New York – Andy Pettitte pitched seven vigorous innings, Hideki Matsui hit one of two homers off an ineffective Curt Schilling, and the New York Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox 8-3 on Wednesday night.
Light-hitting Doug Mientkiewicz also connected and Derek Jeter passed Joe DiMaggio for fifth place on the franchise hits list to help the Yankees take two of three in the series and move within 9 1/2 games of AL East-leading Boston. Matsui drove in three runs, while Jeter, Mientkiewicz and Johnny Damon had three hits apiece.
New York roughed up Schilling (4-2) for 12 hits.
“Most of the hits were mistakes and they hammered them,” Schilling said. “I’ve got to pitch again in five days and I’ve got to figure it out in the next four.”
TIGERS 8, ANGELS 7 at Detroit: Magglio Ordoñez had his 20th two-homer game and Detroit held on to snap Los Angeles’ six-game winning streak.
Carlos Guillen and Curtis Granderson also homered for Detroit. Granderson drove in three runs, Placido Polanco drove in two and Ivan Rodriguez was 3-for-4.
ATHLETICS 4, WHITE SOX 0 at Chicago: Chad Gaudin threw seven-plus scoreless innings and Hiram Bocachica hit his first home run in almost three seasons for Oakland.
Gaudin (4-1) retired 16 straight from the second to the seventh, and won his second straight start to help the A’s end a three-game losing streak and avoid a series sweep by the White Sox. He gave up five hits and struck out four in 7 1/3 innings, walking one.
TWINS 5, RANGERS 3 at Arlington, Texas: Justin Morneau homered for the third time in two games and Boof Bonser (3-1) won his third straight start.
The AL MVP in 2006 hit his 14th homer of the season, a solo drive in the third on an inside fastball off Robinson Tejeda (4-4) to give Minnesota a 3-1 lead. For the series, Morneau went 5-for-13 with three homers and seven RBIs. In the past two seasons at Ameriquest Field, he is 14-for-36 (.389) with six homers and 15 RBIs.
ORIOLES 5, BLUE JAYS 2 at Baltimore: Corey Patterson stole home at the end of a botched rundown, Brian Roberts went 3-for-3 with two walks, and Steve Trachsel (3-3) allowed two runs, five hits and three walks in six innings.
Before Chris Ray got three straight outs for his 11th save in 14 chances, Chad Bradford and Jamie Walker each pitched a perfect inning.
MARINERS 5, DEVIL RAYS 1 at St. Petersburg, Fla.: Jose Guillen had four hits and two RBIs, Miguel Batista (4-4) gave up one run in six innings and Seattle extended Tampa Bay’s losing streak to a season-high five games.
ROYALS 11, INDIANS 7 at Kansas City, Mo.: John Buck and Mike Sweeney each homered for the second straight game, fueling a five-run second inning that propelled Kansas City to its eighth win in 10 games and within one victory of its first series sweep of the season.
