Texas' Marlon Byrd, background left, rounds third behind Pittsburgh pitcher Tom Gorzelanny as he crouches near the pitcher's mound after yielding a three-run home run to Gerald Laird. The Rangers won, 6-0, on Thursday in Pittsburgh.

Rangers 6, Pirates 0

Pittsburgh – One former Kansas University baseball player homered off another Thursday night in Texas’ victory over Pittsburgh.

Texas’ Travis Metcalf collected his first major-league hit, a home run off former teammate Tom Gorzelanny (6-4) leading off the sixth inning. The shot on a 1-0 pitch came during the third baseman’s sixth at-bat in the majors.

“Some people go 0-for-5 in one game, for me it was like three weeks. So it’s nice to finally get the first one out of the way,” Metcalf said. “Now I can start working on getting some base hits and doing it every night. I felt like it was hit pretty well, but I was running it out just to make sure.”

Kameron Loe threw eight shutout innings, and Gerald Laird and Jerry Hairston also homered for Texas.

Loe (2-6), called up earlier Thursday from Triple-A Oklahoma, allowed five hits and three walks with a career-high seven strikeouts. He had been sent down to Triple-A Oklahoma last week after giving up nine runs in 22â3 innings in an 11-4 loss to Detroit.

Loe, who had never gone deeper than seven innings in an outing, did not permit a Pirate to reach third base. He entered the game with a 7.40 earned-run average.

Indians 3, Marlins 2

Miami – Back in the majors for the first time since April 2004, Jason Stanford carried a shutout into the seventh inning and helped Cleveland beat Florida.

Brewers 6, Tigers 5

Detroit – Corey Hart hit a homer and Ben Sheets became the second pitcher in Milwaukee Brewers history with 1,000 career strikeouts.

Angels 9, Reds 7

Cincinnati – Vladimir Guerrero’s bases-loaded single in the seventh inning rallied Los Angeles over Cincinnati, which watched its bullpen waste an encouraging start by rookie Homer Bailey.

The Angels scored six runs in the seventh, allowing them to take two of three in their first visit to Cincinnati. Bartolo Colon (6-2) got the victory despite trailing when he left the game after the sixth.

Twins 3, Braves 2

Minneapolis – Mike Redmond capped a three-run rally in the ninth inning with an RBI single for Minnesota against Atlanta closer Bob Wickman, ruining Tim Hudson’s strong start. Hudson dominated for 71â3 innings, and Rafael Soriano recorded the last two outs in the eighth. But the Twins hit a bunch of bouncers to scrap together a wild rally in the ninth against Wickman (1-2).

Cubs 5, Mariners 4

Chicago – Jeff Weaver was poised for his first victory for Seattle, only to have the Mariners’ bullpen blow the lead. Cesar Izturis hit a two-run double in the eighth as Chicago capitalized on the wildness of reliever Brandon Morrow.

Weaver, the postseason star for the St. Louis Cardinals last fall, has struggled mightily this year. He entered the game with a 12.46 ERA, but pitched six strong innings and was staked to a 4-3 lead heading into the eighth.

Yankees 7, Diamondbacks 1

New York – Joe Torre found his new lucky spot in the dugout, then watched Alex Rodriguez, Andy Pettitte and the rest of the team go to work.

Rodriguez drove in two more runs, Pettitte breezed for eight innings and the Yankees won their ninth straight game.

Playing with a fresh bounce in their step, the Yankees finished off another sweep.

Padres 7, Devil Rays 1

St. Petersburg, Fla. – Justin Germano won his fifth straight decision since coming up from the minor leagues.

Rockies 7, Red Sox 1

Boston – Garrett Atkins went 3-for-5 with a grand slam, and Josh Beckett lost for the first time this season as Colorado beat Boston. Despite bringing an undefeated record into the game, Beckett (9-1) has won just two of his last five starts.

Athletics 6, Astros 5, 11 innings

Houston – Jason Kendall hit the go-ahead RBI single in the 11th inning to lift Oakland past Houston.

Nationals 3, Orioles 1

Baltimore – Ryan Zimmerman singled in the tiebreaking run in the eighth inning to back Jason Simontacchi’s best start of the season.