Thursday’s games
National League
Nationals 5, Diamondbacks, 3: Vinny Castilla had three hits and four RBIs, Livan Hernandez was nearly flawless until the ninth, and the first-place Nationals beat Arizona Thursday night in Washington D.C.’s first regular-season baseball game since Sept. 30, 1971. Castilla, who sat out the past two games with a sore right shoulder, went 3 for 3 with a double in the second, a two-run triple in the fourth and a two-run homer in the sixth – all off Arizona starter Javier Vazquez (0-2), who once pitched for the Expos. Mets 4, Astros 3: At New York, Jose Reyes beat out an infield single and stole second base to key a three-run New York rally in the seventh inning and the Mets rallied to beat Houston for their fourth straight victory.
American League
Blue Jays 2, Rangers 1: At Arlington, Texas, Roy Halladay pitched a five-hitter for his 16th career complete game, and pinch-hitter Russ Adams drove in the go-ahead run with an RBI groundout to lead Toronto Blue to victory against Texas. With the game tied at 1, the Blue Jays put runners on second and third in the seventh against Pedro Astacio (0-1) when Alexis Rios led off with a single and went to third on Gregg Zaun’s double. Russ Adams dribbled a grounder to first that scored Rios and helped the Blue Jays to their fifth victory in six games.
Devil Rays 12, Orioles 7: At St. Petersburg, Fla., Carl Crawford hit a three-run homer and Travis Lee and Josh Phelps also drove in three runs apiece to lead Tampa Bay to the win over Baltimore. The Devil Rays snapped a three-game losing streak with a season-high 14 hits in support of right-hander Rob Bell (1-0), who allowed nine hits and four earned runs in six innings, including a two-run homer to Melvin Mora.
Indians 8, White Sox 6: At Cleveland, Travis Hafner sparked a three-run sixth inning with a two-run double and helped Cleveland beat Chicago. Victor Martinez hit his first homer of the season and drove in two, and Hafner and Ben Broussard also had two RBIs apiece as the Indians pounded out 10 hits to avoid a three-game sweep. Cleveland came in with the lowest batting average (.211) and fewest runs (31) in the league.
Red Sox 8, Yankees 5: Edgar Renteria’s RBI double in the eighth broke a 5-all tie, and Boston took two of three from its visiting rival to even the season series at three games apiece. New York’s Randy Johnson gave up three homers for only the 12th time in his career. Boston manager Terry Francona and hitting coach Ron Jackson were ejected after questioning calls by plate umpire Greg Gibson.
Twins 10, Tigers 4: At Minneapolis, Brad Radke finally gave Minnesota what it was expecting from him with six strong innings and the Twins broke open the game with a big sixth inning to complete a three-game sweep of Detroit. Radke (1-2) retired 11 straight after giving up a single to Dimitri Young in the first and allowed just three hits and one run after that to get his first victory of the season and hand the Tigers their fourth straight loss.