Burnett rights ship

The free agent righthander took a no-hit bid into the seventh inning in his second start since signing an $82.5 million, five-year deal, and Nick Swisher homered for the third time in four games to help Burnett beat the Tampa Bay Rays, 7-2, last night in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Mark Teixeira, another of the Yankees' high-priced offseason acquisitions, drove in the go-ahead run with an eighth-inning sacrifice fly off J.P. Howell (0-1) after missing New York's previous three games with tendinitis in his left wrist.

Derek Jeter added a three-run homer in the ninth.

Burnett (2-0) allowed one base runner entering the seventh, when Tampa Bay's Carl Crawford fouled off three 0-2 pitches before lining a single to left and later scoring on Carlos Pena's single.

The Rays added a second run in the inning on Pat Burrell's sacrifice fly to make it 2-all heading into the eighth, when the Yankees broke the tie with a double, single, and Teixeira's sacrifice fly.

Burnett allowed two runs and three hits, striking out nine in eight innings - taming a torrid offense that had 17 hits in each of its previous two games, including a 15-5 rout of the Yankees Monday night.

Jorge Posada had a bases-loaded sacrifice fly off Matt Garza in the first inning. Swisher added a solo homer in the fourth.

Mariners 3, Angels 2 - Franklin Gutierrez hit a leadoff double in the 10th inning and scored the winning run on a throwing error by pitcher Scot Shields, giving Seattle the victory in its home opener.

Ken Griffey went 1 for 3 with a walk in his first home game for the Mariners since Sept. 26, 1999. The 39-year-old slugger has the same corner locker inside "The House that Junior Built" that he had for half a season before Seattle granted his request and traded him to his hometown Cincinnati Reds nine years ago.

Gutierrez doubled off Shields (0-1) before Yuniesky Betancourt dropped a sacrifice bunt down the third base line. Shields fielded it cleanly, but his hurried throw was well high and wide of first base.

Twins 3, Blue Jays 2 - Joe Crede's double off the center-field fence in the 11th inning scored Justin Morneau from first base, lifting Minnesota over visiting Toronto.

Glen Perkins held the highest-scoring team in the majors to two runs in eight innings for the Twins, who snapped a 10-game losing streak to the Blue Jays.

Jesse Carlson (0-1) took the loss for Toronto, spoiling the second consecutive impressive outing from rookie Ricky Romero. He gave up two runs and eight hits in eight innings.

Royals 9, Indians 3 - John Buck broke open a tight game with a grand slam for his second homer of the night and had a career-high five RBIs, lifting host Kansas over Cleveland.

Buck hit a leadoff home run off Carl Pavano (0-2) in the fifth inning, then launched his second career grand slam off Vinnie Chulk in the eighth to put the Royals up 9-3.

Orioles 7, Rangers 5 - Adam Jones hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the 10th inning and Baltimore held on to hand host Texas its fifth straight loss.

With the score tied at 3, Brian Roberts singled with one out in the 10th off Eddie Guardado. Jones, who had three RBIs, followed with his first homer of the season. Luke Scott added a two-run double later in the four-run 10th.

Marlins 5, Braves 1 - Dan Uggla drove in three runs, Chris Volstad and two relievers combined on a four-hitter, and Florida beat host Atlanta to improve to a big league-best 6-1 - all against NL East opponents - for its best start since it opened 1997 with an 8-1 record.

Volstad (2-0) gave up three hits and one run in seven innings. He struck out four and walked two while lowering his ERA to 1.50.

Diamondbacks 7, Cardinals 6 - Eric Byrnes broke out of a slump with a two-out RBI single in the 10th inning that allowed host Arizona to end St. Louis's five-game winning streak.

Long after the Cardinals lost starting pitcher Chris Carpenter to a ribcage injury, Byrnes, who had one hit in his first 17 at-bats, lined the first delivery from Brad Thompson (0-1) into left field to score Justin Upton, who had snapped out of an 0-for-15 slide with a single.

Reds 6, Brewers 1 - Bronson Arroyo (2-0) held host Milwaukee to four hits in six-plus innings to power Cincinnati to victory.

The White Sox-Tigers game in Detroit was postponed by rain. No makeup date was announced.