A-Rod makes Twins pay with winning slam  —  Slugger homers after intentional walk to Teixeira  —  NEW YORK — Like so many of the games the Yankees and Twins have grown accustomed to playing, Friday night's series opener featured multiple lead changes in a taut affair that could have gone either way.

GAME 34: Yankees vs. Charlotte Knights  —  feat.  Romulo Sanchez rhp (0-2, 6.48)  —  Charlotte  —  Brent Lillibridge ss  —  Jordan Danks cf  —  Dayan Viciedo 1b  —  Tyler Flowers dh  —  Stefan Gartrell rf  —  Josh Kroeger lf  —  C.J. Retherford 2b  —  Donny Lucy c  —  Javier Colina 3b

Nats not locked in on top Draft pick  —  Harper just one of several prospects club is considering  —  DENVER — For the second year in a row, the Nationals have the first overall pick in the 2010 First-Year Player Draft.  —  Last year, the club made it known before the Draft that right-hander Stephen Strasburg would be the choice.

Prospect Hot Sheet: May 14  —  Team: Triple-A Syracuse (International)  —  Why He's Here: 2-0, 0.00, 12 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 13 SO  —  The Scoop: What else needs to be said, really?  Triple-A hitters clearly are no match for Strasburg, and when the Nationals finally do call him up to Washington …

BIG DAY FOR JONES LEADS PIRATES PAST CUBS IN MATINEE  —  The Sports Network  —  Chicago, IL (Sports Network) - Garrett Jones collected five hits and drove in a career-high five runs, including the tie-breaking three-run homer in the eighth inning, to lift the Pirates to a 10-6 win over the Cubs …

JAYS HIT FIVE HOMERS IN COMEBACK WIN OVER RANGERS  —  TORONTO — Travis Snider, Vernon Wells and Aaron Hill hit three-run home runs and the Toronto Blue Jays went deep five times in all in their 16-10 comeback win over the Texas Rangers 16-10 on Friday.  —  Texas led 9-3 after two-and-a-half innings …

Looks like MLB has buried an Ace  —  Top pitcher in Northern League last year gets no offers from Show  —  Ace Walker works out Thursday at Canwest Park under the watchful eye of Rick Forney.  —  He didn't get any interest from major league teams in the off-season, so Ace Walker will continue to finish what he started in Winnipeg.

PRADO'S NINTH-INNING HIT LEADS BRAVES OVER DIAMONDBACKS  —  The Sports Network  —  Atlanta, GA (Sports Network) - Martin Prado lined a two-run single down the right field line in the bottom of the ninth inning, boosting Atlanta to a 6-5 win over the Diamondbacks in yet another horrible showing for Arizona's bullpen.

Ortiz enjoys the laser show  —  David Ortiz, as you might expect, was in a good mood tonight.  —  Question: “Can you go over those two at-bats?”  —  Ortiz: “Fastball.  Gone.”  —  Asked to expand a bit on that answer, Ortiz smiled.  —  “Yeah, I'm feeling good.  Swinging the bat, seeing the ball and hit it, my man.

Mr. Perfect: Braden deals next with Angels  —  A whirlwind week that commenced with the 19th perfect game in Major League history and has included appearances on “The Late Show with David Letterman,” “The Early Show” and a regional cover of Sports Illustrated will come to a close on Friday for Dallas Braden.

Astros' Lee draws ire of Carpenter  —  Benches clear after players start jawing  —  ST. LOUIS — Chris Carpenter showed his mean streak again Thursday.  —  Carpenter called out Houston's Carlos Lee after Lee popped out to shortstop in the third inning of the St. Louis Cardinals' 4-1 loss to the Astros.

Marlins 2, Mets 1: At Least It Was Quick  —  If you like short games and pitcher's duels, tonight's game was for you.  If you like offense and intelligent game management you might want to delete this one from the DVR.  After just 2.5 hours of baseball, Fernando Nieve uncorked a wild pitch …

Vizquel puts away glove against Royals  —  KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Omar Vizquel is known for his slick fielding, winning 11 Gold Glove awards and posting the highest fielding percentage among all shortstops.  —  Now, he can call himself a designated hitter, too.

Keith Law's top 100: 24 days out  —  With just more than three weeks until Round 1 of the draft, here's a new look  —  Here's my second ranking of the top 100 prospects for the 2010 Rule 4 draft, based on what I've seen and what I've heard from scouts thus far this spring.

Minor League Transactions  —  Check out the Transactions Glossary for the key to deciphering the various inactive lists presented here.  —  An asterisk (*) denotes an instance of a player agreeing to terms on a minor league contract with an organization with which he already had a major league agreement.

The Firing of Trey Hillman  —  In 2007, when the Kansas City Royals hired Trey Hillman to be their manager, I traveled to Japan to watch the man in action.  Hillman was a bold hire by what then looked like a young and bold organization.  The Royals had just hired Dayton Moore from Atlanta …

Mientkiewicz opts out of Minors deal  —  MIAMI — A potential left-handed veteran off the bench is no longer in the organization.  —  First baseman Doug Mientkiewicz opted out of his Minor League contract, and he again is a free agent.  The Marlins signed Mientkiewicz to a Minors deal May 5.