MAJOR LEAGUES
The Boston Red Sox overcame a depleted New York Yankees team 4-2 on Friday as Major League Baseball resumed after the All-Star break with a full slate of games.
Boston’s Jacoby Ellsbury homered on the second pitch of the game and Johnny Gomes also went long to make it 3-0 in the second for the Red Sox, who maintained a 2-1/2 game lead atop the American League East division, ahead of Tampa Bay, who beat Toronto to pick up the strong form the Rays showed before the break.
Photo: AFP
Also on Friday, Brandon Phillips’ bases-loaded double proved the game-changer as Cincinnati beat Pittsburgh to tighten up the National League Central race and Baltimore manager Buck Showalter picked up his 250th win with the Orioles as they beat Texas.
Boston starter Felix Doubront (7-3) held New York’s lineup hitless into the fifth inning, though the Yankees were without Derek Jeter and a handful of other regulars. In all, Doubront gave up one earned run while striking out five in 6 1-3 innings. It was the 12th consecutive start in which Doubront has allowed three or fewer earned runs.
Cincinnati’s Brandon Phillips drove in three runs with his bases-loaded double which lifted the Reds to a 5-3 win over Pittsburgh.
The third-place Reds moved to within three games of second-place Pittsburgh. The Pirates lead their season series 6-5.
Cincinnati sent nine batters to the plate for four runs in the fifth off Francisco Liriano (9-4), who had his shortest outing of the season. Chris Heisey’s infield single drove in the first run, and Phillips’ double off Justin Wilson made it 5-0.
Cincinnati starter Mike Leake (9-4) gave up three solo homers in the sixth inning before departing.
Baltimore’s Matt Wieters homered to help the Orioles down Texas 3-1, with Taiwanese starter Chen Wei-yin (5-3) allowing only one run over 6 1-3 innings to take the win.
Tampa Bay’s Ryan Roberts singled home the tiebreaking run in the eighth inning to help the Rays defeat Toronto 8-5.
Evan Longoria, Wil Myers, Kelly Johnson and Ben Zobrist all went deep off Toronto starter Esmil Rogers, but it was former Blue Jay Roberts whose two-out single off Steve Delabar was the key for the Rays.
In other games it was:
‧ Angels 4, Athletics 1
‧ Cardinals 9, Padres 6
‧ Royals 1, Tigers 0
‧ Dodgers 3 Nationals 2
‧ Giants 2, Diamondbacks 0
‧ Braves 6, White Sox 4
‧ Twins 3, Indians 2
‧ Philies 13, Mets 8
‧ Cubs 3, Rockies 1
‧ Mariners 10, Astros 7
‧ Brewers 2, Marlins 0
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