Kemp hero again

Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — Matt Kemp homered leading off the 10th inning, spoiling Bryce Harper’s major league debut and lifting the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 4-3 victory over the Washington Nationals on Saturday night.

Harper hit a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the top of the ninth before Washington’s bullpen wasted a 3-1 lead in the bottom half.

Kemp drove a 1-2 pitch off Tom Gorzelanny (1-1) to center field for his majors-leading 11th home run, breaking the Dodgers record for long balls in April set by Gary Sheffield in 2000. Kemp tossed his helmet as he galloped from third to home plate, where he was mobbed by teammates.

Jamey Wright (1-0) pitched a perfect inning for the win.

Harper, the Nationals’ much-ballyhooed 19-year-old outfielder and the first overall pick in the 2010 draft, was 1 for 3 in his four plate appearances. In his third at-bat, he doubled to center field over Kemp’s head with two out in the seventh after hitting a comebacker in the first and flying out in the fifth.

PHILLIES 5, CUBS 2

PHILADELPHIA — Carlos Ruiz homered and drove in three runs, and Joe Blanton threw 7 1-3 sharp innings to lead Philadelphia over Chicago.

Jimmy Rollins, in the leadoff spot for the first time this season, added a two-run double for the Phillies, the five-time defending NL East champions who are off to a 10-11 start.

Blanton (2-3) allowed two runs and eight hits, striking out eight. Chad Qualls got the last two outs in the eighth and Jonathan Papelbon finished for his seventh save in as many tries.

Bryan LaHair hit an RBI double and Randy Wells (0-1) couldn’t make it out of the fourth inning for Chicago. Wells gave up four runs and three hits in 3 2-3 innings.

MARLINS 3, D-BACKS 2

MIAMI — Hanley Ramirez hit a run-scoring single with two outs in the ninth inning to end Miami’s losing streak at six with a win over Arizona.

Ramirez’s line drive to left off reliever Brad Ziegler scored Giancarlo Stanton after he reached on a one-out infield single and advanced to second on Emilio Bonifacio’s grounder to first. Ziegler (0-1) intentionally walked Jose Reyes to face Ramirez.

Steve Cishek (2-0) got the win with a perfect ninth for Miami, which got a 14-strikeout performance out of starter Anibal Sanchez.

Logan Morrison hit a leadoff homer for Miami in the eighth to tie it 2-2.

GIANTS 2, PADRES 1

SAN FRANCISCO — Tim Lincecum pitched eight sharp innings in his longest start of the season and had an infield single with two outs in the sixth for San Francisco’s first baserunner against Anthony Bass in the win over San Diego.

Brandon Belt hit a two-run double off Bass with two outs in the seventh.

Lincecum (2-2) overcame some early control problems and allowed three hits. The former two-time NL Cy Young Award winner struck out five and walked four.

PIRATES 4, BRAVES 2

ATLANTA — Alex Presley had two hits, extending his hitting streak to 12 games, drove in two runs and also scored to help Pittsburgh beat Atlanta.

Pedro Alvarez added a run-scoring double for the Pirates and Erik Bedard (1-4) gave up only one run in five innings. The left-hander struck out nine while giving up five hits and two walks. He has not allowed more than two earned runs in any of his five starts.

CARDS 7, BREWERS 3

ST. LOUIS — Yadier Molina went 4 for 4 with a two-run homer, and Kyle Lohse allowed three runs over six innings to run his record to 4-0 as St. Louis beat Milwaukee.

Molina’s home run to left field with one out in the sixth off Milwaukee starter Marco Estrada (0-1) broke a 3-3 tie. Molina has 10 four-hit games in his career, the last coming on May 22, 2011, against Kansas City.

METS 7, ROCKIES 5

DENVER — Dillon Gee shook off one tough inning in an otherwise strong outing, Lucas Duda homered and singled to drive in four runs, and New York beat Colorado.

Ruben Tejada, Daniel Murphy and David Wright each added three hits and scored five times collectively, helping the Mets bounce back from Friday night’s sloppy 18-9 loss to Colorado.

REDS 6, ASTROS 0

CINCINNATI — Jay Bruce homered for the third consecutive game and drove in four runs to back Johnny Cueto’s solid effort as Cincinnati beat Houston.

Bruce had a two-run double and Brandon Phillips added two hits for the Reds, who improved to 3-2 on a nine-game homestand.

Cueto (3-0) allowed five hits and a walk while hitting a batter and striking out just three over seven innings, but he mad enough quality pitches to keep the Astros in check.

Lucas Harrell (1-2) allowed nine hits and six runs — five earned — with one walk and one strikeout in six innings for Houston.

YANKEES 6 TIGERS 2

NEW YORK — CC Sabathia steadied New York’s rocky rotation with eight sharp innings, Alex Rodriguez passed Willie Mays for eighth on the career RBIs list and the Yankees beat the Detroit Tigers 6-2 despite leaving 14 men on base in the first six innings.

