Crawford swipes 6 bases: MLB capsules

American League

Rays 5, Red Sox 3

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Carl Crawford tied a modern major league record with six stolen bases to help Tampa Bay beat Boston 5-3 on Sunday for its first series win in nearly a month.

Crawford was 4-for-4 with an RBI and became the fourth player to swipe six bases in a game, joining Eddie Collins, Otis Nixon, and Eric Young.

James Shields (3-2) shrugged off a shaky start to pitch into the eighth inning, and Tampa Bay won three of four, outscoring the Red Sox 30-15 and improving to 5-2 against its AL East rivals. The Rays had dropped six consecutive series since taking two of three from Boston when the teams met at Fenway Park the opening week of the season.

Brad Penny (2-1) took the loss.

Tigers 3, Indians 1

DETROIT -- Justin Verlander struck out 11 and Curtis Granderson delivered another go-ahead hit as the Tigers beat the Indians.

Verlander (2-2) allowed one run and two hits in seven innings. Last Monday, he fanned nine in seven shutout innings against the New York Yankees.

Granderson's RBI double in the seventh put Detroit ahead 2-1. On Saturday, Granderson hit a two-run homer in the eighth to beat the Indians.

Cliff Lee (1-4) already has lost more games this season than he did last year, when he went 22-3 and won the AL Cy Young Award.

Blue Jays 4, Orioles 3

TORONTO -- Vernon Wells hit a two-run homer, Alex Rios added a solo shot and the Blue Jays completed a three-game sweep of Baltimore.

The Orioles have lost six straight and 14 of 17 following a 6-2 start. Baltimore is 0-12 this season when scoring fewer than five runs.

Scott Richmond (4-0) won his fourth straight start, allowing three runs -- two earned -- and five hits in seven innings, matching a career high. He walked two and struck out six.

Richmond, who lowered his ERA to 2.67, has not allowed more than three earned runs in any of his 10 major league starts, including five in 2008.

Jesse Carlson worked the eighth and Scott Downs, pitching in his third straight game, closed it out for his third save.

Baltimore right-hander Jeremy Guthrie (2-2) allowed six hits in eight innings, his second career complete game. He walked one and struck out three.

Royals 7, Twins 5

MINNEAPOLIS -- Jose Guillen homered and drove in four runs, rallying the Royals past Minnesota after Twins starter Scott Baker carried a no-hit bid into the seventh inning.

Guillen's three-run shot accounted for the first runs off Baker (0-4), who flirted with Minnesota's first no-hitter since 1999. But he gave up five consecutive hits in the seventh and failed to record an out as the Royals overcame their largest deficit this season to take two of three in the series.

Kansas City starter Gil Meche (2-2) lasted six innings and a season-high 116 pitches after leaving his previous start at Toronto with lower back stiffness.

Mariners 8, Athletics 7, 15 innings

SEATTLE -- Jose Lopez blooped an RBI single in the 15th inning and the Mariners, after pulling off a pair of late rallies, beat Oakland in the longest game in the majors this season.

Kenji Johjima hit a tying homer in the ninth off Russ Springer, and Ichiro Suzuki's two-out single in the 13th capped a three-run comeback for Seattle. A throwing error by Dana Eveland (1-2), who started Friday night and pitched 4 2-3 innings, set up the winning run.

The game lasted 5 hours, 2 minutes. It was the longest game by innings and time in 2009, the Elias Sports Bureau said.

Jason Vargas (1-0), called up Saturday from Triple-A Tacoma, got the win. It was his first big league appearance since July 2007 with the Mets.

Mike Sweeney and Jack Cust each hit a two-run homer for the A's.

National League

Reds 5, Pirates 0

PITTSBURGH --Johnny Cueto limited the Pirates to four singles while striking out nine during eight dominating innings, and Ramon Hernandez drove in three runs to lead Cincinnati past Pittsburgh 5-0 on Sunday for another road series victory.

The Reds pitched shutouts in each of their two victories in the three-game series and now have won each of their four series on the road, where they are 9-4. Their five shutouts in 24 games lead the majors and are only one fewer than last season's total.

Cueto (2-1) was in control from the start, striking out three of the first four batters he faced. He now has allowed two runs in 26 2-3 innings over his last four starts -- an 0.67 ERA that lowered his season's ERA to 1.65.

Astros 7, Braves 5

ATLANTA -- Michael Bourn had three hits, including a seventh-inning single to drive in the go-ahead run, as the Astros beat the Braves and won a series in Atlanta for the first time in five years.

Bourn's bunt single was the first of four straight hits for the Astros in a three-run sixth inning. He broke a 4-4 tie by driving in Geoff Blum with a single off Peter Moylan in the seventh.

Bourn then stole second and third and scored on Carlos Lee's sacrifice fly.

The Astros took two of three for their first series win at Turner Field since May 7-9, 2004.

Brewers 4, Diamondbacks 3

MILWAUKEE -- Prince Fielder and Mike Cameron hit back-to-back homers, and the Brewers beat the Diamondbacks to split their four-game series.

The Brewers squandered a three-run lead by giving up three homers in the seventh inning, but they regrouped. Chris Duffy hit an RBI groundout in the eighth, and Trevor Hoffman closed it out.

Fielder and Cameron connected early, and Corey Hart added an RBI single in the fifth off Diamondbacks starter Yusmeiro Petit to build a 3-0 cushion.

Mark Reynolds, Justin Upton and Miguel Montero each hit a solo shot in the seventh off Brewers starter Dave Bush.

Giants 1, Rockies 0

SAN FRANCISCO -- Rich Aurilia drove in Steve Holm with a 10th-inning single to end a pitching-dominated afternoon with the Giants' victory over the Rockies.

Barry Zito pitched seven innings of two-hit ball in another outstanding start for the Giants, retiring 15 straight batters and allowing just one runner to reach second base. Jason Hammel matched Zito with six scoreless innings in just his second start for the Rockies.

After Brandon Medders (1-1) stranded two Colorado runners in the 10th, Holm drew a leadoff walk from Manuel Corpas (0-2). After Randy Winn sacrificed him to second, Aurilia singled sharply to left-center, easily scoring the Giants' backup catcher.

Dodgers 7, Padres 3

LOS ANGELES -- Chad Billingsley completed seven innings for the third straight start, Orlando Hudson drove in three runs with a pair of doubles and the Dodgers beat the Padres to set a franchise record for the best home winning streak to begin a season.

The 10-0 start at Chavez Ravine eclipsed the mark set at Ebbets Field by the 1946 Brooklyn Dodgers, when current manager Joe Torre was 5 years old and growing up in the borough.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, this streak is the longest by any NL team since 1983, when Torre's Atlanta Braves won their first 10 games at Fulton County Stadium to tie the modern league record shared by the 1918 New York Giants and 1970 Chicago Cubs.