Guillen’s Two-Run Single Sparks KC

Rays hit three homers, rebuild lead against Sox

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. —- Willy Aybar, Gabe Gross and Fernando Perez homered off Tim Wakefield and the AL East-leading Tampa Bay Rays beat the Boston Red Sox 10-3 to move closer to their first playoff berth.

Matt Garza gave up two long home runs to David Ortiz, but the Rays otherwise held the Red Sox in check to win the season series against Boston 10-8 and extend their division lead over them to two games.

Tampa Bay, which had never won more than 70 games in a season before this year, can clinch at least a wild-card playoff berth by beating Minnesota twice during a four-game series that begins today at Tropicana Field.

yankees 5, white sox 1 — At New York, Alex Rodriguez homered to pass Babe Ruth and become the only player with 35 homers and 100 RBIs in 12 seasons.

Xavier Nady then scored on a wild pitch as New York rallied against rookie Clayton Richard in the fifth to last regular-season game at Yankee Stadium.

blue jays 8, orioles 7 — At Toronto, Travis Snider drove in the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly in the eighth inning and the Blue Jays rallied past the Orioles.

Scott Rolen led off the eighth with a double against Kam Mickolio (0-1) and advanced on Curtis Thigpen’s sacrifice. Snider followed with a flyball to left to give Toronto the lead.

indians 6, twins 4 — At Cleveland, Cliff Lee was denied his 23rd win and finished with a no-decision against Minnesota — the only AL team to beat him — and the Indians completed a three-game sweep with a win against the Twins, another gnawing loss for the Central’s second-place team.

TIGERS 17, RANGERs 4 — At Arlington, Tex., Freddy Garcia pitched five innings to win in his first game since June 2007 and theTigers scored nine runs in the fifth inning to beat Texas and snap a six- game losing streak.

Garcia (1-0) allowed an unearned run and two hits. The 33-year- old righty signed a minor league contract last month, more than a year after his season ended for Philadelphia because of an injured shoulder.

National League

reds 3, cardinals 0 — At Cincinnati, Aaron Harang pitched a six- hitter and the Cincinnati Reds hit back-to-back homers to send the Cardinals to their seventh straight loss.

Andy Phillips and Jay Bruce opened the fourth inning with consecutive home runs and Paul Janish added the first of his career later in the inning to help Harang to his first win since Aug. 22.

rockies 1, padres 0 — At Denver, Joe Koshansky homered and five Colorado pitchers combined for a five-hitter.

Koshansky, Chris Iannetta and Ian Stewart had two hits each for the Rockies, who won the last two games of the three-game series.

phillies 6, braves 1 — At Atlanta, Ryan Howard drove in the first run in Philadelphia’s four-run first inning, and rookie J.A. Happ pitched six scoreless innings to help the Phillies earn their season-high sixth straight win.

Howard, bidding to win his second NL MVP award in three years, now has 29 RBIs in his last 21 games and 137 this season to lead the majors.

marlins 14, astros 2 — At Miami, Hanley Ramirez homered twice before departing with an injured shoulder, Jorge Cantu hit a grand slam and the Marlins beat the slumping Astros.

Florida has won seven straight to tie its longest winning streak of the season.

pirates 15, dodgers 8 — At Pittsburgh, Adam LaRoche hit a grand slam among his two homers and the Pirates stalled the Dodgers’ late- season surge with an eight-run seventh inning rally.

mets 9, nationals 2 — At Washington, Carlos Beltran homered from both sides of the plate, Jose Reyes and Carlos Delgado also went deep, and the Mets built a big lead then barely held on to beat the Nationals.

The Mets had lost four of their previous five games to fall out of first place in the NL East.

brewers 6, cubs 2 — At Washington, the Brewers overcame the loss of injured starter Ben Sheets and, boosted by Prince Fielder’s three- run double, beat the Cubs to end a five-game losing streak.

Sheets left after two innings with tightness in his right forearm.

The Associated PressDodgers’ Garciaparra hurts knee on basepaths

PITTSBURGH —- Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Nomar Garciaparra reinjured his left knee while attempting to score from second on a two-out single in the fifth inning of Wednesday night’s game in Pittsburgh.

