Mariners beat Blue Jays 8-1, Angels lose to Orioles

WELL DONE: Seattle Mariners Michael Saunders (L) is congratulated by teammate Kendrys Morales after he hit a home run against the Toronto Blue Jays. (Reuters)

AFP/TorontoDustin Ackley hit his first career grand slam and Michael Saunders added a pair of solo homers as visiting Seattle extended Toronto’s early-season misery. Ackley turned on a 3-2 pitch from Blue Jays starter R.A.  Dickey (2-5) and launched it over the wall in right-center in the fourth inning for his first home run of the season. Saunders led off the game with a homer from the second pitch of the contest and added some insurance in the fifth as Seattle won for the seventh time in nine games. The offensive outburst made a winner out of Hisashi Iwakuma (3-1), who limited Toronto to a run on five hits over seven strong innings.  Dickey was charged with seven runs on six hits over six innings as the Blue Jays fell for the eighth time in nine games. Orioles 5 Angels 4 (10 innings) Steve Pearce delivered a run-scoring single with two outs in the top of the 10th to lift visiting Baltimore over Los Angeles.  Pearce had three of Baltimore’s 12 hits while starting for injured first baseman Chris Davis. Adam Jones singled to lead off the 10th against Garrett Richards (1-3) and scored from second on Pearce’s two-out single into shallow right field. Tommy Hunter (1-1) worked out of a jam in the ninth and Jim Johnson hurled a perfect 10th for his 11th save in 11 opportunities. Manny Machado, J.J. Hardy and Nolan Reimold each hit solo homers for the Orioles.    Yankees 4 Athletics 2 Phil Hughes threw eight scoreless innings and Chris Stewart and Lyle Overbay belted solo home runs as host New York evened its series with Oakland. Hughes (1-2) finally broke into the win column in his sixth start, scattering four hits and tying his season high with nine strikeouts as the Yankees improved to 7-2 on their 10-game homestand.  Hughes retired the final 10 batters he faced in his longest outing since last July 1. Athletics right-hander Bartolo Colon (3-1) failed to make it through six innings for the first time in six starts, giving up three runs on six hits in 5 1/3 innings. Indians 7 Twins 3 Scott Kazmir threw six sharp innings to pick up his first win since 2010 and Jason Kipnis fell a double shy of the cycle as host Cleveland ran its winning streak to six games. Nick Swisher also homered and Asdrubal Cabrera had an RBI double for the Indians, who have scored 53 runs in the six straight wins.