DETROIT – Ramon Santiago homered for the first time since 2003 and drove in three runs to help the Detroit Tigers beat the Texas Rangers 10-2 on Tuesday night. Magglio Ordonez also homered, giving him 1,000 RBIs for his career, while Edgar Renteria had four hits.

Justin Verlander (1-3) struggled early, giving up five hits in the first two innings, but got out of it with only one run allowed. He blanked the Rangers in his last four innings, giving up one more hit, to lower his season ERA to 5.93.

Vicente Padilla (2-2) allowed seven runs and eight hits in three innings. Seven of the hits went for extra bases, including three home runs.

Rays 6, Blue Jays 4

KISSIMMEE, Fla. – Eric Hinske drove in two runs and finished a single shy of hitting for the cycle Tuesday night, helping the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Toronto Blue Jays 6-4 at Disney World.

Hinske doubled in the second inning and added a RBI triple off Jesse Litsch in the fourth before leading off the sixth with a solo homer – his sixth of the season – off reliever Jesse Carlson.

Brewers 9, Cardinals 8

MILWAUKEE – Gabe Kapler singled home the winning run with one out in the 12th inning and the Milwaukee Brewers overcame another blown save by Eric Gagne, beating the St. Louis Cardinals 9-8 Tuesday.

The Brewers wasted a five-run lead before Kapler’s hit. The Cardinals’ loss came with an oddity: Slugger Albert Pujols wound up playing second base for the first time in his big league career.

Cubs 8, Mets 1

CHICAGO – Ronny Cedeno hit a grand slam and drove in five runs, Ted Lilly won for the first time in five starts, and the surging Chicago Cubs beat the New York Mets 8-1 Tuesday for their 13th win in 16 games.

The Cubs, who were 7-13 at this point a season ago, had 14 hits and improved to 14-6, their best record after 20 games since 1975.

Nationals 6, Braves 0

ATLANTA – John Smoltz became the 16th pitcher in major league history to reach 3,000 career strikeouts, but was outpitched by John Lannan in Washington’s 6-0 win over the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday night.

Smoltz fanned Felipe Lopez in the third inning for his fourth of the game to reach the mark. He struck out 10 for the second straight start and for the 45th time in his 20-year career.

Pirates 3, Marlins 2

PITTSBURGH – Xavier Nady’s two-run single completed a three-run Pirates comeback after a questionable call apparently cost them a run in the sixth inning, and Pittsburgh ended a six-game losing streak by beating Florida 3-2 on Tuesday night.

Paul Maholm (1-2) limited the Marlins to one run and four hits over six innings, ending a slide in which Pirates starting pitchers had an 11.38 ERA over the six games. The Marlins’ three-game winning streak was also halted.

Reds 8, Dodgers 1

CINCINNATI – Jerry Hairston Jr. had four hits in his debut as Cincinnati’s leadoff hitter, and Adam Dunn and Brandon Phillips each homered Tuesday night, leading the Reds to an 8-1 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Reds split their two-game series with a rare victory over the Dodgers, who are 11-3 against Cincinnati since 2006. Two struggling lineups took turns breaking out during the short series.

After scoring only three runs over the weekend while getting swept in Atlanta, the Dodgers piled up 15 hits in a 9-3 win on Monday night.

Hairston, batting .421 in the minors, was called up before that game, and got the Reds rolling a day later.

Yankees 9, White Sox 5

CHICAGO – Bobby Abreu hit a grand slam in the seventh inning, Chien-Ming Wang earned his 50th career victory and the New York Yankees did just fine without A-Rod, beating the Chicago White Sox 9-5 on Tuesday night.

Abreu connected for his seventh career grand slam off Octavio Dotel with two outs in the seventh to rally New York from a 3-2 deficit.

It was his sixth homer in only 14 games at U.S. Cellular Field.

Indians 15, Royals 1

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Casey Blake had a grand slam and six RBIs and C.C. Sabathia struck out 11 in his first victory, leading the Cleveland Indians to a 15-1 rout of the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday night.

Astros 11, Padres 7

HOUSTON – Kaz Matsui’s two-run single in the eighth inning lifted the Houston Astros to an 11-7 win over the San Diego Padres on Tuesday night.

Cy Young winner Jake Peavy allowed four earned runs, matching the total for his four previous starts combined.

The Padres ace allowed seven hits with two walks and two strikeouts in six innings.

Phillies 8, Rockies 6

DENVER – Pat Burrell’s bases-clearing double off Manny Corpas in the ninth inning sent the Philadelphia Phillies to an 8-6 win Tuesday night over the Colorado Rockies.

Corpas was two outs away from the save when Burrell sent a 2-2 fastball past diving center fielder Willy Taveras in the gap in left-center.

It was the third straight game the Rockies lost when leading after seven innings.

AP-ES-04-22-08 2340EDT