Garciaparra, running hard on the play, was about halfway between third and home when he realized the outfield throw was probably going to beat him and he attempted to reverse direction. He then fell to the turf and could not get back up, and was tagged out by catcher Ryan Doumit to end the inning.

WHITE SOX LF CARLOS QUENTIN had the soft cast removed from his broken right wrist Wednesday, an encouraging sign the MVP candidate could return for the postseason.

BLUE JAYS president Paul Godfrey said Wednesday that he hasn’t decided whether to seek a new contract when his current deal expires at the end of 2008, but supports retaining general manager J.P. Ricciardi and manager Cito Gaston in 2009.

THE ATHLETICS’ MARK ELLIS will undergo surgery on his right shoulder Friday back home in Arizona.

AUSTIN KEARNS, Dmitri Young, Ronnie Belliard and Jesus Flores are being shut down by the Washington Nationals for the rest of the season because of injuries.

The Associated PressThe Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Jose Guillen hit a key two-run single after being sick the night before, helping the Kansas City Royals to a 5- 2 win over the Seattle Mariners Wednesday night.

Kansas City struggled against Seattle starter Ryan Rowland- Smith, staying close in a tight game on Ryan Shealy’s fourth homer in five games. Guillen, a late scratch the night before, came up with the big hit in the seventh, lining a two-run single off Roy Corcoran (5-2).

Seattle’s Ichiro Suzuki was 3-for-3 to reach 200 hits for the eighth consecutive season, matching Willie Keeler’s major league record.

The Mariners (57-94) lost their seventh straight, moving a step closer to their first 100-loss season since 1983.

Gil Meche (12-11) pitched seven effective innings. He was knocked around his last outing, giving up six hits and 10 hits in five innings to Cleveland on Friday. Meche appeared to be in for another long night after walking Suzuki to start the game, then giving up Lopez’s two-run single.

Meche settled down after that despite working deep into most counts, benefiting from double plays in the fourth and fifth innings. He allowed six hits and two runs, with seven strikeouts and three walks.

Joakim Soria pitched the ninth for his 40th save in 43 chances.

Rowland-Smith was sharp after getting two tough-luck no- decisions his previous two outings.

The left-hander had the Royals out on their front feet with off- speed pitches most of the night, allowing a leadoff double to David DeJesus in the first inning and nothing else until Shealy hit a solo homer to left in the fourth.

Rowland-Smith got in a bit of trouble in the sixth, putting two on with two outs after a pair of walks. Shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt helped him get out of it, making a diving stop up the middle, then throwing to beat Mark Teahen by a step for the final out.

Rowland-Smith didn’t come out for the seventh, working around four walks to put the Mariners in position for a rare win.

But just like the previous two starts, when he allowed three runs each, Rowland-Smith left with a lead and ended up with a no- decision.

Kansas City loaded the bases against Corcoran, helped by Betancourt’s fielding error on a potential double-play ball. The Royals tied it at 2-all on Mike Aviles’ chopper, then Guillen lined a two-run single up the middle just past a diving Betancourt, extending his hitting streak to a career-high 14 games.

Alberto Callaspo added a run-scoring single in the eighth off Miguel Batista to extend his hitting streak to 11 games and put the Royals up 5-2.

Home opener against Yanks

The Royals will open the 2009 home season April 10, celebrating the grand re-opening of Kauffman Stadium against the New York Yankees, kicking off a three-game series.

The Royals open the ’09 schedule on the road April 6 against the Chicago White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field.

Kansas City’s home schedule is highlighted by a three-game series against the intrastate rival St. Louis Cardinals on June 19-21. The Royals will also host the Cincinnati Reds and Arizona Diamondbacks at Kauffman.

Kansas City travels to St. Louis from May 22-24, Houston on June 23-25 and Pittsburgh June 26-28 to complete the interleague schedule.

NOTES — Seattle LHP Erik Bedard will have exploratory arthroscopic shoulder surgery on Sept. 26. He’s been on the DL since July 5 with shoulder tightness. … Suzuki is 10-for-15 career against Meche. … Seattle has lost nine straight road games.

(c) 2008 Topeka Capital Journal. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.