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Red Sox make Yankees and Clemens look bad

New York Yankees Hideki Matsui hits a single against the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium in New York on Saturday. PHOTO: AP

Ramiro Mendoza (2-3) worked out of trouble to pitch five shutout innings in his first start since June 2001, and the Boston Red Sox blew out Roger Clemens and the New York Yankees again with a 10-2 victory Saturday.

Clemens (8-6) became the second straight Yankees starter to give up eight runs against Boston's major league-leading offense.

David Ortiz homered twice for the second game in a row, and Trot Nixon hit a two-run shot in the second that put Boston ahead as the Red Sox connected three times after hitting seven homers in Friday's 10-3 win.

Ortiz had a solo shot in the fourth against Clemens and a two-run drive off Jason Anderson in the ninth.

Boston, with its second straight win in the four-game series, pulled within two games of the AL East leaders.

Devil Rays 3, White Sox 2

Javier Valentin homered off Esteban Loaiza (11-4) and Jorge Sosa (2-6) won for the first time since April as Tampa Bay won three straight for the first time under manager Lou Piniella.

Piniella pledged last month to dye his hair if his young team won three in a row at any point this season.

It didn't come easy. Lance Carter nearly blew a three-run lead in the ninth, allowing a solo homer to pinch-hitter Magglio Ordonez and a one-out RBI double to Frank Thomas. Carter recovered for his 14th save in 20 opportunities.

Indians 13, Twins 2

Casey Blake went 5-for-5 with two homers and seven RBIs against his former team, leading Cleveland past struggling Minnesota.

Matt Lawton -- another former Twin -- and Milton Bradley homered for the Indians, who got seven solid innings from starter Brian Anderson (6-6).

Matthew LeCroy and Corey Koskie hit solo homers for the Twins, who have lost 15 of 21.

Tigers 9, Royals 5

Dmitri Young and Kevin Witt hit solo home runs and Alex Sanchez drove in three runs with his first homer in 307 at-bats, powering Detroit past Kansas City.

The Tigers, whose 21-64 record is the worst in the major leagues, have hit seven home runs in their last two games and 12 in their last seven. Sanchez's shot in the fourth inning was the second of his career and put the Tigers on top 6-0 in the fourth.

Mike Maroth (4-12) gave up four runs and eight hits in 7 2-3 innings to win for the third time in four decisions.

Orioles 9, Blue Jays 2

Jeff Conine hit two homers and drove in five runs, and Sidney Ponson (11-5) pitched eight strong innings for Baltimore.

Brook Fordyce also homered, and AL batting leader Melvin Mora had four hits to help the Orioles extend their winning streak to four -- tying a season high.

Greg Myers and Shannon Stewart homered for the Blue Jays, who have lost seven of eight.

Mariners 3, Rangers 2

Dan Wilson's RBI single with one out in the 10th inning lifted Seattle over Texas.

Randy Winn greeted reliever Ugueth Urbina (0-4) with a single to open the 10th. Winn went to second on Jeff Cirillo's sacrifice bunt and raced home on Wilson's bloop single over the head of Rangers second baseman Michael Young.

Rafael Soriano (1-0) pitched a scoreless ninth for his first major league victory. Shigetoshi Hasegawa got three outs for his third save.

Angels 6, Athletics 3

Tim Salmon homered twice and Ramon Ortiz won for the sixth time in seven starts to lead Anaheim over Oakland.

Salmon connected on a 2-0 pitch from Aaron Harang (1-3) for a three-run homer in the first inning and a solo shot off John Halama in the fifth. It was Salmon's second multihomer game this year, both against the A's.

Ortiz (10-6) gave up six hits and three runs in six innings. Troy Percival pitched the ninth for his 19th save.

Odalis Perez held Arizona hitless through seven innings and combined with Eric Gagne on a four-hitter Saturday as the Los Angeles Dodgers snapped a seven-game losing streak with a 2-0 victory over the Diamondbacks.

Shea Hillenbrand blooped a single to right field leading off the eighth, making it four times in two seasons Perez (5-7) has flirted with a no-hitter and fallen short.

He threw a pair of one-hitters last year -- giving up a seventh-inning infield single at Chicago on April 26 and a leadoff single in the sixth against Colorado on June 25. He also took a perfect game into the seventh against the Mets on Aug. 17.

The left-hander struck out five and walked none in eight innings. He was 0-5 in his previous seven starts since winning May 23 at Milwaukee.

Gagne got three outs for his 38th consecutive save and 30th this season.

The Dodgers scored a pair of unearned runs against Elmer Dessens (5-5) in the fourth on Mike Kinkade's RBI single and David Ross' RBI double.

Cubs 6, Cardinals 5

Alex Gonzalez's infield single with the bases loaded in the ninth inning gave Chicago a win over St. Louis. Sammy Sosa and Moises Alou homered for the Cubs, who rallied from a 5-0 deficit and pulled within one game of the NL Central-leading Cardinals. St. Louis' Albert Pujols and Jim Edmonds connected for the second day in a row at Wrigley Field. Pujols hit a three-run shot and Edmonds had his 27th homer.

Mets 6, Reds 2

Jeromy Burnitz's RBI double ended Danny Graves' no-hit bid in the seventh inning and started a four-run rally that swept New York to a victory over Cincinnati.

Steve Trachsel (8-5) pitched six innings on a humid, 90-degree evening, keeping it scoreless until Graves faltered.

The heat got to Ken Griffey Jr., who felt dizzy during pregame warmups and was a late scratch from the Reds lineup.

Graves (4-8) also allowed an RBI double to Cliff Floyd and Vance Wilson's two-run single in the seventh. Floyd hit his 15th homer off Chris Reitsma to make it 6-1 in the ninth.

Pirates 4, Astros 3

Jeff Suppan overcame a shaky start to pitch seven innings in his second consecutive strong outing and also hit a run-scoring double, leading Pittsburgh past Houston.

The Pirates overcame the Astros' two-run first inning by scoring three runs on four straight hits to start their half of the first against spot starter Kirk Saarloos (2-1), and Suppan (7-7) took over from there.

Rockies 9, Brewers 8

Todd Helton drove in four runs with a triple and a home run in Colorado's win over Milwaukee.

The Rockies got six solid innings from Darren Oliver (6-5), who earned his second straight win on the road after beginning 0-5 in his first eight starts away from Coors Field. Oliver, who hadn't won three straight decisions in more than two years, left with an 8-3 lead, but Geoff Jenkins took Nelson Cruz deep for his second career grand slam in the seventh to make it 8-7. Colorado's Jay Payton homered in the ninth for a valuable insurance run because Eric Young's solo shot off Brian Fuentes in the bottom half cut it to 9-8. But Fuentes struck out three in the inning, including Jenkins to end it, for his second save.

Braves 3, Expos 2

Montreal closer Rocky Biddle hit Javy Lopez with a pitch to force in the tying run and walked Rafael Furcal with the bases loaded in the ninth inning, handing Atlanta a victory. Furcal fell behind in the count 0-2 to Biddle (3-3), then worked it back to 3-2. After fouling off a pitch, Furcal took one high and outside, allowing Robert Fick to score the winning run.
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