Major League baseball
White Sox pad AL Central lead CHICAGO (AP) – Joe Crede hit two home runs, including a game-winning shot leading off the 10th inning, and the Chicago White Sox increased their lead in the AL Central to 31/2 games with a 7-6 victory over the Cleveland Indians on Tuesday night.
Chicago snapped the Indians’ six-game winning streak and sent them to their second loss in 15 games.
Crede turned on a 1-0 pitch from David Riske (3-4), sending it an estimated 422 feet to left for his 19th homer. It was the fifth game-ending homer of Crede’s career and his first since last September against Kansas City.
Dustin Hermanson (2-4) pitched a scoreless 10th for the win.
Red Sox 15, Devil Rays 2
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – David Ortiz hit his AL-leading 45th and 46th homers and drove in four runs to help Curt Schilling and the Boston Red Sox hang on to first place in the AL East.
Manny Ramirez also homered twice to drive in three runs and join Ortiz, Trot Nixon and Jason Varitek with four hits for the Red Sox, who remained one-half game in front of the New York Yankees.
Boston finished with 21 hits and tied an AL record with four players with four apiece. The Red Sox are the first team to accomplish the feat since Minnesota did it against Cleveland on June 24, 2002.
Ortiz hit two-run homers off Seth McClung (6-11) in the first and third innings, giving him home runs in three straight at-bats over two games and his second consecutive four-RBI game against the Devil Rays.
Schilling (7-8) improved to 2-3 in six starts since returning to the rotation on Aug. 25.
Blue Jays 6, Mariners 4
TORONTO – Vernon Wells and Gregg Zaun homered, and Josh Towers pitched into the seventh inning, and Toronto handed Seattle its fifth loss in six games.
Adrian Beltre hit his 19th homer for the Mariners. He hit 48 homers for the Los Angeles Dodgers last season.
Towers (12-11) allowed four runs – one earned – and eight hits in six-plus innings, lowering his ERA to 3.78. He has reached career highs in wins, innings (192 2-3) and strikeouts 103.
Jason Frasor pitched the ninth for his first save since Aug. 29, 2004, against the New York Yankees.
Wells went 2-for-3 with a walk, a stolen base and two runs scored. He hit a two-run homer off Jeff Harris (2-5) in the first, cutting Seattle’s lead to 3-2.
Royals 5, Tigers 4, 1st game
Royals 4, Tigers 2, 2nd game
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Zack Greinke pitched seven strong innings, and Emil Brown and Chip Ambres homered as Kansas City swept a doubleheader against Detroit.
Mike Sweeney’s RBI double with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning gave the Royals victory in the opener.
The Tigers have lost six straight and 17 of 21 in September. Kansas City avoided its 100th loss for the third consecutive game and swept a doubleheader for the first time since June 7, 2003, at Colorado.
Greinke (5-16), who is 2-0 in four September starts, held the Tigers to two runs and six hits over seven innings. He struck out four and walked none. Greinke is tied with teammate Jose Lima for the most losses in the American League.
Mike MacDougal (4-5), the winning pitcher in the first game, worked the ninth for his 20th save in 23 tries in the second game.
Detroit’s Nate Robertson (6-15) has lost five straight starts since beating Oakland on Aug. 23. He gave up four runs – three earned – and six hits in seven innings.
In the opener, pinch-hitter Aaron Guiel singled with one out in the ninth against Craig Dingman (3-3) and scored easily on Sweeney’s double to right-center, his second RBI of the game.
Yankees 12, Orioles 9
NEW YORK – Gary Sheffield hit a grand slam and drove in six runs, Jorge Posada added a three-run homer and New York kept the pressure on in a pair of playoff races with a victory over Baltimore.
Aaron Small (9-0) was not sharp, but didn’t need to be to remain unbeaten. The Yankees gave him plenty of early support by scoring four runs in the first and five more in the second, taking advantage of some horrendous Baltimore defense.
The Yankees have won eight of nine and climbed 24 games above .500 for the first time this season. New York remained a half-game behind first-place Boston in the AL East, and moved a half-game back of Cleveland in the wild-card race.
Small allowed four runs and 10 hits in five-plus innings, the shortest of his eight starts this season. He became the first pitcher to win his first nine decisions for the Yankees since Tommy John in 1979.
Baltimore rookie John Maine (2-2) didn’t get an out in the second inning.
Giants 4, Nationals 3
WASHINGTON – Barry Bonds turned jeers to cheers with an upper-deck homer in his 2005 road debut, then drew a walk before Moises Alou’s go-ahead, three-run shot in the ninth inning of the San Francisco Giants’ 4-3 victory over the Washington Nationals on Tuesday night.
