Baseball-Highlights of Friday's Major League Baseball

(Adds more games) Aug 30 (The Sports XChange) - Highlights of Friday's Major League Baseball games. - - - - Pirates 5, Cardinals 0 Garrett Jones could not have picked a better time to break out of his slump as the first baseman went 3-for-4 with his 100th career home run and four RBIs to lead the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 5-0 whitewash of the St. Louis Cardinals. Pirates starter Francisco Liriano (15-6) threw eight innings of two-hit ball and combined with Mark Melancon, who allowed two hits in the ninth, on the Pirates' 15th shutout of the season as Pittsburgh moved into a tie with the Cardinals for the National League Central lead. Both teams are 78-56 with 28 games remaining and play five more times in the next nine days, including a three-game series next weekend at St. Louis. Jones came into the game with only one hit in his previous 34 at-bats, a skid that dropped his batting average to .235 and caused him to be benched for the previous three games by manager Clint Hurdle. The Cardinals were shut out for the 10th time this season while losing for just the fourth time in their last 13 games. - - - - Yankees 8, Orioles 5 Ichiro Suzuki highlighted a five-run fifth inning with a go-ahead two-run home run and the New York Yankees rallied for a 8-5 victory over the Baltimore Orioles. Alfonso Soriano also hit a two-run home run for the Yankees, who moved to four and a half games from the second wild-card spot. The Yankees won for the 13th time in 19 games by sending nine men to the plate during a five-run fifth that lasted for nearly 25 minutes. Suzuki had the biggest blow with a long home run into the right field seats, ending a homerless drought of 131 at-bats. Neither starter pitched well but New York's CC Sabathia (12-11) picked up the win despite allowing five runs and seven hits in 5 2/3 innings. - - - - Red Sox 4, White Sox 3 Ryan Dempster, pitching for the first time since being suspended for hitting Alex Rodriguez on August 18, worked a solid six and a third innings in leading the Boston Red Sox to a 4-3 victory over the Chicago White Sox. Dempster, who served a five-game suspension for plunking A-Rod and was pushed back with extra time, won for the first time since July 27. David Ortiz snapped an 0-for-23 dry spell with a two-run single for Boston and the sizzling Shane Victorino had two hits, an RBI and two runs to back Dempster (7-9). - - - - Tigers 7, Indians 2 Victor Martinez doubled twice and drove in two runs and the Detroit Tigers extended their American League Central lead to seven-and-a-half games with a 7-2 rain-shortened victory over the second-place Cleveland Indians. The game was called after seven innings following a one-hour, nine-minute rain delay. Rick Porcello (11-7) gave up two runs in five and two third innings for his seventh win in his last eight decisions. Andy Dirks added two hits and scored twice for Detroit, which is 14-3 against Cleveland this season. - - - - Dodgers 9, Padres 2 Yasiel Puig had four hits, fellow Los Angeles rookie Hyun-Jin Ryu bounced back from two poor outings and Adrian Gonzalez hit two home runs in a 9-2 win over San Diego. After being removed from the Dodgers' win over Chicago on Wednesday for undisclosed reasons Puig had four hits, two stolen bases, a double and an RBI as he became just the third major leaguer with 33 or more multi-hit games in his first 77 games, joining Joe DiMaggio and Ichiro Suzuki. The Dodgers saddled the slumping Eric Stults with four runs and eight hits in five and a third innings and then battered Anthony Bass for five hits and five runs, including two homers, in one and two third innings. - - - - A's 4, Rays 3 Catcher Kurt Suzuki celebrated his Oakland homecoming in style, hitting a three-run homer and lifting the A's to a 4-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays. Suzuki played in O.co Coliseum for the first time since returning to the A's on Aug. 23 in a trade with the Washington Nationals. Suzuki's first homer since his return gave the A's a 3-1 lead in the fifth. The Rays scored twice in the top of the eighth to pull even at three, but the A's answered with a run in the bottom of the inning. The A's pulled to within two games of first-place Texas in the