Chicago – Joe Crede hit two homers, including a game-winning shot leading off the 10th inning, and the Chicago White Sox stopped their slide Tuesday night with a 7-6 victory over the Cleveland Indians.
Chicago increased its lead in the Central to 3 1/2 games, snapping the Indians’ six- game winning streak and sending them to their second loss in 15 games. The three- game series ends tonight.
Crede turned on a 1-0 pitch from David Riske (3-4), sending it an estimated 422 feet to left for his 19th homer. It was the fifth game-ending homer of Crede’s career.
Dustin Hermanson (2-4) pitched a scoreless 10th for the victory.
Angels 2, Rangers 1
Anaheim, Calif. – Bartolo Colon won his AL-leading 20th game, becoming the first Angels pitcher to reach that mark since Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan in 1974, and Los Angeles remained 1 1/2 games ahead of the Oakland A’s atop the West standings.
Colon held the Rangers, who had won five in a row, scoreless through 6 2/3 innings. The right-hander gave up one unearned run and four hits, struck out four and walked none in seven innings.
Francisco Rodriguez pitched the ninth for his 39th save.
Red Sox 15, Devil Rays 2
St. Petersburg, Fla. – David Ortiz hit his AL-leading 45th and 46th homers and drove in four runs to help Curt Schilling (7-8) and Boston hang on to first place in the East.
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 remained a half-game in front of the New York Yankees.
“Those guys are pretty good. … It’s a tough lineup to pitch to,” loser Seth McClung (6-11) said, searching for words. “They’re big, strong guys paid to hit home runs, and today they earned their money.”
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 (9-0) 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.
Athletics 8, Twins 3
Oakland, Calif. – Joe Blanton (11-11) won his third straight start, Jason Kendall drove in three runs to match his season high and Oakland remained 1 1/2 games back in the West.
Nick Swisher homered leading off the sixth for his 20th of the season and Mark Kotsay added an RBI double and a run- scoring single for the Athletics. Kendall finished with three hits, including an RBI double.
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 out 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 (12-11) pitched into the seventh for Toronto.
