ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Carl Crawford hit a three-run homer and Cliff Floyd added a pair of run-scoring singles, helping the Tampa Bay Rays stop Ervin Santana from becoming the AL's first seven-game winner with an 8-5 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday.
Santana departed with a 5-4 lead with one runner on and two outs in the sixth inning, but the game quickly shifted when Justin Speier (0-3) entered and gave up a double to Akinori Iwamura and Crawford's third homer of the season.
B.J. Upton doubled for the third consecutive hit off the Angels reliever. He took third base on a wild pitch and scored on another wild pitch by Speier, who struggled for the second time in three days against the Rays.
Evan Longoria's two-run, ninth-inning homer off Speier gave Tampa Bay a 2-0 win in the series opener Friday night. The Rays won by the same score Saturday, holding the Angels to a total of four hits in the two losses.
J.P. Howell (2-0) pitched three scoreless innings in relief of Andy Sonnanstine to get the victory. Troy Percival worked the ninth for his ninth save in 10 opportunities.
ROYALS 4, ORIOLES 0: At Kansas City, Mo., Brian Bannister allowed two singles in eight innings and the Royals ended their 12-game skid against the Orioles. It was Kansas City's first victory over Baltimore since July 25, 2006.
Bannister struck out five and walked two to end a personal four-game losing streak. He did not allow a runner to reach second. Joakim Soria tossed a perfect ninth to finish Kansas City's fourth shutout of the year.
Bannister was 0-4 with an 8.02 ERA and had allowed 33 hits in 21 1-3 innings over his previous four starts. He held the Orioles to one hit — a Guillermo Quiroz line drive single to right in the third — in the first six innings and quickly erased him when Luis Hernandez grounded into a double play.
The only other hit Bannister (4-4) allowed was a two-out Luke Scott single in the seventh.
Brian Burres (3-4) allowed four runs and nine hits in six-plus innings for the Orioles.
ATHLETICS 12, RANGERS 6: At Arlington, Texas, Emil Brown hit a three-run homer and drove in four runs to help the Athletics beat Texas, ending the Rangers' season-best five-game winning streak Sunday. Frank Thomas drove in two runs to give him 1,695 RBIs, tying him with Cal Ripken for 21st all-time. Ian Kinsler had three hits for the Rangers, who had won nine of their previous 11.
With the game tied at 6, Bobby Crosby led off the seventh with a double, then stopped at third on Mark Ellis' single. Rangers reliever Franklyn German's pickoff attempt had Ellis in a rundown between first and second, but when Crosby broke for the plate, Rangers first baseman Frank Catalanotto threw late to catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia as Crosby scored to put the A's in front.
German (1-1) gave up two runs and three hits in 2-3 inning to suffer the loss.
Santiago Casilla (2-0) allowed two hits in 1 1-3 innings for the victory.
MARINERS 6, WHITE SOX 3: At Seattle, Raul Ibanez hit a two-run homer in the third inning and the Mariners beat the White Sox to snap a five-game losing streak. Jose Lopez and Ichiro Suzuki each went 3-for-4 for the Mariners, who finished with 13 hits.
Seattle got to Gavin Floyd (3-2), who has been one of the toughest pitchers to hit so far this season, for five runs and nine hits over 3 2-3 innings.
Floyd entered with a major league-leading opponent batting average of .149. He carried a no-hitter into the ninth Tuesday against Minnesota and into the seventh April 12 against Detroit.
Miguel Batista (3-4) went 5 1-3 innings for Seattle, allowing three runs and 10 hits.
J.J. Putz worked the ninth for his first save since April 22 and third in five opportunities this year.
TWINS 9, RED SOX 8: At Minneapolis, Craig Monroe went 2-for-4 with two of light-hitting Minnesota's three home runs and four RBIs, and the Twins hung on for a victory over the Red Sox. Joe Nathan gave up two runs in the ninth, but won a showdown with pinch-hitter Manny Ramirez by getting him to ground out to shortstop with the tying run on second base to pick up his 12th save in as many chances.
Monroe had his third career multihomer game and Adam Everett also went deep during an atypically brutal start for Tim Wakefield (3-2) in the Metrodome. Nick Blackburn (3-2) earned the victory.
National League
METS 8, REDS 3: At New York, Carlos Beltran and Ryan Church hit back-to-back homers in the fifth inning to support Oliver Perez and lead the New York Mets over bumbling Cincinnati. The Reds batted out of order in the ninth after an earlier double switch, with backup catcher David Ross coming to the plate in the No. 8 spot instead of Corey Patterson. Ross flied out to right. Once Mets manager Willie Randolph informed the umpires of the mistake, the out was charged to Patterson after a prolonged discussion by the umpires, and Ross batted again. This time, he singled.
