Red Sox beat Yankees in nailbiter
Mike Napoli homer puts Boston ahead of New York, as the struggling Red Sox get just third win in last nine games.
Mike Napoli hit a solo homerun with two outs in the ninth inning to give the Boston Red Sox a 2-1 win over their biggest rivals, the New York Yankees.
Napoli struck out in his previous two at-bats before smacking an opposite-field drive off Yankees pitcher Masahiro Tanaka on Saturday.
The victory was one of only three in the last nine games for the struggling Red Sox, who sit at 37-44 halfway through the season. It is the first time since 1997 that Boston has been under .500 at the midway mark.
Jon Lester (9-7) held the Yankees hitless until the sixth inning, while Tanaka (11-3), the American League’s ERA leader, gave up seven hits in a complete game, striking out eight and walking one.
Elsewhere in AL action, the Oakland Athletics got a go-ahead run off a Josh Donaldson two-out single to beat the Miami Marlins 7-6, while Toronto fell 4-3 to the Chicago White Sox, who had lost 11 of their last 14 games.
The Rays beat the Orioles 5-4, and in another close game, a ninth-inning, three-run homer put the Detroit Tigers ahead of the Houston Astros, 4-3.
In National League play, the Los Angeles Dodgers dominated the St. Louis Cardinals, 9-1, while Arizona came out ahead, 3-1, over the San Diego Padres. Cincinnati beat San Fracisco 7-3.
The Washington Nationals swept two games against the Cubs, 3-0 and 7-2, respectively, while in the day’s other doubleheader, the Atlanta Braves beat the Philadelphia Phillies 10-3 and 5-1.