Kawasaki hit lifts Mariners

Good job: Seattle manager Eric Wedge (left) and shortstop Munenori Kawasaki celebrate after the Mariners' 8-6 win over the Angels on Monday. Kawsaki hit a three-run double in the fifth inning. AP

ANAHEIM, California — Munenori Kawasaki had a bases-clearing double in the fifth inning and John Jaso had three hits, leading the Seattle Mariners to an 8-6 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Monday night.

Mariners manager Eric Wedge credited the win to reliever Tom Wilhelmsen.

Wilhelmsen retired Albert Pujols and Mark Trumbo with the tying runs on second and third in the eighth inning.

"When you're facing those two hitters in that situation, you can't ask for anything more," Wedge said. "He did a great job of making them work and then he had to finish it off in the ninth. It was a great performance by Tom."

The Angels had cut the Mariners' 8-4 lead to two runs and Pujols coming up with one out in the eighth. Wedge replaced Shawn Kelley with Wilhelmsen.

Pujols hit a comebacker to the mound and John Hester got caught in a rundown between third and home and was tagged out. Hester kept the rundown going long enough to allow Pujols to reach second.

Wilhelmsen then struck out Trumbo, the cleanup hitter. Wilhelmsmen pitched a scoreless ninth for his first career save.

Kyle Seager homered and Seattle had 10 hits overall.

Mariners starter Jason Vargas (7-4) gave up four runs and nine hits in 5? innings. He struck out a season-best eight.

Seattle's Ichiro Suzuki finished 0-for-5.

Athletics 12, Rangers 1

In Oakland, rookie Jarrod Parker held Texas hitless until the eighth inning and Brandon Inge drove in four runs in the Athletics' eight-run second inning.

Twins 10, Royals 7

In Kansas City, Justin Morneau and Josh Willingham each hit two-run homers, Trevor Plouffe also went deep and Minnesota held off the Royals.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Cardinals 5, Mets 4

In New York, Allen Craig hit a tiebreaking, two-run homer in the eighth inning and St. Louis found a bit of missing pop, stopping its season-worst losing streak at five.

Giants 3, Cubs 2

In San Francisco, Ryan Vogelsong won his fourth straight decision, Buster Posey scored the go-ahead run on a double-play grounder in the seventh inning and the Giants beat Chicago for a four-game sweep.

Dodgers 4, Phillies 3

In Philadelphia, Elian Herrera hit a tiebreaking RBI single off Jonathan Papelbon in the ninth.

Rockies 4, Diamondbacks 0

In Phoenix, Colorado rookie Christian Friedrich pitched four-hit ball for seven innings in the best outing of his young career and the Rockies won for the seventh time in eight games.

SECAUCUS NEW JERSEY — Carlos Correa was all smiles when he heard his name announced, knowing he had made hometown history at the baseball draft.

The Houston Astros selected the 17-year-old slugging shortstop with the No. 1 pick Monday night, making him the first player from Puerto Rico to lead off the draft.

"This means a lot," Correa said from the draft site at MLB Network studios. "We've got a lot of good players there."

Correa, however, is the only one to be drafted first from an island that has produced its share of baseball royalty: Roberto Clemente, Ivan Rodriguez, Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado, Juan Gonzalez and Bernie Williams.

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Haren's 14-K gem, Pujols' homer lead Angels past Mariners

Stretch out: Cardinals second baseman Tyler Greene dives after a ball hit by the Phillies' Placido Polanco on Friday in St. Louis. The play resulted in an RBI single. Philadelphia won 10-9. AP

SEATTLE — The gem Dan Haren tossed Thursday night looked awfully familiar to Albert Pujols. Except this time instead of Pujols getting fooled by what Haren was tossing, he was helping the Los Angeles Angels' right-hander put together one of the finest efforts of his career.

"He makes good hitters look pretty bad including myself, he has in the past," Pujols said. "He is pretty amazing when he keeps the ball down.

Pujols had three hits, including his 450th career home run, and Haren struck out a career-high 14 to lead the Los Angeles Angels to a 3-0 win over the Seattle Mariners on Thursday night.

Pujols, a newcomer to the AL West rivalry, made his presence known immediately. He lined a two-run shot off Seattle starter Jason Vargas (5-4) with one-out in the top of the first, and added line-drive singles in the fourth and sixth innings. It was just his third three-hit game this season.

And those three runs proved to be plenty for Haren (2-5), who tossed the sixth shutout and 16th complete game of his career. He allowed four hits and only one Mariners baserunner reached third base. Only one other pitcher in Angels history had more strikeouts without allowing a walk than Haren did against Seattle.

After struggling with a sore back for the early part of the season, putting together that kind of performance was gratifying for Haren.

