Associated Press Associated Press ADVERTISING OAKLAND, Calif. — Seth Smith hit a tying homer in the ninth inning, Coco Crisp singled home the winning run in the 12th and the surging Oakland Athletics rallied from four runs down to stun
Associated Press
OAKLAND, Calif. — Seth Smith hit a tying homer in the ninth inning, Coco Crisp singled home the winning run in the 12th and the surging Oakland Athletics rallied from four runs down to stun the New York Yankees 5-4 on Sunday and complete a four-game sweep.
Smith homered to center with one out in the ninth off closer Rafael Soriano to help the A’s sweep the Yankees in a four-game series at the Oakland Coliseum for the first time. The Athletics improved to 14-2 in July, the best record in the majors.
The AL East-leading Yankees had not been swept in a four-game series since May 2003 against Toronto.
Derek Norris started the final rally with a one-out single off Derek Jeter’s glove at shortstop. Jemile Weeks followed with a sacrifice bunt, setting the stage for Oakland’s major league-leading 11th walk-off win.
Crisp’s humpback liner to right off Cody Eppley (0-2) gave the A’s their fifth straight victory.
Jerry Blevins (3-0) pitched two scoreless innings for the win. Brandon Inge and Kurt Suzuki hit solo homers off Yankees ace CC Sabathia, who allowed three runs in seven innings to outlast former teammate Bartolo Colon.
TIGERS 6, WHITE SOX 4
DETROIT — Miguel Cabrera homered twice, reaching 300 for his career and helping the Tigers finish a three-game sweep of Chicago.
Detroit wrapped up a 6-1 homestand against the White Sox and Los Angeles Angels and now leads the AL Central by 1½ games over Chicago. The White Sox have lost five straight.
Cabrera became the second Venezuela-born player to reach 300 home runs. Andres Galarraga hit 399.
The Tigers have won 16 of 21.
ORIOLES 4, INDIANS 3
CLEVELAND — Zach Britton pitched six shutout innings, J.J. Hardy drove in three runs and Baltimore beat Cleveland for its fifth straight win.
Hardy hit a two-run homer in the first off Josh Tomlin (5-7) and an RBI single in the seventh against reliever Esmil Rogers. Wilson Betemit also homered for Baltimore.
BLUE JAYS 15, RED SOX 7
BOSTON — Brett Lawrie hit the game’s first pitch for one of Toronto’s four homers and the Blue Jays tagged Jon Lester for a career-worst 11 runs to complete a three-game sweep of Boston.
Toronto (48-47) posted a season high for runs and climbed out of the AL East cellar, moving a half-game ahead of the Red Sox (48-48). The Blue Jays matched their season high with 18 hits.
MARINERS 2, RAYS 1
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Blake Beavan scattered four hits over eight innings and Seattle edged Tampa Bay to finish a 5-2 road trip.
Pinch-hitter Hideki Matsui, mired in an 0-for-16 skid, popped out with two on to end it.
TWINS 7, ROYALS 5
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Ryan Doumit homered from both sides of the plate and drove in four runs to lead Minnesota over Kansas City.
Doumit became the third Twins player to go deep from each side in a game. The others were Chili Davis (1992) and Roy Smalley (1986).
Hitting .354 in his past 26 games, Doumit also had a two-run single in a four-run third to match his career high for RBIs. It was his sixth career multihomer game, the second this season.
NATS 9, BRAVES 2
WASHINGTON — Ryan Zimmerman homered twice and drove in three runs, and Danny Espinosa and Roger Bernadina each had three hits and two RBIs as the Washington Nationals beat the Atlanta Braves 9-2 to split a four-game series between the top two teams in the NL East.
After Washington blew a 9-0 lead Friday night in an 11-10 loss, the teams split a Saturday doubleheader. The Nationals lead the division by 3 1/2 games — as they did when the series began.
Zimmerman’s two-run homer and Danny Espinosa’s double keyed a four-run first off Atlanta starter Jair Jurrjens (3-4). Michael Morse had three hits and scored three runs for the Nationals, who had 18 hits.
