Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
BOSTON - The Red Sox blew out the Yankees and made sure New York can't clinch the East in Fenway Park.
Manny Ramirez doubled in the tiebreaking run during a seven-run eighth on Saturday and Boston defeated New York 12-5 to preserve its chances of an East title. Jason Varitek and Doug Mirabelli each doubled in two runs in the inning.
New York's magic number is four, so victories Saturday and today would have won the division; instead, Boston, which lost 6-4 Friday, cut its deficit to 41/2 games and clinched the season series 10-8. The Red Sox lead the wild card by six games over the Angels.
Boston manager Terry Francona wasn't around to see the offensive explosion. He was ejected in the sixth arguing a fan interference call.
Paul Quantrill extinguished a Boston rally in the seventh but helped fuel one in the eighth. He was charged with four runs on two hits.
Keith Foulke recorded two outs in the eighth and had a 1-2-3 ninth for the win. Foulke got Jorge Posada, who had a pair of two-run doubles, to end the eighth with two runners on.
ANGELS 5, ATHLETICS 3: Garret Anderson hit a tiebreaking double in the eighth and Darin Erstad had a three-run homer for host Anaheim, which moved back within two games of Oakland in the West.
Jermaine Dye hit a two-run shot for the Athletics, who won the series opener Friday. Mark Mulder will pitch for Oakland against John Lackey in today's finale.
Anderson greeted Ricardo Rincon with a liner down the rightfield line, giving Anaheim a 4-3 lead. Rincon had just replaced Chad Bradford, who hit Jose Guillen with a pitch leading off the inning.
Alfredo Amezaga came in as a pinch-runner for Guillen and scored easily from first base on Anderson's hit. Chone Figgins' run-scoring single later in the inning gave Anaheim a two-run edge.
Francisco Rodriguez pitched two scoreless innings, striking out four to run his total to 118 for the season, tops among major-league relievers.
RANGERS 5, MARINERS 4: Michael Young's triple sparked a two-run rally in the seventh inning and host Texas pulled within two games of the West lead. The Rangers have won six of seven.
Ichiro Suzuki's two-run single gave him 250 hits, seven shy of George Sisler's 84-year-old major-league record with eight games remaining. Ichiro went 1-for-5 and is batting .374, best in the majors. He tied Rogers Hornsby (1922) and Chuck Klein (1930) for fifth on the single-season hits list. Al Simmons is next with 253 in 1925.
INDIANS 5, TWINS 3: Coco Crisp drove in three runs, including a tiebreaking two-run double that capped a three-run eighth for host Cleveland. Minnesota is 1-4 since clinching its third straight Central title.
ORIOLES 3, TIGERS 0: Matt Riley allowed two hits over six shutout innings for host Baltimore. Rafael Palmeiro had a run-scoring single for the Orioles, who won their third in a row.
WHITE SOX 5, ROYALS 1: Mark Buehrle pitched a four-hitter and Jose Valentin hit his 28th homer for host Chicago. Carlos Lee also homered for the White Sox.