Apr 15, 2006 8 min read

ST. LOUIS (AP) – Aaron Harang stymied the St. Louis Cardinals for seven shutout innings and drove in his fourth career run in the Cincinnati Reds’ 1-0 victory on Friday night. Harang (2-1) allowed four hits with four strikeouts and one walk to the only batter he faced in the eighth to beat the Cardinals for the first time in four career decisions. Plus, he got the only RBI off NL Cy Young winner Chris Carpenter on a fifth-inning bloop single that fell just in front of center fielder Jim Edmonds.

Edmonds committed his third error in two games earlier in the fifth when he had trouble with Austin Kearns’ single, allowing him to take the extra base. He also struck out against Todd Coffey with the bases loaded for the last out in the eighth, dropping his average to .158.

Carpenter (1-1) was almost as stingy, allowing one run on four hits in eight innings. He struck out six, getting Adam Dunn three times, and walked three, while holding the Reds to one hit in 12 at-bats with runners in scoring position.

The Reds, who won the first of 15 meetings between the teams this year, were 10-25 against the Cardinals the previous two seasons. They had dropped 13 of the last 16 in St. Louis but this time quieted a sellout crowd of 40,901, the Cardinals’ fourth straight full house in four games at new Busch Stadium.

Marlins 5, Nationals 3

MIAMI – Dontrelle Willis got his first win of the season and also drove in a run with a bunt to help the Florida Marlins beat the Washington Nationals.

Josh Willingham homered, Chris Aguila had a two-run double and Miguel Cabrera an RBI single for the Marlins, who have won consecutive games for the first time under new manager Joe Girardi.

Willis (1-0), 22-10 last year, had no-decisions in his first two starts. He improved his career April record to 9-0 despite giving up three runs (two earned), eight hits, two walks and three hit batters in 5 2-3 innings.

Joe Borowski worked the ninth for his first save.

Ryan Drese (0-2) left because of a sore right elbow with two outs and two on in the fifth. The Nationals plan to place Drese on the 15-day disabled list Saturday.

Drese was charged with four runs, four hits and four walks.

Nick Johnson and Matthew LeCroy had RBI singles in the first to give the Nationals a 2-0 lead. Willis threw 29 pitches and surrendered four hits in the first.

Florida scored its first run in the third. Miguel Olivo led off with a double, and took third on Eric Reed’s bunt single. Olivo scored on Willis’ safety squeeze bunt.

Braves 5, Padres 4

ATLANTA – Jeff Francoeur appears to have snapped out of his early-season slump.

Francoeur homered for the second night in a row, hitting a two-out shot in the eighth inning that gave the Atlanta Braves a win over the San Diego Padres.

After starting the season with only two hits in 36 at-bats, last year’s rookie sensation homered twice Thursday in a loss to Philadelphia. He followed up with three hits against the Padres, including a liner off Scott Linebrink (0-1) that barely cleared the left-field wall.

Oscar Villareal (4-0) became the first four-game winner the majors with a scoreless eighth. Chris Reitsma worked around two hits in the ninth to earn his fourth save, retiring Terrmel Sledge for the final out with runners at second and third.

Tim Hudson got off to another rough start for the Braves, giving up a run-scoring double to Brian Giles in the first. But he finally made it beyond four innings for the first time this season, coming out with two outs in the seventh in a 4-4 game.

The Padres tried to knock out Hudson in the fourth, scoring three times to erase a 3-1 deficit. Vinny Castilla and Mark Bellhorn hit back-to-back RBI doubles, and Dave Roberts put San Diego ahead with a run-scoring single.

Twins 5, Yankees 1

MINNEAPOLIS – Scott Baker pitched seven strong innings in his first start against the New York Yankees, leading the Minnesota Twins to a victory that extended their winning streak to four.

Baker gave up one run, three hits and one walk while striking out four – silencing an offense that scored 40 runs while winning its previous four games. Baker (1-1) turned in the Twins’ second straight quality start, after the staff went the first eight games without one.

