Tom Glavine limited Washington to two hits over seven innings Friday and Cliff Floyd hit his fourth home run of the season to lead the New York Mets over the Nationals 3-1.
"It was nice for a change to get out of the first inning," Glavine said. "We've been giving up a lot of first inning runs. It's always important to come off the field with a chance to get on top. It was a mental boost to me."
Glavine (1-2) pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the first inning then retired 13 of the next 14 batters before Christian Guzman opened the sixth with his first home run.
"Glavine is Glavine," Washington manager Frank Robinson said. "Glavine has been the same way for 35 years. The only way we are going to get to him is to take him out of his rhythm. We don't seem to come to compete until about the sixth or seventh inning. We weren't going to do anything anyway against him."
That came an inning after Floyd connected against Washington starter Esteban Loaiza (0-1), giving Glavine a 3-0 lead.
Braden Looper pitched the ninth for his second save in four opportunities.
Braves 6, Phillies 2
In Atlanta, Marcus Giles hit his first home run of the season and Andruw Jones had a run-scoring double in the third inning to snap the longest hitting drought (0-for-28) of his career and help Atlanta beat Philadelphia.
Brett Myers (1-1) had not allowed an earned run in his last 17 1-3 innings and was allowing only a .189 batting average before he gave up six hits, four walks and four runs to the Braves in six innings to increase his ERA to 1.71.
Braves starter Mike Hampton (2-0) came within one out of his first complete game since May 2004, allowing seven hits in 8 2-3 innings. Dan Kolb got the final out for his sixth save.
Adam LaRoche also homered for the Braves.
Marlins 4, Reds 2
In Miami, Luis Castillo hit a tiebreaking two-run triple off Kent Mercker (1-1) in the seventh inning and A.J. Burnett struck out a season-high 13 as Florida defeated Cincinnati.
Reliever Matt Perisho (1-0) pitched a perfect seventh inning, and Guillermo Mota a 1-2-3 ninth for Florida's first save of the season.
Reds starter Aaron Harang gave up two runs, eight hits two walks and struck out six in six innings. He also had his first career RBI in the second.
Cardinals 8, Astros 7
In St. Louis, So Taguchi and Mark Grudzielanek each hit a two-run double, and St. Louis' previously untouchable bullpen withstood a mid-game meltdown, squandering almost all of a seven-run cushion in a victory over Houston.
Starting pitcher Jason Marquis (3-0) had two hits and scored twice for the Cardinals, who have won seven of eight. But he labored through 5 2-3 innings, striking out eight and throwing 108 pitches. After leading 8-1 in the sixth, St. Louis needed four relievers to end the Astros' three-game winning streak.
Astros starter Brandon Duckworth (0-1) walked three and had a throwing error in the Cardinals' five-run second.
Rockies 9, Dodgers 1
In Denver, Jason Jennings pitched his third career complete game for his first win in 12 starts, and Brad Hawpe hit a two-run homer in Colorado's victory over Los Angeles.
Jennings (1-2) scattered 10 hits, struck out six and walked two in his first victory since Aug. 17, 2004. The win was his 24th at Coors Field, matching Pedro Astacio for most at the ballpark.
Colorado roughed up Jeff Weaver (2-1) for 13 hits and eight runs in four-plus innings.
Diamondbacks 5, Padres 3
In Phoenix, Troy Glaus and Royce Clayton each homered and drove in two runs, Brad Halsey pitched a career-high seven innings and Arizona recovered from a 2-5 road trip to beat San Diego.
Glaus had three hits, including a two-run homer. Clayton got his RBIs with a homer and a single.
Brandon Lyon got his seventh save after allowing a leadoff homer to Xavier Nady in the ninth.
Tim Redding (0-3) gave up five runs and nine hits in 3 1-3 innings.
Brewers 6, Giants 1
In San Francisco, Victor Santos pitched a five-hitter for his first career complete game, Junior Spivey hit a two-run homer and Milwaukee beat Milwaukee to snap a seven-game losing streak.
Jeff Cirillo hit a two-run double for the Brewers, and Santos (1-0) struck out four.
Pedro Feliz tripled and scored for the Giants, who lost for the fourth time in five games.
Kirk Rueter (0-2) pitched into the eighth inning, but lost to Milwaukee for just the second time in his career.
Moises Alou went 0-for-3 in his first game since going on the disabled list April 8.
Rookie starter Chris Young outpitched Kevin Brown, and the Texas Rangers beat the New York Yankees 5-3 Friday.
Perplexing the Yankees with a 116kph breaking ball on a chilly night, Young (2-1) prevented New York from extending a winning streak to three for the first time this season. A 2.1m former basketball player at Princeton, Young gave up one run and four hits in 5 2-3 innings with seven strikeouts and two walks.
"He's tall. He's got a good fastball. He's deceptive," New York's John Flaherty said. "He throws hard, and the ball is on top of you. And the curveball comes at you at the same angle."
Francisco Cordero got two outs for his major league-leading eighth save.
"It's hard to be anything but disappointed," Brown said.
Brown (0-2) gave up four runs in the first inning against his former team, yet still managed to lower his ERA from 9.00 to 8.25. He allowed five runs and 11 hits in six innings, including a two-run double by David Dellucci.
Devil Rays 5, Red Sox 4
In St. Petersburg, Florida, Eduardo Perez led off the ninth inning with his seventh career pinch-hit homer, giving Tampa Bay a victory over Boston.
