SPRING TRAINING ROUNDUP

CARDINALS 6, BRAVES 2

KISSIMMEE, Fla. — Left-hander Marco Gonzales strengthened his bid for a spot in the St. Louis rotation by allowed one hit over four scoreless innings in the Cardinals’ victory over the Atlanta Braves.

Gonzales, who didn’t give up a run over two innings in his first spring start, struck out three and walked one. The only hit off the 23-year-old was a two-out double by first baseman Freddie Freeman in the first inning.

A first-round draft choice in 2013, Gonzalez came up to the Cardinals late last year and won twice in relief during the division series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. He was 4-2 with a 4.15 ERA in 10 regular-season games, including 5 starts.

RED SOX 10, YANKEES 6

TAMPA, Fla. — Alex Rodriguez hit his first home run since returning to the Yankees following a drug suspension and Chris Capuano was forced out in the first inning by a quadriceps injury in New York’s loss to the Boston Red Sox.

Rodriguez hit a long drive to left-center on a 3-1 pitch from right-hander Brandon Workman leading off the fourth inning. Rodriguez has five hits in 11 at-bats (.455) this spring training.

The three-time AL MVP, who turns 40 in July, has not played a full season since 2007 because of a season-long drug suspension, operations on both hips and other injuries.

PHILLIES 3, PIRATES 2

CLEARWATER, Fla. — Philadelphia left-hander Cole Hamels allowed Jordy Mercer’s two-run home run in the third inning and the Phillies rallied in the sixth to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Making his second start of the spring, Hamels struggled with command in his three-inning outing. After allowing a two-out walk to Francisco Cervelli, Hamels went to a full count against Mercer before the Pittsburgh shortstop turned on a fastball and sent it over the wall in left.

Hamels allowed 2 runs on 2 hits in 3 innings. He struck out one and walked two.

JUPITER, Fla. — Matt Harvey was far from perfect in his second spring training outing.

After getting six consecutive outs last week in his first appearance following elbow surgery, the New York Mets ace allowed 2 runs and 6 hits over 22/ innings in a

3 loss to the Miami Marlins.

Ichiro Suzuki singled in a run in the second inning, and Giancarlo Stanton hit an RBI double in the third on Harvey’s final pitch.

RAYS 5, TWINS 2

FORT MYERS, Fla. — Brian Dozier went 3 for 3 and starter Tommy Milone pitched three shutout innings for Minnesota in a loss to Tampa Bay.

The Twins took a 1-0 lead in the second inning on Jordan Schafer’s RBI groundout that scored Kurt Suzuki, who led off with a single.

Tampa Bay tied the game in the fifth when Alexi Casilla led off with a triple and scored on Vince Belnome’s double.

BLUE JAYS 5, ORIOLES 2

SARASOTA, Fla. — Drew Hutchison continued his success against the Baltimore Orioles, pitching four scoreless innings in the Toronto Blue Jays’ victory over the Orioles.

Hutchison, who is 4-1 with a 2.29 ERA against Baltimore in 8 starts, hasn’t allowed a run this spring in 6 innings — all against the Orioles. In his 4 innings, Hutchison allowed 2 singles, struck out 2 and walked 1.

Miguel Gonzalez allowed two first-inning runs. Justin Smoak had an RBI groundout, and Kevin Pillar added an RBI double.

DIAMONDBACKS 6, ANGELS 5

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Jered Weaver allowed three runs and five hits in three-plus innings for the Angels, and Nick Evans and Socrates Brito hit consecutive run-scoring doubles in the bottom of the eighth to lift the Arizona Diamondbacks past Los Angeles.

Right-handed Randall Delgado, a candidate for Arizona’s rotation, worked three perfect innings. He struck out five, including Mike Trout, Albert Pujols and David Freese.

Brandon Drury hit his second home run and A.J. Pollock went 2 for 4 with 3 RBI for the Diamondbacks.

