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Baseball-Highlights of Friday's early MLB games

Aug 1 (The Sports Xchange) - Highlights of Friday's early Major League Baseball games. - - - Giants 5, Mets 1 Ryan Vogelsong threw a two-hit shutout in his first career nine-inning complete game and scored one of San Francisco's three seventh-inning runs in the Giants' victory over the New York Mets at Citi Field. The Giants (59-50) won their second straight after a six-game losing streak and maintained their lead in the National League wild-card race. The Mets (52-57) failed to move within three games of .500 for the first time since June 4. Vogelsong, whose lone major league complete game and shutout was a rain-shortened six-inning affair against the Chicago Cubs on May 14, 2011, carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning before allowing a leadoff single to Mets center fielder Juan Lagares. Vogelsong (6-8) faced the minimum through seven innings before giving up an opposite field home run to Mets first baseman Lucas Duda leading off the eighth. But he retired the final six batters, including right fielder Curtis Granderson on a comebacker to the mound to end it. - - - Phillies 2, Nationals 1 Roberto Hernandez allowed one unearned run in eight innings and Marlon Byrd hit a tiebreaking home run as the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Washington Nationals. Byrd, who played for Washington in 2005-06, broke up a pitchers' duel when he hit a solo homer to right field with two outs in the sixth inning against Washington starter Doug Fister to make it 2-1. It was the 21st homer of the season for Byrd, who has two homers and 10 RBIs in 10 games this season against Washington. Hernandez (6-8) is a former Cleveland team mate of new Washington second baseman Asdrubal Cabrera, who lined out in three at-bats against Hernandez. - - - Orioles 2, Mariners 1 J.J. Hardy drove in the tie-breaking run with a sixth-inning single, and left-hander Wei-Yin Chen earned his career-high 12th win as the Baltimore Orioles scored a victory over the Seattle Mariners. The Orioles nearly wasted their scoring chance in that sixth inning. Third baseman Manny Machado led off with a double and went to third when shortstop Chris Taylor booted a grounder from center fielder Adam Jones. Seattle starter Roenis Elias (8-9) then struck out both designated hitter Nelson Cruz and first baseman Chris Davis. Hardy, the Baltimore shortstop, lined a shot into center to drive in Machado for the 2-1 lead and ended Elias' night. - - - Tigers 4, Rockies 2 Justin Verlander became a 10-game winner with eight solid innings and new center fielder Rajai Davis accounted for all four Detroit runs with a two-run single plus two runs scored in the Tigers' victory over the Colorado Rockies. Right-hander Joe Nathan earned his 22nd save with a scoreless ninth to nail down only the Tigers' second victory in their last seven games. Verlander (10-9) gave up three of his eight hits when the Rockies scored their two runs in the seventh. Seventy of his 101 pitches were strikes and he didn't walk a batter while striking out five. - - - Reds 5, Marlins 2 Right-hander Mat Latos, who played his high school baseball in South Florida, beat his hometown team as the Cincinnati Reds defeated the Miami Marlins. Reds left fielder Ryan Ludwick had the game-winning hit for the second straight day. He had a two-run single in the eighth inning of the Reds' 3-1 win on Thursday and a two-run double in the sixth Friday. Latos (3-3) is now 3-0 in his career at Marlins Park. He allowed five hits, four walks and one run in seven innings. - - - (Editing by Mark Lamport-Stokes)