Howard homes in on comfortable win for Phillies

Ryan Howard hit his first home run of the season to help the Philadelphia Phillies to a 12-5 win over the Tampa Bay Rays in the Grapefruit League. The teams were meeting for the first time since the Phillies disposed of the Rays in five games in last season's World Series. Carlos Gomez had a home run and Delmon Young collected three hits as the Minnesota Twins beat the New York Yankees 7-3. Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter drove in runs for the Yankees.

Derek Lowe pitched two innings in his debut for his new team as the Atlanta Braves posted a 6-3 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays. Miguel Cabrera and Brandon Inge and hit home runs to lead the Detroit Tigers to a 7-2 victory over the New York Mets while Angel Chavez hit two home runs and drove in six runs as the Boston Red Sox cruised to a 14-0 victory over Northeastern University.

Nick Markakis had a pair of doubles and scored twice for the Baltimore Orioles as they edged past the Florida Marlins 4-2 and Chris Carpenter pitched two hitless innings to lead the St Louis Cardinals to a 9-2 win over the Washington Nationals. Brandon Moss and Jeff Salazar hit home runs to power the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 6-5 victory over the Houston Astros.

In the Cactus League Aaron Heilman struck out four and allowed one hit in two innings as the Chicago Cubs cruised to a 13-0 victory over the Chicago White Sox. Chris Woodward hit a solo home run to spark a three-run eighth inning as the Seattle Mariners beat the San Francisco Giants 6-4. Travis Metcalf snapped a tie in the eighth inning with an RBI double, lifting the Texas Rangers to a 6-4 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks while Mitch Jones hit a grand slam in a six-run eighth inning as the Los Angeles Dodgers posted a 13-5 victory over the Colorado Rockies.

Carl Pavano pitched two perfect innings on his debut as the Cleveland Indians fell to the Oakland Athletics 1-0, while the Milwaukee Brewers fired a two-run seventh inning to escape with a 5-3 victory over the Los Angeles Angels. Ross Gload hit a solo home run in the eighth inning to help the Kansas City Royals tie the San Diego Padres 2-2. * PA Sport