Florida wins ninth straight game

AP

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BALTIMORE (AP) – The Florida Marlins tied a franchise record with their ninth straight win, using a fine pitching performance by Dontrelle Willis and three home runs to beat the Baltimore Orioles 6–2 in interleague play on Tuesday.

Dan Uggla, Matt Treanor and Alfredo Amezaga connected against Daniel Cabrera (4–4), who had yielded only two home runs in his previous 11 starts.

Willis (4–6) came within one out of his third complete game. He allowed two runs and 12 hits, striking out four and walking none. It was his 50th career win, breaking a tie with A.J. Burnett for the most in Marlins history.

Joe Borowski got the final out for his 12th save.

Florida, which began play in 1993, twice before won nine straight – in 1996 and 2004.

Miguel Tejada had two hits for the Orioles, whose 67–97 interleague record since 1997 is second–worst in the majors. Third baseman Melvin Mora left in the sixth with a bruised left knee after being struck by a pitch from Willis. X–rays were negative.

Cabrera struck out nine in 5 2–3 innings, but allowed six runs, eight hits and two walks.

Red Sox 11, Nationals 3

At Boston, Tim Wakefield pitched six strong innings to lead Boston to its fifth straight victory.

Wakefield (5–8) won for the second time in his last seven starts, allowing one run and four hits. It was his first interleague victory at Fenway Park since 2000. Wakefield walked one and struck out four, escaping trouble in the sixth inning.

The Red Sox, who have won 11 of their last 12 interleague games, finished with a season–high 17 hits. Alex Cora was 3–for–3 with three runs scored and is 19–for–50 (.380) over his last 17 games.

Livan Hernandez (5–8) gave up six runs, eight hits and two walks in 1 2–3 innings in his shortest start of the season.

Devil Rays 8, Diamondbacks 5

At St. Petersburg, Florida, Mark Hendrickson threw seven solid innings and Jonny Gomes hit a two–run double to lift Tampa Bay.

Hendrickson (4–7) stopped a personal four–game losing streak. He allowed four runs and nine hits in seven innings to win for the first time since May 18.

Chad Tracy drove in two runs and Eric Byrnes hit a solo homer for Arizona, which has lost 13 of 15. The Diamondbacks also have dropped eight consecutive road games against American League teams.

Arizona starter Miguel Batista (6–5) gave up six runs and 11 hits in five innings. He has lost three straight starts, allowing 17 runs and 29 hits over 15 1–3 innings.

Rocco Baldelli’s solo homer made it 6–0 in the fourth. The Devil Rays have 12 homers in seven interleague games this season.

Indians 4, Cubs 2

At Cleveland, Cliff Lee outpitched Greg Maddux to help Cleveland snap a four–game losing streak and send Chicago to its seventh loss in eight games.

Lee (6–5) allowed one earned run and six hits in 7 2–3 innings in his first career start against the Cubs. The left–hander is 3–0 with a 3.10 ERA in four starts this month.

Grady Sizemore homered and the Indians made three first–inning runs off Maddux (7–7) stand up to win for just the third time in 12 games.

Maddux, pitching at Jacobs Field in the regular season for the first time, gave up four runs and seven hits in 7 1–3 innings and lost for the seventh time in 10 starts. After starting the season 5–0, Maddux is 2–7 with a 6.83 ERA since May 3.

In his only other appearance at the Jake, he lost Game 5 of the 1995 World Series.

Yankees 9, Phillies 7

At Philadelphia, Johnny Damon’s two–run triple in the eighth inning helped New York overcome Ryan Howard’s two homers and seven RBIs for Philadelphia.

Jason Giambi and Jorge Posada homered and Bernie Williams went 5–for–5 for the Yankees, who ended a three–game losing skid despite another subpar outing from Mike Mussina.

Howard hit his 24th and 25th homers to tie the injured Albert Pujols for the major league lead and had a tiebreaking two–run triple in the seventh.

But Arthur Rhodes quickly gave up the lead against a team which has owned him throughout his career. Rhodes (0–2) didn’t retire a batter in the eighth, allowing four runs. He’s 4–8 with a 7.22 ERA in 49 games against the Yankees.

T.J. Beam (1–0) retired the only batter he faced for his first win in the majors, and Mariano Rivera pitched the final two innings for his 14th save in 16 chances. Howard grounded out to second with runners on first and second to end the game.

Tigers 10, Brewers 1

At Milwaukee, rookie Zach Miner pitched his first complete game and Magglio Ordonez hit two of Detroit’s four home runs.

Craig Monroe and Ivan Rodriguez also homered for the Tigers, who won their sixth straight game. Detroit is now a major league–best 28–10 on the road, five more wins than any other team.

Miner (3–1) allowed five hits and two walks with five strikeouts, and retired 20 batters in a row after giving a single in the second inning.

He also doubled in his first major–league at–bat and scored a run.

Milwaukee starter Rick Helling (0–1) exited after allowing seven runs on six hits and a walk in 2 1–3 innings, his shortest start since September 2000.

Blue Jays 6, Braves 5

At Atlanta, Reed Johnson homered and had three hits to help Toronto extend Atlanta’s longest losing streak in 17 years.

The Braves have dropped eight straight games for the first time since April 24–May 2, 1989. Atlanta has lost 18 of 21 to drop to the bottom of the NL East.

Scott Schoenweis (2–0), who struck out pinch–hitter Matt Diaz with the bases loaded to end the seventh, earned the win. B.J. Ryan got the final four outs for his 18th save in 19 opportunities.

Tyler Yates (0–1) walked two and gave up one hit and one run in one–third of an inning for Atlanta.

Padres 6, Rangers 5

At Arlington, Texas, Mike Cameron hit a tiebreaking two–run homer in the sixth inning to lead San Diego past Texas.

Trevor Hoffman got the final three outs for his 17th save of the season. With one out, and a runner on first, Mark Teixeira hit a fly ball down the right field line that looked like it went over the foul pole. Teixeira started to celebrate like it was a game–winning homer, but the first base umpire called it a foul ball.

The umpires then conferred for two minutes and stuck with their initial call. Teixeira then popped out to third base for the second out of the inning.

Mark Thompson (3–2) gave up four runs and nine hits in five innings for the victory. Scott Feldman (0–1) allowed two hits and two runs in two–thirds of an inning for Texas.

Royals 10, Pirates 6

At Kansas City, Missouri, David DeJesus and John Buck drove in two runs apiece for Kansas City in an interleague clash between the two worst teams in the majors.

The two starters, Mark Redman and Kip Wells, were a combined 13–33 last year for the Pirates and neither showed signs of great improvement.

A shaky Redman (4–4) gave up four runs in the first and issued five walks before settling down to get his fourth straight victory.