Hunter goes deep 3 times in Angels' win

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) - Torii Hunter hit three consecutive solo homers, Kendry Morales and Jeff Mathis also went deep, and the Los Angeles Angels routed the San Diego Padres 9-1 Saturday night.

It was Hunter's first three-homer game in the majors. He was left on deck when Bobby Abreu struck out to end the bottom of the eighth inning, costing him a chance at tying the big league record for home runs in a game.

Hunter became the 12th player in Angels history to homer three times in a game, and the first to do it since Garret Anderson in 2003 against the Montreal Expos at Puerto Rico.

Hunter, who homered his first time up in Friday night's 11-6 win, put the Angels ahead 4-0 when he led off the third with a drive over the left-field fence against Josh Geer (1-2).

The two-time All-Star, who tops the Angels with 16 homers and 49 RBIs, made it 5-0 in the fifth with a two-out drive over the leap of center fielder Tony Gwynn Jr.

Hunter connected in the seventh against lefty Joe Thatcher and was urged out of the dugout by the crowd of 43,233 to take a curtain call.

Hunter lined out in his first at-bat of the night.

Joe Saunders (7-4) came within two outs of his third career complete game.

Astros 6, Diamondbacks 4

PHOENIX - Lance Berkman hit his 300th homer moments after Miguel Tejada singled home a run with his 2,000th hit, and the Houston Astros defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Roy Oswalt (3-3) pitched seven innings and improved to 8-1 lifetime against the Diamondbacks. LaTroy Hawkins closed for his ninth save in 12 chances.

Tejada singled in the sixth. One out later, Berkman homered off Jon Garland (4-7).

Arizona reliever Scott Schoeneweis made his first appearance since his wife, Gabrielle, was found dead in the couple's home in suburban Phoenix. He retired both batters he faced and walked off to a standing ovation.

Red Sox 11, Phillies 6

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Jason Bay and Jacoby Ellsbury homered, Julio Lugo had four hits, and Boston overcame another shaky outing by Daisuke Matsuzaka.

The Red Sox have won the first two games in an interleague matchup between division leaders. They'll go for the sweep Sunday with ace Josh Beckett on the mound.

Raul Ibanez hit his 22nd homer, and Pedro Feliz and Jayson Werth also connected for the Phillies, who've lost two straight since returning from a 7-3 road trip.

Hideki Okajima (3-0) allowed one run in two innings to earn the victory. Four Red Sox relievers gave up two runs in five innings after Matsuzaka lasted four, allowing four runs and seven hits. After going 18-3 last year, Dice-K is 1-4 with a 7.55 ERA.

Phillies starter Antonio Bastardo (2-1) gave up five runs - four earned - and three hits in one inning. The hard-throwing lefty didn't return after a rain delay of 1 hour, 35 minutes.

Rockies 5, Mariners 3

DENVER, (AP) - Chris Iannetta broke a tie with a sacrifice fly in the eighth inning and Colorado Rockies ran its winning streak to 10 - one off the franchise record.

Clint Barmes also drove in a run with a fly ball in a two-run ninth inning off Mark Lowe (0-4). Todd Helton and Brad Hawpe also had RBI for the Rockies.

Jason Marquis limited the Mariners to a run and seven hits in seven innings, but was denied the decision. Manuel Corpas (1-3) got the win after giving up Jose Lopez's tying two-run homer in the eighth. Huston Street pitched the ninth for his 13th save.

Dodgers 3, Rangers 1

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) - Los Angeles scored immediately after a 1-hour, 41-minute delay because of a light failure, and Matt Kemp later hit a two-run homer.

Juan Pierre singled off reliever Eddie Guardado to start the sixth inning when play resumed. The Dodgers' leadoff hitter went to third on a stolen base and throwing error and scored on Rafael Furcal's grounder to end Texas' scoreless streak at 24 innings.

Los Angeles improved the best record in the major to 41-22.

Texas designated hitter Andruw Jones, whose lone season with the Dodgers last year was an expensive bust, snapped an 0-for-17 slump with a tying solo homer off Cory Wade (2-3) in the bottom of the sixth. But Kemp, who replaced Jones as the Dodgers' center fielder, connected with two outs in the seventh off Jason Grilli (0-1).

Los Angeles closer Jonathan Broxton worked the ninth for his 15th save.

Giants 5, Athletics 2

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Randy Johnson limited Oakland to four hits over seven strong innings to earn his 301st victory, and Juan Uribe drove in the go-ahead run in the seventh inning for San Francisco.

With two straight wins in the season's first Bay Bridge Series, the surging Giants moved five games above .500 for the first time since 2004.

In his first home start since getting his 300th win, Johnson (6-5) narrowly outpitched A's rookie left-hander Josh Outman, who retired 14 straight batters before Bengie Molina's leadoff double in the seventh.

Outman (4-1), who left with two runners on base in the seventh after his teammates made a fielding blunder, allowed five hits and four runs.

Cardinals 3, Indians 1

CLEVELAND (AP) - Albert Pujols hit two home runs to lead the St. Louis Cardinals over the Cleveland Indians.

Pujols' 27th multihomer game and fourth this season helped Brad Thompson (1-2) get his first win since St. Louis' final game in 2008.

Pujols' first homer of the game was his 1,600th hit in 1,301 career games. The 396-foot line drive over the wall in left-center put St. Louis ahead 1-0 in the fourth inning against Tomo Ohka (0-1).

