The St Louis Cardinals became the first team in eight years to hit a home run in each of the first five innings as they defeated the Chicago Cubs 9-6 in the MLB's National League on Friday.
Matt Holliday, Yadier Molina, Lance Berkman, Matt Carpenter and Allen Craig all connected off Travis Wood (4-6), whose five homers allowed matched the Cubs record.
Carpenter put St Louis ahead 7-6 when he homered on the first pitch of the fourth, and Craig homered in the fifth.
Rookie Anthony Rizzo hit a two-run homer for the Cubs, his sixth in 25 games since he was brought up from Triple-A.
The Atlanta Braves beat the Philadelphia Phillies 6-1 as Brian McCann hit a three-run homer off Cole Hamels and Ben Sheets extended his impressive comeback, winning his third straight start.
Drew Sutton scored on a wild pitch by Xavier Cedeno in the ninth inning to propel the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 6-5 win over the Houston Astros.
Yasmani Grandal and Yonder Alonso, both Miami natives, returned home to help the San Diego Padres defeat the Marlins 7-2.
Corey Hart and Aramis Ramirez homered to back another fine pitching performance by Mike Fiers as Milwaukee snapped a seven-game losing streak with a 6-0 win over the Washington Nationals.
Cincinnati won 3-0 against the Colorado Rockies with Bronson Arroyo pitching effectively into the seventh inning and Ryan Ludwick scoring twice as the Reds recorded an eighth straight victory.
Arizona won 11-5 over the New York Mets and the Los Angeles Dodgers needed 10 innings to beat San Francisco 5-3.
Curtis Granderson's eighth-inning grand slam was the highlight as New York Yankees fans gave Ichiro Suzuki a fine welcome to the Bronx.
Raul Ibanez and Russell Martin hit two-run homers as New York defeated the Boston Red Sox 10-3 in the American League to mark Suzuki's Yankees debut.
Carlos Villanueva won his fourth straight start and Travis Snider hit a two-run home run as the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Detroit Tigers 8-3.
The Minnesota Twins beat the Cleveland Indians 11-0 as Scott Diamond tossed a three-hitter and Justin Morneau and Josh Willingham hit three-run homers.
The Oakland Athletics won 14-9 over the Baltimore Orioles, Jemile Weeks hitting an RBI single to give Oakland the lead during a six-run ninth inning against All-Star closer Jim Johnson.
Alejandro De Aza hit a two-run single before leaving the game after an outfield collision as the Chicago White Sox beat the Texas Rangers 9-5.
Seattle defeated Kansas City 6-1 and Los Angeles Angels were 3-1 winners over Tampa Bay.
