Santana tosses 2-hitter as Twins shut out Orioles
BALTIMORE >> Ervin Santana pitched a two-hitter for his 10th career shutout, Brian Dozier homered and the surging Minnesota Twins beat the Baltimore Orioles 2-0 Tuesday night.
After banging out 21 hits in a 14-7 win over Baltimore on Monday, the AL Centralleading Twins relied on exceptional pitching to earn their ninth victory in 13 games.
Santana (7-2) struck out six, walked two and permitted only one runner past first base. The lone hits against the right-hander were a second-inning single by Welington Castillo and a single in the fifth by Jonathan Schoop.
It was Santana’s 18th complete game, the second this season. He finished by retiring the last 14 batters.
Minnesota became the first team this season to capture a series at Camden Yards (the Orioles were 7-00). Now 13-5 on the road, the Twins on Wednesday will seek to complete their first three-game sweep in Baltimore since 1996. NATIONALS 10, MARINERS 1 >> Anthony Rendon homered twice and drove in five runs, Joe Ross returned from the minors to allow one run over a career high-tying eight innings, and Washington routed Seattle.
Bryce Harper added his 14th homer and Jayson Werth hit his seventh off Chris Bergman (1-2), who allowed all of the Nationals’ runs and 14 of their 15 hits.
Rendon doubled before his second homer — and seventh of the season — completed an eight-run fourth inning. Ryan Zimmerman also had three hits. INDIANS 8, REDS 7 >> Edwin Encarnacion hit two of Cleveland’s four homers off rookie Amir Garrett and scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch, leading the Indians to a victory and a split of their twogame series with Cincinnati.
The series moves to Cleveland for two games. The Indians have won seven of the last eight between Ohio’s teams.
Carlos Carrasco was in line to move to 5-0 on the road this season, but Cleveland’s bullpen had an uncharacteristic meltdown in the seventh. Eugenio Suarez’s first career pinch-hit homer — a three-run shot off Bryan Shaw — tied it at 7. METS 9, PADRES 3 >> Michael Conforto homered twice and had a career-high four RBIs, including three on two hits during the Mets’ biggest first inning in 13 years, and Matt Harvey won his first home start since getting suspended as New York routed San Diego.
Lucas Duda broke out of a slump with three hits and three RBIs, and manager Terry Collins earned his 500th victory with the Mets. His team got a leadoff homer and a two-run single from Conforto in a seven-run first against Jhoulys Chacin. CUBS 4, GIANTS 1 >> Jon Lester pitched a four-hitter for Chicago’s first complete game of the season, and the Cubs beat Johnny Cueto and San Francisco in a rainy rematch of last year’s playoff opener.
Anthony Rizzo hit a tworun homer as Chicago improved to 5-2 on its ninegame home stand. Kyle Schwarber and Jason Heyward also connected, helping the Cubs bounce back from their 6-4 loss to the Giants on Monday night. ANGELS 4, RAYS 0 >> Cameron Maybin and Mike Trout hit back-to-back home runs to begin the game, Matt Shoemaker won his third consecutive start and Los Angeles beat Tampa Bay.
Maybin led off by homering on a 3-1 pitch from Alex Cobb. Trout connected on the next pitch for his 15th homer, including seven in his last 11 games. ROYALS 6, YANKEES 2>> Danny Duffy beat the Yankees for the second time in a week and rookie Jorge Bonifacio capped a three-run, seventhinning rally with a go-ahead, two-run homer that led Kansas City over New York.
Lorenzo Cain, Whit Merrifield and Mike Moustakas also homered late for the Royals, who went deep four times in a span of nine batters.