MAJOR LEAGUES
Oakland’s Coco Crisp had three hits, including a home run, and drove in two runs to lead the Athletics to a 2-1 win over Tampa Bay on Saturday in a clash of the two teams currently holding the American League (AL) wild-card berths.
Oakland remained two games behind AL West leader Texas, which came up with a last-out winner against Minnesota, while the Rays dropped 4.5 games behind Boston in the East after the Red Sox recorded a comfortable win over the Chicago White Sox.
Photo: AFP
In the National League (NL), Pittsburgh beat St. Louis to move ahead of the Cardinals and take sole ownership of the Central division lead, while Detroit stretched their lead in the AL Central to a seemingly insurmountable 8.5 games by defeating nearest rival Cleveland.
The New York Yankees defeated Baltimore to move above the Orioles and edge within 3.5 games of the wild-card positions.
Cincinnati beat Colorado to keep pace in the tight NL Central race, and the Los Angeles Dodgers maintained a 10.5 game gap atop the NL West by downing San Diego.
Oakland’s Sonny Gray (2-2) threw 6-2/3 stellar innings, allowing only one walk against seven strikeouts as the A’s won their fifth game in six.
By contrast, the Rays have lost six of seven and are losing touch with Boston.
Texas kept their two-game buffer over Oakland by also winning 2-1 at home in dramatic style against Minnesota.
With one out in the bottom of the ninth, Alex Rios doubled off Caleb Thielbar (2-2). Two walks and one out later, Leonys Martin sent a ground ball past Brian Duensing, the Twins’ third pitcher of the inning, to bring Rios home and end the game.
Boston’s Jake Peavy pitched seven strong innings against his former team, guiding the Red Sox to a 7-2 win over the Chicago White Sox.
Peavy (11-5) allowed two runs in his sixth start for the Red Sox, who he joined from Chicago in July.
Jacoby Ellsbury had three hits, scored twice and drove in a run for Boston, who have won six of their past seven games.
Pittsburgh’s A.J. Burnett gave up just one run in seven innings to steer the Pirates to a 7-1 win over St. Louis and clear air atop the NL Central.
Burnett (7-9) struck out six and walked just one.
He received plenty of offensive help only hours after Pittsburgh acquired first baseman Justin Morneau from the Minnesota Twins.
Russell Martin hit a three-run homer for the Pirates on the day they acquired first baseman Justin Morneau from Minnesota, just days after getting Marlon Byrd and John Buck from the Mets as they strengthen for the drive toward the playoffs.
Detroit’s Omar Infante homered twice and drove in five runs to power the Tigers to a 10-5 win over Cleveland; a third consecutive win.
Infante hit a three-run homer in the second and a two-run shot in the sixth for Detroit, who have won seven in a row against Cleveland to improve to 15-3 against the Indians this year.
The Tigers won despite again playing without slugger Miguel Cabrera, who was sidelined by irritation of the abdominal area.
The Indians have lost five straight.
New York’s Ivan Nova pitched his first career shutout to give the Yankees a 2-0 win over Baltimore.
Nova (8-4) had an efficient 104-pitch outing for his second complete game.
Robinson Cano supplied all the offense, hitting an RBI double in the first inning and then leading off the eighth with a home run.
Cincinnati’s Brandon Phillips tripled, homered and doubled in his first three at-bats as the Reds defeated Colorado 8-3.
Phillips scored three runs, drove in two and just missed becoming the first Reds player in 24 years to hit for the cycle.
Cincinnati’s Greg Reynolds (1-2) was making his second start since being recalled from the minors to fill in for injured Tony Cingrani. He allowed three runs over eight innings for his first major league win in two years, against the team which drafted him in 2006.
Los Angeles’ Adrian Gonzalez hit a tying single in the seventh inning, and pinch-hitter Mark Ellis singled home the go-ahead run in the eighth as the Dodgers rallied to beat San Diego 2-1.
Just as the game ended, the Dodgers announced they had acquired third baseman Michael Young from Philadelphia.
The Dodgers ended last month with a 23-6 record, their most wins in a month since moving to Los Angeles in 1958. The club record of 25 was set in July 1947 and equaled in August 1953, when the team played in Brooklyn.
Atlanta’s B.J. Upton had four hits, including the game-winning single in the 11th inning, as the Braves edged Miami 5-4 for their sixth straight win.
Toronto’s Brett Lawrie drove in the tiebreaking run with a bases-loaded walk in the eighth inning, helping the Blue Jays rally for a 4-2 win against Kansas City.
New York’s Zack Wheeler pitched effectively into the seventh inning and the Mets piled up a season-high 17 hits in beating Washington 11-3.
Arizona’s Eric Chavez hit the first pitch he saw in the ninth inning for a run-scoring single, lifting the Diamondbacks over San Francisco 4-3 for their latest walk-off victory.
Los Angeles pinch-hitter Hank Conger came through with a two-run homer in the ninth inning that sent the Angels past Milwaukee 6-5.
Chicago’s Starlin Castro hit a tiebreaking homer in the sixth inning to lead the Cubs to a 4-3 victory over Philadelphia.
Seattle’s Joe Saunders pitched neatly into the sixth inning for his first win in a month, as the Mariners downed Houston 3-1 for their third consecutive victory.
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