and ace Felix Hernandez helped his injury riddled team with a seven-inning gem.

David Aardsma pitched a perfect eighth with two strikeouts. Brandon Morrow worked out of a jam in the ninth for his fifth save in five chances, as the first-place Mariners finished their initial homestand of the season 5-4.

Hernandez (3-0) allowed four hits and three walks while striking out seven in his first scoreless outing since June 6 at Boston " 23 starts ago.

Shields (2-2) was nearly as good as Hernandez after allowing Suzuki's 28th career home run leading off a game. Orioles 6, White Sox 2

BALTIMORE (AP) " Adam Eaton took a four-hitter into the eighth inning to earn his first victory with Baltimore, and the Orioles roughed up Bartolo Colon.

Eaton (1-2) allowed six hits, struck out nine and walked none in 7 1-3 innings. The right-hander left with runners at the corners in the eighth, and Jim Thome ruined the shutout bid with a two-out, two-run single off Jim Johnson.

Colon (1-1) gave up five runs, eight hits and two walks in three innings, his shortest start since July 23, 2007, against Oakland as a member of the Los Angeles Angels. Colon permitted 10 of 19 batters to reach base. Blue Jays 5, Rangers 2

TORONTO (AP) " Alex Rios hit a two-run homer, Vernon Wells and Lyle Overbay also connected and the Blue Jays beat Texas.

Josh Hamilton and Chris Davis hit solo shots for Texas, with six of the game's seven runs coming on homers.

Blue Jays right-hander Scott Richmond (2-0) won back-to-back starts for the first time, allowing two runs and six hits in six innings. He walked two and struck out a career-high eight.

Scott Downs wrapped it up in the ninth for his first save. Downs took over as Toronto's closer when left-hander B.J. Ryan was placed on the 15-day disabled list with muscle tightness in his back and shoulder.

Texas right-hander Kevin Millwood (1-2) gave up four runs and five hits, including three homers.

ngels 10, Tigers 5

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) " Matt Palmer pitched into the seventh inning to earn his first major league victory, Torii Hunter hit a go-ahead home run and the Los Angeles Angels survived another shaky outing by the bullpen to beat the Detroit Tigers 10-5 on Thursday night.

Palmer (1-0) threw 100 pitches in six-plus innings in his fourth big league start. He was charged with five runs " four earned " and six hits, walking three and striking out one. After giving up a leadoff homer to Brandon Inge in the second, the 30-year-old right-hander allowed two more singles in the inning before retiring his next 12 batters.

The Tigers loaded the bases with none out in the seventh. Palmer walked his last two batters after a two-base throwing error by third baseman Chone Figgins on Josh Anderson's slow-hit grounder. Rookie Daniel Davidson came on to face Curtis Granderson and walked in a run, cutting the Angels' lead to 6-3.

Two more runs scored on a single by Placido Polanco off Jason Bulger, who then retired Magglio Ordonez on a foul pop and got Miguel Cabrera to ground into an inning-ending double play " started by Figgins.