AMERICAN LEAGUE
Ben Zobrist slugged a Grand Slam homer in the second inning to launch the Tampa Bay Rays to a 9-6 victory over division rivals Boston on Friday.
Zobrist followed his second-inning blast with his fifth RBI of the game in the third where Tampa Bay (50-41) chased losing Boston starter Andrew Miller and took a 7-2 lead over the Red Sox (55-36). Rays first baseman Casey Kotchman added a two-run homer in the sixth to give the home side a 9-3 advantage and Tampa Bay’s bullpen held off a late Boston rally.
Photo: AFP
Slugger David Ortiz was in the lineup for the Red Sox and went 0 for 4 after earlier appealing a four-game suspension for his role in a bench-clearing brawl with Baltimore last week.
The Red Sox scored twice in the seventh and once in the eighth, but the Rays preserved the win for starter David Price (9-7), who tossed six innings and allowed three runs.
“I threw all right. I threw 121 pitches in six innings. I feel like if Joe is going to give me 121 pitches, I can do a lot more than just go six, but our offense did a great job,” Price told reporters.
Photo: Reuters
In his previous outing on July 9, Price had allowed Derek Jeter’s 3,000th career hit on a homer, but he rebounded to strike out seven Boston batters.
Kyle Farnsworth pitched the final 1-1/3 innings for his 18th save of the season and the Rays now trail the Red Sox by five games in the AL East.
BLUE JAYS 7, YANKEES 1
In Toronto, Brandon Morrow won his fourth straight decision and Yunel Escobar had three hits as Toronto roughed up New York again for their fifth straight win.
Morrow (6-4) has not lost since June 11 against Boston and is 4-0 with a 2.68 ERA in his past six starts. He allowed one run and four hits in 6-2/3 innings, walked two and struck out six.
Jason Frasor, Toronto’s third reliever, pitched around three singles in the ninth as the Blue Jays evened their record at 47-47.
Frasor made his 452nd appearance for Toronto, tying Duane Ward for first on the franchise’s career list.
Escobar had three hits, a walk and two RBIs. He singled home a run in the first, doubled in the third, walked and scored in the fifth and hit an RBI single in the eighth.
Toronto, who beat the Yankees 16-7 on Thursday, opened the scoring in the bottom of the first against Freddy Garcia (7-7) when Eric Thames doubled and scored on Escobar’s single to left.
INDIANS 6, ORIOLES 5
In Baltimore, Maryland, Asdrubal Cabrera and Grady Sizemore homered, while Lonnie Chisenhall singled in the tiebreaking run in the sixth inning, as Cleveland extended Baltimore’s losing streak to nine games — matching Buck Showalter’s longest slide as a major league manager.
Michael Brantley had three hits for the Indians, who improved to 5-0 against Baltimore this season.
Matt Wieters, Nolan Reimold and Adam Jones homered for the Orioles, who have dropped to a season low of 1-14 in their past 15 games.
The only other time Showalter lost nine straight during his 13-year career as a manager was in 2003, with Texas.
Josh Tomlin (11-4) gave up a career-high three homers in five innings, but improved to 4-0 in his past six starts.
Chris Perez, the fifth Cleveland reliever, worked the ninth for his 22nd save in 23 chances.
In other AL games, it was:
‧ White Sox 8, Tigers 2
‧ Royals 2, Twins 1
‧ Athletics 5, Angels 3
‧ Rangers 4, Mariners 0
NATIONAL LEAGUE
AP, HOUSTON, TEXAS
Jeff Karstens pitched a five-hitter, while Andrew McCutchen tripled and drove in two runs as surging Pittsburgh opened the second half of the season with a 4-0 victory over Houston on Friday night.
Karstens (8-4) needed just 83 pitches to become the first Pirate to win five straight decisions in a season since Matt Capps in 2006. He has an ERA of 2.34 this year and has gone 3-0 with an 0.41 ERA against the Astros.
It was the second career complete game and shutout for Karstens, who last did it in 2008, at Arizona.
Houston starter Brett Myers (3-10) allowed five hits and three runs while striking out a season-high 11 in six innings in his fourth consecutive loss.
McCutchen’s two-run triple to center field came in the third inning and made it 3-0. McCutchen has 10 RBIs in his past five games.
The Astros, who have the worst record in the majors, dropped their fifth straight and were shut out for the fifth time this season.
PHILLIES 7, METS 2
In New York, John Mayberry Jr drove in five runs to set another career best in the Phillies win on the road.
Mayberry singled and doubled with the bases loaded. It marked the second straight game where he established a personal high in RBIs — on the Phillies’ final day of the first half, he hit three doubles and drove in four runs against Atlanta.
Raul Ibanez contributed a home run for the NL East leaders.
Promoted from Triple-A before the game for his fourth stint of the year with Philadelphia, Vance Worley (5-1) pitched shutout ball into the sixth inning. The rookie right-hander has a 2.15 ERA and he picked up his first career RBI with a groundout.
Carlos Beltran hit his 14th homer as the Mets lost their third straight and dropped back to .500.
REDS 6, CARDINALS 5
In Cincinnati, Ohio, Brandon Phillips hit a two-run homer off Fernando Salas with two outs in the ninth inning to rally Cincinnati in the NL Central rivalry.
Phillips connected on the second pitch from Salas (5-3) for his second career game-ending homer.
St Louis went up 5-4 in the eighth on Albert Pujols’ two-run homer off Aroldis Chapman.
Chris Heisey hit two solo homers for the Reds and robbed Pujols of one in the first inning, snatching his flyball from the top of the wall in center field.
Tony Cruz’s pinch-hit RBI single put the Cardinals up 3-2.
Rookie shortstop Zack Cozart drove in the tying run with an infield single, while Joey Votto’s double put the Reds up 4-3.
In other NL games, it was:
‧ Braves 11, Nationals 1
‧ Cubs 2, Marlins 1
‧ Rockies 4, Brewers 0
‧ Dodgers 6, Diamondbacks 4
‧ Giants 6, Padres 1
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