BOSTON — Brad Penny took a line drive off his chest in the first inning, and the Boston Red Sox nearly had the solution to the logjam in their pitching rotation.

Penny wasn't going away quite so easy, though.

The Red Sox right-hander remained in the game and lasted long enough to pick up his 100th career win, beating the Florida Marlins, 6-1, last night in front of the 500th straight sellout at Fenway Park.

"I don't know how he stayed in that game and pitched. I just told him, 'If you collapse, we'll get (Justin) Masterson in the game,' " Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "You can't hurt him. He's a strong kid and he likes to pitch. But when the game was over I came in to pat him on the chest and I thought he had a pacemaker. He's got a pretty good welt."

Penny (6-2) allowed one unearned run on three hits and four walks, striking out three. He has not allowed an earned run in 11 innings over his past two starts, a good streak to be working on as John Smoltz finishes his minor-league rehab stint and prepares to head back to the majors.

Smoltz, a former NL Cy Young winner, allowed one run in four innings in Triple-A Pawtucket last night. The Red Sox have said they will go to a six-man rotation for the short-term, though it is also possible they will trade Penny or prospect Clay Buchholz or move Daisuke Matsuzaka — so far the least effective of their starters — to the bullpen.

"They've got a lot of tough decisions, and I'm glad I'm not the one making them," said Penny, who played for the Marlins from 2000-04. "There's a place for everyone. If you get traded or if you're here, there's a place for you to pitch. It's a great thing that we have all this pitching. Smoltz coming back, it's going to be huge."

RANGERS 5, ASTROS 4:

David Murphy singled home Ian Kinsler with one out and the bases loaded in the bottom of the 10th inning as Texas beat Houston, taking advantage of two throwing errors by Ivan Rodriguez on the day he set the major league record for games caught.

Rodriguez, who began his career at age 19 in 1991 and played 12 seasons in Texas, caught his 2,227th game to break Carlton Fisk's record.

BLUE JAYS 7, PHILLIES 1:

Rookie Scott Richmond (5-3) allowed a run and five hits with a career-high 11 strikeouts in eight innings, and Aaron Hill, Rod Barajas and Scott Rolen hit homers to lead host Toronto past Philadelphia.

Jayson Werth homered for the NL East-leading Phillies, who fell to 13-18 at home. The defending World Series champions are a major league-best 23-9 on the road.

ORIOLES 6, METS 4:

Matt Wieters hit his first major league home run and Aubrey Huff hit a tiebreaking, two-run shot in the bottom of the seventh inning as Baltimore withstood Gary Sheffield's 507th career homer to beat New York.

With one out, Nick Markakis singled off Pedro Feliciano (2-2) and Huff hit a 2-2 pitch for his first homer in 17 games since May 26.

NATIONALS 3, YANKEES 2:

Left-hander John Lannan (4-5) allowed two runs and four hits in 8 1/3 innings, in his first career start at Yankee Stadium, helping Washington beat New York.

The Yankees played without All-Star shortstop Derek Jeter, who sat out with a sore left ankle. Jeter went for an MRI before the game and checked out fine.

ANGELS 4, GIANTS 3:

Pinch-hitters Torii Hunter and Vladimir Guerrero ignited a three-run rally with consecutive singles in the top of the eighth inning as Los Angeles beat San Francisco for its season-high sixth straight victory, which snapped Tim Lincecum's (6-2) six-game winning streak.

WHITE SOX 4, CUBS 1:

John Danks (5-5) scattered five hits over seven shutout innings, Alexei Ramirez homered in the first and the visiting White Sox, backed by a large and vocal following at Wrigley Field took a 34-33 lead in interleague series that began in 1997, 34-33.

BREWERS 9, INDIANS 8:

J.J. Hardy homered early and drove in the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly in the top of the 11th inning as Milwaukee completed a three-game sweep of Cleveland. Milwaukee closer Trevor Hoffman blew an 8-4 lead in the ninth.

DIAMONDBACKS 12, ROYALS 5:

Max Scherzer (4-4) gave up two runs on nine hits over six innings, Mark Reynolds homered in the seventh and Stephen Drew hit a three-run triple in a five-run eighth as visiting Arizona beat Kansas City and Zack Greinke (8-3).

PIRATES 8, TWINS 2:

Ian Snell (2-7) gave up two runs and five hits over six innings to win for the first time in two months, Andrew McCutchen hit his first major league home run, and Adam LaRoche also went deep, leading visiting Pittsburgh past Minnesota.

ROCKIES 5, RAYS 3:

Troy Tulowitzki hit a three-run homer and Aaron Cook (6-3) survived a shaky fifth inning that included homers by Evan Longoria and Carl Crawford to tie a franchise record with his 58th career win as Colorado snapped Tampa Bay's six-game winning streak.

CARDINALS 4, TIGERS 3:

Rookie Colby Rasmus had three hits and two RBIs, both giving host St. Louis the lead in beating Detroit. Yadier Molina homered during a three-hit game and Todd Wellemeyer (6-6) won for the third time in eight decisions at home.

MARINERS 4, PADRES 3:

Jose Lopez hit a two-run homer and Franklin Gutierrez scored on a throwing error following a Ichiro Suzuki single in the top of the fifth inning to break a 3-all tie as Seattle extended San Diego's major league-record interleague losing streak to 13.

ATHLETICS 5, DODGERS 4:

Rajai Davis and Jack Cust homered in the second inning, rookie Trevor Cahill (4-5) held the team with baseball's best record to two unearned runs and four hits in 5 1/3 innings, and visiting Oakland snapped a four-game skid with a victory over Los Angeles.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

REDS 4, BRAVES 3:

Micah Owings (4-7) gave up two runs on six hits in six innings and hit a three-run homer as host Cincinnati beat Atlanta and Javier Vazquez (4-6), who allowed four runs and four hits in going the distance.