Baseball Roundup: Orioles Snap Brief Skid

St. Petersburg, Fla. — Joey Rickard hit a three-run home run and Chris Tillman gave up two hits in 6 innings Wednesday night to help the Baltimore Orioles break a three-game losing streak with a 3-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays.

Rickard’s second home run of the season came off Matt Moore in the fifth inning after Nolan Reimold walked and Jonathan Schoop singled. It was only the third home run in eight games for the Orioles, who have scored just five runs in their last four games.

Tillman (2-1) tied a career high with nine strikeouts. Both of his wins have come against Tampa Bay.

Rangers 3, Yankees 2

Arlington, Texas — Elvis Andrus had a tiebreaking RBI triple and Texas beat New York even though former Rangers shortstop Alex Rodriguez hit his 100th homer in the stadium.

A-Rod’s 690th career homer gave him triple digits in the Rangers’ ballpark. He hit 86 at home for Texas from 2001-03 and has 14 more in 65 games as a visitor there — first with Seattle before his big deal with the Rangers, and after being traded to the Yankees.

Andrus tripled into the right-center field gap in the sixth, a ball that rolled to the wall after Rougned Odor drew a two-out walk off CC Sabathia (1-2), to snap a 2-all tie.

Tigers 9, Athletics 4

Detroit — Justin Verlander pitched impressively into the seventh inning, J.D. and Victor Martinez both homered and Detroit beat Oakland .

Detroit manager Brad Ausmus shuffled his lineup before the game, moving J.D. Martinez from fifth to second in the batting order as he switched spots with Justin Upton. The moves paid off when J.D. Martinez hit a three-run homer in the second inning. Victor Martinez added a three-run shot of his own in the sixth.

Verlander (2-2) allowed three runs and five hits in 6 innings, his third straight quality start since allowing seven runs against Pittsburgh on April 11.

White Sox 4, Blue Jays 0

Toronto — Dioner Navarro hit a go-ahead, two-run triple in the seventh inning, and the White Sox beat Toronto for their sixth straight win.

Jose Quintana (3-1) struck out a season-high 10 in six innings for Chicago, which at 16-6 is 10 games above .500 for the first time since Sept. 25, 2012. Quintana allowed five hits and walked three, improving to 4-0 with a 0.68 ERA in four starts at Toronto. He has won consecutive starts and lowered his ERA to 1.47, passing teammate Chris Sale for fourth-best in the AL.

Mets 5, Reds 2

New York — Neil Walker hit his ninth home run, tying for the major league lead, Matt Harvey won his second straight start and the Mets beat Cincinnati to stretch their winning streak to six.

Walker’s third-inning homer off Jon Moscot (0-2) extended the Mets’ lead to 3-1 and tied the team record for home runs in April.

Harvey (2-3) won his second consecutive start after losing his first three. He overcame a first-inning home run by Zack Cosart and gave up two runs and seven hits in six innings.

Mixing a changeup with a fastball that reached 97 mph, Harvey struck out a season-high seven and walked one.

Phillies 3, Nationals 0

Washington — Philadelphia’s Jeremy Hellickson allowed two hits over seven innings, his teammates eventually took advantage of Washington’s sloppiness to push across some runs, and the Phillies beat Bryce Harper and the Nationals.

Philadelphia, which entered the series below .500, will try to complete a three-game sweep of the NL East-leading Nationals today.

Giants 13, Padres 9

San Francisco — Brandon Belt was a homer short of the cycle and drove in five runs, Hunter Pence drove in a pair on three hits and San Francisco completed a three-game sweep by beating San Diego .

Jeff Samardzija (3-1) went 5 innings and snapped a tie with a two-run single for the Giants, who won their fifth in six games.

Joe Panik, Brandon Crawford, Trevor Brown and Gregor Blanco also drove in runs for the Giants, who reached a season high in runs.

Pence and Matt Duffy each had three hits.