AMERICAN LEAGUE
AP AND REUTERS, NEW YORK
The Tampa Bay Rays cemented their status as the best team in baseball this season by beating World Series champions New York 10-6 at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday.
The Rays, who had dropped 11 of their last 15 games against New York, including their last seven at Yankee Stadium, improved their record to 29-11 and opened up a four-game lead over their AL East rivals.
“To come here, where we have not played well with any consistency, I just wanted to teach ourselves a lesson — which is that we can play well in this ballpark,” Rays manager Joe Maddon told reporters. “We need to play better baseball here and we did today.”
The Rays got a lead-off home run from Jason Bartlett, cranked out 15 hits off a trio of New York pitchers and ran wild on the bases with six steals.
“They swung the bat and [starter] Wade Davis threw the ball well,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “They played a good game. The bottom line, it’s one game.”
Third baseman Evan Longoria and catcher John Jaso both had three hits and two RBIs for the Rays.
“I thought we played a great game tonight. We did everything right,” Maddon said. “I just loved our effort, our execution.”
The Rays scored single runs in the first and third innings and broke it open with four runs in the fourth for a 6-0 lead.
New York closed to 6-2, the second run coming on Alex Rodriguez’s 589th career home run, but the Rays responded with a four-run outburst in the eighth.
It turned out they needed the extra cushion.
Rays reliever Andy Sonnanstine gave up four runs in the bottom of the ninth before Joaquin Benoit came in to strike out Juan Miranda with men on second and third base to snuff out the rally.
Rays rookie starter Davis, 24, got the win to improve to 4-3. Yankees right-hander A.J. Burnett yielded six runs in 6 and two-thirds innings to drop to 4-2.
Davis said getting the win at Yankee Stadium was special.
“Everybody hit, played good defense. It was awesome,” he said. “I was having fun out there. It’s Yankee Stadium.”
The Yankees, who have been hit by injuries, got more bad news on Wednesday when tests showed catcher Jorge Posada had a hairline fracture in the bottom of his right foot from being hit recently with a foul ball and will miss three to four weeks.
RED SOX 3, TWINS 2
In Boston, Clay Buchholz gave Boston’s struggling rotation a lift, steering the Red Sox over Minnesota.
Buchholz (5-3) allowed two runs in eight-plus innings. Since his previous start, four other Boston starters had allowed at least four runs in their outings.
Buchholz struck out seven, walked one and faced only four batters over the minimum.
The Red Sox went ahead in the fourth on David Ortiz’s two-run homer, which stood after a video review.
Boston made it 3-1 in the sixth after Minnesota pitcher Scott Baker (4-4) had retired the first two batters.
In other AL games, it was:
• Tigers 5, Athletics 1
• Blue Jays 3, Mariners 2
• Rangers 4, Orioles 3
• Angels 3, White Sox 2
• Royals 8, Indians 4
NATIONAL LEAGUE
AP, LOS ANGELES
Adrian Gonzalez homered and had a career-high six RBIs as the San Diego Padres beat Los Angeles 10-5 in the National League on Wednesday, putting an emphatic end to the Dodgers’ nine-game winning streak.
Will Venable had four hits including a triple and two doubles for the NL West-leading Padres.
San Diego starter Jon Garland (5-2) allowed four runs in five innings. The right-hander, 5-0 with a 1.67 ERA over his last six starts, made six starts for the Dodgers last September.
Los Angeles’ Ramon Ortiz (1-2), who was making his second start out of the bullpen because of injuries, took the loss.
MARLINS 5, CARDINALS 1
In St Louis, Missouri, Hanley Ramirez returned to the Marlins’ lineup with three hits as Florida downed St Louis. Ramirez was yanked from Monday’s game for loafing and benched on Tuesday. Ramirez was booed before three of his first four at-bats. The reigning NL batting champion answered with three singles, two of them infield hits, and drove in a run.
Anibal Sanchez threw seven impressive innings and Dan Uggla homered for the second straight game for Florida, which has won six of seven.
In other NL action, it was:
• Cubs 4, Phillies 1
• Braves 5, Reds 4
• Nationals 5, Mets 3
• Diamondbacks 13, Giants 1
• Pirates 6, Brewers 4
• Astros 7, Rockies 3
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