Juan Castro’s two-out RBI single pushed the Twins’ lead to 3-1 and chased Yankees starter Mike Mussina in the seventh. In the eighth against Kyle Farnsworth, Morneau drove in Torii Hunter with a single and Tony Batista doubled in Hunter to make it 5-1.

Red Sox 2, Mariners 1

BOSTON – Curt Schilling showed a rain-soaked home crowd and the Seattle Mariners that he’s back.

Pitching at home for the first time this season, Boston’s ace allowed one run and three hits in eight innings in a victory. Schilling has won his first three starts for the first time since 2002, showing once again that the right ankle that bothered him the last two years is strong.

Schilling (3-0) needs just one more win to match the total he had in 11 starts last year, when that injured ankle kept him on the disabled list for 76 days.

On Friday, his ERA dropped from 1.93 to 1.64 as he struck out seven and didn’t allow a walk.

Schilling got all the support he needed from an unlikely source. Alex Gonzalez, signed as a free agent for his fielding prowess at shortstop and not his hitting ability, drove in both runs with a double in the fourth and went 3-for-4 with two doubles off Jamie Moyer (0-2).

Devil Rays 7, Royals 2

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Jorge Cantu hit a go-ahead, three-run double with two outs in the seventh inning, and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays beat Kansas City to extend the Royals’ losing streak to five.

Trailing 2-0, Tampa Bay loaded the bases against Scott Elarton with one out in the seventh on two walks and a bunt single. Elmer Dessens relieved and retired Carl Crawford on a grounder, and Cantu doubled to center for a 3-2 lead.

Toby Hall hit an RBI single in the eighth and Crawford’s two-out grounder was misplayed by first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz – a seventh-inning defensive replacement – for a three-run error.

Devil Rays starter Scott Kazmir gave up two runs and four hits in six innings, struck out six and walked four.

Orioles 6, Angels 5

BALTIMORE – Ramon Hernandez hit a tiebreaking solo homer with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning, lifting the Baltimore Orioles past the Los Angeles Angels.

Hernandez connected on a 3-2 pitch from Scot Shields (1-1). It was his first home run with Baltimore and the fourth by the Orioles in a game that featured eight homers.

Los Angeles trailed 5-4 in the ninth when LaTroy Hawkins entered for Baltimore, seeking his first save. He struck out Tim Salmon and Casey Kotchman and went to 3-2 on Jeff Mathis before the rookie drove a fastball into the left-field seats for his first major league homer.

Tigers 5, Indians 1

DETROIT – Kenny Rogers won his home debut for the Tigers and Brandon Inge homered twice, leading Detroit over the Cleveland Indians.

Rogers (2-1) allowed one run and seven hits in eight innings, struck out five and walked three. Fernando Rodney finished with a one-hit ninth for Detroit, which had lost four straight following a 5-0 start under new manager Jim Leyland.

Chris Shelton had a triple and a double, and he is hitting .512 with a 1.293 slugging percentage. Detroit has 13 extra-base hits in its last two games.

Jake Westbrook (2-1) allowed five runs – two more than in his first two starts combined – and nine hits in six innings. Cleveland lost its third in a row.

Detroit took a 1-0 lead in the second on Magglio Ordonez’s single and Shelton’s third triple of the season, a liner past a diving Grady Sizemore in center.

Inge led off the third with a homer to right and, two pitches later, Curtis Granderson hit a long home run to left-center field.

Carlos Guillen doubled with one out in the fourth and scored on Inge’s two-out homer.

Guillen also ranged far into the shortstop hole in the third to take an RBI single away from Travis Hafner, and flipped the ball from his glove on Eduardo Perez’s grounder in the fourth to second baseman Placido Polanco, starting a 6-4-3 double play.

Perez grounded into a run-scoring double play in the fifth.