AMERICAN LEAGUE
Curtis Granderson’s two-run homer backed a solid pitching performance by Freddy Garcia to lead the New York Yankees to a 4-0 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday.
Granderson homered off David Price (9-8) in the first inning. It was the only two runs allowed by Price over 7–1/3 innings.
Photo: AFP
Garcia (8-7) struck out seven and walked none over 6-2/3 scoreless innings.
Bobby Abreu narrowed the gap to 8-7 with an RBI single against Texas’ Tommy Hunter (1-1), and Kendrick put the Angels ahead to stay with his bases-loaded single.
Angels reliever Hisanori Takahashi (3-2) pitched 1 2-3 innings for the victory.
ATHLETICS 7, TIGERS 5
In Detroit, Hideki Matsui hit his 500th professional homer and drove in three runs to lead Oakland over Detroit.
Matsui led off the sixth inning with his milestone homer — 168 in the US majors and 332 for the Yomiuri Giants in Japan— to put Oakland up 3-2.
Detroit took the lead with three runs in the bottom of the sixth off reliever Joey Devine (1-1).
However Tigers reliever David Purcey (1-2) walked the first three batters of the seventh before being removed. Cliff Pennington singled to make it 5-4 and Josh Willingham’s sacrifice fly tied the game. Matsui and Conor Jackson then hit RBI singles to give Oakland a 7-5 lead.
BLUE JAYS 11, MARINERS 6
In Toronto, the hosts extended Seattle’s losing skid to 11 games.
The succession of defeats is the Mariners’ longest since a 12-game skid in 2008.
Travis Snider hit a three-run homer, while Adam Lind and Edwin Encarnarcion added solo shots for the big-hitting Blue Jays.
Toronto starter Brandon Morrow (7-4) won his fifth straight decision, allowing seven hits and striking out seven in as many innings. He has not lost in almost six weeks.
The Blue Jays jumped on Seattle starter Jason Vargas (6-8) with a four-run second.
In other AL action, it was:
‧ Red Sox 4, Orioles 0
‧ Twins 7, Indians 5
‧ Royals 2, White Sox 1 (11)
‧ Angels 9, Rangers 8
NATIONAL LEAGUE
AP, PHOENIX, ARIZONA
Milwaukee took over the lead in the NL Central division with a 5-2 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks in 10 innings on Wednesday.
Ryan Braun homered in the first inning for the second straight game and got drove in the second of three Brewers runs in the 10th. Nyjer Morgan singled in the go-ahead run in the inning, and Rickie Weeks had the third RBI hit.
Diamondbacks rookie Ryan Cook (0-1) faced just four batters in the 10th, but gave up three hits and a walk, along with a wild pitch and a balk.
Arizona shortstop Stephen Drew hurt his right ankle sliding into home plate in the fourth. The team announced that surgery was likely.
On the next play, Milwaukee center fielder Carlos Gomez left with a broken left collarbone after making a diving catch.
Milwaukee’s Takashi Saito (2-1) pitched the ninth to get the win and John Axford the 10th for his 26th save.
ROCKIES 3, BRAVES 2
In Denver, Carlos Gonzalez singled home the winning run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to lift Colorado over Atlanta.
Braves reliever Eric O’Flaherty (1-3) retired his first two batters before third baseman Martin Prado let Dexter Fowler’s grounder go through his legs for a two-base error. After an intentional walk, Gonzalez slapped his first pitch into right field, scoring Fowler from second.
That made a winner out of Huston Street (1-3), who threw a 1-2-3 ninth that ended with Fowler catching a drive against the wall.
DODGERS 1, GIANTS 0
In San Francisco, Clayton Kershaw was one pitch better than Tim Lincecum in a matchup of All-Star aces, leading Los Angeles past San Francisco.
Kershaw (11-4) went eight innings and struck out 12 to improve his majors-leading total in that category. The Dodgers snapped a four-game losing skid and six straight to the Giants.
Dioner Navarro’s home run off Lincecum (8-8) landed in McCovey Cove beyond right field and was the only pop Los Angeles showed on a day hitting coach Jeff Pentland was fired. Dave Hansen was promoted on an interim basis for the rest of the season.
Los Angeles closer Javy Guerra pitched a perfect ninth for his sixth save.
In other NL action, it was:
‧ Phillies 9, Cubs 1
‧ Mets 6, Cardinals 5 (10)
‧ Reds 3, Pirates 1
‧ Padres 14, Marlins 3
‧ Astros 3, Nationals 2 (11)
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