St. Petersburg, Fla. – The Tampa Bay Devil Rays rallied for five runs in the eighth inning Wednesday night to beat the Boston Red Sox 7-4 and knock the defending world champions out of first place in the East.
Jorge Cantu chased Boston starter Tim Wakefield with a two-out RBI single, and Jonny Gomes’ two-run triple off Mike Timlin (7-3) put the last-place Devil Rays ahead 5-4. Eric Munson followed with an RBI double and Alex Gonzalez added an RBI single to ensure Boston’s 64-day stay atop the division would end.
The loss, coupled with New York’s 2-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles, left the Yankees in first place for the first time in more than two months.
“We’re not 10 games back. We’re a half-game back,” Timlin said. “We’ve been in first place or fighting for first place all year long. This is not season-ending by any means.”
Manny Ramirez homered for the Red Sox, who appeared to be in good shape when Wakefield took a 4-2 lead into the eighth. The knuckleballer is 13-1 against the Devil Rays and had allowed one hit and three baserunners over the previous five innings.
Yankees 2, Orioles 1
New York – Randy Johnson limited Baltimore to three hits over eight innings in his first start since a second-inning ejection last week, and Matt Lawton broke out of a long slump with a two-run homer that carried New York to victory.
Johnson (15-8) didn’t allow a hit until the fifth inning and didn’t give up a run until the sixth, when Melvin Mora hit a long RBI double. Third baseman Alex Rodriguez helped Johnson twice in the sixth, backhanding Bernie Castro’s grounder over the bag to hold him to a single, then sprawling on his knees to grab Javy Lopez’s two-out grounder to his glove side and throwing to first to end the inning with Mora on third.
After Johnson struck out Castro with a 96 mph fastball on his 119th and final pitch, Mariano Rivera came in and pitched the ninth for his 41st save in 45 chances.
Indians 8, White Sox 0
Chicago – Lamar native Scott Elarton (11-7) pitched five-hit ball into the eighth inning and Travis Hafner homered twice as Cleveland moved within 2 1/2 games of first-place Chicago in the Central.
The Indians, who trailed by 15 games on Aug. 1, won for the 14th time in 16 tries.
Angels 6, Rangers 5
Anaheim, Calif. – Pinch-hitter Jose Molina drove in the tying and go-ahead runs with a single in a four-run seventh inning and Los Angeles rallied to its fifth consecutive victory.
The Angels increased their lead in the West to 2 1/2 games over Oakland. Francisco Rodriguez pitched the ninth for his 40th save in 45 chances.
Twins 10, Athletics 4
Oakland, Calif. – Michael Cuddyer homered, hit three doubles and drove in four runs as Minnesota ended a three- game losing streak.
Mariners 3, Blue Jays 2
Toronto – Rookie phenom Felix Hernandez (4-4) took a no-hit bid into the seventh inning before giving up a questionable single to Corey Koskie.
Royals 4, Tigers 3
Kansas City, Mo. – Pinch-hitter Denny Hocking’s two-out, two-run single in the ninth inning gave Kansas City its first four-game sweep in six years.
