A-Rod Blasts 6th Homer; Francoeur, Hudson Pace Braves

Tuesday's Peak Performers and Fabulous Flops American League New York Yankees' third baseman Alex Rodriguez (right) walloped his 6th home run of the season - a 2-run shot - in the 1st inning to start the Yankees' 10-1 rout of the Twins at Minnesota. Rodriguez' 6 homers and 13 RBI lead the majors. Starter Andy Pettitte earned his first win of the season, blanking the Twins on 4 hits over six innings. Pettitte struck out 3 and issued just 1 walk. Boston's Jason Varitek rapped a fifth inning double and stroked a pair of singles to drive in 3 runs and score another in the Red Sox' 14-3 pounding of visiting Seattle. The Sox scored in each of the first 5 innings and banged out 14 hits against the Mariners. Nate Robertson improved to 2-0 and the Tigers won their third road game of the season with a 3-1 win over the Baltimore Orioles. Robertson worked 7 1/3 innings, allowing just 4 hits, 1 walk and 0 earned runs while striking out 5. Closer Todd Jones pitched a perfect 9th inning for his 4th save. Jones has yet to allow an earned run this season. The Cleveland Indians got their first home win of the season, but they did it in Milwaukee. After having their games snowed out for four straight days, MLB moved the Indians-Angels series to Milwaukee, which the Indians will call home for at least the next two days. Their 7-6 win over the Angels was produced in part by home runs by catcher Kelly Shoppach (a 2-run shot in the 1st) and Casey Blake, who launched a solo homer to left field in the 3rd inning. Gary Sizemore walked three times and stole 3 bases, but failed to figure in the scoring. Center fielder David DeJesus tripled and singled twice in KC's 6-3 win at Toronto. DeJesus drove in 1 run and scored twice in 5 at-bats, boosting his batting average to .375. The Rangers and Devil Rays each banged out 12 hits, but Texas scored 12 to Tampa Bay's 9 for the home win. The Rangers' Frank Catalanotto homered, tripled, singled, drove in 4 runs and scored one. National League Atlanta's Jeff Francoeur (right) blasted a 2-run double in the 5th inning and a 3-run homer in the 8th to pace the Braves to an 8-0 whitewash of Washington, the Nationals' 6th home loss in 7 tries. Starter Tim Hudson struck out 7, walked 1 and allowed just 3 hits over 7 innings. Adrian Gonzalez hit a solo homer in the 7th and a 2-run shot in the ninth, but his efforts fell just short as San Francisco won 6-5 at San Diego. Armando Benitez, who gave up the 2-run shot, worked the whole 9th, got his 2nd save but boosted his ERA to 7.71. Brett Tomko pitched 6 innings of 1-hit ball, striking out 9, but didn't figure in the decision as the Dodgers won 2-1 over Colorado at LA.