Baseball-Highlights of Thursday's Major League games

Sept 5 (The Sports Xchange) - Highlights of Thursday's Major League Baseball games. - - - - Red Sox 9, Yankees 8 (10 innings) Shane Victorino's RBI single in the top of the 10th inning lifted the Boston Red Sox to a 9-8 victory over the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium. The Red Sox won for the 12th time in 16 games on a night when they blew a five-run lead in the seventh, then rallied to tie the game in the ninth against Mariano Rivera. In the 10th, Jacoby Ellsbury singled to right field, stole second and scored on Victorino's one-out single. Victorino appeared to strike out on the previous pitch, but first base umpire Joe West ruled that he held up a swing on a 2-2 slider from Joba Chamberlain (2-1) much to the dismay of Yankees manager Joe Girardi. On the next pitch, Victorino slapped a fastball into right field, and Ellsbury just beat the throw from Ichiro Suzuki. - - - - Orioles 3, White Sox 1 Starting pitcher Miguel Gonzalez broke a career-high, four-game losing streak, and three team mates hit solo homers to left field as the Baltimore Orioles beat the Chicago White Sox 3-1. Adam Jones, J.J. Hardy and Brian Roberts went deep for the Orioles (74-65), who returned home after a 3-6 road trip. The White Sox (56-83) lost their seventh game in a row. They managed just four hits and one run in seven innings against Gonzalez (9-7), who allowed seven runs in his previous start. - - - - Reds 6, Cardinals 2 Todd Frazier hit two home runs, and Shin-Soo Choo and Jay Bruce each hit solo homers, lifting the Cincinnati Reds to a 6-2 victory over the St Louis Cardinals. Frazier finished 3-for-4, Bruce went 2-for-4 with two RBIs, and Choo went 2-for-3 with two walks and two runs for Cincinnati. The Reds (79-62) moved within three games of the idle first-place Pittsburgh Pirates in the NL Central. St Louis (80-60) trails the Pirates by 1 1/2 games. - - - - Royals 7, Mariners 6 (13 innings) Billy Butler went 5-for-5 and Mike Moustakas hit a walk-off home run in the 13th inning as the Kansas City Royals beat the Seattle Mariners 7-6. Moustakas drove an 0-2 pitch out from Chance Ruffin, the sixth Mariners pitcher. Raul Ibanez, who played three seasons for the Royals, hit a pinch-hit home run with two out in the ninth off Greg Holland to tie the score at 6-6. - - - - Astros 3, A's 2 Rookie right-hander Brad Peacock pitched seven strong innings, and the last-place Houston Astros knocked the Oakland Athletics out of first place in the American League West with a 3-2 victory. The A's pulled even with Texas on Wednesday with an 11-4 rout of the Rangers, but they now trail in the race by a half-game. Peacock was in the A's organisation until Feb. 4, when Oakland sent him to Houston, along with first baseman Chris Carter and catcher Max Stassi, for shortstop Jed Lowrie and pitcher Fernando Rodriguez. Peacock allowed two runs on five hits over seven innings, matching his career high. - - - - Angels 6, Rays 2 Jerome Williams gave up two runs and six hits in six and a third innings to lead the Los Angeles Angels to a 6-2 win over the Tampa Bay Rays at Angel Stadium. Williams had been winless in his previous 14 starts, going 0-8 with six no-decisions and a 6.29 ERA before finally coming out on top for the first time since a win over Baltimore on June 12. He matched a season high with seven strikeouts, walked two and gave up only a two-run double to James Loney in the third inning. He got support from the Angels offense, which included a hit from everybody in the starting lineup. The Rays missed a chance to increase their lead in the race for the second wild-card spot, still leading the Yankees by 2 1/2 games, while Baltimore and Cleveland are both three back. - - - - Diamondbacks 4, Giants 2 Paul Goldschmidt and Martin Prado drove in three runs with back-to-back doubles in a four-run fifth inning as the Arizona Diamondbacks rallied following the ejection of manager Kirk Gibson for a 4-2 victory over the San Francisco Giants. The win allowed Arizona to stay within 7 1/2 games of the Cincinnati Reds, who also won Thursday, in the race for the second wild-card playoff spot in the National League. Trevor Cahill (6-10) ran his post-All-Star Game record to 3-0 despite giving up six hits and four walks in five innings. Cahill managed to hold the Giants to two runs over that stretch, with the second of those runs leading to the ejection of Gibson after a controversial safe call at home plate. (Editing by John O'Brien)