Josh Beckett pitched three-hit ball over seven innings, leading Boston to a 10-1 win on Saturday that dropped New York 5.5 games back of the first-place Red Sox with a little more than two weeks to play.
Wang Chien-ming (王建民), who had won his previous five starts, allowed five runs, nine hits and three walks in five-and-two-thirds innings. Boston knocked out Wang in a three-run sixth that boosted the lead to 5-1, then scored four more runs in the seventh, when the Yankees needed five pitchers to get out of the inning.
In a physical game that featured a bruising home-plate collision and two hit batters, David Ortiz went 3-for-3 with a two-run double and Eric Hinske homered. Boston lowered its magic number to nine for clinching the division.
New York had rallied from a 7-2 deficit on Friday to beat Boston for the fifth straight time, but Beckett (19-6) stopped the Yankees' momentum. He allowed one run and a walk while striking out seven, winning his third straight start.
Tigers 4, Twins 3
At Minneapolis, Carlos Guillen and Ivan Rodriguez quickly got to Johan Santana, helping Detroit close within 2.5 games of New York in the American League wild-card race.
Joel Zumaya (2-3) pitched one-and-two-thirds hitless innings for the victory in relief of Yorman Bazardo, a 23-year-old right-hander who pitched effectively in his first major league start.
Todd Jones got around a two-out walk in the ninth, retiring Jason Bartlett on a game-ending grounder for his 36th save this season and the 299th of his career.
Devil Rays 6, Mariners 2
At Seattle, Horacio Ramirez (8-7) lasted four batters and didn't get any outs in matching the second-shortest start in Mariners' history as the Devil Rays downed Seattle.
Scott Kazmir (13-8) allowed three hits in six innings and struck out 11, his fifth double-digit strikeout game of the season.
Seattle was outhit 14-4, lost for the 16th time in 21 games and remained 5.5 games back of the Yankees. Carl Crawford and Jonny Gomes had four hits apiece for the Devil Rays.
Blue Jays 8, Orioles 3
At Toronto, Frank Thomas hit his 509th career home run, one of a club-record seven consecutive hits to begin the game, as Toronto beat Baltimore.
Roy Halladay worked seven strong innings to win for the first time in six starts. Halladay (15-7) allowed one run and five hits, walked two and struck out two. His last win came Aug. 14 against the Los Angeles Angels.
Indians 6, Royals 0
At Cleveland, Fausto Carmona pitched three-hit ball over eight innings, retiring his final 16 batters and leading Cleveland over Kansas City.
Travis Hafner homered for Cleveland, which cut its magic number to nine for clinching its first AL Central title since 2001. The Indians have won 17 of their last 21 games.
Angels 2, White Sox 1
At Chicago, Jered Weaver allowed four hits in six innings to get his 12th victory and Anaheim kept Jim Thome stuck at 499 homers while beating Chicago.
Weaver (12-7) allowed one run, walked one and struck out eight to surpass the win total of his rookie season a year ago as he outpitched Chicago starter Jon Garland and dropped the Angels' magic number for winning the AL West to eight.
Athletics 7, Rangers 3
At Oakland, Nick Swisher homered for the third straight game and Dan Johnson connected twice and had a two-run single to help Oakland's Joe Blanton win his third straight start by beating Texas.
RSS