Baseball-Highlights of Tuesday's Major League Baseball games

Sept 3 (Sports Xchange) - Highlights of Tuesday's Major League Baseball games: - - - - Red Sox 2, Tigers 1 With Max Scherzer making his second attempt at improving to 20-1, Boston's Jon Lester pitched seven strong innings and Will Middlebrooks drilled a two-run single in the sixth to lead Boston to a victory. Roger Clemens went 20-1 to start the 2001 season and Scherzer was vying to become the second ever Major League pitcher to join him but fell to 19-2 instead. The Red Sox won for the eighth time in the last 10 games and maintained the best overall record in the American League by 1 1/2 games over the Tigers. - - - - Reds 1, Cardinals 0 Homer Bailey pitched seven scoreless innings, and Billy Hamilton stole his first career base and scored the go-ahead run in his much-anticipated major league debut, lifting the Cincinnati Reds to a victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. With the game still scoreless in the seventh, Hamilton, the club's top-ranked prospect who stole 75 bases this season to lead all Triple-A players, entered the game as a pinch runner to a standing ovation. He promptly stole second and scored on Todd Frazier's double. Bailey (10-10) allowed just two hits and struck out eight as the Cardinals fell two games out of first in the National League Central. The Reds trail by 3 1/2 games. - - - - Pirates 4, Brewers 3 Travis Snider led off the ninth inning with a pinch-hit solo home run to help the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Brewers. Tied 2-2 in the top of the eighth, Marlon Byrd doubled to give the Pirates a 3-2 lead but Milwaukee tied it again in the ninth. The victory was the 81st of the season for the first-place Pirates, who have not finished .500 or better since going 96-66 in 1992. - - - - Indians 4, Orioles 3 Ubaldo Jimenez pitched six strong innings, and the Cleveland Indians survived a near ninth-inning meltdown by closer Chris Perez to beat the Baltimore Orioles. Perez, convicted earlier in the day on a misdemeanor drug charge, entered the game to start the ninth inning in a non-save situation with the Indians leading 4-0. He allowed a three-run homer to Nate McLouth before recovering to finish off the game. - - - - Braves 3, Mets 1 Evan Gattis went 3-for-3 and hit a game-tying solo home run in the seventh inning to spark a three-run outburst and help the Braves beat the New York Mets. Atlanta starter Kris Medlen (12-12) allowed only one run in seven innings and the Braves trimmed their magic number in the NL East to 10 games. - - - - Yankees 6, White Sox 4 Eduardo Nunez's two-out, two-run double in the bottom of the eighth inning lifted the New York Yankees to a victory over the Chicago White Sox. The Yankees entered the eighth with a 4-1 deficit. They knocked out starter Chris Sale on Robinson Cano's double, and they made it a one-run game on Alfonso Soriano's two-run single. Curtis Granderson had the game-tying single. - - - - Nationals 9, Phillies 6 Wilson Ramos homered and drove in four runs as the Washington Nationals held off the Philadelphia Phillies. Adam LaRoche and Denard Span reached base four times and rookie Corey Brown hit a pinch-homer for Washington. Span went 3-for-6, extending his career-best hitting streak to 16 games. - - - - Royals 4, Mariners 3 Salvador Perez went 3-for-4 with a home run and drove home the winning run with a two-out single in the eighth inning as the Kansas City Royals defeated the Seattle Mariners. Perez drilled a 2-2 Yoervis Medina pitch to left field to score Mike Moustakas, who had doubled to center, for the go-ahead run. - - - - Marlins 6, Cubs 2 Christian Yelich went 3-for-5, drove in two runs and scored what proved to be the game-winner in the fifth inning as the Miami Marlins beat the Chicago Cubs. The victory was the Marlins' third straight. The Cubs dropped their second in a row. (Editing by Jahmal Corner)