American LeagueJason Davis gave up a long homer to Manny Ramirez, then got his second victory in 17 starts as the Cleveland Indians held on for their fourth straight win, 7-6 over the reeling Boston Red Sox on Tuesday night.
Davis (1-2) allowed two runs and six hits in six innings, including an estimated 459-foot shot by Ramirez.
Boston scored four runs in the ninth off Kazuhito Tadano, but lost its fifth straight. Rafael Betancourt struck out Manny Ramirez to end the game for his second save.
PHOTO: AP
Third baseman Bill Mueller's two throwing errors allowed five unearned runs in the fourth off Derek Lowe (3-2), who gave up two earned runs but a season-high 10 hits in five-plus innings.
Yankees 10, Athletics 8
In Oakland, California, Alex Rodriguez hit his 350th homer and Ruben Sierra had a three-run double in a six-run seventh inning, sending New York to its seventh straight victory.
The Yankees rallied from a 7-1 deficit and spoiled a strong offensive night by the Athletics, who got two home runs from Eric Chavez and one by Scott Hatteberg.
New York tied Boston for first place in the AL East, making up 4 games since getting swept at home by the Red Sox from April 23-25.
The Yankees' winning streak began last Tuesday night with another comeback victory over Oakland -- also keyed by Sierra. This time, he hit a bases-loaded double with two outs in the seventh for a 9-8 New York lead.
Rodriguez went 3-for-4 with a three-run homer in the seventh and drove in four runs. He became the 70th player to reach 350 homers, and the youngest in major league history to do it.
He accomplished the feat at 28 years, 282 days. Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 350th at 28 years, 308 days. Rodriguez's shot off Mark Mulder to left-center also pushed the reigning AL MVP past 1,000 career RBIs -- he now has 1,001.
The Yankees had a season-high 17 hits.
Jose Contreras lasted only two-plus innings, but Donovan Osborne (2-0) pitched four innings in relief for the win. Mariano Rivera struck out two in a perfect ninth for his 10th save in 10 chances. The Yankees retired the final 15 Oakland batters.
Chad Bradford (1-1) walked two in the seventh and took the loss.
Mariners 4, Twins 3, 16 innings
In Seattle, Randy Winn scored on Scott Spiezio's fielder's choice with none out in the 16th inning to give Seattle a win in the longest game in the major leagues this season.
Winn scored the winning run when Spiezio hit a grounder to drawn-in first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz, whose throw to catcher Henry Blanco was too late to get a sliding Winn.
Winn was hit by a pitch by Seth Greisinger (0-2), the eighth Minnesota pitcher, and Ichiro Suzuki singled Winn to third before Spiezio's ground ball on a 1-2 pitch ended the game after 4 hours, 48 minutes.
Ron Villone (3-0), the seventh Seattle pitcher, pitched the final three innings.
National League
Mike Matheny saved St. Louis with a super play behind the plate, and the Cardinals held off the Philadelphia Phillies 6-5.
With the bases loaded and two outs in the ninth, Jason Isringhausen struck out Pat Burrell swinging at a high fastball. The ball deflected off Matheny's glove all the way to the backstop, but the two-time Gold Glove chased it down. With no play at the plate, he fired a long throw to first, getting Burrell by a half-step.
Scott Rolen and Jim Edmonds each drove in two runs for St. Louis.
Bobby Abreu homered twice, and Jim Thome and Burrell also connected off Chris Carpenter (2-1). Isringhausen struck out the side in the ninth for his third save.
Brett Myers (0-2) allowed six runs -- three earned -- and 10 hits in 5 2-3 innings.
Mets 6, Giants 2
In New York, Steve Trachsel (3-3) held down a lineup missing Barry Bonds, sidelined by a sinus infection, allowing two runs -- one earned -- and five hits in eight innings.
Mike Cameron lined a tiebreaking, two-run homer in the sixth inning and had three hits, as did slumping Kaz Matsui.
All five runs off Brett Tomko (1-2) were unearned. Edgar Alfonzo made his first two errors of the season and let another ball escape him at second.
Diamondbacks 6, Cubs 3
In Chicago, Steve Sparks (2-1) got his first victory as a starter since Aug. 16, 2002, holding Chicago scoreless until Sammy Sosa's three-run homer in the eighth. New closer Jose Valverde struck out the side in the ninth for his save.
Matt Kata singled, doubled and tripled for Arizona, then grounded out in the sixth and struck out in the eighth.
Astros 4, Pirates 3
In Houston, Andy Pettitte (2-1) struck out eight over five innings to get his first victory in Houston for his hometown Astros. He allowed two hits in five innings, including a first-inning homer by Jack Wilson.
In his first home start, Pettitte allowed six runs an 11 hits over 5 1-3 innings in a loss to San Francisco on April 6 and injured his left elbow on a checked swing.
Craig Biggio hit his 36th career leadoff homer and Jeff Kent added a two-run shot off Josh Fogg (0-4). After Pittsburgh closed within a run in the eighth, Brad Lidge got five outs for his first save.
Dodgers 4, Marlins 3
In Miami, Adrian Beltre hit a tying single with two outs in the ninth, then singled off Justin Wayne (2-1) in the 11th and scored when pinch-hitter Olmedo Saenz's grounder went through Mike Mordecai's legs at third base for an error
Armando Benitez blew a save for the first time this season, and Florida made four errors in losing its fourth straight.
Eric Gagne got three outs for his eighth save, extending his major league record to 71 straight. Duaner Sanchez (1-0) worked 1 1-3 scoreless innings for the Dodgers, an NL-best 16-9.
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