MAJOR LEAGUES
J.P. Arencibia hit a two-out, two-run homer in the ninth inning off Fernando Rodney as the Toronto Blue Jays came back from a seven-run deficit to beat American League (AL) East rivals the Tampa Bay Rays 8-7 on Monday.
The last time Toronto rallied from at least seven runs down to win was on June 5, 2007, when they overcame an 8-1 margin to beat Tampa Bay 12-11, according to STATS LLC.
Photo: AFP
In the National League (NL), Trevor Cahill drove in Arizona’s first two runs with his first major league triple, as the Diamondbacks sent the Los Angeles Dodgers to their fifth straight loss, 9-2.
Evan Longoria hit his third career grand slam as Tampa Bay built a 7-0 lead that Jeremy Hellickson and four relievers failed to protect before a season-low crowd of 9,952 at Tropicana Field.
Toronto trailed 7-6 when Adam Lind drew a leadoff walk against Rodney (1-1). Pinch-runner Emilio Bonifacio stole second and continued to third on catcher Jose Molina’s throwing error with no outs.
Photo: AFP
Rodney retired the next two batters before Arencibia lined a 2-2 pitch into the left-field seats.
In Boston, Stephen Drew doubled in the winning run with two outs in the 11th inning as the Red Sox ended a season-high, three-game losing streak with a 6-5 win over the Minnesota Twins.
Drew, who entered the game batting .182, homered and had four hits. Dustin Pedroia hit a solo shot in the eighth for a 5-4 lead, but Joel Hanrahan gave up Brian Dozier’s homer in the ninth and left one out later with right-forearm tightness.
Clayton Mortensen (1-2) earned the win with 2-1/3 innings of scoreless relief. Pedroia and Shane Victorino had three hits apiece, while David Ortiz doubled in the eighth to extend his hitting streak to 26 games.
Cleveland’s Asdrubal Cabrera homered twice and Mark Reynolds hit one to the deepest reaches of Progressive Field as the Indians downed the Oakland Athletics 7-3.
Jason Kipnis and Cabrera hit consecutive homers in the first inning off Jarrod Parker (1-5). In the fifth, Cabrera homered again and Reynolds launched a 140.2m shot — his 10th this season — that nearly cleared the left-field bleachers.
The four homers backed Ubaldo Jimenez (2-2), who had his second straight solid outing. Jimenez struck out a season-high eight in 5-2/3 innings as Cleveland won for the seventh time in eight games.
Jason Giambi hit a two-run single and Ryan Raburn doubled home a run in the seventh for the Indians, who had their six-game winning streak stopped on Sunday.
Yoenis Cespedes homered and hit a sacrifice fly for Oakland, who had won eight in a row over the Indians.
The Chicago White Sox beat the Kansas City Royals 2-1 over 11 innings to round out the AL, while the Chicago Cubs trounced the Texas Rangers 9-2 in the only interleague game.
In the NL, Cahill (2-3) allowed two runs and six hits in seven innings, improving to 5-0 with a 2.10 ERA in eight starts against the Dodgers.
Chris Capuano (0-2) gave up six runs — five earned — and eight hits in four-plus innings as Los Angeles dropped to a season-high five games under .500 at 13-18.
Paul Goldschmidt and Cody Ross hit consecutive homers in the fourth after a glaring error by left-fielder Carl Crawford, helping Arizona to just their second win in seven games.
Philadelphia’s Cliff Lee (3-2) allowed two runs and five hits in eight innings, struck out six and walked none to outpitch fellow left-hander Madison Bumgarner in the Phillies’ 6-2 win over the San Francisco Giants.
Michael Young hit a two-run double, Hunter Pence hit a solo homer, double and single against his former club, while Domonic Brown hit a solo home run as the Phillies stopped the World Series champions’ season-best six-game winning streak.
In other games, Andrew Cashner (2-2) allowed four hits over 7-1/3 innings and combined with Dale Thayer on a five-hitter as the San Diego Padres blanked the Florida Marlins, while Andrelton Simmons homered twice and drove in a career-high four runs to help the Atlanta Braves beat the Cincinnati Reds 7-4.
MARRED FINAL: As most of Senegalese players walked off the pitch after a controversial decision, some supporters threw objects and attempted to get onto the pitch Senegal on Sunday won the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) as Pape Gueye’s extra-time winner sunk hosts Morocco 1-0 after a chaotic final that saw the eventual champions storm off the pitch late in the game. Brahim Diaz could have won the trophy for Morocco with a controversial spot-kick in the 24th minute of added time at the end of normal time as ugly scenes broke out in the stands. However, Senegal goalkeeper Edouard Mendy easily saved the weak attempted “Panenka” chip by the Real Madrid winger, who was clearly distracted by the long delay that followed the penalty award.
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