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Red Sox walk off with win after Ortiz homer

Posted on: Saturday, 24 June 2006, 22:50 CDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - David Ortiz sent Red Sox fans home happy again belting a 10th inning two-run game-winning homer as Boston beat the Philadelphia Phillies 5-3 on Saturday in interleague play at Fenway Park.

It was the eighth walk-off homer for Ortiz since joining the Red Sox in 2003 and sparked off wild celebrations among the capacity crowd of 39,654 as Boston extended its winning streak to eight games.

Having hit so many dramatic game winners, the Boston slugger has developed a trademark routine, acknowledging the crowd as he rounds the bases then tossing his batting helmet to the ground as he rounds third before being mobbed by his team mates.

"They (Red Sox) were just kind of looking at me like a whole bunch of 10-year-olds," Ortiz told MLB.com. "They were like, 'You're amazing.' That's a good feeling.

"It's cool, but at the same time you have to make sure you get your helmet off, otherwise you know you're going to go crazy with a concussion.

"You know, I started that off, taking my helmet off.

"Now I see everyone in the league doing it. I saw somebody the other day doing it, somebody that hit a walk-off.

"Hey, when they see you, and you don't have your helmet, they take it easy."

With the score tied 3-3, Ortiz took 2-2 offering from reliever Tom Gordon and parked it into the bleachers in deep center cashing in Alex Cora for his 22nd homer of the season.

"TOO GOOD"

"I went to a curveball, left it over the middle of the plate," said Gordon. "He's too good a hitter to leave a breaking ball over the middle of the plate.

"I missed, so he made me pay."

Ortiz's homer made a winner of Jonathan Papelbon (2-1), who worked 2 1/3 scoreless innings allowing two hits while striking out four with a walk.

Boston starter Curt Schilling had another strong outing but suffered his third straight no decision despite registering a season-high 10 strike outs.

The right-hander allowed three runs on eight hits before exiting the game in the seventh none out and the bases loaded.

Mike Lowell also contributed a solo home run to the Boston total while Manny Ramirez drove in a round and Mark Loretta went three-for-three with an RBI and a run scored before leaving the game with a mild neck injury.

In San Francisco, Ray Durham smacked a ninth inning game-winning three-run homer and Barry Bonds connected for career home run 719 powering the Giants to an 8-7 win over the Oakland Athletics.

Trailing 7-2, the Giants exploded for six unanswered runs scoring two in the bottom of the sixth and another in the seventh before Durham capped off the comeback taking Oakland reliever Huston Street (1-3) over the wall in right bringing across Mark Sweeney and Bonds.

Bonds, who was not originally scheduled to play on Saturday, was a late addition to the lineup and made an immediate impact belting a first inning two-run homer for his 11th of the season as he continued his march toward Hank Aaron's all-time mark of 755.

The Giants slugger also had a seventh-inning RBI double, reached base five times and scored three times.

"They walked Barry twice, and I take it personally," said Durham. "It's my job, when I'm hitting behind him, to protect him and keep them from taking the bat out of his hands.

"Doing it in the clutch that I did, it's a good feeling."

In Chicago, Joe Crede hit crunched grand slam and Alex Cintron completed the comeback with a 10th inning bases loaded game-winning RBI single as the White Sox rallied past the Houston Astros 6-5.

Down 5-1 in the bottom of the seventh, Crede sparked the comeback when he took the first pitch he say from Astros reliever Chad Qualls and drove it over the wall in left field for his first career grand slam.

There would be no more scoring until the 10th, Cintron clinching the victory lining a shot into right field bringing across Rob Mackowiak with the winning run.

(Writing by Steve Keating in Montreal)

Source: REUTERS

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