Bobby Abreu hit a grand slam in the seventh inning, Wang Chien-ming earned his 50th career victory and New York did just fine without A-Rod, beating Chicago 9-5 on Tuesday.
Abreu connected for his seventh career grand slam off Octavio Dotel with two outs in the seventh to rally New York from a 3-2 deficit. It was his sixth homer in only 14 games at U.S. Cellular Field.
Johnny Damon hit a three-run homer off reliever Matt Thornton in the eighth to make it 9-4, and Jason Giambi had a solo shot in the second.
PHOTO: AFP
Wang (4-0) worked six innings to become the first Yankees starter to win his first four decisions since Kevin Brown won his first five in 2004.
Red Sox 7, Angels 6
At Boston, Dustin Pedroia’s tiebreaking RBI double in the eighth inning helped the Boston Red Sox rally for their sixth straight win, 7-6 over the Los Angeles Angels, after ace Josh Beckett was scratched from his start with a stiff neck.
Jacoby Ellsbury hit two solo homers and Kevin Youkilis added a two-run shot for Boston, while Pedroia went 4-for-5 with three doubles and a single.
Beckett started the season on the 15-day disabled list with a strained lower back before making his first start April 6. It wasn’t immediately known when he’d make his next start.
Boston emergency starter David Pauley, recalled earlier in the day from Triple-A Pawtucket, gave up five runs on seven hits in 4 1-3 innings.
Tigers 10, Rangers 2
At Detroit, Magglio Ordonez homered and reached 1,000 RBIs for his career, and Ramon Santiago homered for the first time since 2003 and drove in three runs to help Detroit beat Texas.
Edgar Renteria had four hits for the Tigers, who have won six of nine. Santiago went 2-for-3 with three RBIs in place of the injured Placido Polanco.
Justin Verlander (1-3) pitched six innings, allowing a run and six hits. He lowered his ERA to 5.93.
Vicente Padilla (2-2) allowed seven runs and eight hits in three innings. Seven of the hits went for extra bases, including three home runs.
Rays 6, Blue Jays 4
At Kissimmee, Florida, Eric Hinske drove in two runs and finished a single shy of hitting for the cycle, helping Tampa Bay beat Toronto at Disney World.
Hinske doubled in the second inning and added a RBI triple off Jesse Litsch (2-1) in the fourth before leading off the sixth with a solo homer — his sixth of the season — off reliever Jesse Carlson.
The first baseman’s bid to hit for the cycle fell short when Scott Downs struck him out in the eighth.
Rookie Evan Longoria had a solo homer — his second of the season — off Litsch. Dioner Navarro returned from a stint on the 15-day disabled list and had two RBI singles.
Indians 15, Royals 1
At Kansas City, Missouri, Casey Blake had a grand slam and six RBIs and C.C. Sabathia struck out 11 in his first victory, leading Cleveland to a rout of slumping Kansas City.
Blake, the No. 9 hitter, was 4-for-4 with a grand slam, a single and two RBI doubles to pace the Indians’ 17-hit attack. David Dellucci and Jhonny Peralta also homered and Franklin Gutierrez had a three-run double for Cleveland, which came in with the 10th-worst run total and lowest slugging percentage in the league.
Sabathia (1-3) went six innings and gave up only four hits and two walks. Mark Teahen and Jose Guillen each struck out three times against the reigning Cy Young pitching award winner.
Mariners 4, Orioles 2
At Seattle, Jose Vidro’s two-out, two-run single in the bottom of the eighth broke a tie, and Arthur Rhodes picked up his first win in nearly three years as Seattle beat Baltimore.
Seattle closer J.J. Putz returned after missing 18 games with a ribcage injury to pitch the ninth for his second save in three chances in his first appearance since April 1.
Jeremy Guthrie (0-2) went 7 2-3 innings, his longest outing of the season, but got very little offensive support. Guthrie allowed just five hits and three earned runs, striking out five, but walking four.
Rhodes (1-0) allowed a leadoff single to open the eighth in relief of Seattle’s Felix Hernandez, but got a double-play and strike out for his first win since May 23, 2005, while pitching for Cleveland.
Twins 5, Athletics 4
At Oakland, California, Jason Kubel hit a go-ahead bloop single in the eighth, and Craig Monroe drove in three runs and homered for the first time this season in Minnesota’s victory over Oakland.
A’s starter Joe Blanton (1-4) remained winless at home in 2008, dropping to 0-4 in the Coliseum. The A’s had their three-game winning streak snapped.
Juan Rincon (2-0) pitched a scoreless seventh for the victory and Pat Neshek had a perfect eighth. Joe Nathan then finished for his seventh save in as many tries despite allowing Mike Sweeney’s pinch-hit single. Nathan struck out three.
Emil Brown hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the sixth — only the eighth for Oakland this season — but Blanton then gave up a tying solo shot to Monroe.
AP, ATLANTA
John Smoltz became the 16th pitcher in major league history to reach 3,000 career strikeouts, but was outpitched by John Lannan in the Washington Nationals’ 6-0 win over the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday.
Smoltz fanned Felipe Lopez in the third inning, the veteran hurler’s fourth of the game, to reach the mark. He struck out 10 for the second straight start and for the 45th time in his 20-year career.
Lannan (1-2), a rookie, allowed five hits in seven innings and the Nationals snapped a three-game losing streak.
The Braves’ five-game winning streak came to an end.
Smoltz (3-1) allowed a run and five hits in seven innings, and didn’t walk a batter. Still, his ERA rose 22 points to 0.78. He got no run support from an offense that came into the game leading the National League with a .286 average.
Phillies 8, Rockies 6
At Denver, Pat Burrell’s bases-clearing double off Manny Corpas in the ninth inning helped Philadelphia sweep a two-game series against the team that swept them in the first round of the playoffs last season.
Corpas (0-1) was two outs away from the save when Burrell sent a 2-2 fastball past diving center fielder Willy Taveras in the gap in left-center. That made a winner of Ryan Madson (1-0), who threw a scoreless eighth.
Garrett Atkins had staked Colorado to a 6-4 lead when he sent Brett Myers’ 100th pitch into the left-field seats for a tiebreaking, two-run homer in the seventh. Matt Holliday also homered off Myers, his shot to straightaway center field breaking a 3-3 tie in the fifth.
Brewers 9, Cardinals 8
At Milwaukee, Gabe Kapler singled home the winning run with one out in the 12th inning and Milwaukee overcame another blown save by Eric Gagne to beat St. Louis.
The Brewers wasted a five-run lead before Kapler’s hit.
The Cardinals’ loss came with an oddity: Slugger Albert Pujols wound up playing second base for the first time in his big league career.
Cardinals closer Jason Isringhausen (1-1) walked Gabe Gross with one out. Gross then easily stole second, with Pujols covering the bag. Kapler followed with a flare to right-center and Gross scored without a throw as his teammates streamed out of the dugout.
Cubs 8, Mets 1
In Chicago, Ronny Cedeno hit a grand slam and drove in five runs, Ted Lilly won for the first time in five starts, and surging Chicago won for the 13th time in 16 games.
The Cubs, who were 7-13 at this point a season ago, had 14 hits and improved to 14-6, their best record after 20 games since 1975.
New York was outscored 15-2 in the two-game series and has lost three in a row following a five-game winning streak.
In other games, it was:
• Pirates 3, Marlins 2
• Astros 11, Padres 7
• Diamondbacks 5, Giants 4
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