Baseball-Highlights of Friday's MLB games

Sept 9 (The Sports Xchange) - Highlights from Major League Baseball games on Friday: Red Sox 13, Blue jays 3 Rick Porcello pitched seven strong innings to become the first 20-game winner in the majors, Xander Bogaerts and Hanley Ramirez homered and the Boston Red Sox defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 13-3 Friday night. The Red Sox (79-61) extended their lead in the American League East to two games over the Blue Jays (77-63), who played sloppy defense that included two errors in losing their fourth game in a row. Porcello (20-3) allowed six hits, one walk and two runs. He struck out seven in winning his sixth straight decision. Tigers 4, Orioles 3 Victor Martinez drilled a go-ahead solo homer in the eighth, lifting Detroit past Baltimore at Comerica Park. Martinez led off the inning against reliever Brad Brach (8-3) with his blast to right-center as the Tigers tied the Orioles for the second wild-card spot in the American League. J.D. Martinez reached base four times and drove in two runs and Erick Aybar added an RBI double for Detroit. Yankees 7, Rays 5 Mark Teixeira hit a grand slam with two outs in the fourth inning and New York withstood three rain delays to run their winning streak to six games with a victory over Tampa Bay. The Yankees matched their season high with their second six-game winning streak in a game that featured delays totaling a combined 94 minutes. New York also won six straight May 18-24 and remained two games back in the wild-card race and four behind in the AL East. Marlins 4, Dodgers 1 Jose Fernandez tied a career high with 14 strikeouts, improved to 28-2 at home and outpitched Clayton Kershaw as Miami defeated Los Angeles at Marlins Park. This was Kershaw's first appearance since he injured his back on June 26, and he was clearly off his game, negating what could have been a great pitching matchup. Reds 4, Pirates 3 Jose Peraza delivered a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the ninth inning to lift Cincinnati to a victory over Pittsburgh at PNC Park. An inning after allowing a one-run lead to slip away, the Reds regained it by playing small ball in the ninth. Eugenio Suarez began the inning with a single to left off closer Tony Watson (2-5) before Ramon Cabrera bunted him to second. Cardinals 4, Brewers 3 Even though Carlos Martinez was far from dominant, he was good enough to deliver a 4-3 win for St. Louis over Milwaukee, thanks to two-run homers from Matt Carpenter and Stephen Piscotty. Martinez (14-7) allowed nine hits, walked one and hit two batters over seven innings, not recording a 1-2-3 inning until the seventh. He had only one strikeout and needed 102 pitches to get through the seventh. Nationals 5, Phillies 4 Trea Turner smashed a solo homer to center with two outs in the ninth off Frank Hermann as Washington beat Philadelphia. The winning pitcher was Mark Melancon (2-1), who tossed a scoreless ninth, while Hermann (0-2) was tagged with the loss. It was the second homer of the game for Turner, who has eight homers. It was the first walk-off homer of his career. Cubs 2, Astros 0 Jon Lester continued his exceptional second-half pitching while Kris Bryant supplied the offense in Chicago's victory over Houston at Minute Maid Park. The Cubs improved to 14-4 in interleague games this season behind Lester (16-4), who allowed seven hits while posting seven strikeouts over seven innings. Lester improved to 7-0 with a 1.65 ERA over 10 starts since the All-Star break and has allowed seven runs over his last eight starts covering 53 2/3 innings. Mets 6, Braves 4 New York scored four times in the eighth inning for a victory over Atlanta after Curtis Granderson's two-run homer in the sixth had snapped Julio Teheran's 29 2/3-innings scoreless streak against them. It was the sixth straight victory and 15th in 19 games for the Mets, who have taken hold of a wild-card spot in the National League. White Sox 7, Royals 2 Melky Cabrera and Tyler Saladino each drove in a pair of runs and Carlos Rodon allowed only one earned run and struck out a season-high nine batters as Chicago beat Kansas City at U.S. Cellular Field. Rodon (7-8) worked six innings and scattered six hits to pace the White Sox, who won their third straight game and for the fifth time in their last seven games. The Royals, who are in the hunt for the American League's second wild-card spot, lost for the sixth time in their last nine games. Indians 5, Twins 4 Mike Napoli's mammoth home run to lead off the fifth inning capped off an early see-saw battle and proved to be the difference in Cleveland's victory over Minnesota at Target Field. The Central Division leading Indians dropped eight of their first 12 meetings with the last-place Twins but won the last five encounters. Cleveland maintains its six-game cushion over second-place Detroit, which beat Baltimore 4-1 on Friday. Mariners 3, Athletics 2 Right-hander Hisashi Iwakuma pitched 6 2/3 strong innings for his career-high-tying 15th victory, and Norichika Aoki and Mike Zunino hit solo home runs as Seattle defeated Oakland at the Oakland Coliseum. The Mariners won their third straight game and moved to within 3 1/2 of Detroit and Baltimore for the second wild-card playoff spot in the American League. Rockies 4, Padres 1 Colorado starter Tyler Chatwood almost single-handedly beat San Diego at Petco Park. Chatwood the pitcher held the Padres one run on five hits and three walks with five strikeouts over 6 2/3 innings. Chatwood the hitter went 2-for-3 with a two-run triple and scored ahead of Charlie Blackmon on the center fielder's third-inning, two-run homer off Padres starter and loser (7-9) Luis Perdomo as the Rockies defeated the Padres. Rangers 2, Angels 1 Adrian Beltre's one-out homer in the eighth inning snapped a 1-1 tie and lifted Texas to a win over Los Angeles at Angel Stadium. The win for the Rangers, coupled with Houston's loss, increased their American League West lead to 9 1/2 games and reduced their magic number to clinch the division to 12. Giants 7, Diamondbacks 6 (12 innings) Pinch hitter Kelby Tomlinson singled in the winning run with one out in the top of the 12th inning and right-hander Cody Gearrin got a save and played left field in the last of the 12th in San Francisco's victory over Arizona at Chase Field. Brandon Belt walked off Dominic Leone (0-1) to open the 12th before Joe Panik singled. Eduardo Nunez popped out to bring up Tomlinson.