NATIONAL LEAGUE
AP, LOS ANGELES
Manny Ramirez hit a tie-breaking, pinch-hit grand slam on Wednesday to send Los Angeles to a 6-2 victory over Cincinnati, their 12th consecutive at home against the Reds.
PHOTO: AP
Ramirez was kept out of the starting lineup for precautionary reasons with a sore left hand after being hit by a pitch a night earlier.
He sent the first pitch from reliever Nick Masset into the “Mannywood’’ section of lower left field seats for his 21st career grand slam, giving Los Angeles a 6-2 lead in the sixth inning and putting the crowd into a frenzy.
It was his 11th homer of the season and his first career pinch-hit homer.
It was Ramirez’s first homer into the “Mannywood” section, which was resurrected after his 50-game suspension for violating baseball’s drug rules ended on July 3.
Ramirez pinch-hit for Chad Billingsley (9-6), who allowed two runs and seven hits in six innings, struck out seven and walked one.
BRAVES 4, GIANTS 2
At Atlanta, Jair Jurrjens gave up three hits in 7 2-3 innings and Yunel Escobar hit a three-run homer as surging Atlanta downed San Francisco.
Escobar’s third-inning homer gave the Braves a 4-0 lead over Tim Lincecum, who lost for the first time in five weeks.
The Braves are 6-1 since the All-Star break and 10-3 in their last 13 games overall. Jurrjens (9-7) earned his third straight win and set a season high with nine strikeouts while allowing one run.
The Giants are 1-5 on their 10-game trip, including three straight losses to the Braves. Overall, they have lost six of seven.
Lincecum (10-3), the NL’s All-Star starter, lost for the first time since June 17 and for the first time in six career starts against the Braves.
In other games it was:
• Astros 4, Cardinals 3
• Cubs 10, Phillies 5
• Marlins 5, Padres 0
• Rockies 4, Diamondbacks 3
• Pirates 8, Brewers 7
AMERICAN LEAGUE
AP, ARLINGTON, Texas
Dustin Nippert allowed one run while pitching into the sixth inning of a spot start for flu-ridden Vicente Padilla as the Texas Rangers completed a three-game sweep of the slumping Boston Red Sox, 3-1 on Wednesday.
David Murphy shook off flu-like symptoms with two hits for the Rangers, who swept a series against Boston for the first time since 2004.
The Red Sox have lost a season-high five straight, a streak that has knocked them out of first place in the AL East. After losing the division lead on Tuesday, Boston is two games behind New York.
Nippert (2-0) threw 94 pitches — about 25 more than manager Ron Washington had hoped for. Doug Mathis pitched the final 3 1-3 innings for his first career save.
Clay Buchholz (1-1) allowed three runs and six hits over four innings.
YANKEES 6, ORIOLES 4
At New York, A.J. Burnett won his fourth straight decision and Nick Swisher had a big day with his bat and glove to lead New York over Baltimore for its sixth consecutive victory.
Jorge Posada homered and drove in two runs and Alex Rodriguez had an RBI single as the American League East division leaders scored four times in the first inning and sent rookie Jason Berken (1-8) to his eighth loss in a row.
Swisher capped the early outburst with a two-run single and made three fine plays in right field, making up for a third-inning error.
Burnett (9-4) allowed two runs and six hits in seven innings, improving to 9-1 in 11 career starts against Baltimore.
Adam Jones homered and had four hits for Baltimore.
WHITE SOX 4, RAYS 3
At Chicago, Alexei Ramirez hit a two-run triple and Jermaine Dye added a go-ahead RBI single in Chicago’s unusual seventh inning.
Scott Podsednik homered for the White Sox, who pulled within one game of Detroit in the AL Central.
The Rays went through five pitchers in the seventh after Chad Bradford was injured warming up.
White Sox reliever D.J. Carrasco (3-0) pitched a perfect seventh and Matt Thornton pitched two scoreless innings.
Leading 3-1, Rays starter James Shields walked Gordon Beckham with two outs. Randy Choate got Podsednik to hit a bouncer to shortstop Jason Bartlett, who made a bad throw that allowed Beckham and Podsednik to move to second and third.
Bradford came on and had to leave the game with lower back stiffness.
Dan Wheeler (3-3) came in to face Ramirez, who hit a ball to center that B.J. Upton misjudged the ball and it went over his head allowing two runs to score. Dye followed with a RBI single to make it 4-3.
Gabe Gross hit a two-run homer and Pat Burrell added a solo shot for the Rays.
In other games it was:
• Athletics 16, Twins 1
• Mariners 2, Tigers 1
• Blue Jays 10, Indians 6
• Angels 9, Royals 6
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