American League
Pedro Martinez allowed three hits over eight innings and Kevin Millar drove in two runs as the Boston Red Sox defeated the Baltimore Orioles 5-0 Wednesday.
PHOTO: REUTERS
"It was an uphill struggle the whole way," Baltimore manager Mike Hargrove said. "Once we got behind 3-0, we knew that we were going to have play near perfect baseball the way just to have a chance."
Boston remained 3 1/2 games behind New York in the American League East.
Martinez (12-4) struck out nine and walked two in lowering his league-leading ERA to 2.36.
"He had command of his pitches all day long. He was just outstanding," Boston manager Grady Little
Martinez outpitched Jason Johnson (10-7), who performed well after yielding three first-inning runs. Johnson is 0-2 since in six starts since beating Boston on Aug. 10.
Yankees 15, Tigers 5
In New York, Jorge Posada hit a grand slam and drove in a career-high seven runs as New York overcame four errors to rout Detroit.
Japanese slugger Hideki Matsui homered and drove in three runs, and Nick Johnson also homered, but made three of the Yankees' defensive miscues. New York won its fourth straight.
Andy Pettitte (18-8) labored through six innings, allowing four runs -- two earned -- and struck out seven.
Posada, 3-for-4 with a walk, hit his sixth career grand slam off Brian Schmack in the eighth inning. The Tigers made three errors in the inning.
Detroit finished with four errors, including three by first baseman Carlos Pena, and lost its fifth straight.
Gary Knotts (3-6) took the loss for Detroit. At 37-107, the Tigers need six wins in their final 18 games to avoid matching the post-1900 record of 120 losses in a season set by the 1962 New York Mets.
Blue Jays 6, Devil Rays 5
In St. Petersburg, Florida, Vernon Wells and Carlos Delgado hit back-to-back homers in the seventh inning, and Wells drove in three runs as Toronto beat Tampa Bay.
Wells' two-run homer in the seventh put the Blue Jays ahead 5-3. It was his first homer since Aug. 20 and his 31st of the season. Delgado followed with his 35th homer -- his first since Aug. 27 -- to make it 6-3. Delgado leads the AL with 125 RBIs.
Mark Hendrickson (9-9) gave up three runs -- all in the first inning -- and six hits over six innings. Aquilino Lopez threw two scoreless innings for his 10th save.
Aubrey Huff hit his 30th homer and drove in three runs for Tampa Bay. The Devil Rays lost for just fourth time in 14 games against Toronto.
The Blue Jays got within 3-2 on Eric Hinske's two-homer in the third. That shot ended an 11-inning scoreless streak by Jorge Sosa (5-10).
Royals 9, Indians 7
In Kansas City, Missouri, Brent Mayne's two-run double highlighted a five-run fifth inning as Kansas City snapped a four-game home losing streak with a win over Cleveland.
Kris Wilson (6-3) earned the win with one inning of relief work. Jeremy Affeldt worked 2 1-3 perfect innings for his fourth save.
Josh Bard hit a three-run homer, and Alex Escobar and Jody Gerut had three hits each for the Indians, who lost for the seventh time in eight games.
Jose Santiago (1-3) failed to retire any of the three batters he faced.
Twins 4, White Sox 1
In Chicago, Shannon Stewart drove in a pair of runs and Johan Santana won his fourth straight decision as Minnesota pulled within one game of the AL Central lead by beating Chicago.
Cristian Guzman and Matthew LeCroy also drove in runs for Minnesota, which snapped a six-game losing streak to the White Sox. It was only the Twins' second victory in their last 13 games in Chicago.
It came at an opportune time, too. Chicago had won the first two of the four-game series, taking a two-game lead in the division race. But now that lead is back down to one, with only four games left between the teams.
Santana (10-3) scattered six hits and a run in 6 1-3 innings for his first career victory against the White Sox. Eddie Guardado got the final three outs for his 34th save.
Magglio Ordonez drove in the only run for Chicago, which had won six straight.
Jon Garland (11-11) gave up three hits and seven hits in seven innings.
