Carlos Santana hit a grand slam with one out in the ninth inning to give Cleveland a 9-5 win over the Detroit Tigers as the surging Indians extended their home winning streak to 11 games on Friday.
It was the latest dramatic win for the Indians, who mobbed Santana at home plate after the switch-hitter drove a 3-1 pitch from Joaquin Benoit (0-1) over the right-field wall.
Asdrubal Cabrera’s two-run homer in the seventh tied the score. Matt LaPorta hit a solo homer off Tigers starter Max Scherzer to tie it at 5 in the seventh.
Miguel Cabrera hit a two-run homer off Indians starter Jeanmar Gomez.
Angels 8, Rays 5
In St Petersburg, Florida, Mark Trumbo homered and drove in four runs, and Ervin Santana won for the first time this season as Los Angeles dominated Tampa Bay ace David Price.
Trumbo, who entered with one hit in 20 at-bats over his previous seven games, had two hits, including a two-run homer. The Angels have won nine of 13 road games this year.
Matt Joyce hit a three-run homer for the Rays, who had won five in a row.
Price (3-3), coming off three consecutive wins, gave up five runs and a career-high 12 hits in 4 1-3 innings.
Blue Jays 5, Yankees 3
In New York, Ricky Romero got right back up after a frightening line drive flattened him, twice retired Alex Rodriguez in dicey spots and pitched Toronto past New York.
Jose Bautista hit his AL-leading ninth home run and J.P. Arencibia also connected off Freddy Garcia (1-1) for the Blue Jays. Rajai Davis returned from the disabled list and stole two bases, then scored when reliever David Robertson botched a first-and-third pickoff play and made a wild throw.
Robinson Cano hit a pair of solo home runs for the Yankees, including a shot in the eighth inning. New York went on to load the bases with one out, but Derek Jeter struck out and Nick Swisher grounded out.
In the third, Mark Teixeira hit a line drive directly at Romero’s head.
Mariners 5, Red Sox 4
In Boston, Jason Vargas pitched seven innings for his first victory of the season as Seattle took advantage of Daisuke Matsuzaka’s injury to beat Boston for its fourth straight win.
Jack Cust hit a go-ahead double in the seventh as the Mariners roughed up reliever Bobby Jenks (1-2), who was booed after allowing two runs in the inning and coughing up a one-run lead.
Justin Smoak drove in two runs and Brandon League earned his sixth save as the Mariners held Boston hitless after the fourth inning.
Mike Cameron homered twice for the Red Sox.
Royals 4, Twins 3
In Kansas City, Missouri, Jarrod Dyson scored with a sacrifice fly in the eighth inning as Kansas City rallied past Minnesota to snap a six-game losing streak. Kansas City trailed 3-2 in the bottom of the eighth, when Wilson Betemit doubled with one out and moved to third on Kila Ka’ahiue’s single. After Dyson ran for Ka’ahiue, Betemit scored on catcher Drew Butera’s throwing error to second with Dyson advancing to third.
Dyson then came home on Alcides Escobar’s pop up to shallow left that shortstop Alexi Casilla caught with his back to the infield.
In other league action, it was:
‧ Orioles 10, White Sox 4
‧ Athletics 3, Rangers 1
AP, PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania
Ryan Howard hit two home runs, including a grand slam, and drove in six runs to back rookie fill-in Vance Worley and lead the Philadelphia Phillies to a 10-3 victory over the New York Mets on Friday.
Howard launched a two-run shot into the second deck in right field off starter Mike Pelfrey in the fourth inning to give Philadelphia a 2-0 lead. After making contact, Howard dropped his bat and stared in admiration for a couple of seconds at the 427-foot drive before trotting around the bases.
Dodgers 3, Padres 2
In Los Angeles, Tony Gwynn Jr made a diving catch in left field for the final out, thwarting a ninth-inning rally by his former team as Los Angeles edged San Diego.
Andre Ethier extended his major league record for the longest April hitting streak to 25 games, and Los Angeles got a strong outing from Ted Lilly (2-2).
Juan Uribe and Matt Kemp homered for the Dodgers in their first home game since Commissioner Bud Selig hired former Texas Rangers president Tom Schieffer on Monday to monitor the day-to-day operations of the team.
Lilly allowed a run and five hits over six innings and Jonathan Broxton got the last three outs for his sixth save.
Marlins 7, Reds 6
In Cincinnati, John Buck hit a three-run home run in Florida’s five-run first inning as the Marlins held on to beat Cincinnati.
Emilio Bonifacio, Hanley Ramirez and Gaby Sanchez each had two hits for the Marlins, who have won four of five and improved to 5-0 on Fridays.
Javier Vazquez (2-2) gave up four runs on four hits with three strikeouts and three walks in six innings. He also had two hits. Leo Nunez allowed two runs in the ninth before escaping with his eighth save.
Home runs by Jay Bruce and Jeremy Hermida couldn’t help the Reds overcome Travis Wood’s rocky first inning.
In other league action, it was:
‧ Nationals 3, Giants 0
‧ Brewers 5, Astros 0
‧ Cardinals 5, Braves 3
‧ Pirates 3, Rockies 0
‧ Cubs 4, Diamondbacks 2
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