St. Petersburg, Fla. – David Ortiz hit his AL-leading 45th and 46th homers and drove in four runs Tuesday night to help Curt Schilling and the Boston Red Sox hang on to first place in the East with a 15-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
Manny Ramirez also homered twice to drive in three runs and join Ortiz, Trot Nixon and Jason Varitek with four hits for the Red Sox, who began the night one-half game in front of the New York Yankees.
Nixon homered and drove in three runs, and Varitek had two RBIs as Boston rebounded from Monday night’s 8-7 loss to the last-place Devil Rays, a setback that left the Red Sox clinging to their thinnest lead in the division in two months.
Boston finished with 21 hits and tied an AL record with four players with four apiece. The Red Sox are the first team to accomplish the feat since the Minnesota Twins did it against the Cleveland Indians on June 24, 2002.
Ortiz hit two-run homers off Seth McClung (6-11) in the first and third innings, giving him home runs in three consecutive at-bats over two games and his second consecutive four-RBI game against the Devil Rays.
The Boston slugger boosted his major league-leading RBI total to 140 and is batting .447 with eight homers, 18 RBIs and 13 runs scored during a 10-game hitting streak. His 46 homers are a club season record for a left-handed batter and tie Jim Rice for the second-most hit by a Red Sox in one year.
Schilling (7-8) allowed two runs and six hits, struck out seven and walked one in seven innings to improve to 2-3 in six starts since returning to the rotation Aug. 25.
Yankees 12, Orioles 9
New York – Gary Sheffield hit a grand slam and drove in six runs, Jorge Posada added a three-run homer and New York kept the pressure on in two playoff races.
Aaron Small was not sharp, but didn’t need to be to remain unbeaten. The Yankees gave him plenty of early support by scoring four runs in the first and five more in the second, taking advantage of some horrendous Baltimore defense.
The Yankees (87-63) have won eight of nine and climbed 24 games above .500 for the first time this season. New York remained a half-game behind first-place Boston in the East, and also entered play 1 1/2 back of Cleveland in the wild-card race.
Alex Rodriguez hit his 45th homer, an opposite-field solo shot into the upper deck in right, and Sheffield added an RBI single in the eighth after the Orioles closed within three runs.
Small (9-0) allowed four runs and 10 hits in five-plus innings, the shortest of his eight starts this season. He became the first pitcher to win his first nine decisions for the Yankees since Tommy John in 1979.
Alan Embree struggled in the ninth, so Mariano Rivera got the final three outs in a non-save situation.
Jay Gibbons hit a two-run homer, his 23rd, in the seventh. The Orioles had 18 hits but lost for the 20th time in 30 games.
Royals 5-4, Tigers 4-2
Kansas City, Mo. – Zack Greinke (5-16) pitched seven strong innings, and Emil Brown and Chip Ambres homered as Kansas City completed a doubleheader sweep of Detroit.
Mike Sweeney’s RBI double with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning gave the Royals a doubleheader sweep for the first time since June 7, 2003, at Colorado.
Blue Jays 6, Mariners 4
Toronto – Vernon Wells and Gregg Zaun homered, and Josh Towers pitched into the seventh inning to lead Toronto past Seattle.
Adrian Beltre hit his 19th homer for the Mariners, who have lost five of six. Beltre hit 48 homers for the Los Angeles Dodgers last season.
Towers (12-11) allowed four runs – one earned – and eight hits in six-plus innings, lowering his ERA to 3.78. He has reached career highs in wins, innings (192 2/3) and strikeouts 103. The three unearned runs came in the first inning after first baseman Eric Hinske’s fielding error.
