MAJOR LEAGUES
Toronto’s Jose Reyes atoned for a pair of mistakes by hitting a leadoff double in the ninth inning and scoring the winning run on a bad throw to give the Blue Jays a 7-6 win over the New York Yankees on Tuesday.
The win moved Toronto 2.5 games clear atop the American League East, after Baltimore lost their Tuesday game, and 3.5 games ahead of the Yankees.
Photo: AFP
The Yankees chalked up their fourth straight loss despite rallying from 6-0 down to tie the game, undoing all that good work in the final inning, when Reyes doubled off Adam Warren (1-4) to open the inning and former Yankee Melky Cabrera followed with a sacrifice bunt. There was confusion between the pitcher and third baseman Yangervis Solarte over who would field it, before Solarte hastily picked it up and slung it toward first base. However, the ball sailed wide of the target and Reyes trotted home to score the winner.
Also in the AL, Seattle extended their winning run to five by beating Boston 8-2, with Kyle Seager hitting an RBI double in the first inning and a three-run homer in the fifth.
Seager’s homer was his 11th of the season, 10 of those coming at the Safeco Field. Mike Zunino followed with a solo shot as part of Seattle’s four-run fifth inning.
Red Sox starter Jake Peavy (1-6) has allowed 16 homers in 16 starts this season. He was pulled after the fifth and the seven earned runs were his season-worst.
Elsewhere in the AL, Chicago snapped a five-game skid by winning 4-2 at Baltimore, with Jose Quintana allowing only one run in seven innings, while Detroit’s Ian Kinsler homered in the first at-bat of his return to Texas as an opponent to set the Tigers on their way to an 8-2 win over the Rangers.
In Milwaukee, Washington won a 16-innings marathon over the Brewers in a clash of the National League divisional leaders, with Ryan Zimmerman hitting a two-run homer in the final extra inning to lift the Nationals to a 4-2 victory.
The Brewers threatened in the 13th, 14th and 15th, but could not score. With one out in the 16th, Adam LaRoche hit a sharp single that bounced off the wall in right field, and Zimmerman connected off Mike Friers (0-1) to end a game that lasted 5 hours and 22 minutes.
New York Mets outfielder Chris Young ended a hitting slump with two homers, and Travis d’Arnaud hit a three-run shot in his return from a minor-league demotion as the hosts routed Oakland 10-1.
Curtis Granderson homered, he and David Wright had RBI groundouts and Daniel Murphy had a run-scoring single for the Mets, who made double digits in consecutive games for the first time since 2011.
In the NL, San Diego’s Alexi Amarista drove in three runs on three hits as the Padres beat San Francisco 7-2, sending the faltering NL West leaders to their 12th loss in 15 games.
Will Venable drove in two runs, and Jesse Hahn (3-1) earned his third straight victory for the Padres, while Giants starter Tim Hudson (7-4) lost for the first time at home this season. He has given up 13 runs over his past two starts after giving up only 19 over his first 13.
In other NL action, Colorado ended a run of seven consecutive defeats by beating St Louis 10-5, with Justin Morneau hitting a three-run homer and driving in six runs.
Morneau had an RBI single in the first and a two-run single in the seventh that gave Colorado some breathing room.
Elsewhere in the NL, Philadelphia’s Marlon Byrd hit a two-run homer in a 7-4 win for the Phillies over Miami, Chicago’s Jake Arrieta retired his first 18 batters and struck out nine in seven impressive innings to guide the Cubs to a 7-3 win over Cincinnati.
In interleague play, the New York Mets had a surprisingly one-sided win over majors-leading Oakland in which Bartolo Colon (8-5) shut down the team that did not want him back this year despite an 18-win season the previous year.
In another interleague game, Clayton Kershaw continued his imperious form as the Los Angeles Dodgers blanked Kansas City 2-0.
Kershaw (8-2) followed his first career no-hitter by pitching another eight marvelous innings to steer his side to victory, allowing only one walk and striking out eight. He has not allowed a run in 21-1/3 innings, spanning the game against Colorado on Wednesday last week — the only runner occurred on an error — and his previous start.
Another interleague matchup saw Los Angeles’ Mike Trout hit a tie-breaking two-run homer to lift the Angels to an 8-6 win over Minnesota, their fourth straight.
Angels starter C.J. Wilson (8-6) left with the lead despite allowing six runs and having blown an early 5-0 Los Angeles lead by giving up five runs in the second.
Joe Smith got three outs for his sixth save of the season, ending Minnesota’s season-best four-game winning streak.
In other interleague games, the Diamondbacks beat the Indians 9-8, the Braves edged the Astros 3-2 and the Pirates beat the Rays 6-5.
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