Marlins still reeling

The Florida Marlins lost both their manager and another game.

James Shields threw a four-hitter with 10 strikeouts in his second consecutive complete game, Casey Kotchman had a tie-breaking single in the eighth inning and the Tampa Bay Rays handed the reeling Marlins their 10th loss in a row, 2-1 yesterday.

Florida Manager Edwin Rodriguez unexpectedly resigned before the game, and the last-place Marlins dropped to 1-18 in June. Bench coach Brandon Hyde managed yesterday, but the club will begin a search for an interim manager.

Shields (7-4) has a major league-best five complete games this season, and was coming off a 4-0 shutout over AL East-leading Boston on Tuesday.

Cardinals 5, Royals 4

Albert Pujols sprained his left wrist trying to make a tag at first base, but St. Louis recovered to beat Kansas City on Skip Schumaker's ninth-inning homer.

Pujols was injured in the sixth and the three-time NL MVP left the game. He will be evaluated today, an off day for St. Louis. Pujols went 3-for-3 with his 17th home run.

After leadoff hitter Dan Descalso got thrown out trying to stretch a single in the ninth, Schumaker connected off Tim Collins (3-4), the fifth Royals pitcher.

Tigers 9, Rockies 1

Justin Verlander threw a four-hitter for his second straight complete game, and Brennan Boesch and Miguel Cabrera each homered for Detroit.

Verlander (9-3) has four complete games, matching his total from last year. He retired 13 of the first 14 batters he faced to help the Tigers salvage the finale of the weekend series.

Braves 4, Rangers 2

Jason Heyward hit a two-run single in the third inning and Freddie Freeman added an RBI double in the seventh to help Jair Jurrjens earn his ninth victory for Atlanta.

The Braves snapped a two-game losing streak, while Texas dropped its ninth in 13 games.

Jurrjens (9-3) allowed one run, seven hits, two walks and struck out four in 5⅓ innings. The right-hander lowered his NL-best ERA to 2.11.

Twins 5, Padres 4

Drew Butera's single scored Delmon Young in the bottom of the ninth as Minnesota rallied to extend its winning streak to seven games.

Young led off the ninth with an infield single and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt. Butera's grounder bounced off the glove of diving third-baseman Chase Headley and into left field, allowing Young to score.

Alex Burnett (2-4) pitched one inning for the win. Chad Qualls (3-3) took the loss.

Orioles 7, Nationals 4

Mark Reynolds had three hits, including a home run, to help Baltimore end Washington's eight-game winning streak.

J.J. Hardy also homered and Craig Tatum drove in two runs to back starter Chris Jakubauskas (2-0), who pitched five innings for the win and had his first two major league hits. He allowed three runs and six hits, striking out six and walking one.

Reds 2, Blue Jays 1

Miguel Cairo hit a two-run homer in the sixth off Carlos Villanueva, ending Cincinnati's streak of 16 scoreless innings.

The Reds got their first win over an AL team this season after dropping their previous five interleague games against Cleveland and Toronto.

Angels 7, Mets 3

Tyler Chatwood (4-4) finally got some runs and pitched seven scoreless innings, and Erick Aybar hit a bases-loaded triple for Los Angeles.

Vernon Wells hit a solo homer and two RBI singles for the Angels, who didn't score a run for Chatwood in any of the right-hander's three starts since May 27.

Mariners 2, Phillies 0

Jason Vargas tossed a three-hitter for his second shutout of the season, outdueling Philadelphia left-hander Cole Hamels (9-3) to lead Seattle. (next page »)