BOSTON (AP) -Alex Rodriguez hit two more homers, but Coco Crisp tied the game with a two-run triple and then scored on Alex Cora’s blooper during a five-run eighth inning to help the Boston Red Sox come back for a 7-6 victory over the New York Yankees on Friday night.
Crisp was already in the highlights after toppling into the Boston bullpen in pursuit of Rodriguez’s second homer of the game, a three-run shot in the fifth that gave the Yankees a 5-2 lead. Rodriguez went 3-for-4 and joined Mike Schmidt, who hit 12 homers in the first 15 games of the 1976 season, as the fastest to reach a dozen in baseball history.
Kyle Snyder (1-0) allowed one walk and struck out one while getting two outs in the eighth. With closer Jonathan Papelbon unavailable after pitching in each of the previous two games, Hideki Okajima pitched the ninth for his first major league save.
Okajima retired Derek Jeter on a groundout and walked Bobby Abreu before Rodriguez lined out to second base. Kevin Thompson struck out to end the game.
Mariano Rivera (1-2) allowed two runs on three hits, striking out one in 2-3 of an inning.
Indians 4, Devil Rays 3
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) – Travis Hafner hit a two-run homer and drove in the go-ahead run on a ninth-inning single to help Cleveland beat Tampa Bay.
Andy Marte doubled and Grady Sizemore walked to open the ninth off Juan Salas (0-1). Al Reyes replaced Salas and struck out David Dellucci before Hafner singled to center.
Hafner went 3-for-3 with two walks. He has 11 hits in his last 15 at-bats.
Roberto Hernandez (1-1) threw a perfect eighth. Joe Borowski pitched the ninth for his sixth save in six chances.
Tampa Bay got a home run from B.J. Upton.
C.C. Sabathia was bidding to become the first Cleveland pitcher to win his first four starts of a season since Chad Ogea in 1995. He gave up three runs and seven hits in seven innings. The left-hander struck out eight and walked one.
Orioles 5, Blue Jays 4
BALTIMORE (AP) – Nick Markakis singled in the winning run in the ninth inning to cap Baltimore’s rally against Toronto.
The Orioles trailed 4-2 in the eighth but came back against Toronto’s beleaguered bullpen, which is without injured closer B.J. Ryan.
Corey Patterson led off the ninth with a single off Victor Zambrano (0-1). After a sacrifice bunt by Paul Bako, Brian Roberts was intentionally walked. Melvin Mora then drew a walk to load the bases for Markakis, who grounded a single to right-center against the drawn-up infield.
Chris Ray (2-1) got the win despite allowing two hits in the ninth.
Mora hit a two-run homer and Markakis had three singles for the Orioles.
Toronto starter A.J. Burnett gave up two runs and three hits in seven innings.
White Sox 5, Tigers 4
DETROIT (AP) – Darin Erstad’s tiebreaking single in the seventh inning lifted Chicago over Detroit.
Juan Uribe and Tadahito Iguchi homered for Chicago and helped Nick Masset (1-0) earn his first major league victory. Masset allowed one hit in 1 1-3 innings.
David Aardsma, Matt Thornton, and Mike MacDougal combined to retire six in a row in the seventh and eighth innings, and Bobby Jenks pitched the ninth for his fifth save in six opportunities. He gave up a double to Placido Polanco with two outs, who advanced to third on a wild pitch. Jenks struck out Gary Sheffield to end the game.
With the game tied at 4, Rob Mackowiak led off the seventh with a single and was sacrificed to second. Erstad followed with a single to center off Jason Grilli (0-1).
White Sox starter John Danks gave up four runs and six hits in 4 2-3 innings. He walked three and struck out four.
Tigers starter Chad Durbin lasted five-plus innings, allowing four runs and six hits.
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