American League West, and the Rays fell three-and-a-half games behind first-place Boston in the AL East. In the AL wild-card race, the A's jumped a half game over Tampa Bay for the top spot. - - - - Braves 2, Marlins 1 Jose Fernandez was sharp once again for the Miami Marlins, but fellow rookie Julio Teheran of the Atlanta Braves was just a little better as the Braves prevailed 2-1. Freddie Freeman hit a two-run homer in the first inning to snap Fernandez's five-game winning streak. Teheran (11-7) allowed four hits in six and a third innings, Fernandez's triple leading to the only run. - - - - Twins 3, Rangers 2 The Minnesota Twins spoiled what had been a masterful performance by Yu Darvish with two home runs and beat the Texas Rangers 3-2. Texas (78-56) saw its three-game winning streak end and the Twins (58-75) snapped a five-game skid, which included a stretch of scoring just one run in four straight games. Despite taking a no-hitter and a 2-0 lead into the seventh, Darvish couldn't hold on. Chris Herrmann and Justin Morneau hit consecutive home runs, the third time Minnesota has gone back to back this season, to take a 3-2 advantage. Darvish had struck out 11 but left his third straight game after failing to protect a 2-0 lead. - - - - Rockies 9, Reds 6 Veteran Todd Helton belted two three-run homers as the Rockies beat the Cincinnati Reds 9-6. The home runs left 40-year-old Helton one hit shy of 2,500 for his career. He tied his career high with six RBIs, having driven in six runs on May 29, 2003, against the Los Angeles Dodgers. - - - - Mets 3, Nationals 2 Dillon Gee beat division rival Washington for the fourth time this season and Ike Davis hit a change up for a home run in the fourth as the New York Mets defeated the Nationals 3-2. It was just the sixth loss in the last 20 games for Washington (68-66), who were trying to get to four games above .500 for the first time since July 7. - - - - Blue Jays 3, Royals 2 Left-hander Mark Buehrle pitched seven shutout innings and Adam Lind drove in two runs as the Toronto Blue Jays held on to defeat the Kansas City Royals 3-2. Lind drove in two runs in the first inning with a single, and Buehrle (11-7) held the Royals to four hits in winning his sixth straight decision for the first time since 2005, when he won a career-best nine in a row. The Blue Jays won their second consecutive game as they snapped the Royals' five-game win streak. - - - - Phillies 6, Cubs 5 Michael Young singled home Roger Bernadina for the go-ahead run with a two-out single in the ninth as the Philadelphia Phillies topped the Chicago Cubs 6-5. Bernadina reached based by being hit by a Kevin Gregg pitch. He then stole second and came home with what proved to be the game-winning run on Young's base hit to right. Cubs Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg, got the win in his first visit to Wrigley Field as Phillies interim manager in the opener of a three-game series. - - - - Giants 1, Diamondbacks 0 Angel Pagan doubled and scored seven pitches into the game and Tim Lincecum threw six shutout innings to help San Francisco beat Arizona 1-0. Pagan, leading off for the Giants, doubled to deep right field on an 0-2 pitch from Randall Delgado (4-5) and moved around on a sacrifice bunt and Brandon Belt's sacrifice fly. Lincecum (8-13) gave up six hits, walked two and struck out two in six scoreless innings. - - - - Mariners 7, Astros 1 Right-hander Taijuan Walker, the Seattle Mariners' top prospect, flashed his potential in notching his first career victory, a 7-1 decision over the Houston Astros. Walker (1-0) skillfully mixed an assortment of pitches that worked off a four-seam fastball that routinely hit 96 miles per hour. Ranked by MLB.com as the fourth-best prospect in baseball, Walker showcased that talent by stifling the Astros (44-90) throughout his five-inning stint, facing just four batters over the minimum. The Mariners (61-73) supported Walker with a balanced attack, excluding second baseman Nick Franklin and catcher Henry Blanco, each member of the lineup reached base via hit or walk. - - - - Angels 5, Brewers 0 Jered Weaver threw seven scoreless innings and Grant Green cleared the bases with a seventh-inning double as the Angels beat the Milwaukee Brewers 5-0. - - - - (Editing by Benjamin Everill)