NEW YORK (AP) - Johan Santana bested Chris Carpenter in a matchup of Cy Young Award winners, and the New York Mets beat the St. Louis Cardinals 3-2 Thursday to win their first series since early June.
Nick Evans hit a two-run double in a three-run fourth inning for the Mets, who gave up an unearned run in the first and then rallied before a crowd of 41,221, the largest in Citi Field history and the first sellout since opening day.
The Mets took three of four from the NL Central leader heading into their weekend Subway Series with the Yankees, who are coming to Citi Field for the first time.
Santana (9-5), the AL Cy Young Award winner for Minnesota in 2004 and 2006, made his second straight solid start since allowing a career-high nine runs in a 15-0 loss to the Yankees on June 14. He gave up two runs - one earned - and seven hits in seven innings to win for the first time in three starts and lower his ERA to 3.08.
Carpenter (5-2), the NL Cy Young winner for St. Louis in 2005, gave up three runs and four hits in seven innings. He struck out five and, for the fourth time in 10 starts, walked none.
Tigers 6, Cubs 5
DETROIT (AP) - Magglio Ordonez ended a career-long, 40-game drought without a home run by connecting for the go-ahead shot, leading the Tigers to their seventh straight victory.
Ordonez connected for a two-run homer in the fourth inning. The AL Central leaders held on to complete the three-game sweep, and matched their longest winning streak of the season.
Armando Galarraga (4-7) gave up four runs over six innings and won for the first time since April 26.
Fernando Rodney pitched the ninth to earn his 16th save in as many chances.
Ted Lilly (7-5) allowed six runs and 10 hits in six innings and lost for the first time in a month.
Astros 5, Royals 4
HOUSTON (AP) - Lance Berkman homered twice and drove in four runs to help the Astros overcome an error-filled day and beat Kansas City.
Berkman entered the game needing to drive in one run to become the third player in franchise history to reach 1,000 RBIs. He did it on his first at-bat, a two-run shot to far left field that gave Houston a 2-1 lead.
The win is Houston's first of this interleague series and keeps the Royals from sweeping the Astros for the first time in their eight series history.
Closer Jose Valverde pitched a perfect ninth for his sixth save, a day after blowing the save in Houston's 11-inning loss. Wesley Wright (2-1) got four outs after starter Brian Moehler left after five innings.
Brian Bannister (5-5) allowed six hits and five runs in six innings for Kansas City.
Twins 6, Brewers 4
MILWAUKEE (AP) - Denard Span tripled, walked three times and scored three runs in his first game back from the disabled list, and Minnesota took its fifth win in six games against the Brewers this season.
Joe Crede hit his 11th home run and Scott Baker turned in another strong outing for the Twins.
Baker (5-6) went six innings, holding the Brewers scoreless until Casey McGehee and Prince Fielder homered in the sixth. After losing his first four starts of the season, Baker has won his last three decisions and hasn't given up more than three runs in his last five outings.
Milwaukee's Mike Burns (0-1) made his first career start, giving up four runs and six hits over 5 2-3 innings.
White Sox 6, Dodgers 5, 13 innings
CHICAGO (AP) - Scott Podsednik lined a two-out RBI single in front of diving center fielder Matt Kemp in the 13th inning to give the White Sox a victory over the Dodgers.
It was the second game-ending hit in two weeks for Podsednik, who was signed to a minor league contract in April after Colorado cut him, and it gave the White Sox consecutive home victories for the first time since May 22-23.
Podsednik's hit came against Jeff Weaver (4-2) with the bases loaded.
Aaron Poreda (1-0), a top White Sox prospect who was making his fourth appearance after being called up from Double-A Birmingham, worked a perfect 13th. Mariners 9, Padres 3
SEATTLE (AP) - Ichiro Suzuki lined the 29th leadoff homer of his career into the right-field seats and finished a triple short of the cycle, and Seattle gave starter Jarrod Washburn his first win in more than two months.
Suzuki hit the third pitch from San Diego starter Wade LeBlanc (0-1) for his sixth homer of the season. He added a double in the second and single in the fourth, but grounded out and reached on an infield hit in his final two at-bats. It was his third four-hit game of the season.
Rob Johnson added a three-run double in Seattle's four-run first, Wladimir Balentien hit a solo homer in the fifth and Mike Sweeney had four hits as the Mariners finally gave Washburn (4-5) some run support.
Yankees 11, Braves 7
ATLANTA (AP) - Alex Rodriguez tied Reggie Jackson with his 563rd home run and Mariano Rivera earned his 499th career save in the New York Yankees' victory over the Atlanta Braves.
The Yankees have won two straight after a three-game losing streak. New York took sole possession of second place in the AL East and moved four games behind Boston in the AL East.
