NATIONAL LEAGUE

Bobblehead day drives Samardzija to not bobble

— Jeff Samardzija had plenty of extra motivation Tuesday. It was his own bobblehead day.

Alfonso Soriano homered, Samardzija struck out eight in seven innings and the Chicago Cubs beat the San Diego Padres 5-3 Tuesday.

The Cubs starter was relieved.

“You don’t want to pitch bad and go outside and see your bobblehead smashed all over the place,” Samardzija said.

Samardzija departed after Will Venable’s RBI triple with no outs in the eighth. Shawn Camp made the lead hold up, getting a comebacker, a lineout and escaping the inning on Carlos Quentin’s fly to left.

“The fact of the matter is Camp’s been probably our MVP up to this point,” Cubs Manager Dale Sveum said.

Soriano hit a home run to center field in the sixth. After going without a home run in his first 30 games this season, Soriano has seven home runs in his past 13 games.

“Right now I feel so good and am happy to help the team win,” Soriano said.

James Russell got the last two outs for his first career save. His father Jeff, a longtime closer in the majors, saved 186 games in his career.

“I’ve only got one,” Russell said. “I still got a little more work to do to get up to his level.”

Russell, who was mostly a starter in the minors, didn’t have a save at any professional level, but talked about the role like a veteran.

“Once you get two outs, everybody starts getting up and that’s when the juices really start to kick in,” Russell said. “You’ve just got to kind of calm yourself down and not get caught in the moment, remember that you’ve just got to make pitches.”

Quentin homered and had three hits for San Diego. His drive deep into the left-field bleachers on the first pitch of the fifth was his first home run as a Padre.

MARLINS 3, NATIONALS 1 Host Miami’s Anibal Sanchez allowed only an unearned run in seven innings to remain unbeaten in 19 starts against Washington as the Marlins broke the franchise record for victories in a month. The Marlins are 20-8 since May 1, best in the majors.

BRAVES 5, CARDINALS 4 Dan Uggla hit a three-run home run, Michael Bourn also homered and host Atlanta snapped its longest losing streak in more than two years, holding off St. Louis after an eight-game skid.

METS 6, PHILLIES 3 Rookie Jeremy Hefner earned his first victory in the majors, highlighting the occasion by homering for his first big league hit as host New York beat Philadelphia.

REDS 8, PIRATES 1 Jay Bruce had three hits, including two doubles, Todd Frazier drove in two runs and host Cincinnati cruised by Pittsburgh. Frazier doubled and tripled in his first two at-bats hours after saving a Pittsburgh restaurant-goer from choking on a piece of steak by giving him the Heimlich maneuver.

American League

WHITE SOX 7, RAYS 2 Philip Humber (2-2) won for the first time since throwing a perfect game in April, helping visiting Chicago extend its winning streak to seven games.

BLUE JAYS 8, ORIOLES 6 Toronto’s Brett Lawrie had three hits and three RBI, and Ricky Romero (6-1) won for the seventh time in nine starts against visiting Baltimore.

ROYALS 8, INDIANS 2 Mike Moustakas had a career-best four RBI to help rookie Will Smith get his first major league victory, leading Kansas City over host Cleveland.

MARINERS 10, RANGERS 3 John Jaso drove in three runs, Jason Vargas (6-4) pitched into the seventh inning and Seattle beat host Texas to snap a five-game losing streak.

RED SOX 6, TIGERS 3 David Ortiz homered and hit two doubles, and host Boston tagged Justin Verlander (5-3) for 10 hits in a victory over Detroit.

TWINS 3, ATHLETICS 2 Josh Willingham hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift host Minnesota over Oakland.

Tuesday’s games

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Chicago Cubs 5, San Diego 3 Cincinnati 8, Pittsburgh 1 NY Mets 6, Philadelphia 3 Atlanta 5, St. Louis 4 Miami 3, Washington 1 Milwaukee at LA Dodgers, (n) Arizona at San Francisco, (n)

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Kansas City 8, Cleveland 2 Toronto 8, Baltimore 6 Chicago White Sox 7, Tampa Bay 2 Boston 6, Detroit 3 Seattle 10, Texas 3 Minnesota 3, Oakland 2 NY Yankees at LA Angels, (n)

Sports, Pages 22 on 05/30/2012

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