In Major League Baseball, the Baltimore Orioles rocked the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for 16 hits and cruised to a 16-6 victory over their American League rivals.
Jay Gibbons, Melvin Mora and rookie Nick Markakis homered for Baltimore during Wednesday's game.
The Detroit Tigers routed the Kansas City Royals, 14-3. Tigers catcher Ivan Rodriguez barely missed hitting for the cycle but had a nearly perfect day at the plate: in five at-bats he swatted a home run, a single and three doubles, and collected five RBIs.
The Minnesota Twins had another blowout victory: 13-4 win over the Toronto Blue Jays. Tori Hunter went 4-for-5, including a grand slam, and drove in six RBIs.
In other A.L. games, the Cleveland Indians beat the Chicago White Sox, 4-3 in 11 innings. The Seattle Mariners downed the Los Angeles Angels, 6-4. The Boston Red Sox beat the Texas Rangers, 2-1 - with pitcher Josh Beckett making a strong start in his Red Sox debut - and the Oakland A's defeated the New York Yankees, 9-4.
In the National League, Ken Griffey Junior hit his first home run of the season to help the Cincinnati Reds beat the Chicago Cubs, 8-6. The blast was Griffey's 537th career homer, moving him past Mickey Mantle into 12th place on the all-time home-run list. Reds pitcher Bronson Arroyo gave up six hits in just over six innings of work, and hit a home run in his own cause.
The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-3. Albert Pujols and Skip Schumaker went deep for the Cardinals, while Philadelphia's Jimmy Rollins hit a double in the first inning to extend his hitting streak to 38 games.
In the other N.L. games, the Washington Nationals downed the New York Mets, 9-5, in 10 innings. The Houston Astros defeated the Florida Marlins, 6-5, and the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 3-2. Another pitcher making a strong start in his first appearance for a new team was Orlando Hernandez of the Arizona Diamondbacks, who struck out eight batters in five innings in a 4-2 win over the Colorado Rockies in Denver. The San Francisco Giants downed the San Diego Padres, 3-1, and the Atlanta Braves eked out a 9-8 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
