The Canadian Press

Baseball roundup: Friday's action on the diamonds

Sat May 17, 1:36 AM

By The Canadian Press

Fresh off a career-best performance, Jayson Werth insisted it was just one of those games

Werth homered in his first three at-bats and tied a Philadelphia Phillies record with eight RBIs in a 10-3 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday night. "Anything can happen on any given day, I guess," Werth said. "This game is crazy. It's not like I was trying to do anything like that. It just happened. I don't know what else to say. It's just crazy."

Werth had a chance to tie the major league record of four homers in a game in the seventh inning. But with most of the 36,600 fans still in the stands despite the lopsided score and brisk weather, standing and cheering, he fouled out to first base on a 3-2 pitch off Brian Tallet.

"Hitting a home run was probably on my mind," Werth said. "I was just looking for a good pitch to hit."

Werth hit an 0-1 pitch off Blue Jays starter David Purcey for a three-run home run to right field in the second inning and topped that with a 425-foot grand slam to right on a 3-1 pitch against Purcey (0-1) in the third.

Purcey was optioned to triple-A Syracuse after the game.

"When you have balls over the plate, he's a good hitter and he's going to hit them," Purcey said. "I was just trying to make a perfect pitch and fell behind on them."

Werth then ripped a solo shot to left-centre in the fifth off reliever Jesse Litsch on a 2-1 pitch for a 9-2 lead.

"I hit an off-speed pitch and it was one of those things where everything clicked," said Werth, who entered the game 1-for-5 with three strikeouts lifetime against his former team.

Werth became the 18th Phillies player to record three homers in a game. Ryan Howard was the last to hit three - on Sept. 3, 2006, against Atlanta in the first game of a doubleheader.

"If you watch him (Werth) in batting practice, he can hit the ball as far as anybody," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said.

In other interleague play Friday, it was: Baltimore 5 Washington 3; Milwaukee at Boston, ppd.; N.Y. Mets at N.Y. Yankees, ppd.; Cincinnati 4 Cleveland 3; Kansas City 7 Florida 6; Atlanta 3 Oakland 2; Tampa Bay 3 St. Louis 1; Texas 16 Houston 8; Minnesota 4 Colorado 2; Arizona 4 Detroit 3; L.A. Angels 4 L.A. Dodgers 2; San Diego 6 Seattle 4; and Chicago White Sox 2 San Francisco 0.

In the lone National League game, it was: Chicago Cubs 7 Pittsburgh 4.

At Philadelphia, the eight RBIs tied a franchise record held by four players, most recently by Mike Schmidt in a 10-inning game at Chicago on April 17, 1976. The others are Kitty Bransfeld (1910), Gavvy Cravath (1915) and Willie Jones (1958).

"Jayson had a great night at the plate," Howard said. "It's a night he'll remember, I'm sure. He deserves it because he's been working hard at it."

Howard extended his hitting streak to eight games with an RBI single to right, scoring Jimmy Rollins, ahead of Werth's grand slam.

Philadelphia's 45-year-old left-hander Jamie Moyer (3-3) went 6 2-3 innings and gave up seven hits and three earned runs. He walked two and struck out five.

"I felt like I threw the ball a lot better than I have recently," Moyer said. "We won and that's the most important part."

Purcey, who was making just his second major league start, allowed five hits and eight runs while walking four in three shaky innings.

"It was only his second big league start and it's not easy," Toronto manager John Gibbons said. 'He'll get over the nerves."

Alex Rios and Lyle Overbay had two hits each for the Blue Jays, who had their four-game winning streak snapped.

Orioles 5 Nationals 3

At Baltimore, Luke Scott homered, Melvin Mora hit a tiebreaking double in the fifth inning and the Orioles beat Washington for their sixth win in seven games.

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Brewers at Red Sox, ppd.

At Boston, the game between Milwaukee and the Red Sox was postponed due to rain and was rescheduled as part of a doubleheader Saturday.

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Mets at Yankees, ppd.

At New York, the Subway Series game between the Mets and Yankees was postponed due to rain, and no make-up date was immediately announced.

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Reds 4 Indians 3

At Cincinnati, Adam Dunn drew a bases-loaded walk off Cleveland reliever Jensen Lewis in the bottom of the eighth inning as the Reds shaded the Indians.

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Royals 7 Marlins 6

At Miami, Brett Tomko pitched six innings for his first victory in nearly six weeks as Kansas City extended its winning streak to five games by beating the slumping Marlins.

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Braves 3 Athletics 2

At Atlanta, Mark Kotsay knocked in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning with a two-out RBI double, and the Braves edged Oakland for their eighth straight home victory.

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Rays 3 Cardinals 1

At St. Louis, Andy Sonnanstine carried a shutout into the eighth inning and added two singles to a 12-hit outburst in streaking Tampa Bay's victory over the sagging Cardinals.

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Rangers 16 Astros 8

At Arlington, Texas, Josh Hamilton went 5-for-5 with two long homers and five RBIs, and the Rangers beat Houston in a wild Lone Star Series opener.

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Twins 4 Rockies 2

At Denver, Nick Blackburn pitched seven strong innings and Delmon Young doubled twice and scored two runs to lead Minnesota past the Rockies.

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Diamondbacks 4 Tigers 3

At Phoenix, Eric Byrnes had a solo home run and an RBI single as the Diamondbacks overcame a two-run homer from Miguel Cabrera in a win over Detroit.

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Angels 4 Dodgers 2

At Anaheim, Calif., Joe Saunders got back to winning after his lone loss of the year, and Vladimir Guerrero drove in two runs without a hit to help the Angels beat the Dodgers.

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Padres 6 Mariners 4

At Seattle, Brian Giles had his third four-hit game of the season, Tadahito Iguchi had a homer among his three hits and the Padres opened interleague play with a win over Seattle.

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White Sox 2 Giants 0

At San Francisco, Alexei Ramirez hit his first major league homer, a two-run shot in the seventh inning that sent Chicago to a victory over the Giants.

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Cubs 7 Pirates 4

At Chicago, Alfonso Soriano had a pair of home runs and Geovany Soto added a solo shot as the Cubs held on to beat Pittsburgh.

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