AMERICAN LEAGUE
Russell Martin homered in the 10th inning against Sean Doolittle, and the AL East-leading New York Yankees beat the Oakland Athletics 2-1 on Friday night for their sixth straight win.
Brandon Moss hit a towering drive to right off Rafael Soriano with one out in the ninth to spoil a dominant three-hit outing by Yankees ace C.C. Sabathia, stunning the boisterous crowd of 40,759. It was Soriano’s fourth blown save in 46 chances.
New York maintained their one-game lead over second-place Baltimore, who won 4-2 at Boston. The A’s, losers of four of five, dropped one game behind the Orioles for the top spot in the wild-card standings.
Yankees slugger Curtis Granderson had a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning and Ichiro Suzuki continued his torrid pace with two more hits.
Martin’s second game-ending homer this season gave the Yankees their ninth win in 11 games.
David Robertson (2-7) pitched a perfect 10th for the victory. Doolittle (1-1) pitched the ninth before giving up Martin’s homer on an 0-1 pitch.
ORIOLES 4, RED SOX 2
In Boston, Massachusetts, Matt Wieters drove in three runs, Miguel Gonzalez pitched 6-1/3 solid innings and the Orioles remained one game behind the first-place Yankees in the AL East.
The Orioles also moved one game ahead of Oakland for the top wild-card spot.
Jon Lester (9-13) lost for the first time in his 21 career starts against Baltimore. He had been 14-0, the longest winning streak against the Orioles franchise for a pitcher at the start of his career since at least 1901. It had been the longest current winning streak by an active pitcher against any team. However, he is 0-1 in his last four starts against them, all Orioles victories.
Gonzalez (7-4) allowed two runs and seven hits as the Orioles improved to 6-1 this season at Fenway Park. Jim Johnson pitched the ninth for his club-record 46th save.
RAYS 12, BLUE JAYS 1
In St Petersburg, Florida, James Shields pitched seven shutout innings and Tampa Bay’s suddenly potent offense scored runs in bunches to help the Rays continue an uphill battle to remain in playoff contention.
Ben Zobrist and Jose Molina homered in support of Shields (15-9), who limited the Blue Jays to six singles and struck out nine to reach 200 for the second straight year. He fanned J.P. Arencibia leading off the second inning, giving the Rays the American League single-season record for strikeouts.
Luke Scott drove in four runs with a pair of doubles for the Rays, who pulled within 4.5 games of Oakland for the second AL wild card.
Zobrist hit a solo homer in the first and Molina had a two-run shot in the second against Carlos Villanueva (7-6), who allowed seven runs and eight hits in 2-1/3 innings.
ROYALS 6, INDIANS 3
In Kansas City, Kansas, Luis Mendoza pitched into the seventh inning in his first start since a bout of flu, leading Kansas City to the victory.
Mike Moustakas and Brayan Pena each drove in two runs for the Royals, who have won three straight and four of six. Mendoza wiggled out of a bases-loaded jam in the first and allowed two runs and eight hits in six-plus innings.
The Indians have lost 40 of 52 games since July 26, when they were 50-49 and trailed AL Central-leading Chicago White Sox by 3.5 games. They have lost six straight against Kansas City and eight of nine overall in the season series.
Mendoza (8-9), who was scratched from a Wednesday start with the illness, struck out three and walked two. Greg Holland worked the ninth for his 15th save in 18 opportunities.
Justin Masterson (11-15) lost his third straight start. He was charged with four runs and seven hits in six innings.
In other AL action, it was:
‧ Angels 6, White Sox 2
‧ Mariners 6, Rangers 3
‧ Twins-Tigers was postponed
NATIONAL LEAGUE
AP, PHILADELPHIA
Kevin Frandsen hit one of Philadelphia’s four solo homers to back Kyle Kendrick, and the Phillies inched closer in the NL playoff race with a 6-2 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Friday night.
Ryan Howard, Carlos Ruiz and Chase Utley also went deep for the resurgent Phillies, who pulled within three games of St Louis for the league’s second wild-card spot with their fourth straight win. Milwaukee and Los Angeles also stand in Philadelphia’s way with 11 games remaining. Despite the loss, the Braves remain in excellent position to secure a postseason berth , leading the NL wildcard race ahead of St Louis.
Kendrick (10-11) allowed two runs and five hits in 6-2/3 innings, striking out six. He is 6-2 with a 2.17 ERA since Aug. 14.
BREWERS 4, NATIONALS 2
In Washington, Ryan Braun and Aramis Ramirez had consecutive RBI hits in the ninth inning off Nationals closer Tyler Clippard and the Brewers extended their season-high winning streak to six games with a win over the Nationals.
The win combined with a St Louis loss moved the Brewers within 1.5 games of the Cardinals for the final wild card berth in the NL.
Held to one run over eight innings against Nationals starter Edwin Jackson, the Brewers scored three against Clippard (2-6). Norichika Aoki led off with bunt single, took second on a passed ball by catcher Jesus Flores and moved to third on Rickie Weeks’ fly ball out. Braun followed with a single to left, scoring Aoki. He then stole second and came around to score the go-ahead run on Ramirez’s double to left. Ramirez scored on Travis Ishikawa’s infield single.
Jose Veras (5-4) worked one inning in relief and John Axford pitched the ninth.
CUBS 5, CARDINALS 4, 11 inns
In Chicago, Illinois, Darwin Barney spoiled Chris Carpenter’s season debut with a two-run, game-tying homer with two outs in the ninth inning. David DeJesus hit a game-ending single in the 11th to help the Cubs beat the Cardinals. DeJesus hit an 0-2 pitch off of Joe Kelly (5-6) to score Brett Jackson.
In other NL action, it was:
‧ Dodgers 3, Reds 1, 10 inns
‧ Mets 7, Marlins 3
‧ Astros 7, Pirates 1
‧ Diamondbacks 15, Rockies 5
‧ Giants 5, Padres 1
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