Scherzer wins 12th as Detroit holds off Rays
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Major league wins leader Max Scherzer became the first starting pitcher to win 12 consecutive decisions to begin a season in 27 years, and the Detroit Tigers beat the Tampa Bay Rays 6-3 behind a pair of home runs from Miguel Cabrera on Friday night.
Scherzer (12-0) allowed three runs, four hits, walked one and struck out nine in seven innings to become the first pitcher in Tigers history to win his first 12 decisions as a starter.
The right-hander also became the first in the majors to begin a season with at least 12 straight victories since Roger Clemens did it on the way to starting 14-0 with the Boston Red Sox in 1986.
Ben Zobrist and Wil Myers hit solo homers for Tampa Bay.
Cabrera went 4 for 4 and drove in three runs, boosting his major leagueleading batting average to .377 with 24 homers and 81 RBIs.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Indians 19, White Sox 10 at Chicago: Jason Kipnis reached base six times and scored four runs, Ryan Raburn homered and drove in four, and Cleveland rallied from five down early on to pound Chicago in Game 1 of a doubleheader.
The Indians matched a season high for runs. They also set one with eight doubles while falling one hit shy of their season best with 21 in a game that lasted just over four hours.
Orioles 4, Yankees 3 at Baltimore: Nate McLouth hit a tiebreaking homer off CC Sabathia in the seventh, Manny Machado had two RBIs and Baltimore rallied to beat New York.
Orioles rookie Kevin Gausman (1-3) earned his first major league victory, allowing three hits over 4¥ innings as part of a relief crew that blanked the Yankees over the final six innings.
Sabathia (8-6) took a nohitter and a 3- 0 lead into the sixth.
Red Sox 7, Blue Jays 4 at Boston: Jonny Gomes broke a tie with a seventhinning single and Boston beat Toronto after squandering a five-run lead.
The Red Sox had 15 hits, giving them at least 10 for the sixth time in seven games. They have 93 hits over that span.
Andrew Miller (1-2) got the win with 1¥ scoreless innings. Koji Uehara pitched the ninth for his fourth save of the season.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Pirates 10, Brewers 3 at Pittsburgh: Gerrit Cole overcame a rocky start to become the first Pirates pitcher to win his first four career starts in more than a century and Starling Marte missed the cycle a few feet short of a home run in Pittsburgh’s victory over Milwaukee.
Cole (4-0) gave up three runs in the first but no more as he made it through six innings, allowing eight hits with three walks and three strikeouts. Nick Maddox started 4-0 in his first four starts in 1907.
Johnny Hellweg (0-1) failed to get out of the sec- ond inning in his major league debut, giving up seven runs five earned in 1 innings.
Marte had a double and triple among his three hits, and just missed a homer in the eighth when he flied out to deep center field.
Braves 3, Diamondbacks 0 at Atlanta: Julio Teheran pitched six strong innings, Andrelton Simmons homered and Atlanta beat Arizona.
The Braves, who have won three of four and lead second-place Washington by five games in the NL East, retired former AllStar third baseman Chipper Jones’ No. 10 before the game.
Teheran (6- 4) allowed four hits, one walk and struck out 10.
The NL West-leading Diamondbacks have lost three of four.
Nationals 5, Mets 4 at New York: Ian Desmond doubled home the goahead run in the ninth inning and Washington rallied late after a dominant Matt Harvey departed, overtaking New York.
Harvey struck out 11 and left with a 4-1 lead after seven innings.
Ryan Zimmerman lined a three-run double with two outs in the eighth that made it 4-all. The Mets used four relievers in the inning and still couldn’t protect the lead.
Jayson Werth, who had struck out in all three atbats against Harvey, hustled for a leadoff double in the ninth against closer Bobby Parnell (5-4). Desmond doubled down the right-field line and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Kurt Suzuki.
Tyler Clippard (6-1) won in the relief and Drew Storen got his second save.
Padres 9, Marlins 2 at Miami: Will Venable drove in three runs and saved one with a diving catch in right field to help San Diego beat Ricky Nolasco and Miami.
Logan Forsythe hit a two-run homer for the Padres and had three of their 15 hits. Edinson Volquez (6- 6) gave up two runs in six innings for the Padres, who have outscored Miami 20-3 this season while winning all four games.
Nolasco (4-8), the subject of trade speculation, allowed six runs and 11 hits in five-plus innings.
Rockies 4, Giants 1 at Denver: Michael Cuddyer homered to extend his hitting streak to 25 games, Jhoulys Chacin pitched eight scoreless innings and Colorado beat slumping San Francisco.
Wilin Rosario also went deep and Jordan Pacheco had three hits for the Rockies, who moved within three games of Arizona in the NL West.
INTERLEAGUE
Rangers 4, Reds 0 at Arlington, Texas: Martin Perez pitched six-hit ball into the seventh inning and AL West-leading Texas beat scuffling Cincinnati.
The Reds have lost three in a row, and six of seven. They also have more concerns about right-hander Johnny Cueto (4-2), their opening day starter, who has already been on the disabled list twice this season. Cueto left after a batter into the second inning because of rightness in his right side.