Last-place Seattle swept the American League West-leading Los Angeles Angels for the second time this season, winning 10-9 on Yuniesky Betancourt's ninth-inning single on Wednesday.
Raul Ibanez homered and drove in four runs for the Mariners, while Richie Sexson also homered.
The Angels, who remained one game in front of Oakland in the division, rallied from deficits of 6-0, 7-4 and 9-7 to tie the score in the ninth on a two-out RBI single by pinch-hitter Bengie Molina off closer Eddie Guardado (2-2).
PHOTO: AFP
Jose Lopez doubled against Francisco Rodriguez (2-5) with one out in the ninth. After an intentional walk, Betancourt singled to left for his third hit.
Ibanez went 4-for-5 with his 19th homer and finished 9-for-14 with two homers and six RBIs in the three-game series. Sexson hit his 36th home run.
The Mariners finished 9-9 against Los Angeles this season. They swept a four-game series in Anaheim before the All-Star break.
Red Sox 5, Blue Jays 3
At Toronto, David Ortiz hit his career-high 42nd homer, a tiebreaking two-run drive in the eighth inning that led Boston over Toronto.
Boston's Gabe Kapler ruptured his left Achilles' tendon while rounding second base on Tony Graffanino's fifth-inning homer.
David Wells (13-7) won for the fourth time in five starts, allowing three runs in seven innings. Mike Timlin pitched the ninth for his eighth save in 14 chances.
At 3-all, Bill Mueller singled with two outs and Ortiz homered off Josh Towers (11-11), the 17th time he has tied a game or put the Red Sox ahead. He has 38 as a designated hitter, one more than the major league record set by Seattle's Edgar Martinez in 2000.
Indians 6, Athletics 4
At Cleveland, Ronnie Belliard's three-run homer in the seventh inning on Barry Zito's 122nd and final pitch kept Cleveland ahead of the AL wild-card pack.
Belliard pulled a pitch from Zito (13-12) over the wall in left for the Indians, who have won nine of 10 and are a major league-best 30-11 since July 31.
Cleveland remained one game up on the New York Yankees in the wild-card chase, and extended their lead over the A's to 3{ games.
Nick Swisher hit a three-run homer, and Mark Kotsay homered for the A's. Jake Westbrook (15-14) allowed just two hits in seven innings. Bob Wickman earned his league-leading 41st save.
Yankees 6, Devil Rays 5
At St. Petersburg, Florida, Derek Jeter hit a tiebreaking, two-run single in the seventh inning, and New York remained 2{ games behind first-place Boston in the AL East, and one behind Cleveland in the wild-card race.
New York has won the first two of a three-game set after losing its four previous series against the Devil Rays, who have won 11 of 18 meetings this year.
Chien-Ming Wang (7-4) allowed five runs and nine hits in 6 1-3 innings for his first win since July 8. This was his second start since missing two months with a shoulder injury. Mariano Rivera, the fourth Yankees reliever, worked the ninth for his 38th save.
Carl Crawford had two RBIs, including a run-scoring grounder that pulled Tampa Bay to 6-5 in the seventh.
Tigers 4, Twins 2
At Detroit, Craig Monroe hit a tiebreaking, two-run single with two outs in the eighth for Detroit.
Curtis Granderson's two-run homer in the third gave the Tigers a lead they clung to until the eighth, when Michael Cuddyer's two-out single tied the score at 2.
Craig Dingman (2-2) got the final four outs to help the Tigers avoid a three-game sweep. Detroit had lost 11 of 13.
Juan Rincon (6-5) entered in the eighth and gave up three singles and a walk.
Minnesota's Johan Santana, who was scheduled to pitch, had his start pushed back to Saturday because of a blister on his middle finger.
Royals 10, White Sox 9
In Kansas City, Missouri, Angel Berroa's double in the ninth inning drove in the tying run, and right fielder Jermaine Dye's error allowed Mark Teahen to score the game-winner for Kansas City.
Chicago lost for the fourth time in 17 games against Kansas City this season, and had its AL Central lead cut to five games over Cleveland.
The Royals scored three runs in the ninth against Dustin Hermanson (1-4), who blew his fourth save in 38 chances, to snap a 104-game losing streak when trailing after eight innings. Matt Stairs started the rally with a one-out single. Emil Brown and Teahen followed with consecutive singles to score one run. Berroa doubled to right to tie it, and Teahen scored when Dye had trouble picking up the ball.
Chris Demaria (1-0) pitched a scoreless ninth for his first career victory.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
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