Halladay feels fine after dismal outing vs. Tigers

CLEARWATER, Fla. — Roy Halladay used two meaningful words to alleviate concern over a terrible outing.

“Nothing hurts,” Halladay said.

Considering he’s coming off an injury-plagued year, that’s important news for the Philadelphia Phillies.

Ramon Santiago hit a grand slam and Don Kelly also homered off Halladay, leading the Detroit Tigers to a 10-6 win over the Phillies on Tuesday.

“The results aren’t satisfying and that’s obvious but the work we’ve done, there’s a lot of progress being made,” Halladay said. “I just felt lethargic. The good part is there’s no soreness, nothing hurts. I’ll trade that any day of the week feeling lethargic over being sore like last spring training where there were times you’re hurt.”

The Tigers roughed up the Halladay for seven runs in 2 2-3 innings. The two-time Cy Young Award winner allowed six hits and walked four in his poorest outing this spring. He came in with a 2.16 ERA in three starts.

“There’s definitely work to be done, adjustments to be made,” Halladay said, adding he’s increased the intensity of his workout program and threw an extra bullpen session between starts. “Being that it’s spring training and there’s so much to be worked on, so much to try and achieve at this point, I felt like it’s more important to work on this stuff now and I’d rather have that (feeling) now.”

Manager Charlie Manuel and pitching coach Rich Dubee seemed more worried than Halladay about his start.

“He says he’s healthy, he feels good and nothing’s wrong with him,” Manuel said. “It concerns me, but I’ve been in the game long enough that if nothing is wrong with him, just keep working with him.

Braves 12, Cardinals 3

KISSIMMEE, Fla. — Julio Teheran pitched five hitless innings, Freddie Freeman was 2 for 2 with two RBIs and the Atlanta Braves beat the St. Louis Cardinals.

St. Louis ended a 29-inning scoreless streak with a three-run seventh off Luis Avilan.

Teheran, on the verge of gaining the fifth spot in the Braves’ rotation, struck out six and walked two while lowering his ERA to 1.29 in four starts. He has allowed four hits and struck out 18 in 14 innings.

Astros 9, Marlins 4

JUPITER, Fla. — Carlos Pena and Brett Wallace hit back-to-back home runs off Ricky Nolasco in the first inning and the Houston Astros added three more long balls in a victory over the Miami Marlins.

Matt Dominguez, Jason Castro and Chris Carter also homered for the Astros, who had 13 hits. Castro went 3 for 3 with a double.

Yankees 3, Rays 1

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — Ivan Nova continued to make a case to be the New York Yankees’ fifth starter by pitching four scoreless innings during a victory over the Tampa Bay Rays.

Nova allowed four hits, walked none and struck out two in his third exhibition start. The right-hander who faltered down the stretch last season has allowed one run over nine innings this spring.

The Yankees scored three runs in the eighth, two of them on Bobby Wilson’s pinch-hit single. Mike Fontenot drove in Tampa Bay’s run with an eighth-inning sacrifice fly. On a day the Rays selected AL Cy Young Award winner David Price as their opening day starter, right-hander Alex Cobb built on a solid spring showing by working five scoreless innings.

Red Sox 5, Blue Jays 3

FORT MYERS, Fla. — Mike Napoli played consecutive games for the first time this spring training and had a run-scoring single and a double, helping the Boston Red Sox over the Toronto Blue Jays.

Napoli, diagnosed with avascular necrosis in both hips during his offseason contract negotiations with the Red Sox, is batting .429 (6 for 14) with two homers and six RBIs.

Winner Clay Buchholz allowed three hits in four scoreless innings, while loser Justin Germano, making his first exhibition start of the year, gave up two runs and five hits in three innings.

Diamondbacks (ss) 5, Mariners 4

PEORIA, Ariz. — Felix Hernandez struck out three in three innings of his second spring training start, but the Seattle Mariners lost to an Arizona Diamondbacks split squad.

Hernandez, who became the highest-paid pitcher in baseball when he signed a seven-year, $175 million contract in February, walked one and gave up one hit — a solo home run to Eric Hinske.

In two spring appearances, Hernandez allowed two runs and three hits in five innings. He has one walk and five strikeouts.

Rangers 12, Brewers 3

SURPRISE, Ariz. — Jeff Baker homered off Tom Gorzelanny and Mike Olt against Travis Webb, helping the Texas Rangers rout the Milwaukee Brewers.

Baker has a seven-game hitting streak, going 12 for 15 (.800).

Rangers starter Alexi Ogando allowed two hits and three walks and struck out three over four innings, his first scoreless outing of spring training. Texas took a four-hit shutout into the ninth before Tanner Scheppers allowed three runs.

Athletics 6, Royals 3

PHOENIX — Eric Sogard had a tiebreaking double in the fifth inning and the Oakland Athletics bullpen slowed the hot-hitting Kansas City Royals in a victory.

Alex Gordon had two more hits, including a home run off Tommy Milone to lead off the game.

The Royals, who scored 30 runs in their previous two games, increased their lead to 3-0 in the fourth on run-scoring hits by Max Ramirez and Johnny Giavotella. Oakland tied it against Royals starter James Shields in the bottom half on an RBI double by Yoenis Cespedes and a two-run single by Brandon Moss.

Six A’s relievers combined for 5 1-3 innings of three-hit ball.