Max Scherzer maintained his perfect start to the season by securing a 10th straight victory in pitching the Detroit Tigers to a 5-1 triumph against the Baltimore Orioles on Monday.

Scherzer blew through the Orioles lineup with 10 strikeouts, allowing one run in six innings, as he drew level with St. Louis pitcher Adam Wainwright (10-3) on 10 wins for the campaign.

He is, however, the first starter to open a season 10-0 since Roger Clemens completed the feat for the Toronto Blue Jays in 1997. Clemens added one more victory to that tally before losing his first decision of the season against Seattle.

"You have to savor this a little bit because of the history of this organization," Scherzer said.

"It's special to be 10-0 but at the end of the day, I don't measure my success on being 10-0. I measure my success on everything else I do on the mound."

Baltimore slugger Chris Davis blasted his Major League-leading 24th home run against Scherzer in the second inning, but that was the only blemish on the pitcher's report card.

Detroit's reigning American League MVP Miguel Cabrera struck a two-run homer of his own, his 19th of the season, and finished 3-for-4 to push his league-leading batting average to .358.

In the National League, Zack Cozart and Todd Frazier hit upper-deck homers off left-hander Francisco Liriano as the Cincinnati Reds moved a season-high 15 games over .500 by beating the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-1 on Monday night.

The Reds hit four solo homers in all, extending their best start since 1995, the last time they won a playoff series.

Cozart connected in the fourth and Frazier in the sixth off Liriano (5-3), who hadn't allowed a homer in his seven previous starts. He opened the season on the disabled list, recovering from a broken right arm last December.

Joey Votto and Jay Bruce connected in the eighth off Bryan Morris. Mike Leake (7-3) extended the best stretch of his four-year career, giving up six hits - including Russell Martin's RBI double - in seven innings.

(China Daily 06/19/2013 page24)