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Red Sox out slug Yankees to narrow gap in AL East

Red Sox' left fielder Manny Ramirez catches a fly ball by Yankees' Bernie Williams at Yankee Stadium in New York, Friday. PHOTO: AP

American League

Johnny Damon tripled with the bases loaded as the Boston Red Sox beat the New York Yankees 9-3 and roughed up Andy Pettitte on Friday.

Boston closed within 2 1/2 games of AL East-leading New York. Boston, which had trailed by as much as 7 1/2 games, hadn't been this close to first since Aug. 7.

Pedro Martinez (11-4) struck out nine in six easy innings, cruising to his first win in four starts against the Yankees this season. The Red Sox led 8-0 by the third.

Pettitte (17-8) had won four straight starts and 12 of his last 13 decisions but allowed a season-high eight earned runs and nine hits in 2 1-3 innings.

Blue Jays 8, Tigers 6

In Toronto, Mike Maroth became the first major league pitcher in 23 years to lose 20 games in a season as the Detroit Tigers lost to the Toronto Blue Jays.

Maroth (6-20) allowed eight runs and nine hits in three-plus innings, becoming the first 20-game loser since Oakland's Brian Kingman went 8-20 in 1980. Kingman, who wanted to remain baseball's last 20-game loser, attended the game.

Andy Pettitte of Yankee reacts after walking Red Sox batter Manny Ramirez at Yankee Stadium, Friday. PHOTO: REUTERS

Detroit (37-103) needs at least six wins in its final 22 games to avoid matching the post-1900 record of 120 losses in a season, set by the 1962 New York Mets.

Tanyon Sturtze (7-6) pitched three innings for the win, and Aquilino Lopez got three outs for his ninth save.

Twins 10, Rangers 7

In Minneapolis, Cristian Guzman had a three-run triple and four RBIs, and Juan Rincon (4-6) pitched three perfect innings after starter Johan Santana faltered for the first time in a month, nearly squandering an 8-2 lead.

Minnesota remained in a tie for the AL Central lead with the White Sox. The Twins play a four-game series at Chicago starting Monday.

Michael Young hit his first career grand slam, and Alex Rodriguez hit his major league-leading 41st homer for Texas.

Eddie Guardado pitched the ninth for his 32nd save in 35 chances.

White Sox 5, Indians 3

In Chicago, Paul Konerko hit a three-run homer in the second and Magglio Ordonez added a solo shot in the fifth off Billy Traber (6-8) as the White Sox built a 5-0 lead.

Jon Garland (11-10) allowed two runs and five hits in 7 1-3 innings, and Tom Gordon got two outs for his ninth save.

Athletics 3, Devil Rays 1

In St. Petersburg, Florida, Ted Lilly (9-9) allowed one run and four hits in six innings, improving to 4-0 against Tampa Bay.

Jim Mecir, Chad Bradford and Keith Foulke completed the four-hitter. Foulke got four straight outs for his 39th save.

National League

Sammy Sosa hit his 33rd home run and Juan Cruz outdueled Ben Sheets as the Chicago Cubs defeated the Milwaukee Brewers in a tense matchup 4-2 Friday night in Wisconsin.

The Cubs began the day a half-game behind NL Central-leading Houston, which played at San Diego. Chicago won its fifth in a row at Miller Park.

Cruz (2-5) allowed two runs and six hits in a career-high 6 2-3 innings. Keith Ginter's RBI double chased him and made it 3-2.

Joe Borowski pitched the ninth for his 25th save in 29 chances.

Sheets (10-12) dropped his fifth straight decision.

Braves 3, Pirates 2

Pirates 5, Braves 3

In Atlanta, Craig Wilson hit a three-run homer and Mark Corey struck out Chipper Jones with the bases loaded in the sixth inning as Pittsburgh beat Atlanta to split a doubleheader.

In the opener, Jones homered off Corey with one out in the 10th inning, giving the Braves a come-from-behind 3-2 victory.

Wilson's home run off Shane Reynolds (11-8) capped a four-run first for the Pirates in the second game, and they hung on to stop a three-game losing streak.

Reggie Sanders, who hit a go-ahead homer in first game, added an RBI double in the first.

Corey (1-2) went three innings and struck out three, and Julian Tavarez pitched the ninth for his fifth save in seven chances.

In the opener, Will Cunnane (1-1) pitched a perfect 10th, striking out the side on 11 pitches.

Phillies 1, Mets 0

In Philadelphia, Vicente Padilla kept up his mastery over New York, striking out a season-high 10 in eight innings to lead Philadelphia over the Mets.

Marlon Byrd drove in the run in the eighth inning with a single off Jae Wong Seo (8-10).

Rheal Cormier got three outs for his first save with the Phillies. Manager Larry Bowa said Jose Mesa lost his closer's job again after blowing two save chances in four days.

Padilla (13-9) improved to 8-1 against the Mets, scattering six hits and allowing just one runner past second base.

Expos 6, Marlins 2

In San Juan, Puerto Rico, Todd Zeile hit two home runs and Montreal opened its final homestand in Puerto Rico by beating Florida in a game delayed more than an hour by a power outage.

Zeile became the first player in major league history to homer for 11 different teams.

His shots helped drop Florida one game behind Philadelphia in the NL wild-card race, while Montreal remained 5 1/2 games back. Livan Hernandez (15-8) put on a strong performance for the Expos, allowing only one run and seven hits in eight innings. He struck out five.

Mark Redman (11-9) allowed only one hit before the Expos scored four times in the sixth.

Reds 4, Cardinals 2

In St. Louis, Wily Mo Pena tripled home the tiebreaking run in the 12th inning to cap his first three-hit game as Cincinnati rallied past St. Louis.

St. Louis, which wasted a 2-1 lead in the ninth, has lost five of six. The Cardinals started the night one game behind NL Central-leading Houston, which played a late game, and dropped 1 1/2 games behind the second-place Chicago Cubs.

Cardinals star Jim Edmonds missed his third straight start because of a bruised right knee, and slumping Edgar Renteria was given the night off. Albert Pujols hit a two-run homer in the first for the Cardinals.

Scott Randall (1-1) got the win by allowing one hit in two innings, and Chris Reitsma got three straight outs for his seventh save in 12 chances. Jason Simontacchi (8-5) got the loss.
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