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MIAMI -- Brett Tomko pitched six innings Friday night for his first victory in nearly six weeks, and two unearned runs helped the Kansas City Royals extend their winning streak to five games by beating the slumping Florida Marlins 7-6.
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Closer Joakim Soria allowed a run for the first time this season when he gave up a two-run homer to Jeremy Hermida on an 0-2 pitch with one out in the ninth. Soria then struck out Hanley Ramirez and Jorge Cantu for his 11th save.
The Royals' win streak is their longest since last June. NL East-leading Florida has lost four in a row for the first time this year.
Tomko (2-4) allowed five hits and two runs to win for the first time since April 6. He had lost his past four decisions.
Miguel Olivo drove in two runs for Kansas City with his fifth homer, and Jose Guillen had three hits and drove in two runs.
Andrew Miller (3-3) allowed four runs, two earned, in five innings for the Marlins.
Shortstop Ramirez committed the error that allowed two unearned runs to score, and he also went 0-for-5. His $70 million, six-year contract extension is expected to be formally announced Saturday. Full story
Braves 3, Athletics 2
ATLANTA -- Leave it to Chipper Jones to sum up the Atlanta Braves' season after another win at Turner Field: "We're not bad here. We stink on the road."
Mark Kotsay knocked in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning with a two-out RBI double, and the Braves edged the Oakland Athletics for their eighth straight home victory.
The Braves, who lost five of seven on a road trip that ended Thursday in a 5-0 loss to Philadelphia, have the best home record in the majors at 15-4. They also have the worst record away from home at 6-16.
The loss was a season-high fourth in a row for the A's, who have dropped six of seven on their current nine-game road trip.
Padres 6, Mariners 4
SEATTLE -- Brian Giles had his third four-hit game of the season, Tadahito Iguchi had a homer among his three hits and the San Diego Padres opened interleague play with a win over the Seattle Mariners.
San Diego rebounded from being shutout for the fourth time this season on Thursday against the Cubs, by jumping on Seattle starter Miguel Batista for three runs in the first and another in the second on Iguchi's solo homer.
Giles' four-hit night included a pair of doubles and two RBI, and came on the heels of a 3-for-4 day against the Cubs on Thursday. Iguchi added a pair of singles sandwiched around his second home run of the season as the Padres got three of their five extra-base hits from the duo. The Padres finished with 14 hits.
San Diego's Chris Young (4-3) won for the third time in his last four starts, overcoming his own early struggles and pitching six solid innings. Staked to a 4-0 lead, Young gave up three runs in the second, two scoring on Kenji Johjima's two-run homer that just cleared the hand-operated scoreboard in left field on an 1-2 pitch. But Young escaped the second when Adrian Beltre struck out with the bases loaded.
Twins 4, Rockies 2
DENVER -- Nick Blackburn pitched seven strong innings and Delmon Young doubled twice and scored two runs to lead the Minnesota Twins to a win over the Colorado Rockies.
Clint Barmes had three hits for the Rockies, who have lost six straight and eight of 11.
Blackburn (4-2) struck out five and didn't walk a batter to help the Twins end a three-game skid. Joe Nathan remained perfect in 13 save opportunities.
Ubaldo Jimenez (1-4), who hasn't won since April 8, struck out five and walked one in seven innings.
Diamondbacks 4, Tigers 3
PHOENIX -- Eric Byrnes broke out of a monthlong slump with a homer and two RBI, Dan Haren pitched seven innings and the Arizona Diamondbacks rallied past the slumping Detroit Tigers.
Haren (5-2) scattered six hits and allowed three runs for the Diamondbacks, who came back from a 3-1 deficit with three runs in the seventh en route to their fourth straight victory. They scored the go-ahead run on a two-out throwing error by third baseman Carlos Guillen.
Haren struck out four and did not walk a batter for the second time this season, handing Detroit its fifth straight defeat.
Juan Cruz struck out the side in the eighth and Tony Pena pitched the ninth for his fourth career save in his first opportunity of the season.
Orioles 5, Nationals 3
BALTIMORE -- The Washington Nationals' poor outfield play proved costlier than the Baltimore Orioles' baserunning blunders.
Luke Scott homered, Melvin Mora hit a tiebreaking double in the fifth inning and the Orioles rallied past Washington for their sixth win in seven games and third consecutive come-from-behind victory.
"Obviously it's not the way you want to draw it up, playing from behind all the time, but you've got to do an awful lot of little things right to get yourself back in," Baltimore manager Dave Trembley said.
Washington's fielding woes were to blame for a wild two-run fifth that broke a 3-all tie. Two Orioles baserunners were thrown out and Washington outfielders twice misjudged fly balls.
Yankees-Mets, ppd.
NEW YORK -- The Subway Series opener between the New York Yankees and Mets was postponed because of rain.
Johan Santana (4-2), who had been scheduled to start for the Mets at Yankee Stadium, was pushed back to Saturday and will be followed Sunday night by Oliver Perez (3-3).
Yankees manager Joe Girardi, who said earlier Friday he would keep his pitchers in order, changed his mind and skipped Darrell Rasner. Andy Pettitte (3-4) will start Saturday against Santana, followed Sunday by Chien-Ming Wang (6-1).
The Mets already have a day-night doubleheader Tuesday at Atlanta and didn't want to schedule another doubleheader for this week.
Brewers-Red Sox, ppd.
BOSTON -- Terry Francona's return to managing had to wait another day when the series opener between the Boston Red Sox and Milwaukee Brewers was postponed by rain.
The skipper of the AL All-Star team did, however, add managers Joe Girardi of the New York Yankees and Jim Leyland of the Detroit Tigers to his coaching staff for that game against the NL on July 15.
Francona had missed the previous two-game series in Baltimore because of the death of his mother-in-law. Now he's set to manage two games Saturday, one that had been scheduled for 3:55 p.m. and a makeup of Friday's rainout at 8:35 p.m.
Bench coach Brad Mills filled in against the Orioles.
