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 After going six scoreless innings to beat the Mets last weekend,
Velasquez (2-0, 0.00 ERA) ran his streak to 14 innings to start the
season, and he did so with perhaps the more dominant outing by any
starter during the still-young season.
In his ninth major league start (21th appearance), the 23-year-old
whiffed 16 batters, all but two of whom went down swinging. He
retired the final 14 batters he faced, striking out the side in the
eighth inning and getting two more strikeouts in the ninth.
It's the third win in a row and the fifth in six games for the
Phillies, which started the season on a four-game losing streak but
have rallied for their first .500 record since being 3-3 last April
12. The Padres lost the third straight game in the four-game series.
Howard provided the only offense through the first five innings with
a shot over the wall just left of center to begin the second. He
tacked on a sacrifice fly in the sixth.
Nationals 6, Braves 2
WASHINGTON -- Bryce Harper smashed a grand slam for his 100th career
homer, Wilson Ramos had a homer and two RBIs and Stephen Strasburg
allowed just two runs as Washington beat winless Atlanta to complete
a four-game sweep.
 Harper crushed a 1-0 pitch from Julio Teheran off the second deck in
right field with two outs in the third inning. At 23 years and 181
days, Harper became the eighth-youngest player to reach 100 homers,
just 20 days shy of Johnny Bench and four days ahead of Albert
Pujols.
Harper's third homer of the year gave the Nationals a 4-1 lead and
led to a short curtain call from the dugout in the last game of the
homestand. It was the first career grand slam for Harper, who hit 42
homers last season.
The Braves are 0-9 this season and have lost their last 14 games at
Nationals Park.
Ramos hit a solo homer in the fourth to give Washington a 5-1 lead
and his RBI double in the sixth made it 6-1.
Tigers 7, Pirates 4
PITTSBURGH -- Nick Castellanos collected three hits and drove in
four runs, Jordan Zimmermann tossed six shutout innings and Detroit
beat Pittsburgh.
Zimmermann gave up six hits, walked two and struck out four. The
right-hander, signed by the Tigers to a five-year, $110 million deal
during the offseason, has worked 13 scoreless innings in his first
two starts for Detroit. Francisco Rodriguez pitched a scoreless
ninth inning for his second save of the season.
Jordy Mercer pulled Pittsburgh within 4-3 when he lined an RBI
single to left in the seventh inning. Castellanos extended the lead
back to four in the eighth with a two-run homer off Tony Watson.
Indians 6, Rays 0
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Danny Salazar gave up three hits in six
innings and Marlon Byrd, Rajai Davis and Jose Ramirez hit home runs
as Cleveland beat Tampa Bay.
Salazar improved to 2-0 and had nine strikeouts in a dominating
performance.
After four scoreless innings, the Indians got on the board in the
top of the fifth when Francisco Lindor hit an RBI single to left
field that scored Roberto Perez and gave Cleveland a 1-0 lead.
Cleveland chased Rays starter Chris Archer in the top of the sixth
after Byrd hit a two-run homer to right-center field to give the
Indians a 3-0 lead.
Davis made it 4-0 with a home run in nearly the same place off
reliever Steve Geltz. Tyler Naquin increased the lead to 5-0 with a
RBI single to left that scored Mike Napoli, who reached on a
ground-rule double to start the top of the seventh. Ramirez added a
home run in the top of the ninth off reliever Danny Farquhar.
Cardinals 7, Brewers 0
ST. LOUIS -- Jaime Garcia set a career high on the way to his first
shutout in five years, fanning 13 en route to a one-hitter for St.
Louis against Milwaukee in the rubber game of a three-game series.
Domingo Santana's two-out single in the sixth inning marked one of
just three base runners against Garcia. Keon Broxton reached first
on a wild pitch after strike three in the third and Martin Maldonado
coaxed a leadoff walk in the eighth.
Garcia's fourth career shutout was his first since May 6, 2011, when
he mowed down the first 22 Brewers before settling for a two-hitter.
