MAJOR LEAGUES
Andy Pettitte pitched six effective innings and Curtis Granderson homered as the New York Yankees beat Toronto 5-3 on Thursday after a three-hour rain delay for their 10th straight victory against the Blue Jays.
Eduardo Nunez hit a two-run single, and the surging Yankees won their fifth consecutive game and 10th in 12 overall. New York improved to 12-1 against Toronto this season with its second four-game sweep of the Blue Jays, and moved within three games of the second American League wild-card spot.
Photo: Reuters
The Yankees have won 13 home games in a row against Toronto, their longest streak against one team since a 14-game run against Kansas City from August 2002 to April 2006.
In Detroit, Michigan, Chris Herrmann’s second RBI double of the game broke an eighth-inning deadlock and helped the Minnesota Twins edge the Tigers 7-6.
With two out, Herrmann lined a ball into the right-center field gap. Center fielder Austin Jackson got a bad break on the ball, and just missed while attempting a shoestring catch. Doug Bernier scored from second to give the Twins the lead.
In the day’s other American League game, Conor Gillaspie homered leading off the 12th inning as the Chicago White Sox beat the Royals 4-3 to claim their first three-game sweep in Kansas City since 2009.
Gillaspie drove the second pitch he got from Luke Hochevar (3-2) just over the outstretched glove of right fielder Justin Maxwell for his 11th homer.
The tiebreaking play came after Jacob Petricka made his major league debut in the 11th inning for the White Sox, inheriting runners on first and second with nobody out.
Petricka (1-0) calmly got Salvador Perez to ground into a double play to end the inning.
In the National League, Matt Holliday broke out of a slump with two doubles as the St Louis Cardinals beat the National League East-leading Atlanta Braves 6-2.
David Freese drove in two runs as St Louis won for the fifth time in six games.
Pittsburgh’s Garrett Jones and Jordy Mercer homered, while Jose Tabata hit a three-run double as the National League Central-leading Pirates beat the San Francisco Giants 10-5.
Domonic Brown hit a game-ending RBI single to lift the Philadelphia Phillies past the Colorado Rockies 5-4 for their second come-from-behind win in as many days.
The Phillies scored twice in the eighth and ninth. They have won four of five to improve to 4-3 under Ryne Sandberg, who became the interim manager when Charlie Manuel was fired on Aug. 16.
In other games on Thursday, the Los Angeles Dodgers won their third game in a row after a 6-0 shut out of the Florida Marlins, the Cincinnati Reds defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks 2-1 and the Washington Nationals edged the Chicago Cubs 5-4 after 13 innings.
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