New York: Mike Napoli stunned Masahiro Tanaka by hitting a solo home run with two outs in the ninth inning to lift the Boston Red Sox over the New York Yankees 2-1 on Saturday.
Napoli was struck out in his previous two at-bats before lining an opposite-field drive into the first row of the seats in right. Napoli, who also homered off Tanaka at Fenway Park in late April, raised his right arm as he rounded first base.
The Red Sox won for just the third time in nine games. The victory made the defending World Series champions 37-44 at the midpoint of the season — the first time since 1997 that Boston have been under .500 at the halfway mark.
Jon Lester (9-7) held the Yankees hitless until the sixth
Tanaka (11-3), the top winner in the majors and AL ERA leader, allowed seven hits in a complete game, striking out eight and walking one.
Josh Donaldson’s two-out RBI single scored the go-ahead run from second base in the 14th inning to lift the Oakland Athletics over the Miami Marlins 7-6.
For the second game in a row, the Athletics won despite squandering a 4-0 lead. They also overcame a blown save by Sean Doolittle, whose streak of 26 2-3 scoreless innings ended when Miami tied it in the ninth on Casey McGehee’s single.
At Los Angeles Zack Greinke became the third National League pitcher to reach double digits in victories as the Los Angeles Dodgers had four RBI doubles during a six-run second inning to trounce the St. Louis Cardinals 9-1.
Zack Cozart drove in two runs with a tiebreaking single as the surging Cincinnati Reds scored five times with two outs in the 11th inning to beat the San Francisco Giants 7-3.
White Sox slugger Dayan Viciedo hit a three-run homer and Chris Sale pitched seven innings as Chicago edged the Toronto Blue Jays 4-3.
The White Sox won back-to-back games for the first time since winning two straight over San Francisco on June 17 and 18. Chicago had dropped 11 of 14 before the consecutive victories.
The Rays beat the Baltimore Orioles 5-4 after Desmond Jennings opened the game with the first of Tampa Bay’s three home runs, while Ian Kinsler hit a three-run homer with two outs in the ninth inning to rally the Detroit Tigers past the Houston Astros 4-3.
The Washington Nationals swept a double header against the Chicago Cubs 3-0 and 7-2 after Adam LaRoche and Wilson Ramos homered, and Blake Treinen earned his first major league win.
In the day’s other double header, the Atlanta Braves beat the Philadelphia Phillies 10-3 and 5-1.
In other games, the Los Angeles Angels downed the Kansas City Royals 6-2, the New York Mets beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-3, the Milwaukee Brewers defeated the Colorado Rockies 7-4 and the Texas Rangers blanked the Milwaukee Twins 5-0.
The Cleveland Indians shut out the Seattle Mariners 5-0 and the Arizona Diamondbacks were 3-1 winners over the San Diego Padres.
