NEW YORK (AP) -John Maine took a three-hit shutout into the eighth inning to earn his second win in eight starts, pitching the New York Mets to an 8-1 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Monday night.
Carlos Delgado homered and Maine (7-4) limited Minnesota to four hits over 7 1-3 innings as the NL East leaders won for only the fourth time in 16 games this month.
Delgado, who batted just .189 on the Mets’ 2-7 road trip, gave New York the lead with his 11th home run in the second inning against Carlos Silva (4-8).
The Mets broke it open in the eighth when Ricky Ledee hit his first homer of the season.
Maine had gone 1-4 with two no-decisions since winning five of his first six starts. It was the ninth time in 14 outings he has pitched at least six innings and the 10th he has permitted two earned runs or less.
Indians 10, Phillies 1
CLEVELAND (AP) – Cliff Lee beat another NL team, and Kelly Shoppach hit a three-run homer off Cole Hamels to lead Cleveland to a rout of Philadelphia.
Lee (4-4), injured and inconsistent most of this season, improved to 10-1 in interleague play. He won for just the second time in six starts, allowing one run and five hits in seven innings – his longest start since May 8.
Shoppach, batting .552 (16-for-29) in his last eight games, connected in the second inning off Hamels (9-3), the NL’s only nine-game winner. The left-hander was roughed up for six runs and eight hits in five innings – his shortest outing of 2007.
Shoppach added an RBI double in the sixth, Jason Michaels homered in the seventh and Grady Sizemore had two hits, two steals and scored twice as the Indians improved to 8-9 in June.
About the only thing that didn’t go Cleveland’s way was Casey Blake’s hitting streak, which ended at 26 games. Blake went 0-for-3 and was hit by a pitch. He was on deck when Josh Barfield flied out to end the eighth.
Ryan Howard hit his 15th homer for Philadelphia in the sixth.
Tigers 9, Nationals 8
WASHINGTON (AP) – Carlos Guillen and Marcus Thames homered, Detroit scored six times in the fifth and held on to beat Washington.
Guillen drove in three runs, and Gary Sheffield had two RBIs for the Tigers, who have won three of four and are 9-4 in interleague play this season.
Mike Maroth (5-2) won despite giving up five runs – four earned – and six hits over five-plus innings. The left-hander, who doubled in the fifth for his first career extra-base hit, walked two and struck out four.
The Tigers had to withstand a three-run ninth-inning rally against Todd Jones, who got Ronnie Belliard to ground out to short with runners on the corners for the final out.
Matt Chico (3-5), trying for his first victory since May 17 after five consecutive no-decisions, gave up eight runs and nine hits in four innings.
Braves 9, Red Sox 4
ATLANTA (AP) – Brian McCann homered and drove in four runs off Curt Schilling, who endured his first strikeout-free start since 1993 in Atlanta’s victory over Boston.
Schilling was rocked for 10 hits and six runs in 4 1-3 innings, his second-shortest outing of the season. More telling, the 40-year-old right-hander failed to strike out anyone – the first time that’s happened since July 1, 1993.
Coco Crisp homered twice for the Red Sox, and J.D. Drew went deep for Boston’s other run. But McCann outdid them both, putting the Braves ahead for good with an RBI double in the fourth and chasing Schilling (6-4) the next inning.
Crisp had the first multihomer game of his career, the second of which ended the night for Atlanta starter Chuck James (6-6). But the left-hander lasted long enough for the win, giving up five hits and two runs in 5 1-3 innings. He won for the first time in four starts.
In Schilling’s last two starts since a near no-hitter, he’s given up 19 hits and 11 earned runs in 9 1-3 innings.
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