Rodriguez, who has driven in six runs over his past seven at-bats, gave the Yankees a 10-6 lead with a two-run single in the seventh off reliever Peter Moylan. Rodriguez hit his 10th homer in the first, a solo shot, to tie Jackson for 11th place on baseball's career list. Rodriguez and Johnny Damon finished with four RBIs.
Reliever Alfredo Aceves (5-1) got the win in relief. Derek Lowe (7-6) lost his third straight start, failing to retire a batter in the fourth and allowing seven hits, six runs - four earned - in three innings.
Pirates 3, Indians 2
PITTSBURGH (AP) - Andrew McCutchen hit a game-ending bloop single to score Jack Wilson and give the Pittsburgh Pirates a come-from-behind victory over the Cleveland Indians.
McCutchen, a top prospect recalled when the Pirates traded All-Star Nate McLouth on June 4, singled to left off Matt Herges (2-1) with runners on first and third and no outs in the ninth.
Wilson, who was 3 for 3 with a walk, had stole third, only his second steal of the season for the Pirates, who have taken two straight from the Indians after snapping a five-game losing streak.
Matt Capps (1-3) earned the win by retiring the side in the top of the ninth.
Victor Martinez went 2 for 3 with a home run and scored twice for the Indians, who have lost eight of nine.
Reds 7, Blue Jays 5
TORONTO (AP) - Joey Votto hit a tiebreaking home run among his four hits and the Cincinnati Reds avoided a sweep against the Toronto Blue Jays.
Born in suburban Toronto, Votto came in 2 for 18 in five career games in his home city but turned that around by doubling home a run in the first, hitting an RBI single in the second, reaching on a leadoff single in the fourth and homering to begin the sixth.
Right-hander Johnny Cueto (7-4) allowed five runs and five hits in six innings for the win as the Reds snapped a four-game losing streak. Francisco Cordero finished it in the ninth for his 18th save in 19 chances.
The loss went to Toronto righty Shawn Camp (0-3), who had pitched three scoreless innings before giving up Votto's homer.
Rays 10, Phillies 4
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) - Willy Aybar homered and drove in three runs as a replacement for an injured Evan Longoria, leading the Tampa Bay Rays over the Philadelphia Phillies in the decisive game of a rematch of last year's World Series teams.
Ben Zobrist hit a two-run homer and Jason Bartlett extended his career-best hitting streak to a franchise-record 19 games as the Rays, who fell to the Phillies in five games in October, won two straight after dropping the opener of this series 10-1.
The Phillies, who've lost 10 of 12, scored four runs in the first, but rookie left-hander Antonio Bastardo (2-3) couldn't hold the lead.
Andy Sonnanstine (6-7) allowed four runs in 5 1-3 innings, but got the win.
Nationals 9, Red Sox 3
WASHINGTON (AP) - John Smoltz had a rough debut inning for the Boston Red Sox, allowing four of the first five batters to score before settling down in his first major league game in more than a year.
Smoltz (0-1) gave up a run in the third, but retired the side in order in the second and fourth and fanned all three batters he faced in his final inning. His final line: five innings, seven hits, five earned runs, one walk, one hit batter and five strikeouts in 92 pitches.
Jordan Zimmermann (3-3), who took the mound with 208 fewer wins than his counterpart, had his best start of his young career to get his first victory since late April. The rookie right-hander allowed one run and five hits with six strikeouts over seven innings.
MIAMI (AP) - Hanley Ramirez hit a grand slam, and Cody Ross and Dan Uggla each homered as the Florida Marlins cruised past the Baltimore Orioles 11-3 on Thursday.
It was the third grand slam of the season for Ramirez, tying him for the single-season franchise record with Ross (2009), Jeff Conine (2004) and Bobby Bonilla (1997.) Ramirez has 13 RBIs in his last four games.
Marlins starter Sean West (3-2) scattered four hits over six scoreless innings to notch his third win in his last four starts.
After striking out the side in the first inning, Baltimore starter Rich Hill (3-2) struggled. He gave up six runs and eight hits over 4 1-3 innings.
Rangers 9, Diamondbacks 8
PHOENIX (AP) - Chris Davis and David Murphy hit back-to-back homers in the 12th inning, Andruw Jones also homered and the Texas Rangers defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks.
With one out in the 12th, Nelson Cruz doubled to the right field gap off Esmerling Vasquez (1-2), snapping an 0-for-18 slump. One out later, Davis drove a 2-2 pitch into the right-field seats for his 14th homer. Two pitches later, Murphy followed with a shot to the same vicinity for his fourth homer.
Eddie Guardado (1-1) pitched a scoreless 11th and Jason Jennings earned his first save in two chances despite yielding two runs in the 12th.
Mark Reynolds hit a pair of two-run homers for the Diamondbacks.