Ordonez Tigers light up Twins
Magglio Ordonez and the Detroit Tigers gave a sellout crowd a good excuse to leave early and check out the other two Detroit teams' playoff games.
Ordonez homered twice and drove in 6 runs to help Detroit rout visiting Minnesota 19-3 on the same night the Red Wings opened the Stanley Cup finals and the Pistons met Boston in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals. Ordonez hit a 2-run shot to deep left field and drove in two runners with a third-inning double that gave Detroit the lead for good. He added another 2-run shot to left during a 6-run fourth.
"It was one of those nights where everything we hit hard fell in and the everything we didn't hit hard fell in," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "We put a good night together."
Rays 11, Orioles 4: Evan Longoria homered twice and had 6 RBI to lead host Tampa Bay past Baltimore. It was Longoria's first career multi-homer game. The rookie hit a 3-run shot during a 4-run first and had a 2-run drive in a 5-run second.
Blue Jays 6, Royals 0: Making his 29th career start, Jesse Litsch pitched a 7-hitter for his first complete game, Brad Wilkerson hit a grand slam, and host Toronto blanked Kansas City to extend the Royals' losing streak to a season-high six games.
Yankees 12, Mariners 6: Mike Mussina survived 5 shaky innings before turning it over to Joba Chamberlain and New York's reshaped bullpen as the host Yankees pummeled Seattle for their first four-game winning streak of the season. Jason Giambi hit a 3-run homer, and Bobby Abreu added a 2-run shot for the Yankees.
Indians 5, Rangers 2: Cliff Lee bounced back from his only poor outing this season, and Ben Francisco hit a 3-run homer to help host Cleveland snap its seven-game losing streak with a win over Texas. Lee (7-1) gave up 2 runs and 7 hits over 6¿ innings, striking out eight with a season-high 3 walks.
Athletics 3, Red Sox 0:ŒJustin Duchscherer (4-3) carried a no-hit bid into the seventh inning, Ryan Sweeney homered, and host Oakland beat Boston. David Ortiz broke up the no-hit bid with a single up the middle with one out in the seventh.
National league
Astros 4, Phillies 3: Carlos Lee drove in 3 runs, and host Houston turned a dramatic double play to get a victory over Philadelphia. The Phillies loaded the bases off Doug Brocail with one out in the ninth. Shane Victorino flied out to Darin Erstad in left, and Erstad unloaded a perfect throw to catcher Brad Ausmus, who tagged out Pedro Feliz at the plate.
Brewers 5, Nationals 2: Seth McClung was victorious in his first start in almost two years, and Corey Hart and Mike Cameron homered to help Milwaukee beat host Washington. Replacing ineffective Carlos Villanueva in the rotation, McClung (2-1) allowed 2 runs and 4 hits over 5 innings. He walked none and struck out four in his first start since June 18, 2006.
Braves 3, Diamondbacks 1: Jeff Francoeur hit a game-ending, 2-run homer off Chad Qualls in the ninth inning, and host Atlanta overcame a sparkling 10-strikeout performance by Randy Johnson to beat Arizona.
Mets 9, Rockies 2: With Willie Randolph under pressure, visiting New York finally ended its five-game skid with a victory over Colorado. Mets general manager Omar Minaya made the holiday weekend trip to Colorado, leading to speculation that Randolph is under evaluation and his job could be in jeopardy.