Twins pitcher Santana shuts out Orioles
BALTIMORE: Ervin Santana pitched a twohitter for his 10th career shut-out, Brian Dozier homered and the surging Minnesota Twins beat the Baltimore Orioles 2-0 Tuesday.
After banging out 21 hits in a 14-7 win over Baltimore on Monday, the AL Centralleading Twins got exceptional pitching for their ninth victory in 13 games.
Santana (7-2) struck out six, walked two and permitted only one runner past first base. It was Santana’s 18th complete game, the second this season. He finished by retiring the last 14 batters.
Minnesota became the first team this season to capture a series at Camden Yards (the Orioles were 7-0-0).
Dylan Bundy (5-3) allowed two runs over seven innings.
In Boston, Xander Bogaerts drove in a season-high three runs, had three hits and scored four times to lead Boston to a 11-6 victory over sloppy Texas in the opener of a three-game series.
The win was the second straight for struggling Boston, with the Red Sox scoring 23 runs in the two games. The Rangers lost for the second time in three games but only the second time in their past 13.
Bogaerts, who came in hitting .320 but with no homers and just 12 RBIs, reached on an infield hit and scored in the third inning, singled home two runs and then scored in the fifth and singled home a run and scored in the sixth.
In St Petersburg, Florida, Matt Shoemaker pitched 6-1/3 shut-out innings, and Los Angeles opened the game with back-toback home runs in a 4-0 win against slumping Tampa Bay.
Shoemaker (4-2) became the first Angels starter to win three straight decisions this year, and the Angels have won three straight. He gave up three hits and three walks while striking out five.
The Rays have dropped three straight at home, scoring a combined four runs in the defeats.
In New York, Jorge Bonifacio hit a goahead two-run homer with two outs in the top of the seventh inning and Danny Duffy pitched seven solid innings as Kansas City rallied past New York 6-2.
Bonifacio gave the Royals a 3-2 lead by slugging the first pitch he saw from Adam Warren (1-1) into the right-center-field seats. It was Bonifacio’s sixth home run and second in as many nights.
Lorenzo Cain started the comeback with a long homer off Jordan Montgomery. Whit Merrifield and Mike Moustakas added insurance with eighth-inning home runs.
In Houston, Lance McCullers pitched five scoreless innings, and Houston added two critical insurance runs in the seventh inning of a 6-2 win over Detroit.
McCullers (5-1) departed with a 3-0 lead, but Detroit center fielder Mikie Mahtook, who had the Tigers’ lone hit on Monday, blasted a two-out, two-strike home run off Astros right-hander Michael Feliz to cut the deficit to one run in the top of the seventh.
In the other games, the Nationals routed the Mariners 10-1, the Rockies beat the Phillies 8-2, the CUBS beat the Giants 4-1, the Indians edged the Reds 8-7, the Mets defeated the Padres 9-3, the Blue Jays edged the Brewers 4-3, the Diamondbacks beat the White Sox 5-4, the Braves defeated the Pirates 6-5, the Marlins beat the Athletics 11-9 and the Dodgers beat the Cardinals (13 innings).