Major League Baseball ToDay

Justin Duchscherer insisted all season long that he belongs in the starting rotation.

Despite spending most of his six years in the Majors as a relief pitcher, he knows he has what it takes to start.

And despite spending the most of last season and part of this season on the disabled list, he knows he has the ability to start.

After Saturday’s showing, everyone else should know.

The pitcher carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning before allowing a one-out single to David Ortiz. That helped to give Oakland to a 3-0 shutout in front of almost 34,000 on Saturday night at McAfee Coliseum. Oakland A’s merchandise was seen waving furiously over a good deal of the stadium—something that doesn’t happen too often.

Duchscherer said he first started thinking about the history books after the fifth inning, but it wasn’t until the sixth when he really considered it a possibility. He retired the first 15 batters he faced, but opened the sixth by hitting Jason Varitek with a pitch.

The right-hander’s gem was backed by a three-run, nine-hit offensive effort highlighted by Ryan Sweeney’s solo home run in the seventh.

Beckett threw what would normally be an impressive game, limiting the A’s to two runs on seven hits and no walks with nine strikeouts through seven innings.

The Rangers have been feeding off of each other for weeks now. They only seem to be getting hungrier.

The Rangers hit six home runs in Friday’s 16-8 victory over Houston, two of them by Josh Hamilton. Young, Saltalamacchia, Shelton and Murphy also went deep.

The Rangers hit three home runs off two different pitchers. They hit three home runs in a six-run bottom of the eighth that leveled an Astros team that has already won three games this season when trailing after eight, and which had won 18 of its last 24 games.

“I totally believe hitting is contagious,” said Murphy, who had his fifth home run of the season. “A few guys have a few good at-bats, and it just snowballs.”

Hamilton was the big story, hitting home runs in consecutive innings, a solo shot in the third and a three-run blast in the fourth. Hamilton has three home runs on this homestand.

Saltalamacchia hit his first home run of the season. It might have been the most important home run of the night.

Three of the Rangers’ first seven batters hitting in the eighth went deep, as everyone in the lineup fed off each other’s momentum. Murphy started the inning with a home run to right-center field. It was a sweet home run for Murphy, who went to Klein High School outside of Houston.

“It was fun to hit one against the team I grew up loving and admiring,” said Murphy, who counted Craig Biggio, Jeff Bagwell and Ken Caminiti as his favorite Astros growing up.

Shelton’s homer was also a meaningful one. Arlington’s Hunter Pence robbed him in the sixth on a deep fly ball to right field that would have cleared the bases. Shelton rebounded in the eighth with an opposite-field home run.

“The first one, I just went up there trying to put the ball in play and Hunter made a great catch,” Shelton said. “It was nice to get one after that. For the most part we hit the ball well that inning.”

Young’s never-in-doubt solo shot to left gave the Rangers a 16-8 lead, and actually gave Hamilton one last shot at the cycle. The home team, which was the Rangers, were proudly showing off their Texas Rangers merchandise as they put blew out their cross state rival.

For the second game in a row, the Twins pitching staff accomplished the improbable. Saturday night a rookie reliever came in for an injured starter and pitched four scoreless innings, earning his first Major League win. Sunday afternoon was even better.

After giving up six runs in a 45-pitch, 26-minute top of the first inning, Boof Bonser started the game over to give the Twins a chance. They took advantage, coming back for a 7-6 victory over the Tigers.

“He gained his composure and started locating his fastball and using his offspeed stuff,” acting manager Scott Ullger said of Bonser. “That’s all we could ask from him. We said, ‘Boof, you have to start over.’ After that first inning, he went out and started over and pitched a strong five after that.”

He didn’t actually start the game over — he still had that six-run deficit to account for — but when he came out firing in the second inning and retired the Tigers on five pitches, it gave the Twins a spark.

Bonser made no excuses for the first inning after the game. He said the Tigers just seemed to be able to hit everything he threw over the plate. But beginning in the second, he started locating his fastball and gaining control of his offspeed pitches.

“I think a game like that just proves you can’t count us out,” Bonser said. “I gave up that six runs, but we went out and scored seven. The game’s not over. It wasn’t a good thing it happened in the first inning, but at the same time, I’m glad it didn’t happen in the sixth inning. For us to have a perfect homestand is a great thing.”

The Tigers fans, with their Detroit Tigers merchandise on, had a pretty good time as they saw a good game down the stretch.

What began two years ago as a bold statement has grown into a baseball tradition.

Bidding is under way for seven signed pink Louisville Sluggers. Three pink bats bear the autographs of Yankees stars Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera. This bat could become a part of your New York Yankees merchandise.

The other four are each signed by Diane Sawyer, Robin Roberts, Chris Cuomo and Sam Champion.

“It’s about bringing awareness to breast cancer and raising money for research so we can stop cancer and save lives,” said John A. Hillerich IV.

Last year there was a huge increase in the number of players who swung pink bats for at least part of their games. Expect even more this time. The breast-cancer-awareness theme will be carried throughout the Mother’s Day games, including pink-ribbon logos on bases, uniform patches, pink wristbands, commemorative home plates, pink merchandise and pink dugout lineup cards.

“We expected that this would be something that would draw a lot of interest,” Hillerich said two years ago, at the inception, “but it has far exceeded our expectations. It is wild around here. People are calling, wanting to buy a pink bat. It’s crazy. The good thing is that it’s drawing attention to the cause.”