BOSTON (AP) - Dustin Pedroia hit a grand slam for his 100th career home run, Clay Buchholz earned his first win at home and the Boston Red Sox beat the Oakland Athletics 7-1 on Friday night.
Pedroia had yet to homer this season before driving an 0-2 pitch to left field in the sixth inning to put Boston up 6-1. The cushion was plenty for Buchholz (2-2), who shut down the team with the top record in the American League.
Buchholz pitched 6 1-3 innings, allowing three hits while striking out five. He walked three and got himself out of several jams as the A’s went 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position against the right-hander.
Pedroia joined Carl Yastrzemski as the only Red Sox players with 100 home runs and 100 stolen bases.
Dan Straily (1-2) gave up two runs and four hits in 4 1-3 innings.
TIGERS 8, ROYALS 2
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Rick Porcello cruised through seven innings and Detroit battered Kansas City right-hander James Shields again in the opener of a three-game set.
Victor Martinez had a pair of doubles and drove in two runs. J.D. Martinez and Alex Avila also drove in two runs apiece as the Tigers won their fourth straight against the Royals.
Porcello (4-1) extended the best start of his career, giving up a solo homer to Billy Butler and a sacrifice fly to Eric Hosmer. The right-hander allowed four hits while striking out six without a walk.
Shields (3-3) yielded eight runs - seven earned - and 12 hits in 6 1-3 innings. It was his worst outing since last September, when Shields gave up 10 runs in another lousy start against the Tigers.
The Royals also lost All-Star catcher Salvador Perez when he fouled a pitch off his shin in the seventh.
ORIOLES 3, TWINS 0
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Ubaldo Jimenez struck out a season-high 10 over 7 1-3 innings for his first win with Baltimore, and Nelson Cruz hit a two-run homer to pad the lead against Minnesota.
Jimenez (1-4) allowed only three hits while taking a significant step forward from five rough starts to begin his $50 million, four-year contract with the Orioles.
Tommy Hunter got his eighth save in nine tries. Trevor Plouffe led off with a double, but Hunter struck out the next two and ended the game with a groundout.
Ricky Nolasco (2-3) gave the Twins a complete game, giving up nine hits while striking out six.
Cruz also doubled in the fourth and scored on a double by Matt Wieters.
INDIANS 12, WHITE SOX 5
CLEVELAND (AP) - Michael Brantley homered and drove in three runs, Carlos Santana also went deep and Cleveland broke a six-game losing streak with a win over Chicago.
The Indians’ struggling offense, which scored 13 runs on an 0-6 road trip, finally broke loose.
Brantley hit a leadoff homer in the fifth and added a two-run single in the sixth. Santana hit a solo homer in the second and had an RBI single in a five-run first. Ryan Raburn and Yan Gomes each drove in two runs.
Danny Salazar (1-3) was charged with five runs, three earned, in five innings and earned his first win of the season.
Jose Abreu hit his major league-leading 11th homer but the White Sox couldn’t overcome a shaky start by John Danks (2-2), who allowed eight runs in five innings. Chicago has lost seven straight at Progressive Field.
The Indians placed All-Star second baseman Jason Kipnis on the 15-day disabled list with a pulled muscle on his side. He is expected to miss three to five weeks.
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