Liriano (6-3) allowed five hits in eight innings and Delmon Young’s pinch-hit single in the seventh inning gave the Dominican lefty just enough run support. Jon Rauch struck out Jason Heyward, Chipper Jones and Troy Glaus in the ninth for his 16th save.
Hudson (6-2) went the distance for the Braves, allowing two runs on seven hits. Five of those came in the Twins’ two-run seventh inning.
The game served as a ringing endorsement for Tommy John surgery, the ligament replacement procedure that once spelled the end of a pitcher’s career.
Both Hudson and Liriano are enjoying resurgent seasons this year after having the surgery.
Red Sox 12 Phillies 2: At Boston, David Ortiz drove in four runs, Boston led 12-0 after three innings and the Red Sox beat Philadelphia in the worst start of Jamie Moyer’s 24 seasons.
The 47-year-old left-hander allowed nine runs on nine hits, including six doubles and Mike Lowell’s two-run homer, and left after failing to retire any of the first four batters in the second inning. Boston added three runs in the third off David Herndon.
John Lackey(7-3) won his third straight decision, giving up two runs and six hits in seven innings.
At New York, Andy Pettitte threw 7 1-3 sharp innings in his first career start against his hometown team.
Francisco Cervelli hit a two-run single in New York’s three-run first inning, and Mark Teixeiraadded an RBI single in the fifth.
Pettitte allowed two earned runs and four hits against his former team to improve to 3-0 with a 2.10 ERA in his last four starts.
Pettitte (8-1) reached 3,000 career innings when he retired the first two batters of the game, joining Philadelphia’s Jamie Moyer as the only active pitchers to reach the mark. He became the third player to record 200 wins with the Yankees, joining Whitey Ford and Red Ruffing, and snapped a tie with Ford for 58th on the career list with win No. 237.
Tommy Manzella hit a two-run double in the second for Houston, which had won three straight and eight of 10. Brett Myers(4-4) allowed four runs and five hits in seven innings.
At St. Petersburg, Florida, Anibal Sanchez pitched seven solid innings and Gaby Sanchez homered twice and drove in a career-high six runs for Florida.
The Marlins beat their intrastate rivals for just the third time in 13 tries over the past three seasons, handing Rays starter James Shields (5-5) his fourth consecutive loss while Anibal Sanchez (6-3) won for the fifth time in six starts.
At Los Angeles, Joel Pineiro pitched a five-hitter for his second complete game win of the season and became the first Angels pitcher to score three runs in a game since 1962.
Hideki Matsui and Torii Hunter had three-run doubles, helping the Angels win for the eighth time in 10 games and snapping the Dodgers’ four-game winning streak.
Pineiro (5-6) struck out seven, walked one and retired his final 14 batters to earn his second straight win.
The three runs by Pineiro, who never bats in the AL, were the most scored by an Angels pitcher since Ken McBride did so on June 10, 1962, against Kansas City.
At San Francisco, Pat Burrell hit a go-ahead two-run homer in his Giants home debut back in his native Bay Area, helping Tim Lincecum end a four-start winless streak.
Bengie Molina added a two-run shot of his own in the sixth off Gio Gonzalez (6-4), ending a 98 at-bat homerless streak.
The two runs from Burrell’s homer doubled the Giants’ total from all three games of a sweep by the A’s last month across the bay in Oakland. His first drive since joining San Francisco on June 4 also snapped a 22-inning scoreless streak against the A’s.
At Milwaukee, Corey Hart hit his NL-leading 17th home run, Prince Fielder(notes), Ryan Braun and Casey McGehee also went deep for Milwaukee.
Braun’s two-run blast in the first set the tone, McGehee drove in his 46th run with his solo homer in the fourth and Hart and Fielder hit consecutive shots in the fifth off Rangers starter Rich Harden (3-3).
Milwaukee starter Chris Narveson (5-3) pitched a career-best seven innings and throttled the AL West-leading Rangers, who had won three straight by a combined score of 31-6 over Seattle.
