American League
Javier Vazquez pitched the New York Yankees to their second consecutive shutout, and Derek Jeter homered and doubled twice Wednesday in a 3-0 victory over the Kansas City Royals.
"I got my confidence back a little bit," Vazquez said after throwing seven impressive innings in a 3-0 victory over the Kansas City Royals. "Hopefully, I'll get on a roll now."
Tony Clark also connected for the Yankees. New York stayed four games ahead of Boston in the American League East and had a day off before beginning a three-game series against the Red Sox tonight at Yankee Stadium.
"We've obviously got more work ahead of us," manager Joe Torre said. "Going into the weekend, we feel good about ourselves, and it's just a matter of who's going to play better those games."
Jason Giambi went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts in his second game back from the disabled list. He is hitless in his last 28 major league at-bats, the longest slump of his career.
Vazquez (14-9) allowed just three hits and four walks, striking out seven for his first win in six starts since beating Toronto 11-4 on Aug. 6. He was 0-3 with a 9.99 ERA in his previous five outings.
Tom Gordon gave up one hit in the eighth, and Mariano Rivera finished the four-hitter for his major league-leading 49th save in 52 chances.
Red Sox 8, Devil Rays 6
In Boston, Manny Ramirez hit a tiebreaking sacrifice fly, and Kevin Millar and Mark Bellhorn had two-run homers to lift Boston over Tampa Bay.
The Red Sox, who remained four games behind the New York Yankees in the AL East, avoided losing three straight for the first time since July 2. They began the day with a 4 1/2-game lead over Anaheim in the wild-card race.
With the score tied at 6 in the sixth, Boston loaded the bases with no outs on walks by Doug Mirabelli, Kevin Youkilis and Johnny Damon. One batter later, Ramirez lined out to right, scoring pinch-runner Adam Hyzdu.
Mike Myers (5-1) recorded two outs for the win. Mike Timlin worked a perfect eighth, and Keith Foulke pitched the ninth for his 29th save in 34 chances.
Twins 6, White Sox 1
In Minneapolis, Carlos Silva pitched one-hit ball into the sixth inning before leaving with a bruised right ankle, and Minnesota won its eighth in a row, beating the Chicago White Sox.
Minnesota reduced its magic number to six for clinching the division. The AL Central leader has a 12 1/2-game cushion over second-place Chicago with 17 games left.
Silva (12-8) allowed just one hit through five innings and was tossing his best game of the season when Joe Crede led off the sixth with a hard grounder back to the mound.
The ball caromed off the side of Silva's right leg as he followed through.
Twins coaches and trainer Jim Kahmann came to the mound, and Silva was taken out after some discussion. The pitcher walked off the field without any notice of a limp and was diagnosed with a bruised right ankle.
The Twins also played without manager Ron Gardenhire, who left the Metrodome before the game because of flulike symptoms. Hitting coach Scott Ullger assumed managerial duties.
Indians 5, Tigers 3
In Cleveland, Ben Broussard's two-run double sparked a three-run eighth inning, sending Cleveland past Detroit.
Broussard pulled the first pitch from Esteban Yan (2-4) just inside the first-base bag with two outs to put Cleveland ahead 4-3. Ryan Ludwick followed with an RBI double that was inches fair down the left-field line to make it 5-3.
RSS