Once Felix Hernandez tweaked his back, the whole game took an odd twist.
Robinson Cano hit a two-run double, Lyle Overbay delivered a tiebreaking sacrifice fly, and the Yankees rallied in the seventh inning after King Felix was forced to make an early exit, beating Seattle, 4-3, Tuesday night in New York.
The Mariners’ ace was in the midst of another top outing at Yankee Stadium, outpitching CC Sabathia in the first matchup between the former Cy Young winners and taking a 3-0 lead into the sixth inning.
But with a runner on first and one out, Hernandez fielded a soft comebacker by Curtis Granderson in front of the mound, quickly pivoted and snapped a throw to second base for a forceout. The swift play, however, came with a price. Hernandez twice kicked his left leg near the mound, trying to get loose.
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Manager Eric Wedge and a trainer visited Hernandez and left him in. Overbay followed with an RBI double that made it 3-1. After a walk and an inning-ending fly ball, Hernandez was pulled.
‘‘I’m going to be fine,’’ said Hernandez, adding he’d treat his back with ice.
Sabathia, who had won his last eight starts against Seattle, struck out 10 in 6⅓ innings while giving up 10 hits.
Raul Ibanez hit a two-run homer for Seattle in his return to Yankee Stadium. Granderson came off the DL and went 0 for 3 with a walk in his season debut.
Padres 3, Orioles 2 — Chris Denorfia and Everth Cabrera hit two-out RBI singles off Jim Johnson in the ninth inning, and San Diego got a home run from Carlos Quentin to get the win in Baltimore.
After the Orioles took a 2-1 lead in the eighth, Johnson (1-3) gave up the two hits to Denorfia and Cabrera to end his franchise-record streak of consecutive converted saves at 35.
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Angels 6, Royals 2 — Albert Pujols, Howie Kendrick, Josh Hamilton, and Mike Trout all homered off Jeremy Guthrie and host Los Angeles handed the Kansas City righthander his first loss in a span of 19 starts.
Jason Vargas (2-3) allowed two runs and five hits in seven-plus inning for the Angels.
Blue Jays 10, Giants 6 — R.A. Dickey struck out a season-high 10 in six innings to snap a four-start winless streak, Melky Cabrera had four hits against his former team, and host Toronto beat San Francisco.
Dodgers 2, Nationals 0 — Clayton Kershaw (4-2) scattered five hits and struck out 11 in 8⅔ innings, and Andre Ethier delivered a two-run single to lift host Los Angeles past Washington.
Phillies 6, Indians 2 — Jonathan Pettibone (3-0) pitched into the seventh, Kevin Frandsen and Domonic Brown homered, and host Philadelphia beat Cleveland.
Rockies 9, Cubs 4 — Carlos Gonzalez homered twice and finished with five hits to lead Colorado over host Chicago.
Pirates 4, Brewers 3 — Andrew McCutchen homered leading off the 12th inning, giving Pittsburgh the walkoff victory.
Diamondbacks 2, Braves 0 — Patrick Corbin allowed three hits in seven innings to improve to 6-0 and host Arizona turned an infield double by Gerardo Perra into two runs to beat Atlanta.
White Sox 4, Twins 2 — Adam Dunn and Dayan Viciedo homered to back a strong seven-inning outing from Jake Peavy (5-1) and visiting Chicago got past Minnesota.
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Cardinals 10, Mets 4 — Carlos Beltran drove in four runs and rookie lefthander John Gast picked up a win in his major league debut, helping host St. Louis cruise past New York.
Tigers 6, Astros 2 — Miguel Cabrera homered and Doug Fister pitched seven impressive innings in host Detroit’s victory over Houston.
Reds 6, Marlins 2 — Homer Bailey tossed a six-hitter to earn his first win since April 5, and Cincinnati extended its winning streak to four games by beating host Miami.