OAKLAND, Calif. — Rookie Jarrod Parker held Texas hitless until the eighth inning, and Brandon Inge drove in four runs in Oakland’s eight-run second inning as the Athletics beat the Rangers 12-1 on Monday night.
Parker (2-2) easily worked his way through baseball’s highest-scoring offense in his ninth career start before Michael Young grounded a single through the middle for Texas’ first hit leading off the eighth.
Parker got a warm ovation from the crowd of 10,120 and then recovered to get out of the inning on two more pitches — a popup by Nelson Cruz and an inning-ending double play from David Murphy. That ended the night for Parker, who allowed one hit, walked three and struck out six.
TWINS 10, ROYALS 7
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Justin Morneau and Josh Willingham each hit two-run homers, Trevor Plouffe also went deep, and Minnesota held off the Royals.
Cole De Vries (1-1) lasted five shaky innings to pick up his first major league victory in his third career start. He got plenty of help from Jamey Carroll, who reached base four times with two RBIs, and Ben Revere, who also drove in a pair of runs.
The game was tied 4-all in the fifth when Morneau belted his homer off Will Smith (1-2), also making his third big league start.
Mariners 8, Angels 6
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Munenori Kawasaki had a three-run double, and John Jaso had three hits, leading Seattle.
Mariners starter Jason Vargas (7-4) gave up four runs and nine hits in 5 2⁄3 innings. He struck out a season-best eight.
Kyle Seager homered and Seattle had 10 hits overall. But the Mariners had to survive a late rally by the Angels, who scored twice in the sixth and two more runs in the eighth.
Cardinals 5, Mets 4
NEW YORK — Allen Craig hit a tiebreaking, two-run homer in the eighth inning, and the St. Louis Cardinals found a bit of missing pop, beating the New York Mets and stopping their season-worst losing streak at five.
The Cardinals have never been swept in a four-game series in New York. The World Series champions had been outscored 19-1 by the Mets and no-hit by Johan Santana before salvaging the finale at Citi Field.
Craig connected one out after Matt Holliday hit a leadoff single against Jon Rauch (3-5) for a 5-3 lead.
GIANTS 3, CUBS 2
SAN FRANCISCO — Ryan Vogelsong won his fourth straight decision, Buster Posey scored the go-ahead run on a double-play grounder in the seventh inning, and the Giants beat the Cubs for a four-game sweep.
Brandon Crawford hit an RBI double and drove in another run on a fielder’s choice to back Vogelsong (4-2).
Cubs reliever Carlos Marmol (0-2) was hit with a line drive on Angel Pagan’s infield single in the seventh but stayed in the game after being checked out, then walked Brandon Belt on four pitches to load the bases for Joaquin Arias, who hit into a double play that scored a run.
DODGERS 4, PHILLIES 3
PHILADELPHIA — Elian Herrera hit a tiebreaking RBI single off Jonathan Papelbon in the ninth inning to lift the Dodgers over the Phillies.
Placido Polanco hit a tying, two-run homer to help the Phillies rally from a 3-0 deficit against Clayton Kershaw, but it wasn’t enough.
Dee Gordon ripped a triple to right-center to start the ninth against Papelbon (0-2).
Herrera followed with a grounder through the shortstop hole to put major league-leading Los Angeles ahead to stay.
Kershaw, the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner, gave up three runs and eight hits in seven innings to remain winless in his last three starts.
Ronald Belisario (1-0) tossed a scoreless eighth.
ROCKIES 4, D’BACKS 0
PHOENIX — Colorado rookie Christian Friedrich pitched four-hit ball for seven innings in the best outing of his young career, and the Rockies won for the seventh time in eight games.
The 24-year-old left-hander struck out four and walked two, both in the first inning, to improve to 4-1 in six starts.
