Boggs, Yankees Prevail

Wade Boggs 2, Steve Avery 0.

The two players reprised their World Series showdown Tuesday night and Boggs won again, doubling to start a five-run sixth inning as the New York Yankees rallied to beat the Red Sox, 8-6, at Boston.

“It sort of started feeling like deja vu,” said Boggs, who drew a 10th-inning walk from Avery to force in the winning run in Game 4 of the 1996 Series.

In his first relief appearance since then, the former Atlanta Brave failed to get an out. Boggs went three for four with an RBI and two runs to help the Yankees rally from a 6-2 deficit.

“It’s just something new. I’m not a reliever,” said Avery, who was demoted one start short of activating a contract option that would have paid him $3.9 million next season. “If I’m going to be out there, I’ve got to get used to it.”

Willie Banks (1-0) struck out two, allowing one hit in 2 1/3 innings, and Mariano Rivera pitched the ninth for his 41st save. Derek Lowe (2-5) took the loss, relieving Avery and giving up three hits in four batters.

Red Sox rookie Nomar Garciaparra set a major league record for RBIs by a leadoff hitter with a two-run single in the fourth inning. That gave Garciaparra 87 RBIs, topping the 85 by Detroit’s Harvey Kuenn in 1956.

The game started with two former Cy Young Award winners--Boston’s Bret Saberhagen, who won the AL honor in 1985 and ’89 with the Kansas City Royals, and New York’s Dwight Gooden, who won the NL prize with the New York Mets in ’85. But they were both gone by the time the game was decided.

Detroit 4, Texas 0--Scott Sanders pitched a one-hitter at Detroit, allowing only a fifth-inning single to Domingo Cedeno, en route to his first career shutout.

Sanders (5-12), was just 1-6 with a 6.04 earned-run average in his 10 previous starts with the Tigers before striking out a season-high eight batters. He walked one.

Sanders retired the first 14 batters before Cedeno singled cleanly to left-center field with two outs in the fifth. Sanders set down the next 12 hitters before walking Tom Goodwin with two outs in the ninth.

“Today was the first time I felt like I was really in command,” said Sanders, who faced only 29 batters. “I just felt like I could make any pitch at any time today.

“My teammates played great behind me. It seemed like everything that was hit today was right at somebody. You have to have that in that type of game.”

Rookie Juan Encarnacion hit a two-run triple for the Tigers, who swept the two-game series and won for the ninth time in 12 games. The Rangers have lost five in a row, scoring only four runs in that span.

Baltimore 9, Cleveland 3--Geronimo Berroa led off a six-run sixth at Cleveland with his 25th homer, helping to snap the Indians’ five-game winning streak in the contest called after eight innings because of rain.

Roberto Alomar was three for three in his consecutive start before leaving in the fifth. The Orioles are trying to ease their All-Star second baseman back in to the lineup after he missed more than a month because of a strained groin. Aaron Ledesma then went two for two after replacing Alomar, making the No. 2 spot in the order five for five.

The East and Central division leaders played eight innings through light, steady rain before the skies above Jacobs Field unleashed a furious downpour before the ninth began.

In a sequence of events straight out of the movie “Major League,” the soggy tarp got stuck just before it reached home plate as fans chanted “Pull! Pull!” The field was finally covered about 15 minutes into the 41-minute delay.

Chicago 4, Milwaukee 1--Scott Eyre, one of several young pitchers trying to earn a job for the new-look White Sox next season, allowed four hits in 6 1/3 innings at Chicago.

Eyre (3-3) walked two and struck out six in his longest stint since being called up from double-A Birmingham on July 31. The 25-year-old left-hander moved right into the rotation because the White Sox traded top pitchers Wilson Alvarez, Roberto Hernandez and Danny Darwin to San Francisco in a salary-cutting move the same day.

Dave Martinez and Mike Cameron homered for the White Sox, who snapped a six-game losing streak.

Oakland 5, Minnesota 1--Jimmy Haynes struck out a season-high nine and Dave Magadan and Ben Grieve each had a pair of RBI singles for the A’s at Minneapolis.

Haynes (3-3) allowed one run, four hits and two walks in eight innings and beat the Twins for the first time in four career starts. He was 0-3 against Minnesota with a 10.69 ERA while pitching for Baltimore in 1996.

Only 9,705 tickets were sold, the second smallest Metrodome crowd this season. The smallest was the night before, when 9,363 were sold for the opener of the series.

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BESTS OF THE DAY

BATTING

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Player Team Performance Team’s Result Wade Boggs New York 3 for 4, 2 runs, 1 RBI Win Roberto Alomar Baltimore 3 for 3 Win Rey Sanchez New York 3 for 4, double, 2 RBIs, 1 run Win

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PITCHING

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Player Team Performance Team’s Result Chris Carpenter Toronto 9 innings, 3 hits, 0 runs, 28 batters faced Win Scott Sanders Detroit 9 innings, 1 hit, 0 runs, 8 strikeouts, 1 walk Win Jimmy Haynes Oakland 8 innings, 4 hits, 1 run, season-high 9 strikeouts Win

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