Helped by a freakish invasion of gnats that unsettled New York's rookie reliever Joba Chamberlain, Cleveland rallied to beat the Yankees 2-1 in 11 innings on Friday to take a 2-0 lead in their American League division series.
The best-of-five series will now move to Yankee Stadium for two matches, with the home side needing to win both to force a fifth game and retain hope of reaching the American League championship series.
New York went ahead in the second inning through Melky Cabrera's solo home run and held that advantage until Cleveland levelled off Chamberlain in the gnat-infested eighth.
PHOTO: AFP
In the bottom of the 11th, Kenny Lofton walked on four pitches against Luis Vizcaino and Franklin Gutierrez singled.
Casey Blake moved the runners up with a bunt before Grady Sizemore walked to load the bases.
Asdrubal Cabrera popped up in front of the plate to make it two outs before designated hitter Travis Hafner took a full count off Vizcaino before lining a shot to right-center to score the winning run.
A day after the Indians slugged their way to a 12-3 win, Fausto Carmona and the Yankees' Andy Pettitte put pitching back into the series.
Game 3 will see Jake Westbrook trying to pitch Cleveland to a sweep against veteran Roger Clemens.
Red Sox 6, Angels 3
In Boston, a Manny Ramirez home run with two outs in the ninth inning gave Boston a 6-3 win over the Los Angeles Angels and a 2-0 lead in their division series.
The Red Sox had earlier tied the game at 3-3 thanks to a front-row home fan who caught a tipped foul as it was falling into the glove of the scrambling Angels catcher Jeff Mathis. That prevented a third out in the fifth and Boston capitalized by getting the tying run later in the inning.
With that scoreline holding until the bottom of the ninth, Julio Lugo singled off losing pitcher Justin Speier and advanced to second as Dustin Pedroia grounded out at first.
Francisco Rodriguez relieved and struck out Kevin Youkilis, then intentionally walked David Ortiz -- his fourth walk of the game -- in the hope of retiring Ramirez and ending the inning.
"You've got pick your poison with those guys," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said.
But Ramirez, who is coming off the worst offensive full season of his career, hit a 1-0 pitch over Fenway Park's Green Monster outfield wall and the seats behind it. It was his 21st postseason home run, one behind Bernie Williams' career record.
It was Boston's eighth consecutive postseason victory over the Angels, who blew a 3-1 lead in the 1986 AL championship series and got swept in the division series of 2004 when the Red Sox ended championship drought that had lasted 86 years.
Red Sox veteran Curt Schilling will face the Angels' Jered Weaver in Game 3 in Anaheim.
BOUNCING BACK: Antetokounmpo had just returned from an eight-game injury absence last month, leading the Milwaukee Bucks to their third win in four games Giannis Antetokounmpo threw down the game-winning dunk with 4.7 seconds remaining to lift the Milwaukee Bucks to a 122-121 victory over the Charlotte Hornets and grab a slice of NBA history on Friday. The Bucks trailed by as many as 16 on their home floor, but Antetokounmpo scored 12 of his 30 points in the final quarter to help seal the win in a frantic finish that saw five lead changes in the final 45.7 seconds. The two-time NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) added 10 rebounds and five assists. It was his 158th regular-season game with at least 30 points, 10 rebounds and
For the first time in almost 36 years, a Parisian derby will be played in French soccer’s top flight when reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain FC take on the nouveau riche Paris Football Club (PFC) today. Not one of the players involved in today’s match — PFC’s 38-year-old third-choice goalkeeper Remy Riou is almost certainly not going to be involved — was born the last time there was a Parisian derby in Ligue 1. That was on Feb. 25, 1990, when Moroccan midfielder Aziz Bouderbala scored a brace as Racing Paris 1 beat PSG 2-1 at the Parc des Princes home that
Stan Wawrinka’s 40-year-old legs did not let him down over three-plus hours in his first singles match of a farewell tour yesterday. Three-time Grand Slam singles champion Wawrinka beat Arthur Rinderknech of France, who is ranked 29th to Wawrinka’s 157th, 5-7, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5). The match went 3 hours, 16 minutes. Wawrinka last month announced that this year would be his last on the ATP tour. “Today was a tough battle ... it’s amazing to come here for the first time, to have so much support,” Wawrinka said yesterday. “Twenty years on tour, you kind of always play in the same place
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