Nats’ Strasburg fans eight against Cardinals

Posted Mar 19, 2010 by TBO.com

Updated Mar 20, 2010 at 04:39 PM

VIERA - Stephen Strasburg allowed two solo homers and struck out eight in four innings, and the Washington Nationals beat a St. Louis Cardinals split squad 13-5 on Friday night.

Strasburg, the top pick in June’s draft who signed a record $15.1 million contract, gave up four hits in his longest of three spring training starts. The right-hander threw 73 pitches, 53 of them for strikes.

In his three outings, Strasburg has yielded two runs on eight hits, walked one and struck out 12 in nine innings.

Yankees (ss) 6, Tigers 2

TAMPA — Alex Rodriguez hit a long solo homer, CC Sabathia allowed two runs in 5 1-3 innings and the New York Yankees beat the Detroit Tigers 6-2 in a split-squad game on Friday.

Rodriguez hit his first homer, a towering drive over the scoreboard in left in the third off Rick Porcello, who was charged with four runs — one earned — and four hits over three innings.

Sabathia, lined up to pitch the regular season opener April 4 at Boston, gave up four hits, two walks and struck out eight. He left in the sixth with two on — both reaching on walks — and one out. One of the baserunners scored later in the inning.

Porcello had his string of 10 consecutive shutout innings end in the second when the Yankees scored three unearned runs with two outs.

Rays 6, Yankees (ss) 2

PORT CHARLOTTE — Evan Longoria had an RBI double and scored a run, and Ben Zobrist and Carl Crawford each hit late RBI singles for the Tampa Bay.

Yankees starter Sergio Mitre gave up two runs and struck out seven in five innings. Chad Gaudin gave up seven singles and four runs — three earned — in 2 1-3 innings.

Pirates 9, Red Sox 7

BRADENTON — Josh Beckett pitched 3 1-3 innings after missing his last start because of flu-like symptoms, allowing four runs on six hits in the loss.

Pirates left-hander Paul Maholm worked four innings and gave up three runs, two of them unearned. David Ortiz hit a two-run homer off Maholm in the first inning.

Delwyn Young knocked Beckett out of the game with a two-run home run, and Garrett Jones and Steve Pearce also hit two-run homers for the Pirates.

Twins 7, Mets 3

PORT ST. LUCIE — Johan Santana lasted 3 1-3 innings, allowing nine hits and five runs against his former team.

Santana struck out three and walked one. Twins third baseman Danny Valencia and catcher Wilson Ramos both hit second-inning home runs off Santana.

Twins starter Kevin Slowey allowed one run on three hits in three innings, striking out two and walking two. Mets catcher Omir Santos hit a homer for the lone run surrendered by Slowey.

Marlins 7, Cardinals 6

JUPITER — Albert Pujols hit his first home run of the spring, but right-hander Chris Carpenter was pounded for seven runs in the loss.

Carpenter gave up six runs on seven hits in the first inning. He threw 21 of his 29 pitches in the first inning for strikes, and the Marlins didn’t miss. Eleven batters came to the plate, with Chris Coghlan singling twice in the inning.

Anibal Sanchez two runs on four hits in five innings for Florida.

Astros 2, Blue Jays 0

KISSIMMEE — Fill-in starter Josh Banks pitched three innings in place of Bud Norris, who was sick with the flu, and Houston threw its third shutout in 15 spring games.

Toronto’s Brandon Morrow also was scratched after feeling soreness in his right shoulder while warming up.

Cory Sullivan homered and potential Astros closer Matt Lindstrom struck out two in an inning. He has pitched 5 2-3 scoreless innings in five appearances.

Tigers (ss) 4, Braves 4, 10 innings

KISSIMMEE — Johnny Damon hit a long home run and added a single for Detroit.

Damon connected in the fifth inning off Braves starter Kenshin Kawakami.

Jeff Larish homered in the fourth off Kawakami, who allowed six hits in five innings. He struck out four and walked none.

Jeremy Bonderman worked three innings, allowing two runs on four hits with two walks and a hit batter.

Orioles 2, Phillies 0

CLEARWATER — Dennis Sarfate gave up a single to John Mayberry Jr. with one out in the eighth inning for the Phillies’ first hit.

Brian Matusz, Will Ohman and Jim Johnson preceded Sarfate. Ross Wolf pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to preserve the one-hitter.

Matusz struck out six in 5 1-3 innings. he walked two.

Philadelphia starter Kyle Kendrick saw his Grapefruit League shutout string end at 13 innings when Baltimore scored twice in the fifth inning.
-The Associated Press