Minnesota Twins' Trevor Plouffe sits alone in the dugout after the winless Twins' 3-1 loss to the Chicago White Sox in a baseball game Thursday, April 14, 2016, in Minneapolis. The loss was the ninth straight. (AP Photo/Jim Mone)
Minnesota Twins' Trevor Plouffe sits alone in the dugout after the winless Twins' 3-1 loss to the Chicago White Sox in a baseball game Thursday, April 14, 2016, in Minneapolis. The loss was the ninth straight. (AP Photo/Jim Mone) Credit: ap — Jim Mone

Philadelphia — Vince Velasquez struck out a career-high 16 in a dominant three-hitter, Ryan Howard homered and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the San Diego Padres 3-0 on Thursday.

Velasquez (2-0) had no walks and extended his scoreless streak to 15 innings with his first shutout in nine career starts. The 23-year-old right-hander, acquired in the trade that sent former closer Ken Giles to Houston, had nine strikeouts in six innings in a 1-0 victory at the New York Mets on Saturday.

The Padres were shut out for the fifth time in 10 games. They scored one run — with two outs in the ninth on Wednesday — in the last three games. Lefty Drew Pomeranz (1-1) tied his career best with eight strikeouts in six innings, allowing three hits and two runs.

Velasquez retired the last 14 batters he faced.

Blue Jays 4, Yankees 2

Toronto — Josh Donaldson hit a three-run home run, Troy Tulowitzki added a solo shot and Toronto beat New York.

Marcus Stroman (2-0) allowed two runs and three hits in eight innings to win his seventh consecutive decision.

Stroman, who retired the final 11 batters he faced, improved to 5-1 with a 2.39 ERA in six career starts against the Yankees.

Donaldson erased a 2-0 deficit with a second drive to center in the fifth. Tulowitzki snapped a 0-for-10 slump with a first-pitch blast in the sixth.

Cardinals 7, Brewers 0

St. Louis — Jaime Garcia pitched a one-hitter, allowing only Domingo Santana’s lined single into right field with two outs in the sixth inning, in St. Louis’ victory over Milwaukee.

Garcia struck out 13, three more than his previous career high, and caught eight of them looking at third strikes. The left-hander is 4-1 with a 1.44 ERA in his last five starts against the Brewers.

White Sox 3, Twins 1

Minneapolis — Minnesota dropped to 0-9 for the worst start by any major league team in 13 years, falling to Mat Latos, Avisail Garcia and Chicago.

The Twins have scored only 14 runs this season. According to STATS research, the last big league team to lose its first nine games was Detroit in 2003, when the Tigers finished 43-119. The Atlanta Braves, also 0-8 this year, played later in the day at Washington.

Tigers 7, Pirates 4

Pittsburgh — Jordan Zimmermann pitched six shutout innings, Nick Castellanos homered and drove in four runs and Detroit beat Pittsburgh to improve to 4-0 on the road.

Zimmermann (2-0), who signed a five-year, $110 million deal with Detroit last December, gave up six hits and two walks while striking out four. He has yet to give up a run for the Tigers.

Indians 6, Rays 0

St. Petersburg, Fla. — Danny Salazar gave up three hits in six innings, Marlon Byrd hit one of Cleveland’s three home runs and the Indians beat Tampa Bay.

Cleveland took two of three in the series, limiting the Rays to 15 hits.

Salazar (2-0) struck out nine and walked three. Zach McAllister, Bryan Shaw and Trevor Bauer completed a five-hitter. Chris Archer (0-3) gave up three runs and seven hits in 5 innings.

Rockies 11, Giants 6

Denver — Jorge De La Rosa had two hits, drove in two runs and pitched into the seventh inning to lead Colorado past San Francisco.

De La Rosa (1-1) allowed four runs — three earned — struck out seven and walked one in 6 innings. He was coming off a Saturday outing against San Diego in which he gave up seven runs in four innings.

Royals 6, Astros 2

Houston — Ian Kennedy threw seven strong innings, Eric Hosmer hit a two-run double during a five-run sixth and Kansas City beat Houston.

Kennedy (2-0) started with five hitless innings and retired 14 straight before Carlos Gomez’s leadoff single to center in the sixth. Kennedy struck out seven and allowed a run on two hits and two walks.

Mike Moustakas hit a solo homer in the first and went 2 for 4 with a walk.

Rangers 6, Orioles 3

Arlington, Texas — Rougned Odor had a tiebreaking double in a five-run sixth inning and Texas beat Baltimore, handing the Orioles their second straight loss after a 7-0 start.

The Texas rally preserved a career-best nine-game winning streak for ace Cole Hamels, who struggled after retiring the first eight hitters and left facing a 3-1 deficit in the sixth.

Cubs 8, Reds 1

Chicago — Jason Hammel pitched six scoreless innings, drove home one run and scored another to lead the Cubs over Cincinnati for their best start since 1969.

The Cubs swept the three-game series and improved to 8-1 for the first time in 47 years. They won 11 of 12 to start the ’69 season en route to a second-place finish.

Dexter Fowler and Addison Russell had three hits each for Chicago, and Kris Bryant hit his second home run.

NotesRangers’ Darvish ‘Not Quite There Yet’

Arlington, Texas— Yu Darvish isn’t sure how to measure his progress as he closes in on his return from Tommy John surgery.

Speaking through an interpreter a day after facing hitters for the first time since surgery in March 2015, the Texas Rangers right-hander said Thursday he was “not quite there yet” in most aspects of his pitching. He threw a 30-pitch batting practice session.

Asked if he felt like he had taken the next step in recovery, Darvish instead offered a time frame of “maybe a month.”

He’s scheduled for two more batting practice sessions before starting a rehab assignment.