"Even pitching at 80 percent I should get better results than I have been getting in prior starts. I think it was obvious tonight that my stuff was better and I was feeling better in general," Haren said. "I'm happy obviously to win a game. I forgot what it felt like."

Seattle's Ichiro Suzuki finished 1-for-4 in the loss.

Indians 2, Tigers 1

In Cleveland, Justin Masterson (2-3) matched Justin Verlander pitch for pitch for his first career win over Detroit, and the first-place Indians did just enough to complete a three-game sweep of the underperforming Tigers.

Choo Shin Soo homered on the third pitch from Verlander (5-2) as Cleveland won for the eighth time in 10 games and opened a six-game lead over third-place Detroit in the AL Central.

White Sox 11, Twins 8

In Chicago, Paul Konerko and Alex Rios hit back-to-back homers and Alejandro De Aza added a grand slam to cap a six-run sixth, leading the White Sox to a victory over Minnesota.

A.J. Pierzynski and Dayan Viciedo also went deep as Chicago won for the sixth time in seven games.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Reds 6, Braves 3

In Cincinnati, rookie catcher Devin Mesoraco capped a series full of homers with his first career grand slam, leading his club to a victory over Atlanta.

The Reds completed their first four-game sweep of the Braves in Cincinnati since 1980 at Riverfront Stadium.

Giants 14, Marlins 7

In Miami, Melky Cabrera had three hits and drove in four runs for San Francisco, which gave starter Ryan Vogelsong robust run support for a change.

Vogelsong (3-2) allowed three runs in 6? innings, which hiked his ERA to 2.50. The Giants had scored 22 runs in his previous seven starts.

Padres 11, Mets 5

In New York, Will Venable hit a pair of RBI doubles and Cameron Maybin had two run-scoring singles as San Diego broke out the offense after a long rain delay.

Phillies 10, Cardinals 9

In St. Louis, Shane Victorino and Freddy Galvis each drove in three runs, including Galvis' go-ahead single in the sixth inning, in Philadelphia's close win.

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Iwakuma signs deal to pitch for Mariners

SEATTLE — Free agent right-hander Hisashi Iwakuma signed an incentive-laced, one-year contract with the Seattle Mariners on Thursday, a year after his attempted move to the majors through the posting system ended in failure.

Golden ticket: Hisashi Iwakuma signed a one-year contract with the Seattle Mariners on Thursday. A former Pacific League MVP, Iwakuma has a 107-69 career record in NPB. KYODO

According to a source with knowledge of the negotiations, the 30-year-old Iwakuma will receive a base salary of $1.5 million plus performance bonuses that would make the deal worth well over $3.9 million, or ?300 million — the amount he made with the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles last season.

Iwakuma, who was the Pacific League MVP and won the Sawamura Award after winning 21 games in 2008, was put up for bidding last offseason. The Oakland Athletics won his negotiating rights, but the two parties could not come to terms during the exclusive 30-day negotiating period.

"I'll do whatever it takes to get results over the next year," Iwakuma said during a conference call. "I accept what they offered, and I'll work for everything."

"I felt the Mariners were the team that wanted me most. I went to Seattle, and it seems like a nice place to live."

Iwakuma, who was instrumental in Japan winning the 2009 World Baseball Classic, has a career ERA of 3.25 with a 107-69 record in 11 seasons with Rakuten and the Kintetsu Buffaloes.

Last year, he went 6-7 and was limited to 119 innings in 17 starts because of an injury to his throwing shoulder, but still posted a solid 2.42 ERA.

Iwakuma will join a rotation anchored by Felix Hernandez, Michael Pineda and Jason Vargas, with several young arms competing for a fourth and fifth slot.

Iwakuma is the sixth Japanese player the Mariners have signed following Ichiro Suzuki, Kazuhiro Sasaki, Shigetoshi Hasegawa, Mac Suzuki and Kenji Johjima.

Seattle, has also invited shortstop Munenori Kawasaki to spring training.

NEW YORK — The New York Yankees said Thursday that their negotiations with shortstop Hiroyuki Nakajima have ended without a contract.

"We unfortunately could not come to an agreement with Hiroyuki," Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said in a statement issued by the team. "We wish him the best of luck during the upcoming 2012 season."

The announcement comes a day before the end of the Yankees' exclusive 30-day negotiating window with Nakajima.

Under the rules of the posting system, the Yankees' modest winning bid of $2.5 million will be refunded since no deal was struck and Nakajima will return to the Seibu Lions.

"It's disappointing we couldn't work something out," Nakajima said. "But I'm grateful to the Lions for posting me and the Yankees for bidding."

Nakajima is a four-time Pacific League All-Star with a .302 career batting average over 10 seasons, all with the Lions. He appeared in all 144 regular-season games in 2011, batting .297 with 16 home runs and 100 RBIs.

One Pacific Rim, major league scout said Nakajima's chances of signing with the Yankees were likely hurt by the dismal season that Minnesota Twins infielder Tsuyoshi Nishioka had in 2011.

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Ichiro lends hand as Mariners rout Tigers

Five-finger discount: Mariners star Ichiro Suzuki steals second during the fourth inning of a game against the Tigers on Tuesday in Seattle. The Mariners won 13-3. KYODO

SEATTLE — Doug Fister got more run support from his offense in one inning than he had in three previous starts this season.

He didn't waste it, either.

Fister struck out a career-high seven in 6? innings, and the light-hitting Seattle Mariners capitalized on 11 walks allowed by Detroit, routing the Tigers 13-3 on Tuesday night.

Getting some run support probably felt quite foreign to Fister. Before this start, Seattle had scored three runs for the right-hander this season, only two while he was in the game.

But the Mariners scored four times in the first against the Tigers, and staked Fister to a 6-1 lead by the fifth inning. They finished with a season-high 15 hits.

"He's thrown the ball well all year," Seattle manager Eric Wedge said. "It was good we could jump out early and he did a great job of keeping the same mind-set you have to have when you go out there and you are a starting pitcher in that type of game."

Seattle backed Fister with some rare clutch hitting and the top of its batting order — Ichiro Suzuki and Chone Figgins — combined to go 7-for-9 and five RBIs. Ichiro finished 4-for-5 with three runs scored.

Figgins got his first hit all season with a runner in scoring position, driving in Ichiro in the fourth. Seattle added five runs in the seventh off Detroit's bullpen, only after reliever Jamey Wright got a key double play to end the top of the seventh and keep the Mariners ahead 6-2.

"That felt good. Regardless of what you do (individually) it's good to put up some crooked numbers," Seattle shortstop Brendan Ryan said. "It's nice to play with a lead for a change."

Orioles 11, Twins 0

In Baltimore, Matt Wieters drove in four runs, Vladimir Guerrero hit a three-run homer, and the Orioles snapped an eight-game losing streak by defeating Carl Pavano and the Twins.

Royals 5, Indians 4

In Kansas City, Alex Gordon had two hits, stretching his hitting streak to 13 games, to lead Kansas City to a win over Cleveland in a clash between the unlikely pacesetters in the American League Central division.

Angels 15, Rangers 4

In Arlington, Texas, rookie first baseman Mark Trumbo homered and drove in four runs to help power Los Angeles to a big win over Texas.

Blue Jays 6, Yankees 5 (10)

In Toronto, Travis Snider doubled home the winning run in the 10th inning to lift the Blue Jays over New York.

Rays 2, White Sox 1

In St. Petersburg, Fla., James Shields struck out nine batters to lead Tampa Bay over Chicago, and to its seventh win in eight games.

Athletics 5, Red Sox 0

In Oakland, Brett Anderson struck out eight and outdueled usual A's nemesis John Lackey for his first victory of the season.

David DeJesus got Oakland on the board with a first-inning RBI groundout, then Hideki Matsui added a two-run double and Daric Barton and Kurt Suzuki each hit RBI singles in a four-run eighth. Matsui finished 1-for-4.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Brewers 9, Phillies 0

In Philadelphia, Randy Wolf pitched six crisp innings, Ryan Braun and Casey McGehee homered and the Brewers beat Roy Halladay and the Phillies.

Marlins 6, Pirates 0

In Miami, Josh Johnson allowed two hits in seven innings and drove in the first two runs.

Diamondbacks 5, Reds 4

In Cincinnati, Ryan Roberts made the starting lineup because of an injury and hit two of Arizona's four homers off Sam LeCure.

Astros 6, Mets 1

In New York, Wandy Rodriguez found his form against the punchless Mets, pitching seven sharp innings to lead the Astros to a victory.

Giants 6, Rockies 3

In Denver, starting pitcher Jonathan Sanchez gave up two hits over 6? innings one night after fellow San Francisco hurler Tim Lincecum flirted with a no-hitter and the Giants beat Colorado, spoiling Rockies ace Ubaldo Jimenez's return from the disabled list.

Braves 10, Dodgers 1

In Los Angeles, pitcher Brandon Beachy yielded just two hits over six scoreless innings to record his first career victory in the major leagues.

The right-hander came in with a 5.19 ERA over his three previous outings this season, including a 6-5 loss on Thursday against Florida at Turner Field.

Dodgers starting pitcher Hiroki Kuroda (2-2) allowed two runs gave up five hits over 6? innings in the losing effort.

Nationals at Cardinals — ppd.

Padres at Cubs — ppd.

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