NATIONAL LEAGUE
The Colorado Rockies extended their National League wild card lead to four-and-a-half games on Sunday with a 5-1 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The Rockies, who are being chased by the San Francisco Giants for the wild card spot, rode Jason Giambi’s two-run homer in the eighth inning for the victory.
PHOTO: AFP
It was his second homer in successive games after the former Oakland and New York Yankees first baseman hit a three-run ninth inning homer in a pinch-hit role in Saturday’s 10-4 win.
“When we left on this trip, we were 4 1/2 ahead [in the wild card], and over the course of 10 days we go back home and we have the same lead that we had when we left,” Rockies manager Jim Tracy told reporters.
Colorado scored three runs in the seventh on two singles and a sacrifice bunt to overcome a 1-0 Arizona lead.
Rockies starter Ubaldo Jimenez (14-11) allowed five hits and one run over seven innings. He struck out eight and walked three.
The right hander retired 12 consecutive batters at one point after struggling with his fastball early in the game.
Arizona scored once in the second and had the bases loaded when Jimenez escaped by striking out Justin Upton with a slider.
“That was a big situation in the game right there,” Jimenez said. “If they had scored more than two runs, you knew [Diamondbacks starter Dan] Haren was going to get comfortable.”
Haren (14-9) did not allow a hit until Giambi singled in the fifth. He went eight innings, yielding eight hits and five runs with seven strikeouts and two walks.
DODGERS 6, GIANTS 2
Andre Ethier hit a go-ahead homer off Tim Lincecum as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Francisco Giants to go 30 games over .500 for the first time in almost 24 years.
Randy Wolf (11-6) shrugged off a pair of home runs by leadoff hitter Andres Torres, allowing five hits in six-plus innings for the win. The left-hander is 6-0 with a 2.41 over his last eight starts.
Ronnie Belliard added a two-run single against Lincecum (14-6), the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner.
The Dodgers, trying to win consecutive NL West titles for the first time since 1977-1978, reduced their target number to eight for clinching the division and four for securing a postseason berth for the third time in four years. Los Angeles is five games ahead of Colorado in the division race with 12 to play.
In other games it was:
• Cubs 6, Cardinals 3
• Brewers 6, Astros 0
• Mets 6, Nationals 2
• Padres 4, Pirates 0
• Phillies 4, Braves 2
• Reds 8, Marlins 1
AMERICAN LEAGUE
AP, MINNEAPOLIS
Placido Polanco drove in three runs and Detroit’s bullpen pitched four shutout innings as the Tigers avoided a three-game sweep with a 6-2 win over the Minnesota Twins on Sunday to increase their AL Central lead to three games.
Ryan Raburn homered for slumping Detroit, which won for the second time in six games and fourth in 13.
Minnesota, which had won six straight, got two hits from Joe Mauer, who increased his batting average to a major league-best .374.
The teams meet again for four games beginning on Sept. 28. It will wrap up a 10-game road trip for Minnesota, and begin a seven-game, final-week homestand for the Tigers, who have three games each in Cleveland and Chicago before going home.
In his fourth start after missing two months following elbow surgery, Tigers left-hander Nate Robertson (2-2) went deep in the count against many hitters but allowed just two earned runs in five innings.
Minnesota’s Scott Baker (13-9) took the loss.
MARINERS 7, YANKEES 1
At Seattle, Ken Griffey Jr. homered and drove in four runs, putting the New York Yankees’ playoff party on hold by leading the Mariners to a victory.
The loss prevented New York from clinching a spot in the postseason. The Yankees can secure their 14th playoff berth in 15 years with a victory at the Los Angeles Angels on Monday night or a Texas loss at Oakland.
The 39-year-old Griffey lined an RBI double in the first inning, then cracked a three-run homer in the second off starter Joba Chamberlain.
Seattle took two of three from the Yankees, who lead the AL East by five games over Boston with 12 to play. One more win — or a Rangers loss — assures New York of at least the wild card.
It was Griffey’s first four-RBI game since July 10, 2008, with Cincinnati.
RED SOX 9, ORIOLES 3
At Baltimore, Jason Bay and Jacoby Ellsbury both homered and drove in three runs to lead Daisuke Matsuzaka and the Red Sox past the Orioles.
Bay’s 35th homer tied a career high, and the three RBIs gave him a career-best 110.
The Red Sox outscored Baltimore 23-9 in a three-game sweep.
Boston won the season series 16-2, including the final eight games.
The victory, combined with the Texas Rangers’ loss to Los Angeles, reduced Boston’s magic number to win the AL wild card to seven. The Red Sox have an eight-game lead over the Rangers.
Jason Berken (5-12) took the loss.
In other games it was:
• Royals 2, White Sox 1
• Angels 10, Rangers 5
• Rays 3, Blue Jays 1
• Athletics 11, Indians 4
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