Rays/MLB

AL: roundup

By TIMES WIRES
Published June 7, 2006

YANKEES 2, RED SOX 1: NEW YORK - Perhaps the best reaction to Melky Cabrera's catch that robbed Manny Ramirez of a tying homer came from Red Sox slugger David Ortiz.

"That's why I hit mine 500 feet," Ortiz said. "Then I don't have to deal with that."

Cabrera made a leaping catch in the eighth, and the Yankees won behind Chien-Ming Wang's strong start. Ortiz's third-inning homer accounted for Boston's run.

The Yankees leftfielder by necessity, not choice, Cabrera went to the wall and brought back Ramirez's drive for the final out of the eighth. The catch was so good, it had centerfielder Johnny Damon jumping and pumping his fist in celebration.

Cabrera, whose early experience in leftfield filling in for injured Hideki Matsui was not always pretty, called it the best catch of his life. Through a translator, he said, "I was aware of the score and I followed the flight of the ball. I knew I had it all the way."

Boston manager Terry Francona called the catch "devastating."

"I knew it was going to be close," he said. "It was a pretty big play at a pretty big time of the game."

On his way to leftfield, Ramirez passed Cabrera. "He said, "You should let that ball go out,' " Cabrera recalled. "I said, "I'm trying to win.' "

Wang and Boston rookie David Pauley dueled into the seventh, with Ortiz and New York's Bernie Williams accounting for the runs with homers. With two outs in the Yankees seventh, Miguel Cairo sent a squibber under Pauley's glove and past second baseman Mark Loretta for a single.

"If I come up with that, we get out of the inning and it's 1-1," Pauley said. "I just didn't get my glove down far enough. It was a matter of inches."

Damon followed with a single, and Cabrera walked on four pitches, chasing Pauley. With no left-hander in his bullpen, Francona brought in right-hander Rudy Seanez, and left-handed Jason Giambi walked on a 3-and-2 pitch, forcing home the go-ahead run.

NOTABLE: The Yankees got nine hits, ending their franchise-record streak of reaching double digits at 12 games.

WHITE SOX 4, TIGERS 3: CHICAGO - Alex Cintron hit a three-run homer off reliever Fernando Rodney in the eighth to lead the White Sox over Central-leading Detroit.

With the Tigers ahead 3-1, Rodney walked Jermaine Dye leading off the eighth and Joe Crede with one out. Cintron then hit a 3-and-2 pitch out to right for his first homer of the season, sending Chicago to its second win in seven games.

Dye hit his 17th homer leading off the second.

Rodney had pitched 62/3 scoreless innings over his previous five outings before coming on to start the eighth. Until then, Nate Robertson was on his way to his sixth victory.

Marcus Thames, Chris Shelton and Brandon Inge homered for the Tigers, who have lost seven of nine. They also lost catcher Ivan Rodriguez to lower back spasms.

The 12-time All-Star struck out to end the second and caught the bottom half but did not come out for the third. Vance Wilson replaced him.

NOTABLE: After issuing just one walk in his previous six starts, White Sox pitcher Freddy Garcia walked two in the first inning.

ATHLETICS 7, INDIANS 6: CLEVELAND - Eric Chavez's clutch two-run homer and Dan Johnson's run-scoring single in the eighth inning rallied Oakland.

Down 6-4 going into the eighth the A's, who seem to awaken every June, tied it on Chavez's shot off Scott Sauerbeck.

The left-hander, who got the final out in the seventh after replacing Indians starter Jake Westbrook, gave up a leadoff single to Nick Swisher before Chavez hit his 13th homer - and 10th on the road.

The A's are 4-1 in June. Oakland, which went 24-29 in April and May, are a major league-best 76-38 in June since 2002.

NOTABLE: Frank Thomas hit a three-run homer, his 462nd, in the third.

BLUE JAYS 6, ORIOLES 4: BALTIMORE - Alex Rios snapped a tie with a two-run homer in the seventh, and Aaron Hill had two RBIs for Toronto.

Rios, who improved his AL-leading batting average to .359, homered off rookie Chris Britton after Reed Johnson led off the seventh with a walk.

Kevin Millar hit a run-scoring single off Justin Speier to bring Baltimore within 5-4 in the bottom half, but the Blue Jays added a run in the eighth when Gregg Zaun doubled and scored on pinch-hitter Lyle Overbay's sacrifice fly.

Former Oriole B.J. Ryan pitched the ninth for his 14th save in 15 chances.

Baltimore's Corey Patterson had his streak of games with a stolen base end at eight. It was the longest streak in the majors in 20 years.

NOTABLE: LPGA star Michelle Wie, 16, threw out the ceremonial first pitch a day after failing in her bid to qualify for the U.S. Open. The right-hander tossed a lob to bullpen coach Rick Dempsey that fluttered to the right of the strike zone.

RANGERS 6, ROYALS 2: KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Brad Wilkerson homered and doubled for Texas, which handed the Royals their eighth straight loss at home.

The Rangers started the scoring in the second on Wilkerson's 12th home run of the season, a 412-foot shot to center. Texas has homered in 44 of 57 games this season.

Wilkerson's double was part of a three-run fourth that gave the Rangers the lead for good. Kevin Millwood improved his road record to 5-0.

After Wilkerson's homer, the Royals tied it in the bottom half on Mark Teahen's single. They then loaded the bases, but Mark Grudzielanek lined out to right to end the inning.

Texas scored three in the fourth. Kevin Mench's double short-hopped the wall in left-center and drove in Hank Blalock, who led off the inning with a single, and Wilkerson, who had a one-out double to right.

After Gerald Laird walked, Ian Kinsler lined a single up the middle, scoring Mench.

NOTABLE: Texas leads the American League with 135 doubles. The Rangers hit four doubles Tuesday and have 11 in their past two games.

MARINERS 4, TWINS 2: SEATTLE - Felix Hernandez outlasted Minnesota's Francisco Liriano in a matchup two of the best young arms in baseball, and the Mariners handed Liriano his first loss.

Hernandez, 20, won for the third time in his past four starts. He threw 60 of 100 pitches for strikes and paid back a 3-1 loss to Liriano and the Twins on May 26.

Seattle scraped two runs off Liriano, 22, in the fourth, the second and third he has allowed since moving into the rotation May 19. The Mariners added another in the sixth before Liriano was lifted.

Ichiro Suzuki had four hits and Mike Morse drove in two as Seattle broke a four-game losing streak to the Twins.

Jason Kubel led off the eighth with a homer off Seattle reliever Eddie Guardado, who received a cascade of boos after giving up the 404-foot shot to rightfield. Seattle used four pitchers in the inning, with J.J. Putz getting the final out and stranding two.

NOTABLE: Minnesota second baseman Luis Castillo batted leadoff for the first time this season. He had hit second in all 49 games he had played.

[Last modified June 7, 2006, 02:00:17]