Bonds hit his 706th homer off Livan Hernandez (15-8) in the fourth inning, and that was the only run the right-hander allowed heading into the ninth. Bonds is third on the career home run list behind Hank Aaron (755) and Babe Ruth (714).
Jack Taschner (2-0) pitched a scoreless eighth for the win, and Benitez escaped a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the ninth for his 17th save.
Reds 6, Cardinals 5
CINCINNATI – Rich Aurilia drove in three runs with a homer and a single, and Javier Valentin singled home the tiebreaking run in the seventh inning, rallying Cincinnati over St. Louis.
The Reds won for only the fourth time in 11 games this season against the NL Central champions, who clinched over the weekend and are using the last two weeks to stay sharp and in shape.
John Gall’s three-run homer put the Cardinals ahead 5-2 in the third inning. The left fielder also threw out Felipe Lopez at the plate in the seventh, keeping it tied at 5. Valentin followed with an RBI single off Ray King (4-3).
Josh Hancock (1-0), sidelined most of the season by a groin injury, threw one perfect inning to get the win. David Weathers pitched the ninth for his 14th save.
Brewers 5, Cubs 3
MILWAUKEE – Geoff Jenkins homered in the first inning and Doug Davis worked out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the seventh to help Milwaukee beat Chicago.
Davis (11-10) won for the second time in three starts after going 14 consecutive starts without a victory. The left-hander pitched seven innings, giving up two runs and seven hits, walking two and striking out 10, including Derrek Lee four times.
Derrick Turnbow pitched the ninth for his 33rd save.
Chicago starter Jerome Williams (5-9) gave up three runs in the first inning in failing to win for the third consecutive start. He gave up four runs and nine hits in six innings.
Astros 7, Pirates 4
PITTSBURGH – Andy Pettitte made his shortest start in 21/2 months, but still won his seventh in a row and kept Houston in the NL wild-card lead with a victory over Pittsburgh.
The Astros won their sixth in seven games as Brad Ausmus drove in four runs, three on consecutive doubles off left-hander Tom Gorzelanny (0-1), who was making his major league debut. Gorzelanny, a 2003 second-round draft pick, pitched earlier this month in both the Triple-A and Double-A playoffs, but the majors proved a little more difficult.
Pettitte (17-9) never finds it very difficult to beat the last-place Pirates, who, despite their 62-89 record, had won three in a row against Houston – all by shutout.
Braves 4, Phillies 1
ATLANTA (AP) – Jorge Sosa overcame a career-high six walks to pitch 6 2-3 shutout innings and push Atlanta closer to its 14th straight division title.
The Phillies lost ground on two fronts, falling six games behind the Braves in the NL East and two games behind Houston in the wild-card race. Atlanta, on the other hand, reduced to six its magic number for adding another division title to a streak that began in 1991.
Sosa (13-3) won for the fifth time in six starts, solidifying a spot in Atlanta’s possible postseason rotation. Rafael Furcal had three hits, scored twice, drove in a run and picked up his career-high 43rd stolen base.
Cory Lidle (11-11) lasted 5 2-3 innings, giving up five hits and two runs. He also was making his second straight start against the same opponent, having picked up the win in a 12-4 rout of the Braves last week.
Mets 3, Marlins 2, 12 innings
NEW YORK (AP) – Mike Jacobs delivered a two-out single in the 12th inning Tuesday night, driving in David Wright with the winning run as New York dented Florida’s wild-card hopes.
Florida remained third in the wild-card chase, but dropped three games behind Houston.
Wright’s two-out double against Brian Moehler (6-10) was the Mets’ third hit of the game and their first since the seventh inning. After the Marlins intentionally walked Mike Piazza, Jacobs hit a ball into the right field corner and Wright scored easily.
Aaron Heilman (4-3), the fourth New York pitcher, threw two innings for the win.
Rockies 20, Padres 1
DENVER – Matt Holliday hit two homers and drove in a career-high eight runs as Colorado handed San Diego its most lopsided loss of the season.
Holliday’s RBIs tied the franchise record, as did Colorado’s 20 runs. The beneficiary of the Rockies’ big night was Jamey Wright (8-16), who was recently demoted to the bullpen but got a spot start because of an injury to Byung-Hyun Kim.
The loss dropped the first-place Padres to 75-75, five games ahead of San Francisco in the NL West.
San Diego starter Woody Williams (8-12) was lifted before he could get an out in the second inning, having allowed nine runs and nine hits. Combined with the six runs he gave up in 3 1-3 innings on opening day at Coors Field, Williams’ ERA against Colorado this season shot up to 29.10.