SPORTS> North America
|
SPORTS> North America
|
|
Related
Rays within sight of first divisional title
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-09-25 14:12 BALTIMORE, Maryland: The Tampa Bay Rays moved to within sight of their first American League East title by winning both games of a doubleheader against the Baltimore Orioles 5-2 and 7-5 on Tuesday.
With the regular season in the final week, Tampa Bay (95-62) moved three games ahead of the Boston Red Sox, who beat the Cleveland Indians 5-4 to clinch at least the AL wild card, with the victories. The double-header victory on Tuesday reduced Tampa Bay's "magic number" to two, meaning any combination of Rays' victories and Red Sox losses equalling two, would clinch the AL East title. Both teams have five games remaining before the regular season ends on Sunday. Tampa Bay play Baltimore on Wednesday before beginning a four-game series at Detroit, while the Red Sox finish their series against the Indians on Thursday before hosting the New York Yankees for their final three games of the season. The Rays had the worst record in the major leagues (66-96) last season and had never previously qualified for the playoffs since their formation 11 years ago. The Rays recovered from a 2-0 deficit with two runs in the fifth and one each in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings to complement seven strong innings by pitcher James Shields (14-8) in the first game of the double header. Tampa Bay were also down in the second game, 5-1, before Evan Longoria homered and pinch-hitter Dioner Navarro drove in two runs in a six-run eighth inning rally to complete the win. "That was quite a comeback right there," Rays manager Joe Maddon said after the second game. "The whole team contributed." Yankees 3, Blue Jays 1 In Toronto, New York will miss the postseason for the first time since starting its run in 1995. Mike Mussina pitched five shutout innings to earn his 19th win and Jason Giambi homered for the Yankees against Toronto, but it wasn't enough to keep New York's slim postseason hopes alive as Boston beat Cleveland minutes before the Yankees won. The Red Sox win clinched at least the AL wild-card and eliminated the Yankees from postseason contention. Mussina (19-9) will try for a career-high 20th victory on Sunday at Boston. With his 269th career victory, Mussina moved past Jim Palmer into 33rd place on Major League Baseball's career list. Royals 5, Tigers 0 In Detroit, Zack Greinke and Leo Nunez combined on a four-hitter to lift Kansas City. Mike Aviles, Ryan Shealy and Alex Gordon homered for Kansas City, which has won 10 of its last 12. Greinke (13-10) allowed four hits in seven innings, walking two and striking out four. Nunez retired six straight in the eighth and ninth. Detroit has lost 11 of 12 and was shut out for the 13th time this season. Freddy Garcia (1-1) gave up five runs and seven hits in five innings. Mets 6 Cubs 2 In New York, Johan Santana sparked New York with an unusual broken-bat infield single and struck out 10 in eight innings to lead the Mets over the Chicago Cubs in the National League on Tuesday. With one out in the fifth, Sean Marshall hit Nick Evans and Santana followed with a broken-bat grounder up the middle. Marshall eluded a piece of Santana's bat but the ball got past him and kicked off the broken wood, bouncing off the glove of shortstop Ronny Cedeno. After an out and a walk, David Wright lined a tying two-run single to left. New York added four runs in the sixth off reliever Chad Gaudin (4-2). Jose Reyes had a three-run triple for his 200th hit of the season and Wright drove in two runs for the Mets. Braves 3, Phillies 2 In Philadelphia, Casey Kotchman homered and Mike Hampton won for the first time in a month for Atlanta. Philadelphia leads New York by 1 1/2 games in the NL East. The Phillies twice had serious shots at big innings against the oft-injured Hampton (3-3), who won for the first time since Aug 16. They left the bases loaded in the third and ran themselves out of a rally in the sixth to lose for only the second time in 12 games. Nationals 9, Marlins 4 In Washington, Florida's playoff hopes officially ended at the hands of a team simply trying to avoid 100 losses. Alberto Gonzalez went 4-for-5 with two doubles and two RBIs, and Shairon Martis got his first major league win as Washington broke a five-game losing streak. The Marlins' fourth straight loss, coupled with New York's victory over Chicago, mathematically eliminated Florida from the wild-card race. Washington's loss tally remained at 98. The Nationals need to go 4-1 the rest of the way to avoid the franchise's first 100-loss season since 1976. |
