AMERICAN LEAGUE
David Price earned his league-leading 18th win with another superb performance against the New York Yankees, and the Tampa Bay Rays opened a key series against their AL East rival on Friday night by taking advantage of a fading C.C. Sabathia and hanging on for a 6-4 victory. The Rays began the day four games behind division co-leaders Baltimore and New York.
Out of the rotation since Sept. 2 because of a sore shoulder, Price (18-5) boosted his AL Cy Young Award credentials with seven innings of two-run ball. Striking out six and giving up five hits, the lanky lefty got a big lift from an inadvertent deflection off an umpire and a fine play by second baseman Elliot Johnson.
Photo: AFP
Price improved to 7-3 against the Yankees. The Rays have won seven of the eight games he has matched up against Sabathia.
With Price out of the game, Alex Rodriguez hit his 647th homer, a two-run shot off Joel Peralta in the eighth that sent him past Lou Gehrig for ninth place on the runs list with 1,889.
Derek Jeter, serving as the designated hitter for a second straight day because of an injured ankle, singled leading off the inning to wake up the fans silenced by Tampa Bay’s rally against Sabathia (13-6). Jeter had an infield single in the fifth to pass Willie Mays for 10th on the hits list with 3,284.
Photo: Reuters
After a walk to Robinson Cano, closer Fernando Rodney entered. The top reliever by ERA in the majors (0.68) struck out Russell Martin, threw a wild pitch and walked pinch-hitter Raul Ibanez. Curtis Granderson meekly grounded to end the threat. Rodney finished with a perfect ninth for his 43rd save in 45 chances.
WHITE SOX 6, TWINS 0
In Minneapolis, Minnesota, Chris Sale threw six scoreless innings for his 17th victory after being rained out the night before, helping Chicago keep their one-game lead over Detroit in the AL Central.
Sale (17-6) scattered three singles and struck out five without a walk, cruising to his third win in three starts against Minnesota this year.
Sale was supposed to pitch Thursday night against Detroit, but that game was postponed until Monday.
Dayan Viciedo had two RBIs, Kevin Youkilis homered and Alex Rios doubled, scored and drove in a run for the White Sox, who played without injured slugger Adam Dunn for the seventh straight game.
Esmerling Vasquez (0-2) was the loser.
TIGERS 4, INDIANS 0
In Cleveland, Ohio, Justin Verlander pitched seven shutout innings and made sure Detroit stayed in step with first-place Chicago in the AL Central, leading the Tigers past Cleveland.
Coming through the way he almost always does, Verlander (14-8) allowed six hits. He escaped jams in the fifth and sixth innings with help from Prince Fielder and Miguel Cabrera, big men best known for their powerful bats, who made stellar defensive plays.
Detroit took a 4-0 lead after two innings against Corey Kluber (1-4)
The Indians, who were within 3.5 games of first place when they rallied to beat Verlander on July 26, are 16-44 since the All-Star break.
In other AL action, it was:
‧ Rangers 9, Mariners 3
‧ Red Sox 8, Blue Jays 5
‧ Angels 9, Royals 7
‧ Athletics 3, Orioles 2
NATIONAL LEAGUE
AP, ATLANTA, Georgia
Kris Medlen struck out a career-high 13 and the Atlanta Braves pulled out a 2-1 victory over the Washington Nationals when Andrelton Simmons scored on a throwing error in the ninth inning Friday night.
Simmons reached on an infield single against Sean Burnett (1-2) and scurried to third when Michael Bourn lined a single that dropped in right field.
Pinch-hitter Tyler Pastornicky hit a one-hop grounder to shortstop Ian Desmond, who had a shot at getting Simmons, but threw wildly to the plate, the ball skipping all the way to the backstop while the rookie slid across with the winning run.
Craig Kimbrel (2-1) earned the win by striking out the side in the top of the ninth on 10 pitches, though Medlen did most of the heavy lifting. He went seven innings, allowing only a homer to Bryce Harper as the Braves snapped a three-game losing streak.
Medlen eclipsed the previous best for strikeouts set 11 days earlier when he fanned 12 in a complete-game win over Colorado. In his last two starts at Turner Field, he has 25 strikeouts in 16 innings.
MARLINS 4, REDS 0
In Miami, Jacob Turner allowed only two hits in a career-high seven innings for his first National League victory, and Miami beat the NL Central-leading Cincinnati.
Turner (1-2) outpitched Bronson Arroyo (12-8), who gave up four runs in six innings.
The Reds became the final NL team to make their debut at Marlins Park, and they couldn’t muster much offense in the spacious ballpark. Steve Cishek pitched the ninth to complete a three-hitter, and Cincinnati were shut out for only the third time, fewest in the NL.
Turner’s tenth career start was his best yet. He walked two, struck out three, lowered his ERA to 3.75 and helped the Marlins break a three-game losing streak. The 21-year-old right-hander’s only other career victory came July 22 for Detroit.
CUBS 7, PIRATES 4
In Chicago, Pittsburgh lost their seventh straight game and kept fading in the NL wild-card race, falling to Chicago as Starlin Castro hit a three-run homer.
The Pirates have dropped 11 of 13 overall. The Cubs have won four straight against the Pirates, including a three-game sweep last weekend in Pittsburgh.
Chris Rusin (1-2) notched his first major league victory, allowing two runs in five-plus innings in his fourth career start. The Cubs led 4-3 in the sixth before Castro connected after Luis Valbuena walked and Alfonso Soriano was hit by a pitch.
Andrew McCutchen homered in the Pittsburgh seventh, but Cubs reliever Shawn Camp tossed a perfect eighth and Carlos Marmol earned his 20th save in 22 chances.
Pirates starter James McDonald (12-8) lasted 3-2/3 innings, allowing four runs on five hits and four walks. He is 2-5 in his last 10 starts.
METS 7, BREWERS 3
In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Lucas Duda homered and doubled, Jonathon Niese pitched six strong innings and New York snapped a six-game losing streak, beating surging Milwaukee.
The loss dropped Milwaukee back to .500 at 72-72.
Niese (11-9), who had lost three straight starts, settled down after giving up two second-inning runs, allowing six hits, three walks and the two runs.
He also had two hits and scored a run, helping the Mets to their biggest offensive output since a 9-5 extra-inning victory over Philadelphia on Aug. 28. Daniel Murphy also homered for New York.
Mike Fiers (9-8) gave up six hits and four runs in five innings for Milwaukee, which had won 18 of 23 coming in.
PHILLIES 12, ASTROS 6
In Houston, Texas, Jimmy Rollins hit a leadoff homer, Domonic Brown had a two-run shot and John Mayberry and Ryan Howard each had three RBIs to help Philadelphia beat Houston.
The Phillies rebounded from Thursday night’s 6-4 loss to Houston, which broke a seven-game winning streak and left them four games back for the second NL wild-card spot.
Rollins’ homer keyed a four-run first inning on a night when the Phillies came one run shy of a season high. A two-run homer by Matt Downs got Houston within 5-3 in the fourth. Mayberry’s two-run single in the fifth stretched the lead to 7-3. Justin Maxwell added a solo shot in the fifth for the last-place Astros.
Cole Hamels (15-6) gave up four runs and seven hits over seven innings, and tied a career high for wins set in 2007. Edgar Gonzalez (2-1), starting in place of Bud Norris, needed 32 pitches to get through the first inning and was done after the fourth.
In other NL play, it was:
‧ Giants 6, Diamondbacls 2
‧ Rockies 7, Padres 4
‧ Dodgers 8, Cardinals 5
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