NLR’S Burnett sparkles as Pirates blank Cards

PITTSBURGH — A.J. Burnett’s first week with the Pittsburgh Pirates ended with a fractured right orbital bone. His first three rehab starts ended with losses, a 9.53 ERA and concerns the veteran right-hander couldn’t become the ace his new team so desperately needs. Never mind. Pitching brilliantly after a shaky first inning, the former New York Yankee pitched three-hit ball for seven innings to lift the Pirates to a 2-0 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday.

“I’ve been playing a long time,” Burnett said. “I think coming up here was my time to turn my switch on.” Consider it flipped. Burnett (North Little Rock), who missed the first three weeks of the year after the ball smacked off his face during a bunting drill in spring training just days after being traded from the Yankees, walked two and struck out seven while dominating baseball’s best offensive team.

“It got silly after a while just making pitch after pitch,” Pittsburgh Manager Clint Hurdle said.

Joel Hanrahan worked out of a two-on, one-out jam in the ninth for his second save of the season.

St. Louis starter Jake Westbrook (2-1) gave up 2 RBI singles to Pedro Alvarez, walking 2 and striking out 6 as his ERA moved from 0.64 to 1.31.

BRAVES 3, DIAMONDBACKS 2 Tommy Hanson pitched seven strong innings, Dan Uggla homered and visiting Atlanta beat Arizona.

BREWERS 9, ROCKIES 4 Ryan Braun broke out of a slump with a home run and two RBI, helping host Milwaukee beat Colorado.

DODGERS 5, ASTROS 1 Matt Kemp set a franchise record for home runs through 15 games with his ninth of the season to back up a solid outing by Clayton Kershaw and visiting Los Angeles defeated Houston.

PADRES 5, PHILLIES 1 Cory Luebke (2-1) outpitched Roy Halladay and host San Diego beat Philadelphia. The Padres hadn’t beaten the Phillies in their downtown ballpark since Aug. 16, 2008.

CUBS 6, REDS 1 Paul Maholm (1-2) pitched six solid innings to earn his first victory in nine months and host Chicago beat Cincinnati.

METS 5, GIANTS 4 Ruben Tejada scored the winning run on a throwing error by catcher Buster Posey and host New York beat San Francisco.

NATIONALS 3, MARLINS 2 Ian Desmond hit a home run and had the game-winning sacrifice fly in the 10th inning to lift host Washington to a victory against Florida.

American League

ANGELS 6, ORIOLES 3 Jered Weaver (3-0) pitched his first complete game of the season, Bobby Abreu highlighted a five-run fifth inning with a tiebreaking two-run single and host Los Angeles beat Baltimore.

RANGERS 10-2, TIGERS 4-3 Justin Verlander pitched six innings without allowing an earned run, and host Detroit salvaged a split of

its doubleheader with Texas. Texas routed the Tigers in the first game for its eighth consecutive victory, but Verlander (2-1) held off the powerful Rangers, allowing 4 hits and 3 walks while striking out 8.

RAYS 4, TWINS 1 James Shields ( 3- 0) carried a three-hitter into the ninth inning, B.J. Upton had a key two-run single and host Tampa Bay beat Minnesota.

BLUE JAYS 9, ROYALS 5 Colby Rasmus hit two home runs to help make Drew Hutchison a winner in his major league debut and visiting Toronto handed Kansas City its ninth consecutive loss.

YANKEES 15, RED SOX 9 Nick Swisher hit a grand slam to help New York erase a nine-run deficit, then he added a two-run double to give visiting New York the lead as it posted back-toback seven-run innings to beat Boston. The Red Sox chased New York starter Freddy Garcia after 1 ⁄ innings and opened a 9-0 lead through five. But Mark Teixeira homered twice, the second a three-run shot in the seven-run seventh that cut the deficit to 9-8. Swisher hit a two-run double off the center field wall in the eighth to make it 10-9. Teixeira and Swisher each had six RBI.