Saturday American League Capsules.
TORONTO 7, TAMPA BAY 4 (13 INNINGS)
TORONTO The Toronto Blue Jays already had given up the lead twice. It took Gregg Zaun just one swing to take it all back.
Zaun hit a two-out, walk-off grand slam to lift the Toronto Blue Jays to a come-from-behind, 7-4 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday.
The dramatic victory extended the Blue Jays winning streak to seven games and made up for a series of missed opportunities earlier in the day.
Thanks to Shaun Marcums dominating performance – seven strikeouts in seven shutout innings – Toronto held a comfortable 3-0 lead – before the Rays three-run rally in the ninth inning tied it up and sent the game into extra innings.
Four innings later, the Rays looked to complete their comeback, taking the lead on Dioner Navarros RBI single in the top of the 13th.
But the Blue Jays offense sprung to life in the bottom half of the inning, manhandling Tampa Bay closer Troy Percival (3-1), who was fresh off the disabled list.
Vernon Wells and Brad Wilkerson ripped back-to-back singles and, two batters later, Scott Rolen walked on four pitches to load the bases. That left it up to Zaun, who belted a deep drive into right field for his fourth career grand slam.
The Rays have now lost four of their last five. Entering the day, their lead in the American League East had dwindled to just 2 1/2 games over the Boston Red Sox.
They couldnt do anything early on, as Marcum controlled them for the fourth time in four career appearances. Earlier this season, he gave up two runs and four hits and struck out nine in 8 2/3 innings of a 6-2 victory.
In two meetings with Tampa Bay last year, Marcum didnt allow a single hit, tossing six innings of no-hit ball in a May 13, 2007 start and 2 1/3 perfect innings in relief on April 7.
The Rays luck didnt change much Saturday, but they got their chances at redemption and capitalized against Blue Jays closer B.J. Ryan in the ninth.
Rocco Baldelli cut the deficit to one with a two-run homer, and Fernando Perez came around to score the game-tying run on second baseman Joe Ingletts fielding error.
The Blue Jays still had a chance to win in the bottom of the ninth, and Zaun was in the middle of it once again. The veteran catcher ripped a deep infield single, but Rolen was thrown out at home to keep the game knotted at 3-3.
After four scoreless innings, the Rays finally broke through in the 13th. Perez reached on a fielders choice, moved to second on a groundout, stole third and came home to score the go-ahead run on Navarros single.
But the Blue Jays took advantage of Percivals shakiness to steal the victory. Since returning from a right knee injury on September 2, Percival has struggled in two outings.
In Wednesdays appearance against the New York Yankees, he served up a two-run homer to Alex Rodriguez and lasted just two-thirds of an inning. On Saturday, things only got worse.
Brian Tallet (1-1) worked one-third of an inning, striking out one and walking one, to earn the victory for the Blue Jays (75-66).
DETROIT 6, MINNESOTA 4
MINNEAPOLIS Curtis Granderson and Magglio Ordonez belted a pair of two-run homers in the eighth inning to give the Detroit Tigers a 6-4 comeback victory over the Minnesota Twins.
The Tigers trailed, 4-2, coming into the eighth but rapidly turned things around. After Ramon Santiago walked, Granderson – the first and only batter Minnesota reliever Dennys Reyes faced – belted the game-tying, two-run shot to right.
Ordonez followed two batters later with a shot to the opposite field to give Detroit a two-run advantage.
Kyle Farnsworth (3-2) threw a perfect eighth inning, striking out two, to pick up the win. Fernando Rodney got into trouble in the bottom of the ninth, loading up the bases with one out. But he struck out Joe Mauer and got Justin Morneau to line out to close it out.
Twins reliever Matt Guerrier (6-7) gave up two hits and two runs without recording an out to take the loss.
KANSAS CITY 3, CLEVELAND 1
KANSAS CITY, Missouri David DeJesus had three hits and Gil Meche won for the first time in five starts as the Kansas City Royals defeated the Cleveland Indians, 3-1.
Meche (11-10) tied a season high with 10 strikeouts in his first win since August 4. The righthander allowed one run, three hits and two walks in seven solid innings. Ramon Ramirez bridged the gap to Joakim Soria, who pitched a scoreless ninth for his 35th save.
Kansas City scored all three runs in the second frame to post its fifth win in seven games.
Cleveland starter Zach Jackson (0-2) allowed three runs and nine hits over seven innings, striking out a pair without walking a batter.
OAKLAND 5, BALTIMORE 1
BALTIMORE Jack Cust homered twice and drove in three runs and Greg Smith tossed seven shutout innings as the Oakland Athletics dealt the Baltimore Orioles their seventh loss in a row, 5-1.
The game was supposed to be the nightcap in a doubleheader, but the first game was postponed indefinitely due to rain. The weather cleared up in time for the clubs to get one game in, but the Orioles fortunes remained the same.
Smith (7-14), Oaklands rookie lefthander, allowed three hits in one of his best outings. He had control problems, walking five, but was consistently able to get out of trouble.
Cust hit solo homers in consecutive innings and added a sacrifice fly, and Jack Hanrahan belted a solo shot to lead the charge for the Athletics.
Baltimore righthander Daniel Cabrera (8-9) got through three innings, giving up five hits and two runs while walking six and striking out one.
TEXAS 15, BOSTON 8
ARLINGTON, Texas The Texas Rangers built a seven-run rally around walks and singles in the second inning and cruised to a 15-8 win over the Boston Red Sox.
Boston knuckleballer Tim Wakefield (8-10) issued four walks, hit a batter, unleashed two wild pitches and allowed four hits in the decisive frame – all with two outs.
Nelson Cruz homered twice and drove in five runs for the Rangers, who scored at least 15 runs for the fourth time this season.
Rookie lefthander Matt Harrison (7-3) pitched well enough to get the win, yielding four runs and seven hits in six frames while striking out four and issuing a walk.
CHI WHITE SOX 7, LA ANGELS 6 (15 INNINGS)
CHICAGO Jim Thomes 537th career home run in the 15th inning lifted the Chicago White Sox to a 7-6 victory over the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
With one down in the 15th, Thome greeted Justin Speier (1-8) with a solo blast into the right-field seats to snap a tie with Mickey Mantle and move into sole possession of 14th place on the career home run list.
Francisco Rodriguez squandered a chance at his 55th save, which would have moved him two back of tying the all-time record set by Bobby Thigpen in 1990. Rodriguez allowed two straight hits to start the ninth before Dewayne Wise lifted a sacrifice fly to tie the game at 6-6.
The Angels had taken the lead in the top of the ninth on rookie Brandon Woods solo blast.
NY YANKEES 7, SEATTLE 4
SEATTLE Bobby Abreu homered and highlighted a five-run seventh inning with a two-run triple to lead the New York Yankees to a come-from-behind 7-4 victory over the Seattle Mariners.
Jason Giambi also homered and doubled to drive in two runs as the Yankees, who managed two hits in a 3-1 loss Friday night, banged out 12 hits to end a two-game losing streak.
Raul Ibanez drove in four runs for the Mariners with a three-run homer and a single.
Reliever Mariano Rivera, who earned his 33rd save in 34 opportunities, came on in the eighth inning with two outs, a run in and a runner at first, to get Jose Lopez to groundout and end the threat. Ibanez had singled in a run in the inning to cut the Yankees lead to 7-4.
New York starter Sidney Ponson (8-5) went six innings to snap a personal three-game losing streak and claim his first victory since August 6.