CARDINALS 7, CUBS 0
ST. LOUIS — Lance Lynn won his 12th game with six mostly spotless innings, and Matt Holliday and Carlos Beltran homered on consecutive pitches to put the finishing touches on the St. Louis Cardinals’ victory that completed a three-game sweep of the Chicago Cubs.
Jon Jay and Tony Cruz hit consecutive two-run doubles off Travis Wood (4-5) in the first for St. Louis, which outscored the Cubs 23-1 and outhit them 38-16 for their sweep over Chicago since June 3-5, 2011 in St. Louis.
PIRATES 3, MARLINS 0
PITTSBURGH — Jeff Karstens pitched seven crisp innings, Pedro Alvarez homered and the surging Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Miami Marlins for their fifth consecutive win.
Pittsburgh completed its fourth sweep of the season — all at home — while matching its longest winning streak since Sept. 17-22, 2010. The Pirates (54-40) remained a half-game behind NL Central-leading Cincinnati.
Anibal Sanchez (5-7) took the loss for Miami, which has dropped five straight, scoring a total of seven runs during the slide.
Alvarez’s fourth homer in his last six games and No. 21 for the season came after Casey McGehee led off the seventh with a double, making it 3-0.
Karstens (3-2) allowed five hits, struck out three and walked two. Joel Hanrahan earned his 28th save.
DODGERS 8, METS 3 (12)
NEW YORK — Pinch-hitter Matt Treanor had a two-run single in a five-run 12th and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the fading New York Mets to finish a three-game sweep.
The Dodgers blew a 3-1 lead after the sixth, but still won their fourth straight after losing seven of eight and dropping out of first place in the NL West.
Josh Wall (1-0) made his major league debut in the 11th, giving up a single to David Wright before he was caught trying to steal second base. Ramon Ramirez (2-2) took the loss for New York, which has dropped nine of 10 to fall under .500 (47-48) for the first time this season.
REDS 2, BREWERS 1
CINCINNATI — Wilson Valdez drove in the tying run and scored the go-ahead run to back Johnny Cueto’s seven solid innings as the Cincinnati Reds wrapped up one of the best homestands in franchise history with a win over the Milwaukee Brewers.
Cueto (12-5) matched his single-season career high in wins to lead the Reds to their eighth victory on the 10-game homestand. It’s only the fifth time in franchise history that Cincinnati posted at least eight wins on a home stand of 10 or fewer games. The last time was in 1975, when the Reds went 8-1 on a homestand.
The Reds, who lead the Pirates by a half-game, are 5-2 since learning that All-Star first baseman Joey Votto needed arthroscopic surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee.
Cueto (12-5) overcame a 30-pitch first inning, which ended with Milwaukee leaving the bases loaded.
Mike Fiers (3-4) lasted six innings in the loss.
PHILS 4, GIANTS 3 (12)
PHILADELPHIA — Jimmy Rollins hit an RBI single to lift the Philadelphia Phillies past the San Francisco Giants in 12 innings.
John Mayberry Jr. hit two solo homers for the last-place Phillies, and Nate Schierholtz hit a pair of solo shots for the NL West-leading Giants.
The Phillies snapped a seven-game home losing streak and avoided their first sweep against the Giants since 2004.
Brad Penny (0-1) walked Carlos Ruiz with one out in the 12th. Laynce Nix followed with a single to right to move Ruiz to third. Rollins then lined the first pitch to right to end it. Kyle Kendrick (4-8) tossed 2 1/3 innings to earn the win and extended his career-best scoreless streak to 18 2-3 innings.
D-BACKS 8, ASTROS 2
PHOENIX — Jason Kubel homered for the sixth time in five games, Chris Young added a three-run shot and the Arizona Diamondbacks beat Houston to complete a high-scoring, three-game sweep of the staggering Astros.
Kubel, coming off a three-homer game Saturday night, led off the second inning with his 21st of the season. Young’s homer highlighted a season-high seven-run sixth for the Diamondbacks, who outscored Houston 33-13 in the series.
PADRES 3, ROCKIES 2
SAN DIEGO — Will Venable drove in the go-ahead run in the seventh inning and Everth Cabrera had two hits and scored twice as the San Diego Padres beat the Colorado Rockies.