Athletics 3, Angels 0
In Oakland, California, Ted Lilly won his career-best fourth consecutive start and Erubiel Durazo went 3-for-4 with a double to lead Oakland over Anaheim.
Oakland remains 2 1/2 games ahead of Seattle in the AL West -- its biggest edge in the division since April 10 -- after the Mariners beat Texas 3-1.
National League
Juan Encarnacion and Derrek Lee hit back-to-back doubles that broke a fifth-inning tie and helped the Florida Marlins to a 7-3 victory over the New York Mets on Wednesday.
"It was a big win," Florida manager Jack McKeon said. "We got contributions from a lot of guys. We just have to play like we're playing with everybody chipping in."
It was the 11th victory in 13 games for the Marlins, who took a one-game lead in the National League wild card race over Philadelphia. The loss was the seventh straight for the Mets, the first four to the Phillies, the last three to the Marlins.
"We didn't play the kind of game we normally do defensively, and it cost us," Mets manager Art Howe said.
Lee and Encarnacion each had three hits.
Mark Redman (12-9) worked six innings to earn the victory. Jae Weong Seo (8-11) took the loss.
New York rookie Danny Garcia hit his first major league homer in the sixth.
Braves 4, Phillies 2
In Atlanta, Javy Lopez homered to give the Braves a franchise-record 216 homers this season as Atlanta rebounded from a big loss to beat Philadelphia.
A day earlier, Philadelphia won 18-5, the fifth time this season the Braves have lost by 10 or more runs. Each time, they've won the next game.
Horacio Ramirez (10-4) won his second straight decision, allowing six hits in seven innings. He gave up solo homers to Pat Burrell in the second and Tomas Perez in the seventh, and struck out seven without walking a batter.
Lopez homered off of Vicente Padilla (13-10), tying the game at 1 in the second. It was Lopez's 39th homer this season, leaving him two shy of the major league record for a catcher.
The major league record for homers in a season is 257, set by the Baltimore Orioles in 1996. The Houston Astros hold the NL mark at 249, set in 2000.
Pirates 3, Reds 2
In Cincinnati, pinch-hitter Rob Mackowiak hit a two-run homer off Chris Reitsma in the ninth inning to lift Pittsburgh over Cincinnati.
The Reds struck out 12 times to set the club record for strikeouts in a season with 1,189. They struck out 1,188 times last year. Cincinnati has struck out 10 or more times in 40 of their 145 games.
Craig Wilson opened the ninth with a single off Reitsma (9-5). Mackowiak, batting for Jason Bay, then hit a 2-0 pitch deep into the right-field bleachers.
The blown save was Reitsma's sixth in 13 opportunities.
Mike Lincoln (3-4) allowed one hit in the eighth inning. Julian Tavarez earned his sixth save in nine opportunities.
Expos 8, Cubs 4
In San Juan, Puerto Rico, pinch-hitter Jose Macias hit a go-ahead double in a five-run eighth inning as Montreal overcame a four-run deficit to beat Chicago.
Chicago, which began the night tied with Houston for the NL Central lead, was ahead 4-0 behind Matt Clement, who took a no-hit bid into the sixth inning. Kyle Farnsworth (3-2) took the loss.
Luis Ayala (9-3) pitched a perfect eighth for the win.
All the Cubs' runs scored on homers off Livan Hernandez. Aramis Ramirez hit a two-run drive in the second, Kenny Lofton a solo homer in the third, and Moises Alou homered in the sixth.
Cardinals 10, Rockies 2
In St. Louis, Albert Pujols hit two home runs, and Brett Tomko pitched a six-hitter and had two hits as St. Louis beat Colorado to give Tony La Russa his 2,000th win as a manager.
J.D. Drew and Scott Rolen also homered for St. Louis, which remained 2 1/2 games back of first-place Houston and moved within 1 1/2 of Chicago in the NL Central.
La Russa became the eighth major league manager to reach 2,000 wins. In his 25th season -- eighth with St. Louis, La Russa is 2,000-1,782.
Tomko (12-8) didn't allow a base runner until Garett Atkins singled with one out in the fourth inning. He retired the last nine to finish his second complete game of the season and seventh overall. Tomko struck out eight and didn't walk a batter.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier