Polanco long ball seals Tigers’ rally

AMERICAN LEAGUE

REUTERS AND AP, DETROIT AND BOSTON

The Detroit Tigers roared from behind on Placido Polanco’s three-run, eighth-inning homer to defeat the Tampa Bay Rays 4-3 and give Justin Verlander his 15th win of the season on Sunday.

Polanco drilled a two-out pitch off reliever Grant Balfour over the left field fence to rally the American League Central Division leaders from a 3-1 deficit.

“When I hit it, I knew it had a chance,” Polanco told reporters. “But I was kind of blowing it, pushing it, like: ‘Go, go, please.’”

Verlander (15-7) worked eight innings to join the Yankees’ CC Sabathia as the league’s only 15-game winners. The right-hander also was hoping the ball would clear the fence.

“I saw a similar ball get caught in the All-Star Game by the same guy,” Verlander said in a reference to Tampa Bay outfielder Carl Crawford. “I was hoping it had just enough legs on it to get out behind the fence and he wouldn’t have a play on it.”

Adam Wainwright of the National League St Louis Cardinals leads the Major Leagues with 16 wins. He stopped the Washington Nationals 2-1 on Sunday, his 28th birthday.

Verlander survived a pair of fourth-inning home runs by the Rays while striking out four and walking three. He gave up six hits.

Curtis Granderson’s third-inning single put the Tigers on the scoreboard first.

Tampa Bay responded with Evan Longoria’s solo homer and a two-run blast by Akinori Iwamura in the fourth to take a 3-1 lead.

The win kept the Tigers four-and-a-half games ahead of the Minnesota Twins in the Central Division. Tampa Bay, last year’s AL champions, dropped to 11-and-a-half games behind the East-leading New York Yankees.

The Rays trail AL wild card leader Boston by five-and-a-half games.

YANKEES 8, WHITE SOX 3

At New York, Mark Teixeira homered and drove in four runs and Johnny Damon also went deep as New York polished off a three-game sweep of struggling Chicago.

Alfredo Aceves (9-1) provided stellar relief pitching after Joba Chamberlain’s abbreviated outing, and the streaking Yankees won for the 20th time in 26 games.

Derek Jeter scored three times for the AL East leaders, who boosted baseball’s best record to 82-48. They are 31-11 since the All-Star break, also the top mark in the majors.

Teixeira is making a push for AL MVP honors. The switch-hitting slugger, in his first season with the Yankees after signing a US$180 million, eight-year contract, has 32 homers and 101 RBIs.

RED SOX 7, BLUE JAYS 0

In Boston, Paul Byrd, making his first major league start since last September, pitched six shutout innings as the Boston Red Sox completed a three-game sweep over the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League on Sunday.

In other AL action it was:

• Orioles 5, Indians 2

• Twins 5, Rangers 3

• Angels 9, Athletics 1

• Royals 3, Mariners 0

NATIONAL LEAGUE

AP, SAN FRANCISCO

Edgar Renteria hit a grand slam in the seventh inning as the San Francisco Giants pulled even in the National League wild-card race with Colorado, beating the Rockies 9-5 on Sunday for a three-game sweep.

The Giants moved into a second-place tie in the NL West with Colorado, six games behind Los Angeles. The Rockies lost their season-high fifth in a row.

Renteria homered with two outs to overcome a 5-2 deficit, connecting two pitches after Rafael Betancourt (0-1) relieved Franklin Morales.

In other NL action it was: