DETROIT — Prince Fielder put Detroit ahead with a three-run homer, and as if on cue, Max Scherzer settled into a groove. That's been the formula for these Tigers — starting pitching and power. Fielder's towering drive in the sixth inning lifted Detroit to its fourth straight victory Monday night, 4-3 over Minnesota. The Twins led 3-1 before the slugging first baseman's homer, and Scherzer struck out the last four men he faced in the seventh and eighth to help preserve the win. “I was able to pitch ahead in the count, and I thought my fastball-changeup combination really allowed me to get those extra strikeouts at the end,” Scherzer said. “To keep them from doing any more damage when we got the lead — I thought my two-strike changeup was the pitch that allowed me to get a few extra strikeouts. That's my pitch.” Andy Dirks started the go-ahead rally with a bunt single and Miguel Cabrera walked. Fielder hit the first pitch over the wall in left-center for an opposite-field homer. That part of the fence is about 405 feet from home plate. Scherzer (3-0) allowed three runs and six hits in 7 · innings. He struck out 10 without a walk. Indians 9, Royals 0: At Kansas City, Ubaldo Jimenez pitched into the eighth inning, Ryan Raburn hit two home runs and the Cleveland Indians pounded the Kansas City Royals to split their four-game series. Raburn hit a three-run shot in the fifth inning and a solo homer in the eighth. Raburn finished with four hits and Jason Kipnis also went deep to pace a suddenly potent Indians offense. Not that all the offense was needed. Jimenez (1-2) allowed only two walks and an infield single by Billy Butler over his first seven innings. Otherwise, he kept the Royals off balance in a dazzling start. Astros 9, Yankees 1: At New York, Carlos Corporan homered among his four hits and drove in four runs, leading Houston to the victory. In their first game in the Bronx as an AL team, the Astros peppered Andy Pettitte (3-2) for 10 hits and seven runs, both season highs for the left-hander. Brandon Barnes and Corporan had two-run doubles and Barnes added an RBI single and a double. Barnes and Corporan each set career highs for hits and RBI. Houston bounced back from a four-game sweep in Boston with an enthusiastic win over the Yankees, who had just taken four straight from Toronto. The Astros had 17 hits in improving the AL's worst record to 8-18. Lucas Harrell (3-2) pitched 6 1-3 innings to get the victory. Vernon Wells had an RBI single in the sixth for New York. Athletics 10, Angels 8 (19 innings): Oakland's Brandon Moss hit a walk-off two-run homer in the 19th inning to end the longest game in history - 6 hours, 32 minutes - for both teams, and of the baseball season. Moss homered twice for the Athletics, who were twice down to their final out before rallying. Jerry Blevins (2-0), the last relief pitcher available for Oakland, worked the final 1 2/3 innings. The Athletics rallied from a five-run deficit against the Angels' bullpen by scoring four times in the eighth followed by a two-out RBI single by Yoenis Cespedes in the ninth to hand Ernesto Frieri a blown save. Albert Pujols had four hits for the Angels, including two solo home runs. Mariners 6, Orioles 2: Joe Saunders allowed two runs and four hits in a complete-game effort and improved to 6-0 against Baltimore as host Seattle won the opener of the three-game series. Former Orioles infielder Robert Andino delivered the tiebreaking single in the fourth inning and Kyle Seager's run-scoring triple capped a three-run sixth as the Mariners won for the fourth time in five games. — Agencies