At Baltimore, knuckleballer R.A. Dickey baffled Baltimore for seven innings and Chris Carter hit his first major league homer for New York.
Dickey (4-0) gave up one run and seven hits to win his fourth straight start. The right-hander had a career-high eight strikeouts.
Carter hit a three-run shot in the fourth inning to stake the Mets to a 4-0 lead against Jeremy Guthrie (3-7).
David Wright had three hits and two RBIs for the Mets, who won for the sixth time in seven games and improved their road record to 9-18.
The Orioles went 3 for 17 with runners in scoring position and struck out a season-high 12 times. Baltimore’s lone run came when Patterson scored on a wild pitch by Dickey in the seventh.
At Chicago, Alex Rios and A.J. Pierzynski each had four hits and homered, and Carlos Quentin also went deep for the White Sox in their third straight win.
Pierzynski drove in three runs and Paul Konerko knocked in two runs and scored twice to back a strong outing by Jake Peavy(5-5), who allowed two runs on six hits over seven innings.
Randy Wells(3-5) allowed five runs and 10 hits in five innings for the Cubs, and James Russellsurrendered four runs on three hits without recording an out in the seventh.
At Cincinnati, Kansas City’s Yuniesky Betancourtcompleted his big game with a run-scoring single in the 11th inning.
He also had an RBI double and a two-run homer. His two-out single off Micah Owings(3-2) gave the Royals their first set of consecutive wins in June.
Victor Marte (1-0) escaped a two-on threat in the 10th. Joakim Soria retired Scott Rolen on a fly ball with runners on first and third to end it, getting his 15th save in 17 tries.
At Cleveland, Cleveland’s Austin Kearnsdrove in four runs with two homers against his former team.
Travis Hafner also homered for Cleveland as manager Manny Acta won his first game against the team that fired him last July 13.
Jake Westbrook (4-3) gave up two runs over 7 1-3 innings and Chris Perez got his sixth save as Cleveland won for the fourth time in five games, depriving Washington of its first four-game winning streak.
At Detroit, Brennan Boesch hit a solo shot in a three-run fourth inning and Ramon Santiago had a two-run homer in a three-run sixth for Detroit.
Justin Verlander (7-4) gave up two runs on four hits and matched a season high with four walks in seven-plus innings.
Ross Ohlendorf (0-4) allowed six runs—all with two outs—and 10 hits in six innings.
At Denver, Ubaldo Jimenez became baseball’s first 12-game winner as Colorado won the game twice stalled by bad weather before being called after six innings.
Jimenez (12-1) allowed a season-high three runs and five hits in six innings, and his major league-low ERA edged up to 1.16 from 0.93 in a game whose start was delayed 1 hour, 45 minutes because of heavy rain.
When it began raining heavily again, officials delayed the game a second time after the sixth inning. After waiting another 40 minutes, the game was called.
At San Diego, Nick Hundley hit a sacrifice fly to cap two-run ninth inning and give the San Diego Padres a 4-3 win over the Seattle Mariners on Friday night.
Will Venablel ed off the ninth with a single off David Aardsma (0-4) and advanced to second on a sacrifice fly. Aardsma then hit Chase Headley to bring up Gonzalez, who doubled into the right-field corner to score Venable and tie the game 3-3.
Scott Hairston was walked intentionally to load the bases before Hundley lifted a fly ball to right field. Ichiro Suzuki’sthrow was not in time to catch Headley, who scored standing up.
At Phoenix, Brendan Ryan hit a three-run home run in the seventh inning and the St. Louis Cardinals snapped a four-game losing streak with a 5-2 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday night.
Ryan’s drive ruined an otherwise good pitching performance from Arizona’s Rodrigo Lopez(notes), who retired 16 straight batters until he allowed back-to-back singles in the seventh. Ryan homered on the first pitch he saw from Lopez with two outs in the inning.
St. Louis scored twice in the second inning off Lopez (2-5) with doubles from Matt Hollidayand Skip Schumaker(notes). Yadier Molinasingled to drive in Schumaker for the Cardinals’ second run.