RANGERS 4, WHITE SOX 4 TIE

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Prince Fielder had an RBI single and scored a run in Texas’ three-run first inning, and the Rangers and Chicago White Sox played to a tie.

Fielder, who is returning from a back injury that kept him out most of last season, was in the middle of the early offensive burst against Chicago starter Carlos Rodon.

The third overall pick in last June’s draft, Rodon went 21/

3 innings and gave up 5 hits, 4 of them in the first inning.

ROYALS 4, PADRES 3

SURPRISE, Ariz. — Yordano Ventura worked three scoreless innings, Lorenzo Cain had a pair of RBI singles and a Kansas City Royals split squad defeated the San Diego Padres.

Ventura threw 54 pitches, giving up 4 singles, walking 1 and striking out 3.

Cain, who was MVP of the American League Championship Series when he hit .533, singled home Gabriel Noriega with hits in the first and fifth innings.

ROYALS 5, REDS 2

GOODYEAR, Ariz. — Erik Kratz homered off left-hander Tony Cingrani, who is trying to win one of the openings in Cincinnati’s rotation, and the split-squad Kansas City Royals beat the Reds.

Cingrani, coming off shoulder problems last season, gave up three hits and a walk in three innings, including Kratz’s solo home run.

Left-hander Paul Maholm started for Cincinnati and allowed one hit in three scoreless innings, strengthening his bid for one of the three opening spots in the rotation. The Royals’ Jorge Bonifacio hit a two-run home run off reliever Sam LeCure in the eighth.

BREWERS 6, GIANTS 3

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Tim Hudson threw one scoreless inning in his spring debut, Tim Lincecum was pulled after an inning because of stiffness in his neck and Milwaukee starter Matt Garza pitched three innings in the Brewers’ victory over the San Francisco Giants.

Khris Davis drove in two runs, Luis Jimenez had two hits and drove in a run, and Gerardo Parra had two hits for the Brewers.

Brandon Belt homered among his two hits, walked and scored twice for the Giants. Casey McGehee had two hits, upping his average to .467, and Brandon Crawford drove in a run.

CUBS 4, DODGERS 3

MESA, Ariz. — Zack Greinke gave up two runs in his spring debut for the Dodgers, being outpitched by Jon Lester in Los Angeles’ loss to the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday.

Greinke had been given a lubricating injection in his right elbow on Feb. 18. He allowed 2 hits and 2 walks in 2 innings.

Lester pitched three-hit ball for three shutout innings. He struck out two in the Cubs’ first victory of the spring.

ATHLETICS 3, INDIANS 2

MESA, Ariz. — Brandon Moss had a home run and a triple against his former team, but the Cleveland Indians lost to the Oakland Athletics.

Moss, acquired by the Indians in an offseason trade, tripled off A’s starter Kendall Graveman in the second inning but was stranded at third. He connected with one out in the fourth off Fernando Abad to cut Oakland’s lead to 3-2. It was his second home run of the spring.

The A’s scored three runs in the second.

NATIONALS 9, TIGERS 2

PEORIA, Ariz. — Troy Tulowitzki homered for his first hit in a game since last July and looked strong in the field in the Colorado Rockies’ victory over the Seattle Mariners.

Tulowitzki, back from left hip surgery that cut short his 2014 season, leaped far to his right to take away a hit from the Mariners’ Kyle Seager in the bottom of the first inning.

Seager hit his first home run of the spring in the third, a solo shot to tie the score at 1.

VIERA, Fla. — Jordan Zimmermann struck out four while pitching into the third inning and Ryan Zimmerman doubled twice as the Washington Nationals beat the Detroit Tigers.

Detroit’s David Price wasn’t sharp in his second spring start. The left-hander was scheduled to go three innings but only lasted two after throwing 54 pitches. He yielded 4 runs on 4 hits — all for extra bases — while striking out 2.

Zimmermann said he had much better command of his fastball in his second spring outing. He allowed 1 run on 2 hits in 22/

3 innings.