Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Stephen Strasburg pitched six innings for his second win of the season, to lead the Washington Nationals to a 6-3 victory over the Houston Astros on Monday.
Strasburg looked nearly unhittable for five innings, allowing just three singles, but the Astros got to him in the sixth for two runs and three hits.
Strasburg (2-0) walked one and struck out five. He hasn’t allowed a home run in 50 1-3 innings — since Aug. 15, 2010.
Steve Lombardozzi had three singles and a two-run double in the sixth off Kyle Weiland (0-2) that gave Washington a 4-2 lead. Ryan Zimmerman followed with a two-run single.
METS 6, BRAVES 1
ATLANTA — Ike Davis hit a tiebreaking three-run homer and Dillon Gee pitched four-hit ball over seven innings.
The Mets snapped Atlanta’s five-game winning streak and kept up their early dominance in the NL East rivalry, winning again after a three-game sweep of the Braves in New York to start the season.
With the game tied at 1 in the sixth, Atlanta intentionally walked hot-hitting David Wright with two outs to get to Davis — a move that certainly made sense, given the first baseman was batting just .118. The strategy backfired when Tommy Hanson (1-2) hung a 2-2 pitch and Davis drove it into the right-field seats.
Gee (1-1) was never in much trouble. Atlanta put together a couple of hits and a walk in the second, leading to its only run on Jack Wilson’s RBI groundout.
PADRES 7
ROCKIES 1
DENVER — Cory Luebke threw seven efficient innings and Chase Headley tied a team record with three doubles, helping San Diego snap a four-game skid.
Luebke (1-1) breezed through the Rockies lineup on a brisk night, giving up six hits and one run.
Lately, the Padres have made themselves quite at home at Coors Field, winning seven of their past nine in the hitter friendly park. They did a bulk of their damage with doubles, hitting seven for the game.
Jeremy Guthrie (1-1) was feeling under the weather, but gave it a go despite a sore throat. With the bullpen taxed from so much recent work, Guthrie really had no choice but to hang in there as long as possible. The righty allowed six runs and nine hits before being lifted for a pinch hitter.
D-BACKS 5
PIRATES 1
PHOENIX — Chris Young had three hits, including his team-best fifth home run, and Joe Saunders pitched seven strong innings to help lead Ari zona.
Saunders (1-0) allowed a run on six hits with two walks and five strikeouts.
Aaron Hill and Gerardo Parra also homered for the Diamondbacks, who have won two straight. Arizona is 25-4 in its last 29 home games.
Neil Walker drove in the run for the Pirates, who have lost six of seven. Pittsburgh has scored two runs or fewer in seven of 10 games this season.
PHILLIES 5
GIANTS 2
SAN FRANCISCO — Roy Halladay outlasted Tim Lincecum in a matchup of two-time Cy Young Award winners, leading Philadelphia past San Francisco.
Halladay (3-0) struck out six and allowed seven hits in eight innings on a crisp and cool spring night along the bay. He also had an RBI single in a rematch of aces from the 2010 NL championship series.
Laynce Nix’s two-run double highlighted a four-run first off Lincecum (0-2) that produced all the power Philadelphia needed. The Phillies chased San Francisco’s shaggy-haired and struggling right-hander after he gave up five runs and eight hits in six innings.
Tigers 3, Royals 2
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Justin Verlander beat Kansas City once again, surviving a shaky ninth inning Monday night to deliver the Detroit Tigers a 3-2 victory over the Royals.
Austin Jackson hit a leadoff homer and Brandon Inge added a two-run shot in the fifth for the Tigers, giving their reigning AL Cy Young winner enough support when things got tight.
Verlander (1-1) allowed an RBI single by Humberto Quintero with two outs in the ninth, and then loaded the bases when he walked Mitch Maier and plunked Alcides Escobar on the elbow. Verlander came back to strike out Alex Gordon looking, sending the Royals to their fifth consecutive loss.
Detroit manager Jim Leyland had closer Jose Valverde warming up in the ninth, but he decided to stick with the AL MVP even after things got tense. Verlander ended up throwing 131 pitches while improving to 14-2 in his career against the Royals.
Danny Duffy (1-1) did his best to hang tough against Verlander, keeping the Tigers’ potent lineup at bay most of the game. He allowed three runs on seven hits and a walk in 6 1-3 innings.
ORIOLES 10
WHITE SOX 4 (10)
CHICAGO — Matt Wieters homered twice, including a 10th-inning grand slam, lifting the Baltimore Orioles to a come-from-behind 10-4 win over the Chicago White Sox on Monday night.
The White Sox took a 4-1 lead into the eighth, but Baltimore hit three solo homers against a pair of relievers to send the game into extra innings.
Chicago reliever Zach Stewart (0-1) allowed six runs in the 10th, five unearned.
Wieters went deep off Jesse Crain in the eighth to make it 4-2. Nolan Reimold and Adam Jones homered off rookie closer Hector Santiago in the ninth to tie it.
In the 10th, Mark Reynolds skied a ball to the wall off Stewart that center fielder Alejandro De Aza dropped for a three-base error. Chris Davis doubled off the left-field wall to score the go-ahead run.
ANGELS 6
ATHLETICS 0
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Kendrys Morales hit his first homer in nearly two years and drove in four runs, and Jered Weaver recorded his 1,000th career strikeout while pitching five-hit ball into the seventh inning of the Los Angeles Angels’ 6-0 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Monday night.
Morales followed his three-run homer in the first inning with an eighth-inning double to score Albert Pujols, who went 2 for 4 with a double. Pujols still hasn’t homered in 10 games with the Angels, but his new cleanup hitter provided plenty of power as Los Angeles opened a weeklong homestand with just its second win in six games.
Morales staked Weaver (2-0) to a healthy lead, and the AL Cy Young runner-up retired his first 11 batters.
Weaver struck out six, rolling his career total into quadruple digits when he fanned Josh Reddick in the sixth inning.
RAYS 1
RED SOX 0
BOSTON — James Shields allowed four hits in 8 1-3 innings, and Tampa Bay avoided a four-game sweep.
The only run came when Daniel Bard (0-2) walked Evan Longoria on four pitches with the bases loaded in the seventh.
Shields (2-0) led the majors with 11 complete games last year and had a chance for another until he walked Dustin Pedroia with one out in the ninth. Fernando Rodney retired the next two batters for his fourth save in four chances.
Shields gave up four singles and two walks while striking out five as the Rays finally shut down the team that had outscored them 31-11 in the previous three games. Only one Boston runner got past first base.
The loss was Bobby Valentine’s first at Fenway Park as Boston’s manager. Fans booed when he went back to the dugout after lifting Bard for Justin Thomas following the run-scoring walk.
Joe Maddon got his 500th win as a manager, all with Tampa Bay, as the Rays stopped a four-game losing streak.
TWINS 7, YANKEES 3
NEW YORK — Carl Pavano quieted an unfriendly Yankee Stadium crowd with seven solid innings, Justin Morneau played in the field for the first time this season and hit a long homer, and Minnesota earned a rare victory in New York.
Joe Mauer had three hits, including two doubles, and every position player had a hit in a tweaked Minnesota lineup. Josh Willingham batted fourth for the first time this season and was one of seven Twins to drive in a run.
Minnesota won for just the sixth time in 34 regular-season games in the Bronx since Ron Gardenhire took over as manager in 2002.
In just his second outing in New York since an injury-wrecked four years with the Yankees ended after the 2008 season, Pavano (1-1) gave up three runs and seven hits. He struck out six and walked one.
