Kenta Maeda hurled seven shutout innings and earned his fifth win of the season in the Minnesota Twins' 3-1 victory over the Cleveland Indians on Friday.
Maeda (5-1) allowed four hits, struck out seven and walked two in a 94-pitch effort backed by Byron Buxton's two-run home run in the second and Ryan Jeffers' seventh-inning solo shot off in-form Shane Bieber (7-1) in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
"I knew the opposing pitcher was good and didn't think we could win easily so I felt I had to hang in there," said Maeda. "I think it's a really big win for the team and it was a good outing for me."
Masahiro Tanaka earned his second win of the season going five innings in the New York Yankees' 10-1 win over the Baltimore Orioles in the second seven-inning game of their double header, swept by the Yankees.
Tanaka (2-2) yielded a run in the first inning and got out of a no-out, two-on jam in the second but retired the next 12 batters and left with a big lead.
"I could have kept giving up runs (had they scored there) and it was huge that I came away without letting one," said Tanaka, who gave up three hits and hit a batter while striking out five.
Rookie Yoshitomo Tsutsugo had his seventh homer of the season and went 2-for-5 with two RBIs as the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Boston Red Sox 11-1 in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Tsutsugo homered off reliever lefty Matt Hall (0-3) to open the second and drive in the game's first run.
"I've never had any issues facing lefties, to begin with. I didn't know the pitcher and didn't feel bad facing him in particular," Tsutsugo said.
Yusei Kikuchi (2-3) took the loss after giving up four runs over six innings in the Seattle Mariners' 4-3 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks in Phoenix, Arizona.
