Pitcher Cliff Lee won his fifth straight start to lead the Cleveland Indians to an 8-3 win over the Seattle Mariners in the American League on Wednesday.
Lee’s consecutive scoreless innings streak ended at 27 when he gave up a three-run homer in the seventh. It raised his ERA from 0.28 to 0.96, still the lowest in the majors.
Lee was pulled after the homer, the only runs he allowed in six innings. The left-hander has given up just four earned runs in 37 2-3 innings in his five starts.
Red Sox 2, Blue Jays 1
In Boston, the home side edged Toronto to record successive wins in its last at-bat.
Manny Ramirez slid in just ahead of the tag on Jason Varitek’s single in the ninth. Ramirez barely beat the throw from center field. The Red Sox also beat the Blue Jays 1-0 on Tuesday with an RBI single in the ninth.
Rays 8, Orioles 1
In Baltimore, Tampa Bay downed Baltimore to complete its first winning record in April in franchise history.
Rays starter Andy Sonnanstine allowed one run in eight innings, with a season-high five strikeouts, to win his third straight start.
He became the first Tampa Bay pitcher to win four games in April.
Erik Hinske homered for the Rays, who have won seven of eight to finish 14-12 in April. Tampa Bay has never been three games over .500 this late in a season.
Tigers 6, Yankees 2
In New York, Placido Polanco homered twice to lead Detroit over New York.
Marcus Thames also went deep off Yankees starter Andy Pettitte, as Detroit continued its recovery after losing its opening seven games of the season.
Slumping New York, which lost star third baseman Alex Rodriguez before the game for a 15-day spell on the disabled list, managed just two hits after the first inning. The Yankees have scored just 15 runs in their past five games.
Twins 4, White Sox 3
In Minneapolis, Justin Morneau came through with yet another clutch hit for Minnesota as it downed Chicago.
Morneau hit a two-out RBI double in the seventh inning to give the Twins a winning edge.
Rangers 11, Royals 9
In Arlington, Texas, the home side hit a season-high five runs to down Kansas City.
Rangers center fielder Josh Hamilton capped a torrid April with his first career grand slam.
Angels 6, Athletics 1
In Anaheim, California, Los Angeles starter Erwin Santana remained unbeaten in six starts as the Angels beat Oakland.
Angels first baseman Casey Kotchman drove in three runs with a pair of doubles.
Santana allowed just one unearned run over 6 2-3 innings. He has allowed only one earned run in his past 30 innings against the A’s.
AP, WASHINGTON
Felipe Lopez’s bases-loaded hit to left with no outs in the 12th lifted the Washington Nationals to a 3-2 victory over Atlanta on Wednesday, keeping the Braves winless this season in nine games decided by one run.
The Nationals, meanwhile, have their first three-game winning streak since opening the season 3-0. They fell behind 2-1 in the 12th on Mark Kotsay’s RBI single off Saul Rivera (3-1), who nonetheless earned the win with two innings of relief.
Pirates 13, Mets 1
In New York, the Pittsburgh Pirates took advantage of a sloppy performance by the New York Mets, scoring nine unearned runs in a victory.
Pirates right fielder Xavier Nady, traded by the Mets for Perez (2-2) and Roberto Hernandez in 2006, went 3-for-3 with three RBIs and two runs scored.
Cardinals 5, Reds 2
In St. Louis, Braden Looper pitched six solid innings and Rick Ankiel had three hits and two RBIs, helping the St. Louis Cardinals hand Aaron Harang his fourth loss.
Aaron Miles drove in two runs with and Jason Isringhausen earned his ninth save in 11 chances for the surprising Cardinals, who won a franchise-record 18 games the first month of the season.
Padres 4, Phillies 2
At Philadelphia, Adrian Gonzalez hit a two-run homer and Chris Young pitched six effective innings for San Diego, who won for the second time in nine games.
Tadahito Iguchi had four hits and drove in a run for San Diego.
In other games, it was:
• Dodgers 13, Marlins 1
• Diamondbacks 8, Astros 7
• Giants 3, Rockies 2
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