Montreal Expos: Zach Day virtually assured himself a spot in the starting rotation, pitching six innings of two-hit ball in a rain-shortened 3-0 victory over the Baltimore Orioles.

Day struck out two and faced the minimum 18 batters. The only players to reach base were Jeff Conine and Jack Cust, who both singled and were erased by double plays.

Day pitched in the bullpen as a rookie with Montreal last season, but this year he's vying to be a starter. The right-hander has a 1.23 ERA with 12 strikeouts and only three walks.

Day outpitched Rick Helling, who is competing against Pat Hentgen for the final spot in Baltimore's rotation. Helling allowed three runs, two earned, in six innings and lowered his ERA to .3.43.

"He showed the value of being a veteran pitcher," Orioles manager Mike Hargrove said. "He didn't hurt himself, he didn't help himself."

Kansas City Royals: The Royals set their pitching rotation Sunday, picking left-handers Chris George and Darrell May to join Runelvys Hernandez, Jeremy Affeldt and Miguel Asencio.

Kyle Snyder, a 1999 first-round choice who was vying for a rotation spot, was among four players cut.

Sweet swinging Sweeney: Mike Sweeney hit his sixth home run in 15 at-bats and Mike Tucker homered twice as the Royals took an 11-run lead and held on to beat Arizona's split squad 12-11.

Arizona's Elmer Dessens gave up five homers in the first two innings, with Mendy Lopez, Mike DiFelice and Tucker hitting consecutive home runs in the second.

Tucker and Sweeney both had four RBI, each doubling in a five-run third inning.

Since going hitless in his first five at-bats, Sweeney is batting .563 (27-for-48) with seven homers, four doubles and 20 RBI. He has hit safely in 17 of his past 18 games.

Cleveland Indians: Manager Eric Wedge told reliever David Riske and infielder Casey Blake before Sunday's 2-0 win over the Reds that they'd made the club. Blake will play third base while Ricky Gutierrez recovers from offseason neck surgery.

Ricardo Rodriguez allowed four hits in six innings, and Riske struck out the side in the ninth. Blake played first base and went 0-for-3, lowering his average from .512 to .477.

Gutierrez will most likely remain in Florida on an extended spring training assignment until he's back in everyday playing shape.

Indians first baseman Travis Hafner missed his second game with a sprained wrist. Wedge expects him to resume batting practice in a day or two.

Houston Astros: Wade Miller pitched six shutout innings to lead the Astros over Kevin Brown and the Dodgers 2-1.

Miller gave up three hits, struck out six and walked one.

Brown, who has pitched well this spring, struck out seven in five innings, allowing two runs -- one earned -- and three hits. Kazuhisa Ishii followed with four scoreless innings of two-hit ball, walking four and striking out three.

San Francisco Giants: Damian Moss pitched six innings of three-hit ball as the Giants beat the Cubs 6-0 for their fourth consecutive victory.

Ray Durham hit his first homer of the spring and Yorvit Torrealba drove in three runs. Barry Bonds and Trey Lunsford also drove in runs for the Giants, who stopped Chicago's five-game winning streak.

Moss allowed two hits in the first inning, giving up a double to Sammy Sosa, then retired 12 of the next 14 hitters before allowing a hit to Chicago starter Matt Clement.

''He had better command of every pitch,'' Giants manager Felipe Alou said. ''With every outing, he looked like he got a better idea of what he's doing.''

Colorado Rockies: Colorado set its rotation Sunday, moving National League Rookie of the Year Jason Jennings up to pitch the opener instead of injured Denny Neagle.

Jennings pitches April 1 at Houston to give Neagle's sore left elbow more time to heal. Neagle will be pushed back to the fifth spot behind Jennings, Aaron Cook, Shawn Chacon and Denny Stark.

''It's something to be proud of,'' Jennings said Sunday. ''It just goes back probably to last year, all the hard work I put through the minor leagues and through last year. It's just one game, but it's got a little more meaning to it.''

Neagle was picked as the opening-day starter early in spring training, but hasn't pitched against hitters since March 14, when he took himself out of a game against minor-leaguers.

Helton gets hot: Todd Helton had three hits and Chris Richard's first homer of the spring provided the go-ahead run as Colorado beat Milwaukee 5-4.

Richard is trying to get one of Colorado's final roster spots, but has struggled since the Rockies acquired him from Baltimore on March 11.

He entered 0-for-11 with Colorado, but ended his slump and broke a 4-all tie by leading off the eighth with a homer off Francisco Campos.

Atkins sent down: The Rockies sent six players to the minors Sunday, including hot-hitting third baseman Garrett Atkins.

Atkins, third baseman Kevin Eberwein, outfielder Luke Allen and right-hander Elio Serrano were optioned to minor league camp. The Rockies also reassigned left-hander Vic Darensbourg and infielder Kit Pellow.

Atkins, Colorado's fifth-round draft choice out of UCLA in 2000, opened spring training 13-for-19 and barely slowed down.

He led the Rockies with a .613 batting average and 12 RBI, and was tied for second with six doubles. Atkins also had just one error in 17 games at third.