American LeagueDavid Ortiz hit a game-ending, three-run homer in the ninth inning for the Boston Red Sox to beat the Cleveland Indians 9-8 and retain the lead in the American League East division on Monday.
Ortiz, who also hit a solo homer in the third, got his second game-ending hit in three days and fifth of the year. It was his 12th in four seasons with Boston, the most in the major leagues during that span. He leads the majors with 37 home runs this year, and he tied a club record with 14 homers in a month.
Ortiz's one-out drive to center field followed a single by Alex Cora, a walk to Kevin Youkilis and a popout by Mark Loretta. It came on a 2-0 count against Fausto Carmona (1-5) and helped the Red Sox overcome two homers and five RBIs by Casey Blake.
PHOTO: AP
Kyle Snyder (3-2) got the win with 4 1-3 innings of one-hit relief after replacing David Wells, who gave up eight runs in 4 2-3 innings.
The Red Sox also got homers from Manny Ramirez and Wily Mo Pena.
Devil Rays 7, Tigers 3
PHOTO: AP
At St. Petersburg, Florida, Casey Fossum allowed one run over seven innings, and Damon Hollins and Travis Lee hit two-run homers to lead Tampa Bay over Detroit.
Fossum (5-4) gave up six hits and matched his career high with 10 strikeouts in beating All-Star game starter Kenny Rogers (11-5).
Hollins and Lee homered off Rogers, who allowed six runs, five hits and four walks and struck out three over five-plus innings. Rogers is 0-2 with two no-decisions and a 10.34 ERA since the All-Star game.
Mariners 10, Orioles 5
At Baltimore, Richie Sexson and Kenji Johjima homered, Yuniesky Betancourt and Jose Lopez each had three hits, and Seattle used a late scoring surge to beat Baltimore.
The Mariners trailed 3-0 before scoring all their runs in the final four innings. Sexson and Johjima connected against Eddy Rodriguez in a four-run eighth that made it 9-4 and all but assured Seattle its seventh win in nine games.
Brian Roberts and Nick Markakis homered for the Orioles, who have lost three of four.
Orioles starter Adam Loewen (1-3) took the loss.
Julio Mateo (6-4) got the win after replacing starter Gil Meche in the sixth.
Twins 15, Rangers 2
At Minneapolis, Torii Hunter had a homer and four RBIs in his return from the disabled list and Carlos Silva pitched seven strong innings to lead Minnesota.
Josh Rabe had a homer and three RBIs and Nick Punto had four hits, four runs and three RBIs to back Silva (7-9), who gave up one run and six hits and struck out four.
The Twins jumped all over John Rheinecker (4-5) in the first, getting a little help from the Metrodome in a five-run inning. Lee lost a bloop by Joe Mauer in the lights and Justin Morneau's lazy pop fly dropped among Lee, center fielder Gary Matthews Jr. and shortstop Michael Young for a RBI.
Michael Cuddyer also had an RBI single before Rabe capped the big inning with a three-run homer to left for a 5-0 lead.
Texas has lost seven of its last eight games.
White Sox 8, Royals 4
At Kansas City, Missouri, Jermaine Dye, Joe Crede and Alex Cintron homered to lead Chicago.
Dye hit a solo shot, his 29th, with one out in the third inning off Runelvys Hernandez (2-6). Dye has hit nine home runs in his last 28 games and is four shy of his career-best 33 in 2000, when he played for Kansas City.
Two batters later, Crede hit his 22nd homer following a single by Ross Gload. Crede has 13 home runs and 33 RBIs in his last 37 games.
Jose Contreras (10-3) earned the victory after losing his previous three starts. He started shaky, allowing three runs in the first two innings, but settled down, retiring 11 straight at one point before Joey Gathright's infield single in the sixth.
National League
Miguel Cabrera drove in three runs with a homer and two doubles, and Josh Johnson pitched seven strong innings to lead the Florida Marlins over the Philadelphia Phillies 15-2 on Monday.
Chase Utley extended his hitting streak to 32 games for Philadelphia. Jon Lieber (4-8) allowed nine runs and 13 hits, including three homers, in 4 2-3 innings.
Johnson (9-5) gave up one run and five hits.
The 22-year-old rookie struck out eight and lowered his National League-best ERA to 2.52.
Jeremy Hermida hit a three-run homer, and Miguel Olivo and Dan Uggla each added a two-run shot for the Marlins, who snapped a three-game losing skid.
Diamondbacks 15, Cubs 4
At Chicago, Orlando Hudson hit home runs from both sides of the plate, including his first career grand slam, as Arizona hit a team-record six homers.
Rookie Stephen Drew hit his first career home run, and Shawn Green, Chad Tracy and Eric Byrnes also went deep for the Diamondbacks, who had a season-high scoring total.
Hudson homered left-handed with the bases loaded against Chicago's Mark Prior (0-5) in the third inning, driving a 3-1 pitch just over the wall in left-center to make it 6-1. Hudson added a two-run shot from the right side in the seventh off Glendon Rusch. Drew, the No. 8 hitter, immediately followed with his homer to make it 10-3.
Brandon Webb (12-4) gave up long homer to Aramis Ramirez, giving up four runs and eight hits in seven innings. He tied Carlos Zambrano and Jason Marquis for the NL lead in victories.
Rockies 4, Brewers 2
At Denver, Aaron Cook won for the first time in a month and Colorado found some of its missing power at the plate.
Garrett Atkins and Matt Holliday hit back-to-back homers in the third inning as the Rockies won consecutive games for the first time since mid-June. It was also their 1,000th win in franchise history and allowed them to avoid a single-digit win total in July for just the fifth time in team history.
Cook (7-9) scattered four singles, walked three and struck out four in eight innings. Brian Fuentes pitched the ninth for his 20th save in 24 chances.
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