He finished the outing in style, slipping a called third strike past
Scooter Gennett on his 103rd and final pitch of the day.
He also chipped in offensively with two singles, the first extending
a three-run second so that Matt Carpenter could hammer a two-out,
two-run double off Wily Peralta for a 3-0 advantage.
St. Louis (5-4) did the rest of its scoring via the long ball.
Randal Grichuk belted a two-run shot in the third. Rookie Jeremy
Hazelbaker capped the scoring with a two-run homer off reliever
Chris Capuano in the seventh, his third homer of the
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White Sox 3, Twins 1
MINNEAPOLIS -- Avisail Garcia had two hits, including a solo homer,
and Mat Latos pitched six strong innings to lead Chicago over
Minnesota at Target Field.
The loss extended the Twins' losing streak to start the season to
nine games. They are the only team in the American League with fewer
than three victories this season.
Garcia, who entered the game hitting .160, went 2-for-4 and also
doubled to lead off the seventh inning. His solo blast in the fourth
went 424 feet over the center-field fence for his second homer.
Latos' ERA actually went up to 0.75 after he pitched six shutout
innings in his first start on April 7. The right-hander allowed
three hits on Thursday, walking one and striking out four.
Rockies 11, Giants 6
DENVER -- Colorado scored nine runs in the fifth inning, withstood a
San Francisco comeback and beat the Giants 11-6 in the rubber game
of the series.
The win enabled the Rockies to go 3-3 on their first homestand of
the season. Colorado sent 13 batters to the plate during their
game-breaking rally, which came out of nowhere. Giants starter Matt
Cain limited the Rockies to one single through four scoreless
innings with five strikeouts before the Rockies strafed him in the
fifth.
The nine-run inning was the biggest in franchise history against the
Giants.
Royals 6, Astros 2
HOUSTON -- Ian Kennedy carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning,
and Kansas City erupted for five runs in the sixth to defeat
Houston.
The Royals claimed the final three games of the series and parlayed
their usual brand of clustered hitting into a runaway win. Kansas
City batted around in the sixth, with six consecutive players
recording hits to chase Doug Fister (1-1).
Kennedy (2-0) produced a second quality start in his second
appearance for the Royals, working seven innings and allowing one
run on two hits and two walks with seven strikeouts. Jose Altuve
struck the lone blow against Kennedy with a leadoff home run in the
seventh inning, his third of the season.
Rangers 6, Orioles 3
ARLINGTON, Texas -- Texas put together four consecutive run-scoring
hits in the sixth inning to rally past Baltimore.
The Rangers trailed 3-1 going into the bottom of the sixth before
tagging Baltimore starter Chris Tillman (1-1) for five runs.
Mitch Moreland's bloop double cut the Baltimore lead to one, and
then Ian Desmond's infield single gave him his first RBI with the
Rangers and tied the game at 3. Rougned Odor laced a two-run double
to left to give the Rangers their first lead of the game. Elvis
Andrus capped the six-hit inning with an RBI single up the middle.
Blue Jays 4, Yankees 2
TORONTO -- Josh Donaldson extended his hitting streak to 10 games
with a three-run homer, Marcus Stroman pitched eight innings and
Toronto defeated New York.
Troy Tulowitzki added a solo homer for the Blue Jays, who took the
rubber match of the three-game series after the Yankees won the
opener on Tuesday.
Stroman (2-0) is 3-0 in his 5-1 in his career against the Yankees.
He held them to three hits, two walks, a hit batter and two runs.
The right-hander struck out three. Roberto Osuna pitched the ninth
to earn his fourth save of the season.
Cubs 8, Reds 1
CHICAGO -- Jason Hammel scattered four hits over six shutout innings
and added a run-scoring double as Chicago completed a series sweep
against Cincinnati.
Addison Russell and Dexter Fowler each went 3-for-4, while Kris
Bryant was 2-for-3 with a solo home as the Cubs won their fifth
straight.
The Reds were swept by the Cubs at Wrigley Field for the first time
since September 2014.
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