OAKLAND, Calif. — Hideki Matsui hit a grand slam on his 34th birthday to help Andy Pettitte move into a tie for fourth place on the New York Yankees career wins list with a 4-1 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Thursday night.
Pettitte (6-5) bounced back from giving up a career high-tying 10 runs last Saturday against Kansas City to shut down the A’s and tie Ron Guidry with his 170th victory with New York. Pettitte allowed one run and five hits in a season-high eight innings.
Joe Blanton (3-9) held the Yankees scoreless through five innings, allowing only one runner to reach third base. Derek Jeter then opened the sixth with an infield single that second baseman Mark Ellis knocked down but couldn’t control. Blanton then walked Bobby Abreu and Alex Rodriguez to load the bases for Matsui, who hit his fifth career slam.
Tigers 2, White Sox 1
DETROIT — Miguel Cabrera hit a game-ending solo homer in the ninth inning and the Tigers completed a three-game sweep.
Magglio Ordonez led off the bottom of the ninth with a long drive to left, bringing the sold-out crowd to its feet, but Carlos Quentin made the catch at the wall. Cabrera then hit a 2-1 pitch from Octavio Dotel (3-3) into the stands in right-center field.
Cabrera’s ninth homer of the season came after a nice pitching duel between Detroit’s Kenny Rogers and White Sox left-hander Mark Buehrle. Both starters allowed one run in eight innings, and the game lasted just 2 hours, 4 minutes.
Quentin started the ninth with a single off Todd Jones (2-0), but Paul Konerko grounded into a double play.
Buehrle allowed seven hits, walked one and struck out six. Rogers gave up four hits, walked one and struck out one.
Red Sox 9, Orioles 2
BOSTON — Mike Lowell hit his second grand slam of the season, a streaking J.D. Drew hit a two-run shot and Boston kept rolling at home.
The Red Sox are 18-3 in their last 21 games at Fenway Park. Their 28-7 home record is the best in the majors, but their 14-20 mark away from home is the worst of the six division leaders. They open a six-game road trip on Friday night in Cincinnati.
Jon Lester (5-3) allowed two runs and seven hits over seven innings for Boston in his return from a five-game suspension after he hit two Tampa Bay batters June 5 during a game in which there was a benches-clearing brawl.
Jeremy Guthrie (3-7) gave up five runs and seven hits in 4 2/3 innings for the Orioles.
Indians 12, Twins 2
CLEVELAND — Ben Francisco and Jamey Carroll had four hits apiece to lead injury-depleted Cleveland over Minnesota.
Even with five key players from last year’s AL Central champion team on the disabled list, the Indians had 18 hits including homers by Shin-Soo Choo and Grady Sizemore off Livan Hernandez (6-4) and four relievers.
Aaron Laffey (4-3), called up from Triple-A Buffalo when injuries hit Cleveland’s starting staff, allowed one run and six hits over six innings. The left-hander walked one, struck out four and lowered his earned run average to 2.83 in nine starts. He is 4-2 with a 1.40 ERA in six home starts.
Kelly Shoppach, starting in place of Martinez, had a pair of RBI singles. Second baseman Carroll went 4-for-4 with an RBI and was 8-for-9 in the three-game series. Francisco went 4-for-5 with three RBIs.
Royals 6, Rangers 5
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Alex Gordon and Mike Aviles each hit a two-run homer and the Royals beat the Rangers to avoid a three-game sweep.
The Rangers led 5-4 before Kansas City pushed across two runs in the eighth. Pinch-runner Tony Pena Jr. scampered home on Frank Francisco’s wild pitch and Gordon scored on Jose Guillen’s sacrifice fly to give the Royals the lead.
Ron Mahay (2-0) recorded two outs to earn the win and Joakim Soria worked a perfect ninth for his 15th save in 16 opportunities.
Francisco (1-2) allowed two runs and two hits in one inning.
German Duran and Ian Kinsler hit back-to-back homers in the second for the Rangers.
Aviles hit his first career homer in the fourth to tie it at 4.
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