The slugger then hit his 22nd homer in the sixth, a 435-foot shot deep into the seats in left-center for a 2-1 lead. Pujols is hitting .529 (9 for 17) with three homers and five RBIs against Ohka. He had not faced him since 2006, when the right-hander was with Milwaukee.

Mets 6, Yankees 2

NEW YORK (AP) - Injury fill-in Fernando Nieve earned his first major league victory in three years, Omir Santos drove in three runs and the New York Mets bounced back from a discouraging loss.

Gary Sheffield homered for the second straight day against his former team and Santos hit a two-run shot off Andy Pettitte (6-3).

The Mets lost the Subway Series opener 9-8 Friday night at Yankee Stadium when second baseman Luis Castillo dropped Alex Rodriguez's two-out popup in the ninth, allowing two runs to score. Castillo came back with two hits and was flawless in the field.

Nieve (1-0) allowed two runs and four hits over 6 2-3 innings in his first major league start in three years.

Rays 8, Nationals 3

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) - Ben Zobrist and Gabe Gross homered during a seven-run sixth inning for Tampa Bay.

Carlos Pena hit his 20th home run for Tampa Bay. The defending AL champion Rays moved two games over .500 for the first time this season.

Andy Sonnanstine (5-6), who retired 15 batters in a row at one point, gave up three runs and six hits over 7 1-3 innings.

Ryan Zimmerman hit his 12th homer and drove in two runs for the Nationals.

Washington starter Jordan Zimmermann allowed one run and four hits in five innings. He struck out six and left with a 2-1 lead.

Zobrist's three-run shot off Jason Bergmann (0-1) was his career-high 13th this season.

Pirates 9, Tigers 3

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Freddy Sanchez hit a grand slam and Adam LaRoche added a solo home run.

Zach Duke (7-4) won for the fourth time in his past five decisions. He gave up three runs in eight innings and overcame solo homers by Marcus Thames and Ryan Raburn.

Sanchez hit his second career slam in the fourth inning to give the Pirates an 8-2 lead. LaRoche homered in the second when the Pirates scored four times off Armando Galarraga (3-7).

The Pirates' 36 home runs are second fewest in the majors. It was the first time since May 25 that they had a multihomer game and only the eighth instance in 62 games this season.

White Sox 7, Brewers 1

MILWAUKEE (AP) - Jose Contreras allowed two hits over eight scoreless innings and the White Sox battered struggling starter Manny Parra with a six-run outburst.

Contreras (2-5) struck out eight and walked two, using his array of arm angles and breaking pitches to frustrate the free-swinging Brewers.

Since returning from a monthlong demotion to the minors, Contreras has given up just three hits in 16 scoreless innings. He earned his first road win since May 14, 2008. its lone run.

The White Sox improved to 5-9 in June after hammering Parra (3-8).

Twins 2, Cubs 0

CHICAGO (AP) - Rookie Anthony Swarzak scattered four hits over seven innings, Jason Kubel homered and the Twins hung on.

Minnesota got its runs in the early going against the returning Rich Harden (4-3) after a 32-minute rain delay at the start. Kubel led off the second with his 11th homer and Joe Maurer singled in a run, delighting the Twins fans.

The two-time defending NL Central champions simply couldn't get anything going against Swarzak (2-2), who earned his first win since beating Milwaukee in his debut last month. The 23-year-old right-hander was sent down to the minors after the game.

Marlins 6, Blue Jays 5

TORONTO (AP) - Cody Ross homered and doubled twice to help rookie Sean West get his second major league win.

Jeremy Hermida also homered as the Marlins won their seventh straight game at Toronto. Florida is 16-4 all-time against the Blue Jays.

West (2-1) allowed four runs in 5 2-3 innings. In his previous start, he pitched eight shutout innings to beat San Francisco for his first big league victory.

Matt Lindstrom, the fourth Florida reliever, worked around a leadoff single in the ninth to earn his 12 save in 14 chances. He struck out Vernon Wells to strand a runner at second to end it.

Hanley Ramirez hit an RBI double in the first and Hermida connected in the third for his eighth homer, a two-run shot off Casey Janssen (2-3).

Orioles 8, Braves 4

BALTIMORE (AP) - Brian Roberts had four hits, including a double that highlighted a six-run rally in a messy seventh inning.

The Orioles, who had lost 10 of their previous 12, scored their most runs in the past 16 games.

A wild pitch, an error and two walks helped the Orioles' comeback.

Baltimore trailed 4-2 entering the seventh, but Eric O'Flaherty (1-1) allowed the four batters he faced to get on base.

Brian Bass (4-1) allowed two hits in three innings in relief of starter Rich Hill, who gave up four runs in the fourth.

Royals 7, Reds 4

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Willie Bloomquist had three hits and three RBIs and Billy Butler had three hits and drove in two runs.

The Royals won back-to-back games for the first time since May 17-19. By winning the first two games over the Reds, the Royals have won a series for the first time since May 5-6, going 0-9-1 in their previous 10 series.

Kyle Davies (3-6), who was 0-5 with two no-decisions in his previous seven starts, picked up his first victory since April 30. Davies gave up two hits, but walked five and hit a batter in allowing three runs in five-plus innings.

Reds right-hander Bronson Arroyo gave up 11 hits, and five runs in the first three innings to take the loss. Arroyo (7-5), who was pulled after walking Mitch Maier to lead off the sixth, allowed six runs total.