Rodriguez drove in two runs without hitting the ball out of the infield, leaving him with 1,904 RBIs. He singled on a dribbler down the third-base line with the bases loaded in the second, the Yankees’ only hit in six plate appearances with three men on. Chris Stewart slid under catcher Gerald Laird’s tag on Rodriguez’s grounder to shortstop in the seventh.

Curtis Granderson walked to force in the game’s first run in the second, one of a career-high seven walks by Detroit starter Max Scherzer (1-3).

The Yankees walked nine times and left 15 on base overall, but won the three-game series. Sabathia (3-0) allowed two runs and four hits.

RAYS 5, RANGERS 2

ARLINGTON, Texas — David Price beat Texas for the first time in 10 career starts and Tampa Bay became the first team to win a series against the Rangers this season.

Ben Zobrist had three hits and an RBI and Price earned his fourth victory in five starts. Tampa Bay touched up Derek Holland (2-2) for five extra-base hits in a nine-hit outburst.

Price (4-1) struck out six and walked one in 6 1-3 innings. He gave up two runs and six hits.

INDIANS 4, ANGELS 0

CLEVELAND — Derek Lowe pitched three-hit ball into the eighth inning and the Indians scored three runs on Angels errors.

Lowe (4-1) retired 12 batters on ground balls, including Albert Pujols three times. Pujols also struck out against Chris Perez, extending his career-long homerless streak to 117 at-bats.

Ervin Santana (0-5), in his first start against Cleveland since throwing a no-hitter at Progressive Field last July 27, allowed two unearned runs over seven innings. The runs scored when nine-time Gold Glove outfielder Torii Hunter lost a routine two-out fly ball in the sun for an error in the fifth.

Los Angeles has totaled only 11 runs while losing six of seven.

The Indians scored twice in the eighth off Kevin Jepsen, whose throwing error on a sacrifice bunt by Jack Hannahan made it 3-0.

WHITE SOX 4

RED SOX 1

CHICAGO — Gavin Floyd carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning, Adam Dunn hit a two-run homer and the White Sox snapped a five-game losing streak.

Floyd (2-3) struck out nine in 6 2-3 innings, yielding one run and three hits. He improved to 7-0 with a 3.21 ERA in nine career appearances against Boston.

Dustin Pedroia singled with one out in the seventh for Boston’s first hit of the game. Cody Ross had an RBI single for the Red Sox, who had won six straight.

Red Sox starter Josh Beckett (2-3) allowed three runs and six hits in 6 2-3 innings. He struck out eight and allowed six hits while matching a career high with 126 pitches.

ORIOLES 5

ATHLETICS 2

BALTIMORE — Wilson Betemit hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning after Matt Wieters doubled in two runs, giving the Orioles an unlikely victory.

Oakland starter Bartolo Colon took a four-hit shutout into the ninth without allowing a runner past second base.

After J.J. Hardy led off with an infield hit and Nick Markakis struck out, Adam Jones hit a chopper down the third-base line that Colon collected before throwing wildly to first. The single and error put runners at second and third and ended Colon’s afternoon.

Grant Balfour (0-1) entered and promptly gave up a double to left by Wieters that tied it. After Chris Davis received an intentional walk, Betemit hit a liner to right-center that bounced off the top of the wall — a home run, according to the ground rules at Camden Yards.

Pedro Strop (3-1) got three outs for the Orioles, who moved six games over .500 (14-8) for the first time since July 20, 2005.

TWINS 7, ROYALS 4

MINNEAPOLIS — Josh Willingham had three hits and the Twins snapped a six-game losing streak.

Jason Marquis (2-0) threw six strong innings for Minnesota, which also got three hits and a pair of RBIs from Danny Valencia.

Kansas City starter Bruce Chen (0-3) had his worst outing of the season, giving up six runs and six hits in 2 2-3 innings. It was Chen’s shortest outing since lasting 3 1-3 innings on July 9, 2010.

Kansas City had won three straight.

Willingham drove in two runs in his first game back from the paternity list following the birth of his son last week.

BLUE JAYS 7

MARINERS 2

TORONTO — Edwin Encarnacion hit his third home run in three games for Toronto, and Henderson Alvarez won for the first time since August.

Jeff Mathis added a two-run homer as the Blue Jays broke open a close game with a five-run eighth inning.

Chone Figgins and Miguel Olivo homered for the Mariners, who lost their second straight.

Alvarez (1-2) allowed one run and six hits in six-plus innings to win for the second time in 15 major league starts. Alvarez, whose only other victory came at Baltimore last Aug. 31, walked a career-high three and struck out one.

Seattle starter Jason Vargas (3-2) allowed two runs and four hits in six innings.