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September 4, 2009

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Home » Sports » Baseball

Rays stay in hunt for playoffs

THE Tampa Bay Rays survived a shaky eighth inning before beating the Boston Red Sox 8-5 on Wednesday in Miami, Florida, and gaining some ground in the American League wild-card race.
After allowing the Red Sox to tie the score at 5-5 in the top of the eighth, Pat Burrell's RBI single put the Rays ahead and Evan Longoria hit a two-run blast at the bottom of the same inning to cap the win. It was Longoria's 26th homer of the season.
Reliever J.P. Howell (7-4) was credited with the win while Dan Wheeler came on to record the final two outs of the game.
The Rays (72-60) moved back within five games of the Red Sox.
"This is huge. We realize the importance of every game at this point, especially against teams ahead of us in the division," Longoria said.
"We see (Boston's) pitchers so much there's a little bit of familiarity that gives you a little more confidence as a hitter."
In other American League games, it was: Yankees 10, Orioles 2; Rangers 6, Blue Jays 4; White Sox 4, Twins 2; Athletics 10, Royals 4; Tigers 4, Indians 2; and Mariners 3, Angels 0.
In Baltimore, CC Sabathia earned his American League-leading 16th victory and Alex Rodriguez got his 2,500th hit and drove in four runs as the New York Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles 10-2 for a three-game sweep on Wednesday.
Eric Hinske homered and Johnny Damon had four hits for the Yankees, who used a seven-run ninth inning to turn a tight game into a rout. New York has won six straight and is 34-11 since the All-Star break.
In Arlington, Texas, Elvis Andrus hit a go-ahead two-run homer, Nelson Cruz went deep for the 30th time and Texas gained ground in the AL playoff chase with its third straight victory with its win over Toronto.
Texas moved within 3? games of the AL West-leading Los Angeles Angels.
In Detroit, Magglio Ordonez had three hits, and Detroit took advantage of five Cleveland errors to open a 4?-game lead over Minnesota in the AL Central.
Rookie Rick Porcello (12-8) got the win, giving up two runs on five hits in seven-plus innings. The 20-year-old rookie has allowed two or fewer runs in six of his last seven starts, and has won more games than any Tigers pitcher before the age of 21.
Aaron Laffey (7-4) took the loss, allowing four runs in 6 1-3 innings.
In the National League, it was: Diamondbacks 4, Dodgers 1; Cardinals 10, Brewers 3; Rockies 5, Mets 2; Cubs 2, Astros 0; Giants 4, Phillies 0; Reds 5, Pirates 3; Marlins 8, Braves 7; and Padres 7, Nationals 0.



 

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