Tigers Roar Past Cardinals

Jim Leyland doesn’t expect his Detroit Tigers to be able to stop St. Louis’ Albert Pujols and Scott Rolen.

His only hope is that they can continue to limit the damage done by the two All-Stars.

Pujols and Rolen combined for seven hits, but only one run batted in, and the Tigers defeated the Cardinals, 10-6, on Friday night at Detroit.

“You’ve got Albert, who is arguably the best player in baseball, and you can’t really walk him, because Scott Rolen might be the hottest hitter in the game right now,” Leyland said. “So you just try to make sure that no one is on base when they come up.”

Pujols went four for four with his 26th homer and a walk in his second game since coming off the disabled list. He had been sidelined since June 3 because of a strained abdominal muscle.

“I came out a little too anxious last night,” said Pujols, who was hitless Thursday against the White Sox. “I thought my timing wasn’t back, but I was able to hit the ball well tonight.”

The Tigers lost catcher Ivan Rodriguez to a wrist injury after he was hit with a foul tip. X-rays were negative and his status is day to day.

“I’m sure it is officially a contusion, but to me, it is a bruise,” Leyland said. “He’s pretty sore, so we’ll have to see how it plays out.”

Rookie Justin Verlander (9-4) picked up the win, giving up four runs and seven hits in six innings. He struck out five, but couldn’t get past six innings for the fifth consecutive start.

“It wasn’t pretty, but if I give up nine and we score 10, I’m happy,” he said. “I’m still not focused enough, especially with two out.”

Fernando Rodney pitched two innings before closer Todd Jones gave up Pujols’ homer in the ninth. Pujols is five for six in his career against Jones, including three homers.

“He’s just a special hitter,” Jones said. “I’ve thrown him everything I have, and he hits all of it.

“Their clubhouse guy does a great job hiding his antennae, because that guy’s not from this planet.”

Chris Carpenter (6-4) lost for only the second time in seven starts, giving up a season-high seven runs and nine hits in seven innings.

“I didn’t get the ball down in the strike zone, and they capitalized,” he said. “They’ve got quality from top to bottom, and you have to keep the ball down, because they don’t make mistakes.”

San Diego 2, Seattle 1 -- Brian Giles threw out a runner at the plate in the ninth inning and singled home the winning run in the 10th to give the Padres the victory at San Diego.

The Padres loaded the bases off Julio Mateo (4-1) in the 10th on Rob Bowen’s one-out double, a single by Mike Cameron and a walk to Ben Johnson. Giles then singled up the middle to score Bowen.

The Mariners had a chance to score in the ninth off Trevor Hoffman, but Richie Sexson was thrown out at the plate by Giles on Kenji Johjima’s single to right.

Oakland 4, San Francisco 3 -- Nick Swisher drove in the go-ahead run with a ninth-inning triple and the Athletics rallied to defeat the Giants in the opener of the Bay Bridge Series at San Francisco.

Barry Bonds stole second base and scored on Pedro Feliz’s single in the eighth to put San Francisco ahead, 3-2, but Oakland rallied for two runs to post its 12th win in 14 games.

Texas 8, Colorado 6 -- Mark Teixeira and Hank Blalock hit back-to-back home runs in the seventh inning and the Rangers rallied to beat the Rockies at Denver.

It was the sixth time this season the Rangers have hit back-to-back homers. For Blalock, it was the 100th home run of his career.

Chicago White Sox 7, Houston 4 -- Jose Contreras (8-0) won his team-record 16th consecutive decision, Scott Podsednik hit his first career grand slam and the White Sox won a World Series rematch by beating the Astros at Chicago for their eighth win in a row.

Milwaukee 7, Kansas City 2 -- Dave Bush (5-6) pitched effectively into the eighth inning and Geoff Jenkins drove in three runs to lead the Brewers at Kansas City, Mo.

Baltimore 2, Washington 1 -- Rodrigo Lopez (5-8) gave up one run in seven innings and Chris Ray bounced back from his first blown save of the season to help the Orioles win at Baltimore.

New York Mets 6, Blue Jays 1 -- Tom Glavine became the majors’ first 11-game winner and New York set a club record with its ninth road win in a row.

David Wright and Lastings Milledge homered to support the pitching of Glavine (11-2), who won his ninth consecutive decision.

Cincinnati 3, Cleveland 0 -- Aaron Harang (8-5) pitched his third career shutout and Ryan Freel had a career-high five hits for the Reds at Cleveland.

New York Yankees 6, Florida 5 -- Jorge Posada drove in three runs at New York to help the Yankees cool off the Marlins, who lost for only the second time in 12 games.

Boston 10, Philadelphia 2 -- Josh Beckett (9-3) retired the first 16 batters and Manny Ramirez drove in five runs with two homers and a double at Boston to lead the Red Sox to their seventh win in a row.

Atlanta 4, Tampa Bay 3 -- Todd Pratt’s run-scoring grounder in the 11th inning at St. Petersburg, Fla., helped the Braves end their longest losing streak in 18 years at 10 games.