Orioles spoil Yankees' plans

The Baltimore Orioles are causing fits for the top teams in the American League East.

Miguel Tejada hit a tiebreaking double off suddenly struggling Mariano Rivera in the 10th inning, and Aubrey Huff added a two-run homer to lead visiting Baltimore past the New York Yankees, 6-3, yesterday.

Shelley Duncan's three-run homer with two outs in the ninth sent the game to extra innings, but the Orioles bounced back quickly against Rivera (3-4), who blew a save in New York's 7-6 win in the series opener Monday night.

Nick Markakis and Tejada doubled with nobody out, putting the Orioles up, 4-3. Rivera got Kevin Millar to ground out, but Huff drove a 1-2 pitch into right-center for his second homer in two games.

Rivera has allowed nine hits and five runs in his last 3 1/3 innings. He had converted 19 straight save opportunities before Monday night.

Indians 5, Tigers 2 -- Fausto Carmona struck out a career-high 10 and finally got his 14th win as host Cleveland regained a share of the division lead by beating Detroit to split the two-game series between the AL Central's top teams.

Carmona (14-7) dominated Detroit, allowing one earned run and four hits in eight innings. He snapped a personal three-game losing streak, a skid during which the slumping Indians scored just two runs.

Braves 6, Giants 3 -- Tim Hudson (14-5) got his eighth straight win despite giving up Barry Bonds's 759th homer and being called for a couple of balks, and host Atlanta defeated San Francisco.

Bonds went deep on the first pitch of the sixth inning one week after breaking Hank Aaron's record. The new home run king extended his lead just across the street from where the Hammer went past Babe Ruth with No. 715 in 1974.

Reds 11, Cubs 9 -- Pinch hitter Josh Hamilton hit a two-run, tiebreaking homer in the eighth inning and Cincinnati topped host Chicago, which has lost 10 of 13.

Ryan Jorgensen, Jeff Conine, and Adam Dunn homered for the Reds, who have won six of nine. The start of the game was delayed 1 hour 31 minutes by rain.

Dodgers 6, Astros 3 -- Russell Martin hit two home runs in a game for the first time in his big league career -- including a go-ahead two-run shot in the sixth inning -- leading Brad Penny and host Los Angeles.

Penny (14-3) allowed three runs and 10 hits in six innings, striking out six and walking one. The victory was the first by a Dodgers starting pitcher in 17 games since Penny beat Colorado to improve to 13-1.

Rockies 3, Padres 0 -- Rookie Ubaldo Jimenez threw six shutout innings and rookie Ian Stewart had a pinch-hit, two-run single in the seventh to lift visiting Colorado.

Jimenez (2-2) overpowered the Padres with a fastball in the high 90s as he struck out a career-high nine batters. He allowed just two runners to reach second base.

Cardinals 8, Brewers 3 -- Scott Rolen had the eighth four-hit game of his career and Albert Pujols hit his 275th home run to back Joel Pineiro as the St. Louis won at Milwaukee.

The Cardinals closed within 3 1/2 games of the NL Central-leading Brewers.

Pineiro (2-1), acquired in a trade with the Red Sox July 31, gave up two runs and five hits in seven innings for his second straight victory.

Twins 6, Mariners 1 -- Torii Hunter hit a tiebreaking single in the eighth inning and a grand slam in the ninth as Minnesota won at Seattle.

Pat Neshek (7-2) pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings for the win.

The Mariners, who lost for the third time in nine games, stayed a percentage point ahead of the Yankees in the wild-card race.

Blue Jays 2, Angels 1 -- Shaun Marcum won his fifth straight start and Alex Rios had three hits to lead host Toronto.

Marcum (10-4) retired the first eight batters he faced before Reggie Willits singled in the third. He gave up one run and four hits, walked one, and struck out six.

A's 3, White Sox 2 -- Mike Piazza broke a scoreless tie with an RBI single in the fourth inning and Kurt Suzuki hit a two-run homer, leading host Oakland past stumbling Chicago, which has lost four straight.

Joe Blanton (10-8) won his second straight decision with just his second victory in his last eight starts for the defending AL West champion A's, who have their first three-game winning streak since June 13-15 during interleague play. Mark Buehrle (9-8) took the loss for the White Sox.

Diamondbacks 9, Marlins 6 -- Arizona pounded out 15 hits, including a two-run homer by Chris Snyder, to win at Miami.

The NL West leaders won for the 18th time in 23 games and improved to 5-1 against the Marlins this season.

Mets 10, Pirates 8 -- Moises Alou hit a two-run homer in New York's five-run first inning and the Mets scored five more in the ninth to hold off host Pittsburgh.

Rangers 4, Royals 3 -- Michael Young hit a two-run double and Ian Kinsler homered for host Texas. Mike Wood (3-1) pitched a scoreless inning to earn the win.

Nationals 4, Phillies 2 -- Tim Redding (2-3) drove in a pair of runs and limited visiting Philadelphia to two runs and three hits in six-plus innings, leading Washington to the win.