American LeagueAaron Boone hit a disputed three-run homer in the ninth inning, lifting the New York Yankees to a bizarre 6-4 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Friday night.
Boone's drive to left was initially called foul by third base umpire Jeff Nelson. After Boone came running across the field to protest and Yankees manager Joe Torre joined the argument, the umpires huddled together and reversed the call. Orioles manager Mike Hargrove then came out to argue, and was ejected from the game.
PHOTO: AP
Replays seemed to indicate the ball traveled well inside the foul pole.
Boone was 6-for-51 with the Yankees since arriving in a July 31 trade with Cincinnati before connecting off Jorge Julio (0-5). Alfonso Soriano added a solo shot for a 6-3 lead.
Jeff Nelson (4-2) got the victory despite giving up a tiebreaking RBI single to Larry Bigbie in the eighth.
Twins 9, Royals 2
In Kansas City, Missouri, Kenny Rogers gave up only two singles and one unearned run in eight superb innings, and Torii Hunter had a three-run home run to lead Minnesota past Kansas City.
Keeping the Royals off balance with breaking pitches and offspeed stuff, Rogers (10-6) was perfect through 4 1-3 innings before Joe Randa reached on third baseman Corey Koskie's throwing error.
The next batter, Mendy Lopez, dropped an RBI single into left-center. Angel Berroa had the only other hit, a single into left with one out in the sixth. The 15-year veteran walked one and struck out seven and reached the 10-win plateau for the 11th time in his career.
Koskie and Jacque Jones each had three hits for the Twins.
Indians, 1 Devil Rays 0
In Cleveland, C.C. Sabathia had his best outing of the year, striking out a season-high nine and getting his first career shutout, and catcher Josh Bard hit a one-out RBI single off Travis Hafner (2-7) in the ninth inning to lead Cleveland over Tampa Bay.
Home plate umpire Dale Scott walked Toby Hall on three balls in the fifth inning. A replay showed that Hall fell to 0-2 in the count, fouled off several pitches and walked on ball three.
Sabathia (11-7) got more dominant as the game progressed, striking out the side in the eighth on 10 pitches and retiring 14 of his last 16 batters.
Victor Zambrano matched Sabathia through eight innings, allowing three hits and four walks and striking out seven.
Rangers 11, White Sox 5
In Arlington, Texas, Colby Lewis struck out a career-high 10 batters and Rafael Palmeiro drove in four runs as Texas beat Estaban Loaiza and Chicago.
Michael Young homered and drove in three runs as Texas sent Chicago to its third straight loss.
Lewis (6-7) allowed four runs and seven hits in a season-high 7 2-3 innings to win his second straight start.
Loaiza (15-6) came into Friday's game leading the AL with a 2.24 ERA. He allowed a season-high seven runs in five innings and had his four-game winning streak snapped.
Mariners 10, Red Sox 5
In Seattle, Ichiro Suzuki hit his second grand slam of the season and Mark McLemore had two doubles and two singles in four at-bats as Seattle beat Boston.
Suzuki's sixth-inning homer off Mike Timlin (4-4) broke a 4-all tie and made a winner of reliever Julio Mateo (4-0), who got just one out but became the first Seattle pitcher since Joel Pineiro at the end of 2000 and start of 2001 to win his first four decisions.
Bret Boone added a solo home run, his 30th, to become the eighth Mariner to reach that mark. He also hit 37 in 2001.National League
Adam Dunn hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the 10th inning as the Cincinnati Reds rallied for a 9-7 victory Friday that knocked the Houston Astros out of first place.
Houston has lost four in a row, matching its worst slump of the season, and fallen out of the top spot in the NL Central for the first time since July 7. The Astros, who are a half-game behind the Chicago Cubs, hadn't lost four straight since June 23-27.
A day after they ended a 16-game losing streak against Arizona, the Reds broke a 10-game skid against the Astros by getting yet another game-ending hit.
D'Angelo Jimenez led off the 10th with a single off Brad Lidge (4-3). One out later, Dunn hit his 27th homer into the Astros' bullpen in right, his first RBI since July 30.
It was the Reds' 13th game-ending hit of the season and their 27th win in their last at-bat, most in the majors. Ryan Wagner (2-0) pitched the 10th to get his second career victory.
Mets 5, Rockies 0
In New York, with the lights back on at Shea Stadium, Tom Glavine tossed six effective innings and New York got homers from rookies Jose Reyes and Jason Phillips.
After a blackout that affected much of the Northeast forced the postponement of New York's game against the San Francisco Giants on Thursday night, the last-place Mets rewarded 28,081 fans who made it to the ballpark by winning for the seventh time in 10 games.
Cliff Floyd hustled on his sore Achilles' tendon and scored twice. Ty Wigginton hit a pair of RBI doubles. Glavine (8-11) allowed only three hits but walked four and pitched out of trouble all night.
Darren Oliver (10-8) took the loss.
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