OAKLAND, Calif. — After opening day in Japan, an exhibition weekend in Los Angeles and yet another opener in Oakland, the Boston Red Sox are finally headed back east from the Far East.

And they're still off to a rock-solid start to their crazy season.

Jon Lester pitched three-hit ball into the seventh inning, David Ortiz broke open a scoreless game with a two-run homer and the Red Sox beat the Athletics, 5-0, yesterday.

Kevin Youkilis had a double and a run-scoring single while setting the major league record for consecutive errorless games by a first baseman (194) as the Red Sox defeated the A's for the third time in a four-game series that began last week in Tokyo. Boston won two straight in Oakland, with Lester and Daisuke Matsuzaka carrying the Red Sox until their hitters perked up.

"We're certainly not on all cylinders," manager Terry Francona said. "That may be part of the trip ... but what they did today was good enough."

The Red Sox still aren't done with a 16,000-mile trip that included two exhibitions against Japanese teams and a game in front of 115,300 fans at Los Angeles' Memorial Coliseum. Boston has a three-game weekend series in Toronto before finally getting back to Fenway Park.

Lester (1-1), who lost his season debut in Japan, didn't allow an Oakland runner to reach second base after the first inning. He retired 10 straight batters before Emil Brown dropped a weak single into right field with two outs in the seventh.

Jason Varitek added a ninth-inning homer for Boston, and relievers Bryan Corey and Manny Delcarmen completed the shutout for the World Series champions, who held the A's to one run in the last two games.

INDIANS 7, WHITE SOX 2

Fausto Carmona (1-0) allowed a run and four singles in seven innings in his season debut, Grady Sizemore had three RBIs and Asdrubal Cabrera had three hits and two RBIs to lead host Cleveland over Chicago.

ROYALS 4, TIGERS 0

Brian Bannister (1-0) allowed two singles in seven innings, combining with Leo Nunez and Joakim Soria on a three-hitter — three singles by Edgar Renteria — as visiting Kansas City started 2-0 for the second time in 28 years.

BLUE JAYS 5, YANKEES 2

A.J. Burnett (1-0) overpowered host New York, allowing two runs in six innings — a two-run homer by Alex Rodriguez — and Vernon Wells hit a two-run homer off Mike Mussina (0-1) to lead Toronto.

ANGELS 1, TWINS 0

Joe Saunders (1-0) scattered four hits over eight shutout innings with 14 groundball outs, and Howie Kendrick scored on a wild pitch in the seventh as Los Angeles extended its streak of wins when leading after eight innings to 159 games, longest current run in the majors.

ORIOLES 9, RAYS 6

Aubrey Huff hit a two-run homer to pull the Orioles to 6-5 in the sixth inning, then doubled in two runs in the eighth as Baltimore rallied past Tampa Bay in front 10,505 fans, the tiniest crowd since Camden Yards opened in 1992.

MARINERS 4, RANGERS 1

Carlos Silva allowed three hits and one run over seven innings in his Seattle debut, Jose Lopez hit a three-run homer and No. 5 starter Miguel Batista got his first save in three years to close out the Texas.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

BREWERS 8, CUBS 2

Jeff Suppan (1-0) gave up two runs and six hits in 6 1/3 innings, Rickie Weeks homered on the game's first pitch and Jason Kendall reached base five straight times to lead visiting Milwaukee.

REDS 6, ARIZONA 5

Left-hander Jeremy Affeldt (1-0) escaped a bases-loaded threat in the top of the ninth and Edwin Encarnacion hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth to give Cincinnati its first victory under manager Dusty Baker.

METS 13, MARLINS 0

Ryan Church and David Wright homered, Carlos Beltran had three doubles and New York pounded out 17 hits in support of Oliver Perez (1-0), who allowed five hits over six scoreless innings.

CARDINALS 8, ROCKIES 3

Center fielder Rick Ankiel homered, singled twice and made a diving catch as host St. Louis beat Colorado before a crowd of 39,915, ending the Cardinals' string of consecutive regular-season sellouts at 165 games.

BRAVES 10, PIRATES 2

Mark Teixeira hit a two-run homer and Yunel Escobar added a three-run shot in a seven-run eighth inning as host Atlanta beat Pittsburgh to avoid an 0-3 start.

ASTROS 9, PADRES 6

Lance Berkman hit a three-run homer off Trevor Hoffman with two outs in the top of the ninth inning as Houston rallied past San Diego for its first win of the season.

GIANTS 2, DODGERS 1

Tim Lincecum (1-0) made his season debut in relief, allowing a run on four hits in four innings, and scored the go-ahead run on Randy Winn's sacrifice fly in the top of the sixth to help San Francisco beat Los Angeles and avoid its first 0-3 start since 1984.