ARLINGTON, Texas — Vernon Wells kicked off his comeback tour with a homer display in his hometown.

Wells hit his fourth homer in three games and the Toronto Blue Jays rallied for three runs in the ninth against closer Frank Francisco to beat the Texas Rangers, 3-1, yesterday.

Wells, who grew up in Arlington, is coming off a disappointing season which could be blamed in part on a nagging wrist problem. He finished with 15 homers and 66 RBIs, his fewest in each category since becoming a regular in 2002.

Wells became the first Blue Jays player to homer in each of the first three games of the season.

"When you're hitting home runs, they come in bunches," Wells said. "It's all a timing issue. If you keep your timing, it helps with the pitch location."

Wells went 6 for 10 and drove in seven runs to help the Blue Jays take two of three from the Rangers.

Wells hit a leadoff homer to left on a 1-1 splitter from Francisco that was out over the plate. Edwin Encarnacion's sacrifice fly made it 2-1, and Mike McCoy added an RBI single.

TIGERS 7, ROYALS 3

Miguel Cabrera homered and drove in four runs, and Dontrelle Willis allowed two runs on seven hits in six innings to lead visiting Detroit over Kansas City.

A'S 6, MARINERS 2

Brett Anderson scattered three hits over six-plus inning and Daric Barton drove in a career-high four runs as host Oakland won three of four from West rival Seattle.

ORIOLES 5, RAYS 4

Brian Matusz (1-0) gave up two runs and two hits over five innings, Garrett Atkins had two RBIs and visiting Baltimore avoided a season-opening three-game sweep.

INDIANS 5, WHITE SOX 3

Asdrubal Cabrera hit a tiebreaking, two-out RBI single in the top of the 11th inning and Grady Sizemore followed with his second RBI double to lift Cleveland.

TWINS 10, ANGELS 1

Brendan Harris hit a two-run homer, Jim Thome drove in three more with his 565th career home run, and Delmon Young added a three-run shot for visiting Minnesota.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

REDS 2, CARDINALS 1

Jonny Gomes connected on a 2-2 pitch from Jason Motte (0-1) for a solo homer with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning, lifting Cincinnati over St. Louis for its first win of the season.

NATIONALS 6, PHILLIES 5

Ryan Zimmerman broke a 5-5 tie in the bottom of the seventh with a blooper to shallow right that landed inches fair as Washington avoided a three-game sweep.

DODGERS 10, PIRATES 2

Ronnie Belliard homered among three extra base hits and drove in four runs, and visiting Los Angeles had 16 hits to beat Pittsburgh and avoid a three-game sweep.

CUBS 2, BRAVES 0

Randy Wells gave up six hits in six innings, four relievers finished the eight-hitter and Tyler Colvin and Marlon Byrd hit homers as visiting Chicago avoided a three-game sweep.

MARLINS 3, METS 1

Jorge Cantu's RBI double broke a 1-1 tie in the fifth and Gaby Sanchez added a run-scoring double in the sixth as visiting Florida won the last two of the three-game series.