Jason Varitek capped a four-run eighth inning with a go-ahead single, as the Boston Red Sox rallied past the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-4 in interleague play on Tuesday.
Varitek’s big hit scored Mike Lowell, who tied the score with a two-out, two-run double off Chad Qualls (1-6). Varitek was 1-for-30 before that at-bat, dropping his average to .227.
Arizona led 4-1 going into the bottom of the eighth behind the pitching of Doug Davis and the hitting of Chad Tracy, who had an RBI single and a three-run homer.
Rays 6, Marlins 4
At Miami, Dioner Navarro and Eric Hinske drew bases-loaded walks in the eighth inning, Evan Longoria hit a two-run double in the ninth and Tampa Bay beat Florida.
Akinori Iwamura had three hits for the Rays, including his fifth home run. Troy Percival walked four Marlins in the ninth, but still managed his 18th save in 20th chances and No. 342 of his career, moving him past Rollie Fingers for ninth place in MLB history.
Florida starter Scott Olsen allowed two runs and four hits in seven innings but left without a win for the ninth straight time dating to May 6.
Pirates 12, Yankees 5
At Pittsburgh, Jose Bautista and Ryan Doumit homered and Pittsburgh turned back the clock nearly a half-century, beating New York for the first time since the 1960 World Series.
The Pirates had been the only team in the majors to not beat the Yankees in a regular-season game.
Hall of Famer Bill Mazeroski threw out the ceremonial first pitch to commemorate his memorable home run that beat the Yankees in 1960, still the only homer to end a World Series Game 7, and the Pirates took it from there by opening a 7-1 lead by the fifth. They finished with 19 hits, nine for extra bases.
Darrell Rasner (4-5) gave up seven runs in five innings.
Tigers 8, Cardinals 4
At Detroit, Brian Barton, Skip Schumaker and Brendan Ryan each drove in two runs to lead St. Louis.
Cardinals starter Braden Looper (9-5) gave up four runs on three homers in six-plus innings.
Kenny Rogers (5-5) was roughed up for five runs in five innings, giving up one more run than he had in his previous five starts.
Giants 3, Indians 2
At Cleveland, Jonathan Sanchez won for the fifth time in six starts and Omar Vizquel dropped down a suicide squeeze against his former team in the first game between the clubs here since the 1954 World Series.
Sanchez (7-4) allowed five hits, stuck out eight and improved to 4-0 on the road since May 28.
Vizquel, the 11-time Gold Glove winner, spent 11 seasons with the Indians and was honored before the game.
He went 0-for-3, but smartly placed a bunt down to score Rich Aurilia to make it 3-1 in the ninth.
Blue Jays 14, Reds 1
At Toronto, Scott Rolen hit one of Toronto’s three homers and A.J. Burnett pitched eight strong innings for Toronto against Cincinnati.
Alex Rios and Gregg Zaun also connected for the Blue Jays, who battered Bronson Arroyo (4-7) for 10 runs in an inning-plus. Rios and Marco Scutaro each had four hits as Toronto set season highs for runs and hits (22).
Angels 8, Nationals 3
At Washington, Mike Napoli hit a run-scoring double in a six-run first inning and added a two-run homer, and Los Angeles took advantage of four Washington errors.
The Angels have won five straight games and the Nationals have lost seven of eight.
Mariners 11, Mets 0
At New York, Raul Ibanez homered and drove in three runs, knuckleballer R.A. Dickey tossed seven sharp innings and Seattle blew out frustrated New York.
Richie Sexson had three RBIs and Kenji Johjima hit a two-run shot for Seattle, which took advantage of a shaky Oliver Perez (5-5) to boost its AL-worst road record to 13-25. The Mariners also improved to 7-1 all-time against the Mets.
Astros 4, Rangers 3
At Houston, Lance Berkman hit a two-run homer to lead Houston past Texas, and Jose Valverde hung on for the save.
Twins 3, Padres 1
At San Diego, Brendan Harris and Brian Buscher hit solo home runs on consecutive pitches against Trevor Hoffman in the ninth inning, and Minnesota beat slumping San Diego for its seventh straight victory.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
AP, ATLANTA, GEORGIA
Dave Bush earned his first road victory of the season, scattering four hits over seven innings, as the Milwaukee Brewers held on in the ninth to beat the Atlanta Braves 4-3 in the National League on Tuesday.
The Brewers are 18-21 on the road with four straight wins, including two in a row over the Braves. They had to survive a ninth-inning scare when closer Solomon Torres conceded Mark Teixeira’s two-run homer and almost blew a 4-1 lead and left the tying run on third base.
Bush (4-7) walked one and gave up one run for his first road victory since August and the Brewers (43-34) are a season-high nine games over .500.
The Braves committed four errors, including three to allow two unearned runs in the first.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
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