DETROIT – Minnesota set a Comerica Park record with six home runs, including two by light-hitting catcher Henry Blanco, and the Twins handed the Detroit Tigers their first loss of the season, 10-5 Saturday.

Luis Rivas, Corey Koskie, Jose Offerman and Lew Ford also connected for the Twins, giving starter Brad Radke plenty of support.

The Tigers, who opened last season 0-9 and lost an AL-record 119 games, had been the last unbeaten team in the majors at 4-0.

Blanco, who entered 2004 with a .219 career batting average and 27 homers in six major league seasons, homered in the second and ninth for his first two hits of the year.

The defensive specialist is playing every day only because rookie starter Joe Mauer and regular backup Matthew LeCroy are injured.

Blanco had one other multihomer game, when he hit two on July 22, 1999, for Colorado at Los Angeles.
White Sox 7, Yankees 3
NEW YORK – Mark Buehrle kept the New York Yankees in their post-Japan slumber.

The left-hander shut down New York on three singles over eight innings, and Magglio Ordonez and Jose Valentin homered to lead the Chicago White Sox over the Yankees 7-3 Saturday.

New York’s All-Star-laden lineup has scored just 16 runs in five games since its season-opening Tokyo trip, going 2-3 against Tampa Bay and the White Sox. Hideki Matsui exemplified New York’s sluggishness on the sunny spring afternoon, running into trouble on the bases for the second straight day.

A day after he was picked off at second, Matsui hit what he thought was a foul dribbler up the first-base line in the seventh inning. Matsui didn’t run at first, but the ball kicked back fair. By then, it was too late and he was tagged out at the bag by Buehrle.

Buehrle (1-0) left Monday’s opener at Kansas City with a 7-3 lead, but his bullpen failed to hold it. Making his first career start in Yankee Stadium, he allowed only a pair of unearned runs caused by two throwing errors by Valentin in the first. Buehrle held tough when he had to, striking out Alex Rodriguez with two outs and two on in the fifth.
Royals 7, Indians 6
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Aaron Guiel’s two-out RBI single in the 10th inning Saturday gave the Kansas City Royals a 7-6 victory over the Cleveland Indians, who blew a three-run lead in the ninth.

Matt Stairs singled off Rafael Betancourt (0-1) with two outs in the 10th, and pinch-runner Rich Thompson stole second. Guiel, who hit a two-run homer in the third inning, lined a game-winning single to center off Scott Stewart.

Guiel also had a two-run double off Stewart to break a scoreless tie in the seventh in Kansas City’s 3-1 victory Friday night.

Mike Sweeney, hitting .158, capped a three-run rally in the ninth with a two-run single off David Riske. The Indians also blew save chances and lost in extra innings to Minnesota in their first two games of the year.
Athletics 2, Mariners 1
OAKLAND, Calif. – Tim Hudson pitched a four-hitter for the first complete game in the majors this season and the Oakland Athletics sent the Seattle Mariners to their fifth straight loss, 2-1 on Saturday.

Marco Scutaro had two hits, an RBI and scored a run for the A’s, who have won the AL West the last two seasons and are off to a strong start this year at 4-1.

Hudson (1-0) threw only 86 pitches and retired his final 11 batters. He struck out two, working ahead in the count and getting routine groundball outs. It was his 14th career complete game and first since Aug. 11 last year against Boston.

The Mariners, meanwhile, are looking for answers. Seattle is the only winless team in the majors.
Orioles 11, Devil Rays 3
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Melvin Mora and Larry Bigbie each homered and drove in three runs, leading the Baltimore Orioles over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 11-3 Saturday night.

Javy Lopez and Mora had four hits apiece. Mora hit a two-run homer in the fifth and an RBI single during a four-run sixth. Bigbie had a two-run single in the sixth and an eighth-inning solo homer.

Rafael Palmeiro and Lopez each had two RBIs for the Orioles. Reliever Rick Bauer (1-0) got the win by giving up one hit in five scoreless innings.

Tampa Bay’s Eduardo Perez hit a two-run homer. Orioles starter Erik Bedard allowed three runs, six hits, four walks and struck out three in three-plus innings. He threw 91 pitches, including 54 strikes, in his first major league appearance in two years.

Bedard spent the entire 2003 season on the disabled list after undergoing elbow surgery. He entered with just two-thirds of an inning of major league experience, making two relief appearances for the Orioles in April 2002.

Jeremi Gonzalez (0-2) gave up six runs and nine hits in five-plus innings.

Gonzalez made his first start since allowing five runs and four hits over 4 2-3 innings in the Devil Rays’ 12-1 loss to the New York Yankees on March 31 in Tokyo. He pitched in a minor league spring training game April 4 and has been working in the bullpen on mechanics with pitching coach Chuck Hernandez.

Palmeiro put the Orioles ahead 1-0 with a run-scoring double in the first. He tied it at 2 with a third-inning RBI grounder.

Tampa Bay went up 2-1 in the bottom of the first on Perez’s two-run homer.

Jason Romano gave the Devil Rays a 3-2 lead on an RBI single in the third. The left fielder threw out Miguel Tejada, who tried to score from second, at the plate on Lopez’s single in the top of the inning.

Mora hit a two-run homer in the fifth to put the Orioles ahead 4-3.

Bigbie drove in two with a bases-loaded single off reliever John Halama during the fourth-run sixth that made it 8-3. Mora had a run-scoring single.

Bigbie hit a solo homer and Lopez had a two-run double in the eighth.

Notes: Orioles CF Luis Matos was hit in the helmet by Gonzalez’s pitch in the second. He stayed in the game. … Bedard made six minor league rehabilitation starts last season, totaling 19 1-3 innings. He pitched 17 2-3 innings in spring training, going 2-0 in five starts. … Devil Rays CF Rocco Baldelli went 0-for-4. He has three hits in 25 at-bats overall.

AP-ES-04-10-04 2126EDT