AMERICAN LEAGUE
Michael Brantley drew a bases-loaded walk with one out in the ninth inning to force in the winning run and give the Cleveland Indians their 14th straight win at home, 5-4 over the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday night.
The victory continued the Indians’ recent run of late-inning magic at Progressive Field. They have won their last four at home in their final at-bat. Cleveland loaded the bases against Joel Peralta (1-2) before Kyle Farnsworth came on and issued his first walk in 16 outings this season.
Brantley and Grady Sizemore homered for the Indians, who are 14-2 at home for the first time since becoming an AL charter member in 1901.
Chris Perez (2-1) pitched a scoreless ninth for the win. Matt Joyce and Evan Longoria homered for the Rays, who came in with baseball’s best road record, but had their winning streak stopped at four.
YANKEES 3, ROYALS 1
In New York, Freddy Garcia pitched effectively into the seventh inning, and Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter provided the offense as New York’s bullpen made them stand up in a victory over the Kansas City Royals.
Brett Gardner tripled and scored twice as the Yankees won for the eighth time in 10 games at home against the Royals. Kansas City has a major league-best 15 wins at Kauffman Stadium, but dropped to just 3-9 on the road this season.
Garcia (2-2) gave up six hits and a pair of walks in six-plus innings to win for only the second time in nine decisions against the Royals. He outpitched Kyle Davies (1-5), who allowed three runs in five-plus innings for Kansas City.
Former Yankees outfielder Melky Cabrera provided the Royals with their only run, a solo homer to center field in the fourth inning that briefly tied the game.
Jeter had two more hits after his four-hit, two-homer game on Sunday in Texas. He drove in the Yankees’ first run with a crisp single in the third inning.
BLUE JAYS 7, RED SOX 6
In Toronto, David Cooper hit his first major league homer and drove in the winning run with a sacrifice fly in the 10th inning as Toronto beat the Boston Red Sox.
Jose Bautista hit his 11th home run of the season and rookie J.P. Arencibia also went deep for Toronto.
Adrian Gonzalez homered twice for the Red Sox, the 11th multihomer game of his career, and David Ortiz added a solo shot.
Rajai Davis hit a one-out single off Matt Albers (0-1) in the 10th and stole second on a pitchout, sliding in just ahead of the tag. Davis stole third on the very next pitch, and the Red Sox brought their infield in. Cooper won it with a fly to center.
ORIOLES 7, MARINERS 6, 13 INNS
In Baltimore, Maryland, Matt Wieters singled home the winning run with two outs in the 13th inning, part of a stunning comeback that gave Baltimore a victory over Seattle.
After the Mariners got the go-ahead run in the top of the 13th, the Orioles scored twice in the bottom half against Brandon League (0-2), who blew his first save opportunity in 10 chances this season.
J.J. Hardy homered and had four hits for Baltimore in his first game back from the disabled list. The Orioles, who bounced back from a 4-3 deficit in the eighth, snapped a four-game losing streak and improved to 1-17 when trailing after seven innings.
Adam Kennedy homered for the Mariners, who took the lead in the 13th on Mike Wilson’s first major league hit.
In other AL action, it was:
‧ Angels 6, White Sox 2
‧ Rangers 7, Athletics 2
‧ Tigers 10, Twins 2
NATIONAL LEAGUE
AP, MIAMI
Josh Johnson scored the Florida Marlins’ first run and they squeezed out another in the eighth inning to beat Roy Halladay and the Philadelphia Phillies 2-1 on Tuesday.
Johnson didn’t get the win, but he kept his team in the game against the reigning National League Cy Young pitching award winner, pitching seven innings and allowing only one run — on Ryan Howard’s eighth homer leading off the second.
Chris Coghlan’s single in the eighth drove home the tiebreaking run, which was unearned following an error by shortstop Jimmy Rollins.
Halladay (5-2) gave up only five hits in eight innings, but fell to 1-3 in his four matchups against Johnson. The loss ended Halladay’s streak of wins in 13 consecutive starts against NL East teams since July 5 last year.
NATIONALS 7, BRAVES 6
In Atlanta, Georgia, Jason Marquis earned his 100th career win, backed by a pair of three-run homers from Laynce Nix and Jayson Werth, as the Washington Nationals held off Atlanta.
The Braves scored five runs in the eighth to nearly wipe out a 7-1 deficit, capped by Dan Uggla’s three-run homer. However, Drew Storen got the final three out for his eighth save in eight chances.
Atlanta’s Tim Hudson (4-3) lasted only five innings, his shortest stint of the season, after tossing a one-hit shutout against Milwaukee in his previous start.
Marquis (4-1) pitched into the eighth, giving up seven hits and three runs to improve his career mark to 100-93. The 32-year-old beat his original team, picking up his first 14 wins with the Braves from 2000 to 2003.
Nix homered in the fourth to give the Nationals a 4-0 lead. Werth, off to a slow start after signing a US$126 million contract over the winter, put it out of reach with another three-run shot in the fifth.
GIANTS 1, DIAMONDBACKS 0
In San Francisco, California, Cody Ross hit a game-ending RBI single in the ninth inning and Tim Lincecum pitched another gem as the San Francisco Giants beat Arizona for its fourth straight victory.
Ross hit a line-drive single down the third base line off David Hernandez (2-1), scoring pinch-runner Darren Ford from second and sending the Giants pouring out of the dugout in celebration for their third last at-bat win in four games.
Lincecum struck out nine and took a no-hitter into the sixth in another dominating start for the two-time NL Cy Young award winner.
METS 4, ROCKIES 3
In Denver, Colorado, Mike Pelfrey hit a tiebreaking, two-run double and limited the Rockies to three solo homers, helping New York over Colorado.
The Mets had lost all five of their games to the Rockies this season, but finally put together a couple of rallies against their new nemesis to counter home runs by Troy Tulowitzki, Seth Smith and Carlos Gonzalez.
Despite the trio of long balls he served up, Pelfrey (3-3) allowed six hits over 6-2/3 innings and improved to 6-2 lifetime against the Rockies, who have lost seven of nine, but remain atop the NL West. Pelfrey’s outing was cut short by a nearly hour-long rain delay in the seventh inning.
CARDINALS 6, CUBS 4
In Chicago, Daniel Descalso hit a two-out, bases-loaded single in the eighth off Kerry Wood and Albert Pujols had four hits to help Chris Carpenter get his first win of the season as the St Louis Cardinals beat Chicago.
St Louis pulled out the victory without manager Tony La Russa, who was undergoing tests at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona. General manager John Mozeliak said the veteran manager had been diagnosed with shingles and wasn’t sure when he’d be back. Bench coach Joe Pettini ran the team.
In other NL games, it was:
‧ Reds 7, Astros 3
‧ Brewers 8, Padres 6
‧ Dodgers 10, Pirates 3
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