KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Drew Smyly (Little Rock Central, Arkansas Razorbacks) picked up where fellow Tigers starter Rick Porcello left off, tossing seven shutout innings and leading Detroit to a 9-2 rout of the Kansas City Royals on Saturday night.
Porcello and the Tigers bullpen retired the final 18 hitters in an 8-2 victory the previous night, and Smyly (2-1) retired the first four he faced. After a issuing a walk to Alex Gordon, the former reliever then retired the next six in a dominant performance.
Smyly wound up allowing two hits and two walks before giving way to Joba Chamberlain, who threw a perfect eighth. Phil Coke allowed two runs in the ninth to lose the shutout.
Nick Castellanos drove in three runs for the Tigers, the first off spot starter Danny Duffy (1-2) and two more off the Royals’ bullpen. That was it until the ninth, when Detroit tacked on six more runs, the highlight a three-run shot by Torii Hunter (Pine Bluff).
Duffy moved from the bullpen back to the rotation in place of Bruce Chen, who went on the disabled list this week with a bulging disc in his back. Duffy was on a pitch count and wound up lasting just 4 innings, allowing 2 hits and walking 4 while throwing 75 pitches.
ANGELS 5, RANGERS 3 Former Arkansas Traveler C.J. Cron hit an RBI single on the first pitch he saw in the major leagues, doubled his second time up and hit a tie breaking RBI single in the sixth inning to lead Los Angeles to a victory over visiting Texas.
YANKEES 9, RAYS 3 Mark Teixeira homered for the fourth time in his past five games as New York rallied past visiting Tampa Bay.
RED SOX 6, ATHLETICS 3 Jon Lester struck out a career-high 15, allowing 1 hit over 8 scoreless innings and pitching host Boston over Oakland.
TWINS 6, ORIOLES 1 Joe Mauer and Brian Dozier homered, Kevin Correia earned his first victory of the season and Minnesota beat visiting Baltimore.
MARINERS 9, ASTROS 8 Justin Smoak homered to cap an eight-run burst in the seventh inning, leading Hisashi Iwakuma and visiting Seattle over Houston.
INDIANS 2, WHITE SOX 0 Justin Masterson pitched neatly into the eighth inning and host Cleveland beat Chicago. Masterson (1-1) held the American League’s highest-scoring offense in check, allowing four hits and striking out six.
INTERLEAGUE
PIRATES 8, BLUE JAYS 6 Neil Walker hit a tie breaking, two-run double on the eighth inning, capping a comeback from a five-run deficit to lead Pittsburgh over visiting Toronto.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
CUBS 3, CARDINALS 0 Junior Lake and Anthony Rizzo homered, leading Jake Arrieta and Chicago past visiting St. Louis for their season-best third victory in a row.
REDS 6, BREWERS 2 Johnny Cueto gave up three hits over eight innings and singled home a run, leading Cincinnati to a victory over visiting Milwaukee.
GIANTS 3, BRAVES 1 Brandon Belt, Buster Posey and Michael Morse hit home runs and streaking San Francisco beat slumping host Atlanta.
DODGERS 9, MARLINS 7 (11) Pinch-hitter Carl Crawford hit a two-run home run in the 11th inning, and visiting Los Angeles beat Miami.
PHILLIES 7, NATIONALS 2 Ryan Howard and Cody Asche homered, and A.J. Burnett (Central Arkansas Christian, North Little Rock) threw six solid innings to lead Philadelphia over host Washington.
DIAMONDBACKS 4, PADRES 3 Brandon McCarthy threw seven superb innings and Alfredo Marte drove in two runs as visiting Arizona survived a ninth-inning rally for a victory over San Diego.
ROCKIES 11, METS 10 Kyle Farnsworth allowed a walk-off, pinch-hit two-run home run to Charlie Culberson in the bottom of the ninth as New York fell to host Colorado.
Saturday’s games
NATIONAL LEAGUE Chicago Cubs 3, St. Louis 0 Philadelphia 7, Washington 2 LA Dodgers 9, Miami 7 (11) Cincinnati 6, Milwaukee 2 San Francisco 3, Atlanta 1 Colorado 11, NY Mets 10 Arizona 4, San Diego 3
AMERICAN LEAGUE NY Yankees 9, Tampa Bay 3 Boston 6, Oakland 3 Minnesota 6, Baltimore 1 Seattle 9, Houston 8 Cleveland 2, Chicago White Sox 0 Detroit 9, Kansas City 2 LA Angels 5, Texas 3
INTERLEAGUE Pittsburgh 8, Toronto 6
Sports, Pages 28 on 05/04/2014