American LeagueAaron Boone hit a disputed three-run homer in the ninth inning, lifting the New York Yankees to a bizarre 6-4 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Friday night.
Boone's drive to left was initially called foul by third base umpire Jeff Nelson. After Boone came running across the field to protest and Yankees manager Joe Torre joined the argument, the umpires huddled together and reversed the call. Orioles manager Mike Hargrove then came out to argue, and was ejected from the game.
Replays seemed to indicate the ball traveled well inside the foul pole.
Boone was 6-for-51 with the Yankees since arriving in a July 31 trade with Cincinnati before connecting off Jorge Julio (0-5). Alfonso Soriano added a solo shot for a 6-3 lead.
Jeff Nelson (4-2) got the victory despite giving up a tiebreaking RBI single to Larry Bigbie in the eighth.
Twins 9, Royals 2
In Kansas City, Missouri, Kenny Rogers gave up only two singles and one unearned run in eight superb innings, and Torii Hunter had a three-run home run to lead Minnesota past Kansas City.
Keeping the Royals off balance with breaking pitches and offspeed stuff, Rogers (10-6) was perfect through 4 1-3 innings before Joe Randa reached on third baseman Corey Koskie's throwing error.
The next batter, Mendy Lopez, dropped an RBI single into left-center. Angel Berroa had the only other hit, a single into left with one out in the sixth. The 15-year veteran walked one and struck out seven and reached the 10-win plateau for the 11th time in his career.
Koskie and Jacque Jones each had three hits for the Twins.
Indians, 1 Devil Rays 0
In Cleveland, C.C. Sabathia had his best outing of the year, striking out a season-high nine and getting his first career shutout, and catcher Josh Bard hit a one-out RBI single off Travis Hafner (2-7) in the ninth inning to lead Cleveland over Tampa Bay.
Home plate umpire Dale Scott walked Toby Hall on three balls in the fifth inning. A replay showed that Hall fell to 0-2 in the count, fouled off several pitches and walked on ball three.
Sabathia (11-7) got more dominant as the game progressed, striking out the side in the eighth on 10 pitches and retiring 14 of his last 16 batters.
Victor Zambrano matched Sabathia through eight innings, allowing three hits and four walks and striking out seven.
Rangers 11, White Sox 5
In Arlington, Texas, Colby Lewis struck out a career-high 10 batters and Rafael Palmeiro drove in four runs as Texas beat Estaban Loaiza and Chicago.
Michael Young homered and drove in three runs as Texas sent Chicago to its third straight loss.
Lewis (6-7) allowed four runs and seven hits in a season-high 7 2-3 innings to win his second straight start.
Loaiza (15-6) came into Friday's game leading the AL with a 2.24 ERA. He allowed a season-high seven runs in five innings and had his four-game winning streak snapped.
Mariners 10, Red Sox 5
In Seattle, Ichiro Suzuki hit his second grand slam of the season and Mark McLemore had two doubles and two singles in four at-bats as Seattle beat Boston.
Suzuki's sixth-inning homer off Mike Timlin (4-4) broke a 4-all tie and made a winner of reliever Julio Mateo (4-0), who got just one out but became the first Seattle pitcher since Joel Pineiro at the end of 2000 and start of 2001 to win his first four decisions.
Bret Boone added a solo home run, his 30th, to become the eighth Mariner to reach that mark. He also hit 37 in 2001.National League
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