Reflecting their inconsistent offense, the Mets hadn't hit back-to-back home runs this season before Saturday. They've now done it twice in two days.
Perez (3-3) got his first win since April 19, though the left-hander still had trouble with his command at times.
Reds rookie Johnny Cueto fell to 2-4 after allowing just three runs in the first two starts of his career.
MARLINS 5, NATIONALS 4: At Washington, Dan Uggla's second home run was a go-ahead drive in the eighth inning that lifted the Marlins to their seventh straight win. Uggla drove in two runs and has seven RBIs and three homers in two games; he hit a grand slam Saturday and has 11 homers this season. The Marlins have won all six of their games at Nationals Park, which opened this season, and their seven-game win streak overall is their best run since winning nine straight in August 2006.
Washington's Aaron Boone had a homer, triple and single with two RBIs in the loss.
Logan Kensing (2-0) pitched a scoreless seventh inning for the win, and Kevin Gregg pitched the ninth for his seventh save in eight chances.
Luis Ayala (1-3) gave up three runs on two homers in the eighth inning, spoiling Shawn Hill's solid outing.
BREWERS 5, CARDINALS 3: At Milwaukee, Ryan Braun hit a pair of solo home runs, Jeff Suppan pitched seven solid innings and the Brewers' new closer by committee held on for a win over the Cardinals. With Eric Gagne out as the closer, the Brewers turned to Salomon Torres and Brian Shouse in the ninth. Torres allowed a leadoff double and a walk before giving way to Shouse with two outs. Shouse, a left-handed specialist, gave up an RBI single to Yadier Molina before finishing for his first save and fifth of his career.
CUBS 6, DIAMONDBACKS 4: At Chicago, pinch-hitter Daryle Ward delivered a two-run double in the eighth inning, and the Cubs rallied again to beat the Diamondbacks. Carlos Marmol (1-0) struck out two in a perfect eighth and Kerry Wood pitched the ninth to earn his seventh save in 10 chances and finish off Chicago's three-game sweep of the NL West leaders. The Cubs scored six in the seventh to beat Arizona 7-2 on Saturday.
GIANTS 4, PHILLIES 3: At San Francisco, Steve Holm hit a go-ahead, two-run drive in the seventh inning for his first major league home run, and the Giants held on for a victory in the rubber game against the Phillies. Holm homered in his first at-bat on the first pitch he saw from J.C. Romero (3-1) after replacing Bengie Molina in the top of the seventh, sending the ball into the seats in left-center. Romero had allowed only one homer in his previous 61 appearances and came in with an 0.63 ERA over his first 17 outings of 2008.
PADRES 6, ROCKIES 1: At San Diego, Scott Hairston and Khalil Greene homered to spoil Greg Reynolds' first start, leading the Padres to a victory over the Rockies and their first series win in nearly a month.
The Padres have been playing so poorly that their two consecutive wins match their season high, which they've managed only three times. After winning for just the sixth time in 24 games, the Padres (14-24) continue to have the worst record in the majors.
San Diego had lost eight consecutive series before taking two of three from the defending NL champion Rockies. The Padres hadn't won a series since winning two of three on the road against the Los Angeles Dodgers on April 11-13.
Reynolds (0-1) and Chris Young (3-3) had been locked in a scoreless duel until Hairston hit Reynolds' first pitch of the sixth inning just a few feet inside the foul pole on the side of the Western Metal Supply Co. brick warehouse in the left-field corner at Petco Park. It was Hairston's fifth.
ASTROS 8, DODGERS 5: At Los Angeles, Hiroki Kuroda took a no-hitter into the seventh inning for the Dodgers before the Astros broke out for seven hits and six runs in the eighth inning to pull out a victory. Lance Berkman, Carlos Lee and Hunter Pence had RBI singles against reliever Jonathan Broxton (1-1), and Brad Ausmus added a two-run single against the right-hander as the Astros won for the eighth time in nine games. Houston also completed its first three-game sweep at Dodger Stadium since September 25-27, 1992.
Michael Bourn capped the rally with a sacrifice fly, giving Houston a 7-3 lead.
Geoff Geary (1-1) pitched one inning for the win, and Jose Valverde got the final out for his eighth save after Doug Brocail gave up two runs in the ninth.