St. Petersburg, Fla. – Pinch-hitter Dioner Navarro drove in the winning run with a grounder in the 10th inning, and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays rallied past the Minnesota Twins 4-3 on Wednesday night.
The Devil Rays tied it with two runs in the ninth off Twins closer Joe Nathan. Elijah Dukes pulled Tampa Bay to 3-2 with a two-out RBI single before Ty Wigginton’s run-scoring single tied it.
Carlos Peña had one-out infield single in the 10th off Matt Guerrier (0-1) that hit an overhanging catwalk and landed between first and second. Ben Zobrist pinch ran for Peña and appeared to be heading home with the game-winning run but stumbled rounding third on Brendan Harris’ double and had to stay at third.
“I’ll have to laugh at that,” Zobrist said. “I’ll probably see that on scoreboards throughout my career.”
Zobrist then scored on Navarro’s grounder when he beat a throw to the plate by shortstop Jason Bartlett. It was Nathan’s first blown save in eight opportunities.
Al Reyes (1-0) pitched a scoreless 10th for the victory.
RED SOX 6, ATHLETICS 4 at Boston: Josh Beckett (6-0) became the first Red Sox pitcher to win his first six starts since Roger Clemens in 1991 and is just two behind the team record shared by Babe Ruth and two others.
“I know he was a great hitter,” Beckett said of Ruth. “Any time you’re mentioned in the same point as Babe Ruth, when you didn’t give up one of his milestone home runs, is obviously a tremendous feat.”
INDIANS 7, BLUE JAYS 6 (11 innings) at Cleveland: With Toronto playing Travis Hafner to the right side, the powerful pull hitter stuck out his bat and got enough of a low, outside 3-2 pitch from Shaun Marcum (1-2) for a game-winning RBI double down the third-base line.
It wasn’t a typical RBI for Hafner, but the Indians will take it on a day when they lost a protest as well as starting pitcher Jake Westbrook, who was forced out in the second inning with tightness in his abdominal muscle and is probably headed to the disabled list.
TIGERS 3, ORIOLES 2 at Detroit: Gary Sheffield went 4-for-4 with a home run and an RBI single, and Craig Monroe hit a tiebreaking homer in the sixth inning to lead Detroit to its first sweep of the season.
Nate Robertson (3-1, 2.48 ERA) gave up two runs and seven hits over 6 2/3 innings.
MARINERS 3, WHITE SOX 2 at Seattle: Yuniesky Betancourt hit a tiebreaking homer in the seventh inning and Miguel Batista (3-2) pitched Seattle to its seventh victory in eight games.
ROYALS 3, ANGELS 1 at Kansas City, Mo.: Esteban German, who had only three major-league home runs in 441 at-bats, hit a three-run homer in the seventh inning to make a winner of Jorge De La Rosa (3-2).
