Cleveland – Fausto Carmona pitched eight shutout innings and Franklin Gutierrez homered to lead the Cleveland Indians to a 1-0 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday night.
Carmona (13-4) improved to 5-0 in July, allowing four singles and raising his scoreless innings streak to 18. The hard-throwing right-hander was just slightly better than Josh Beckett (13-4), who lost on the road for the first time since September.
After throwing 113 pitches, Carmona was replaced by Joe Borowski, who worked the ninth for his 29th save. Borowski struck out Coco Crisp and Dustin Pedroia to start the ninth before retiring David Ortiz on a soft pop to third.
Cleveland catcher Victor Martinez made three standout plays to back Carmona, blocking the plate in the sixth to keep it 1-0 and throwing out two runners attempting to steal in the eighth.
“The most important plays were Victor throwing out those guys in the eighth,” Carmona said. “I’m very proud of Victor.”
YANKEES 7, ROYALS 1 at Kansas City, Mo.: Alex Rodriguez moved within one of the 500-home run club, and Melky Cabrera and Hideki Matsui also went deep in New York’s sixth consecutive victory.
TIGERS 13, WHITE SOX 9 at Chicago: Ryan Raburn, making an emergency start after Gary Sheffield (shoulder) was scratched, hit two homers and drove in seven runs in support of Jason Grilli (5-2).
BLUE JAYS 13, TWINS 1 at Toronto: Gregg Zaun homered and drove in four runs, and Toronto tied a franchise record with an 11-run sixth inning that helped complete a three-game sweep.
ANGELS 7, ATHLETICS 6 at Anaheim, Calif.: Maicer Izturis hit an RBI single in the bottom of the ninth after Francisco Rodriguez (4-2) blew a three-run lead in the top half, and Los Angeles went on to avoid a three-game sweep.
ORIOLES 6, DEVIL RAYS 1 at Baltimore: Erik Bedard (10-4) allowed one run in six innings to earn his sixth consecutive victory, and Corey Patterson went 3-for-4 with a double and a home run as Baltimore extended Tampa Bay’s losing streak to five games.
RANGERS 7, MARINERS 6 at Arlington, Texas: Ramon Vazquez hit a two-run homer with two outs in the eighth off previously unblemished closer J.J. Putz (1-1) and Texas completed a four-game sweep.
