Baseball-Highlights of Wednesday's early Major League games

May 27 (The Sports Xchange) - Highlights of Wednesday's early Major League baseball games: - - - Yankees 4, Royals 2 Alex Rodriguez moved past Hall of Famer Lou Gehrig into third place on the all-time RBI list with a three-run homer in the bottom of the third inning and the New York Yankees completed a three-game sweep of the Kansas City Royals. Rodriguez drove a 0-1 slider from Chris Young (4-1) over the left field wall that moved him past Gehrig and gave him 1,995 RBIs. It also was Rodriguez's 665th home run and 2,880th hit, putting Rodriguez 20 shy of joining Derek Jeter as the only Yankees to reach 3,000 hits. Rodriguez added his 2,881st hit with a single in the seventh and finished the game one behind Barry Bonds, who is well behind Hank Aaron (2,297). Right-hander Michael Pineda (6-2) bounced back from two sub-par outings and allowed one run and six hits over 6 2/3 innings. - - - Mets 7, Phillies 0 Rookie right-hander Noah Syndergaard did it all in his fourth major league start, throwing 7 1/3 shutout innings and delivering three hits, including a long homer, in New York's win over Philadelphia. The Mets scored once in the first inning, three times in the third and once apiece in the fourth, fifth and sixth in sweeping a three-game series from the Phillies at Citi Field for the second time this season. - - - Indians 12, Rangers 3 Cleveland belted three home runs, including a three-run shot by Carlos Santana in an eight-run third inning, to roll over Texas. The win snapped Texas' seven-game winning streak. It was the last day of a road trip for Texas and the last day of a 4-2 homestand for the Indians, who pounded out 17 hits, including home runs by Santana, Nick Swisher and Lonnie Chisenhall. - - - Twins 6, Red Sox 4 Aaron Hicks and Eddie Rosario homered and right-hander Phil Hughes pitched 6 2/3 innings to help Minnesota beat Boston. The Twins got their first sweep of Boston in nearly a decade, when they took three from the Red Sox in June of 2006 at the Metrodome. It was also the Twins' fifth consecutive win overall and seventh in their last eight games. - - - Mariners 3, Rays 0 For eight innings, Tampa Bay's Chris Archer and Seattle's Felix Hernandez threw shutout gems, taking a scoreless stalemate into the ninth. Then the Rays went to the bullpen, and reliever Brad Boxberger gave up a three-run homer to Nelson Cruz as the Mariners won to sweep the three-game series. - - - Rockies 6, Reds 4 Nolan Arenado and Charlie Blackmon homered, and right-hander Kyle Kendrick pitched seven strong innings, lifting Colorado over Cincinnati in the finale of a three-game series. Todd Frazier and Tucker Barnhart homered for the Reds, who have lost 10 of 11. The Reds halted a nine-game losing streak on Tuesday, their longest since 1998. - - - Pirates 5, Marlins 2 Jung Ho Kang's two-run single capped a five-run rally in the seventh inning as Pittsburgh ran its winning streak to a season-high six games. The Pirates trailed 2-0 with two outs and none on in the seventh when Chris Stewart and pinch hitter Jose Tabata hit consecutive singles off left-handed reliever Mike Dunn to put runners on the corners. Right-hander Sam Dyson (2-2) relieved and gave up back-to-back RBI singles to Josh Harrison and pinch hitter Pedro Alvarez that tied the score. Dyson then walked Andrew McCutchen and Starling Marte to force in the go-ahead run and Kang greeted righty Carter Capps with his two-run single to center to extend his hitting streak to nine games. - - - White Sox 5, Blue Jays 3 Adam LaRoche drove in the go-ahead run in the 10th inning and Chicago snapped a four-game losing streak. Jose Abreu led off the 10th with a triple to right field against Blue Jays right-hander Roberto Osuna (1-1) and LaRoche singled to right to give Chicago a 4-3 lead. - - - (Editing by Mark Lamport-Stokes)