Julio Lugo went 3-for-4 and had three RBIs for Tampa Bay, which was three outs from beating knuckleballer Tim Wakefield for the first time in six years when pinch-hitter Trot Nixon drew a leadoff walk and scored on Mark Bellhorn's double.
Boston made it 4-all on Johnny Damon's RBI single.
Orioles 13, Blue Jays 5
In Toronto, Jay Gibbons homered and drove in five runs, and Baltimore bounced back from consecutive shutout losses with a victory over Toronto.
Melvin Mora, Miguel Tejada and Javy Lopez also homered for the Orioles. Gibbons ended a 22-inning scoreless streak with a broken-bat RBI single in the second and made it 13-5 with a three-run shot off Vinnie Chulk in the ninth.
Todd Williams (2-0) pitched 1 1-3 innings for the win.
Corey Koskie homered for the Blue Jays, who have lost three straight and five of six to fall to 9-9.
Tigers 5, Twins 4, 10 innings
In Detroit, Ivan Rodriguez homered leading off the 10th inning to give Detroit a victory over Minnesota.
Rodriguez lined a 2-1 pitch from Terry Mulholland (0-1) into the right-center stands to end Detroit's three-game losing skid and give the Tigers their first win in six one-run games this year.
Troy Percival (1-1) got the win with two innings of relief despite blowing a save in the ninth when Justin Morneau homered to tie it. The Tigers are 0-for-6 in save situations this year.
Carlos Guillen's RBI single put Detroit ahead 4-3 in the eighth.
White Sox 8, Royals 2
In Kansas City, Missouri, Freddy Garcia pitched seven strong innings, Juan Uribe had three hits and Chicago defeated Kansas City to stretch its winning streak to five games.
Chicago's 13-4 record matches the best start in team history set in 1912, 1919 and 1935. The White Sox are 7-2 on the road, their best road start since the 1982 club also went 7-2.
Garcia (2-1) allowed two runs and four hits. The White Sox have led in all 17 games, a franchise record to start the season. The 1901 team led in its first 16 games.
Royals starter Runelvys Hernandez (1-3) walked six in six innings.
Indians 6, Mariners 1
In Seattle, C.C. Sabathia pitched seven strong innings and Ronnie Belliard hit a three-run homer, leading Cleveland past Seattle.
The Indians handed Sabathia (1-0)a 5-0 lead in the first.
Ichiro Suzuki went 0-for-4 and is 3-for-20 in his last five games. He went hitless for the third time this season. The Mariners have scored one run in their past two games.
Athletics 4, Angels 3
In Anaheim, California, Scott Hatteberg's two-run single off Francisco Rodriguez with two outs in the ninth inning rallied Oakland over Los Angeles.
Keiichi Yabu (1-0), who spent 11 seasons in Japan, earned his first big league win. He allowed one hit in two scoreless innings before Octavio Dotel got three outs for his fourth save.
Dotel struck out Jeff DaVanon with a runner on second to end it.
Leadoff hitter Tsuyoshi Nishioka went 5-for-6 and drove in three runs Saturday as the Chiba Lotte Marines defeated the Rakuten Golden Eagles 12-4 to hand the struggling expansion team their seventh straight loss.
Nishioka had two singles in the second inning at Fullcast Stadium when the Marines scored seven runs to knock Rakuten ace Hisashi Iwakuma out of the game.
Lotte starter Naoyuki Shimizu held the Eagles to four runs on seven hits over seven innings to pick up the win as Bobby Valentine's team won their third straight.
Rakuten got a two-run homer from Takeshi Yamasaki and solo homers from Luis Lopez and Koichi Isobe, but couldn't erase a 10-0 lead the Marines built up after just 1-1/2 innings.
Iwakuma, who won a Pacific League-high 15 games last season for the Kintetsu Buffaloes, dropped to 2-3 after giving up nine runs on eight hits over 1-1/3 innings.
The Eagles have not won a game since April 13 when they beat the Softbank Hawks 11-9 at Fullcast Stadium.
At Invoice Seibu Dome, Nobuhiko Matsunaka doubled in a run in the first inning and hit a solo homer in the top of the fifth to power the front-running Softbank Hawks to a 6-4 win over the Seibu Lions.
Softbank starter Nagisa Arakaki was the winning the pitcher after holding the Lions to four runs on nine hits over five innings. Koji Mise retired the side in the ninth as the Hawks won their fifth straight game.
At Tokyo Dome, Satoshi Nakajima drove in a pair of runs on a single to right as the Nippon Ham Fighters scored four runs in the top of the 10th inning on their way to an 8-4 win over the Orix Buffaloes.
Nippon Ham reliever Yoshinori Tateyama picked up the win after coming on in the eighth and pitching two scoreless innings.
Juventus on Sunday stopped Inter from replacing SSC Napoli at the top of Serie A by beating their fierce rivals 1-0 and moving into the UEFA Champions League positions. Francisco Conceicao made sure that Napoli would stay two points ahead of reigning champions Inter by classily tucking home the winning goal 16 minutes before the end of an entertaining contest in Turin. Portugal attacker Conceicao netted his fourth goal of the season in all competitions after brilliant work from Randal Kolo Muani to give Juve a third straight league win. Juve are in fourth place on 46 points, ahead on goal-difference from SS
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