KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Luke Hochevar pitched six strong innings and Joey Gathright drove in the only runs, helping the Kansas City Royals beat the Detroit Tigers 2-0 on Wednesday night and hand Justin Verlander his AL-leading seventh loss.
Hochevar (3-2), the first overall pick in the 2006 draft, limited the Tigers to four singles while striking out five and walking three. He lowered his earned run average to 3.94 in five starts since being called up from Triple-A Omaha on April 20.
Relievers Ron Mahay, Leo Nunez and Joakim Soria completed the shutout, holding the Tigers to two hits over the final three innings. Soria picked up his 10th save in as many chances with a perfect ninth, and has not allowed a run in 16 1/3 innings in 17 appearances this season. He has allowed only four hits while striking out 18 and walking one.
Verlander (1-7) lost for the first time in 10 career starts against the Royals. He had been 6-0 with a 2.65 ERA against Kansas City and put in another solid performance, leaving after six-plus innings. Verlander allowed only two runs on six hits -- five of them single -- with three walks and three strikeouts.
The Tigers, last in the AL Central, have lost nine of 11. Full story
Blue Jays 6, Twins 5
MINNEAPOLIS -- Matt Stairs hit a grand slam and Roy Halladay rebounded from a shaky start to help the Blue Jays beat the Twins.
Halladay (4-5) has been the victim of poor run support all season, getting only 3.14 runs per outing entering Wednesday. Stairs' slam in the first inning gave the right-hander a 4-0 advantage.
The Twins answered back as Justin Morneau hit his seventh home run of the season in the bottom of the first to make it 4-2 and Jason Kubel added an RBI double to make it 4-3.
Michael Cuddyer's RBI groundout tied it in the third.
Toronto regained the lead on Brad Wilkerson's RBI single in the fourth off Boof Bonser (2-5).
Halladay pitched 6 2/3 innings, allowing four runs and nine hits. He struck out nine. Scott Downs pitched the ninth for his fifth save in six chances.
Nationals 5, Mets 3
NEW YORK -- Ryan Zimmerman hit a home run and Tim Redding pitched two-hit ball for six innings for Washington.
Jesus Flores hit a tiebreaking single with two outs in the seventh off Aaron Heilman, who was booed on and off the mound by the Shea Stadium crowd. Washington added three more runs in the inning, sticking Claudio Vargas with a tough-luck loss in his Mets debut.
Brian Schneider homered and drove in two runs against his former club, but New York (20-18) dropped to a disappointing 3-3 on its seven-game homestand against last-place teams.
Redding (5-3) allowed one run and struck out four, improving to 3-0 in three road starts this season. Carlos Beltran's RBI single off Jon Rauch cut it to 5-3 in the eighth, but Rauch retired Endy Chavez on an inning-ending flyout with runners at the corners.
Rauch worked a perfect ninth, earning his eighth save.
Dodgers 6, Brewers 4
MILWAUKEE -- Juan Pierre hit a go-ahead, two-run double in the ninth inning, and the Los Angeles Dodgers overcame a three-run deficit to stop a season-high, five-game losing streak.
Los Angeles had been 0-18 when trailing after eight innings. Milwaukee and its beleagured bullpen have lost 10 games in which it led at some point.
Milwaukee was ahead 4-3 in the ninth when Guillermo Mota (1-2) entered. He walked Delwyn Young and allowed a single to Andre Ethier that put runners on the corners. Pierre drove a pitch deep to left-center to make it 5-4, stole third and scored on Andruw Jones' groundout.
Joe Beimel and Jonathan Broxton (2-1) combined on a perfect eighth for the Dodgers, and Takashi Saito threw a 1-2-3 ninth for his sixth save.
Cardinals 5, Pirates 1
ST. LOUIS -- Todd Wellemeyer allowed two hits into the eighth inning for St. Louis, and Albert Pujols had two hits, reaching base for the 41st consecutive game to start the season.
Wellemeyer (4-1) allowed Luis Rivas' single with one out in the first, then gave up only three walks before Jose Bautista singled to start the eighth. That ended an outing that matched his career best since moving into the rotation last year.
Pujols singled twice, drew his major league-leading 12th intentional walk in the fourth after Ankiel's two-out double and had the first of consecutive sacrifice flies off Paul Maholm (2-4) in the sixth that put the Cardinals ahead 4-0. His streak of reaching base is the best in the majors to start the season since Derek Jeter's 53-game run in 1999 for the Yankees.
Maholm allowed four runs and 11 hits in six innings with three walks and six strikeouts.
Cubs 8, Padres 5
CHICAGO -- Ted Lilly struck out 11 in six innings to win his third straight start, and Alfonso Soriano and Geovany Soto hit home runs to lead the Cubs.
Backed by three RBIs apiece from Soriano and Soto, Lilly (4-4) allowed six hits and four runs in six innings. After striking out 10 against Arizona in his previous start, he fanned eight in the first four innings.
Jake Peavy (4-3) needed 87 pitches to make it through four innings. He gave up four runs and seven hits, struck out eight and walked two.
It was Peavy's shortest outing since going four innings against Arizona last Sept. 5.
Diamondbacks 4, Rockies 3
PHOENIX -- Micah Owings threw six shutout innings and Brandon Lyon earned his 10th consecutive save while Arizona continued its domination of the defending NL champions.
Orlando Hudson had a two-run double for the Diamondbacks, who have won seven of eight games against Colorado this season after being swept in the NL Championship Series last fall.
Lyon pitched out of trouble in the ninth for his 11th save in 13 chances. He gave up two-out singles to Todd Helton and Garrett Atkins before retiring Brad Hawpe on a pop to third base.
Owings (5-1) limited Colorado to five hits in six innings, with two walks and five strikeouts. He had a 4-0 lead but had to sweat out the victory when the bullpen faltered.
Jorge De La Rosa (1-2) gave up four runs and seven hits in 4 2/3 innings for Colorado.
Astros 6, Giants 3
SAN FRANCISCO -- Miguel Tejada had three hits, including the go-ahead single in the seventh, and Lance Berkman and Brad Ausmus hit home runs for Houston.
Berkman hit his 14th home run of the season, a two-run shot off San Francisco starter Pat Misch in the first, to extend his hitting streak to 13 games. It also tied Berkman with Philadelphia's Chase Utley for the major league lead in home runs.
Hunter Pence added a pair of hits for the Astros, who have won 10 of their past 12.
Oscar Villarreal (1-3) pitched one-third of an inning to get the victory, while Jose Valverde worked the ninth for his 10th save in 13 tries. Jack Taschner (2-1) took the loss for San Francisco.
Pinch-hitter Jose Cruz Jr. led off the seventh with a walk and was sacrificed to second. Tejada, who is scheduled to take his first day off this season on Thursday, then met Giants reliever Billy Sadler with a sharp single up the middle to make it 4-3.
