Associated Press
BALTIMORE ó The Boston Red Sox found another way to lose, this time on a broken-bat single and an inside-the-park homer, and their 6-3 defeat against the Baltimore Orioles on Monday night dropped them into a tie in the AL wild-card race.
Boston’s 17th loss in 22 games enabled Tampa Bay to finally pull even in the duel for the league’s final playoff spot. The Rays trailed by nine games after play on Sept. 3.
With the score 2-all in the sixth inning, Boston starter Josh Beckett (13-7) allowed four runs in an uprising that began with Vladimir Guerrero becoming the career hits leader among Dominican-born players.
Rays 5, Yankees 2
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. ó All-Star James Shields came within one out of his 12th complete game and Kelly Shoppach homered to help the Tampa Bay Rays keep the pressure on Boston in the AL wild-card race with a 5-2 victory over the New York Yankees.
B.J. Upton drove in two runs with a third-inning double off Hector Noesi. Shoppach homered for the second straight day for the Rays, who’ve won three straight and are 15-8 since Sept. 2, when they trailed the Red Sox by nine games. Johnny Damon’s third-inning RBI single moved him into a tie with Lou Gehrig for 57th on the career hits list with 2,721.
Tigers 14, Indians 0
DETROIT ó Doug Fister pitched eight strong innings and Alex Avila drove in three runs to help the Detroit Tigers beat the Cleveland Indians 14-0.
Justin Verlander and Fister, who are scheduled to start the first two games of Detroit’s first-round playoff series, are now a combined 14-0 with a 1.61 ERA in 16 appearances since August 16.
Fister, who allowed three singles while striking out nine, has been even better than the Cy Young favorite in the stretch, going 7-0 with a 0.65 ERA in his last eight outings. Fister (11-13), who was picked up in a six-player deal with Seattle on July 30, has now gone 20 innings without walking a batter.
Ubaldo Jimenez (4-4), another pitcher the Tigers looked at before acquiring Fister, gave up six runs on nine hits and three walks in five innings.
Royals 7, Twins 3
MINNEAPOLIS ó Melky Cabrera became the first Kansas City player in 11 years to get 200 hits and Mike Moustakas hit the go-ahead home run in a four-run sixth inning as the Royals topped the Minnesota Twins 7-3.
Cabrerabecame the sixth player in Kansas City history to eclipse 200 hits and the first since Johnny Damon and Mike Sweeney both did it in 2000.
White Sox 4, Blue Jays 3
CHICAGO ó White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen has been released from his contract to pursue other opportunities.
The team announced the move following its 4-3 victory.
Guillen met with owner Jerry Reinsdorf for about 30 minutes earlier in the day.