Red Sox Beat Yankees With 11-Run Inning

They broke loose for the biggest inning allowed by the New York Yankees in 55 years. They had Pedro Martinez pitching. And still, the Boston Red Sox almost blew it.

The Red Sox scored 11 runs in the third Sunday, then had to rely on a sensational stop by rookie second baseman Lou Merloni to defeat the Yankees, 13-7, at New York.

Down, 11-0, the Yankees cut the deficit to 11-7 in the seventh and loaded the bases, bringing the tying run to the plate with no outs against Dennis Eckersley.

“It seemed like a nice day was falling away, going to waste,” said Boston first baseman Mo Vaughn, who yelled at his teammates in the dugout after New York’s near miss.

After Scott Brosius struck out, pinch-hitter Jorge Posada hit a hard grounder up the middle that easily could have become a two-run single.

Instead, Merloni made a dive to his right to backhand the ball and flipped to shortstop Nomar Garciaparra to start a rally-killing double play.

“You could sense the momentum changing. Everybody could,” Merloni said. “We just had to calm it down.”

“If he doesn’t make that play,” Eckersley said, “it turns the game around.”

Instead, Boston got a two-run single by Darren Lewis in the ninth and salvaged a split of the four-game series, moving within 7 1/2 games of the AL East leaders. The Yankees went 4-3 against the Red Sox in a 10-day period, and they do not meet again until early September.

“It got a little exciting there,” Boston Manager Jimy Williams said.

Boston sent 16 batters to the plate in its 42-minute scoring frenzy, combining nine hits and three walks--plus three poor fielding decisions--against Andy Pettitte and Darren Holmes.

“That’s the frustrating part,” Pettitte said. “If I had just gone out there and thrown any kind of decent game, we get a win out of it.”

Garciaparra, back in the lineup after missing a day because of an ailing shoulder, and Jason Varitek each had a double and single in the majors’ biggest inning this season. Garciaparra had three RBIs, and every Red Sox hitter either scored a run or drove in one.

The 11 runs marked the most given up by the Yankees in an inning since July 2, 1943, when they allowed 12 in the fourth at Cleveland. It was the highest-scoring inning for the Red Sox since they got 12 runs in the sixth at Cleveland on Aug. 21, 1986.

Ahead 11-0, Martinez (6-1) and the Red Sox looked safe. Working on a humid, 77-degree afternoon, the Boston ace had little trouble until Joe Girardi’s three-run homer with two outs in the sixth.

That was the final batter for Martinez, who left with an 11-4 lead. After that, it got real interesting for three Red Sox relievers and the crowd of 55,711.

“I got a lead. I almost gave it up, too,” Martinez said. “It just didn’t work out the way I thought.”

Seattle 11, Tampa Bay 6--The Mariners went the equivalent of nearly three games without a home run, then hit six, including Ken Griffey Jr.’s 19th at St. Petersburg, Fla.

Rob Ducey ended a 26 2/3-inning drought with a homer leading off the fourth against Rick White (0-1). Joey Cora, Edgar Martinez, Russ Davis and David Segui also homered before Griffey finished the power surge with a solo shot in the eighth off Albie Lopez.

Bill Swift (4-3), pitching a day ahead of schedule because Jeff Fassero had a stomach virus, held the Devil Rays to three runs on four hits in 5 2/3 innings.

Texas 9, Baltimore 5--Juan Gonzalez hit his seventh career grand slam and added a solo shot for his second straight two-homer game, to lead the Rangers at Baltimore.

The five RBIs gave Gonzalez nine in two games and an AL-best 71 in 54 games. Gonzalez’s grand slam came in the third inning off Scott Erickson (5-6) and gave the Rangers a 5-1 lead.

Kevin Elster also homered for the Rangers, who gained a split of the four-game series. Darren Oliver (3-5) allowed three runs and seven hits in five innings.

Chicago 8, Detroit 2--Jim Parque pitched 6 1/3 shutout innings in his second major league start and the White Sox hit three home runs for the victory at Detroit.

Wil Cordero, Mike Caruso and Frank Thomas homered for the White Sox, who gained a split of the four-game series with their fourth victory in 10 games. Parque (1-0), a left-hander who a year ago was pitching for UCLA in the College World Series, allowed four hits and three walks.

Detroit’s Damion Easley went 0 for 4, ending his AL season-best hitting streak at 19 games.

Frank Castillo (2-3) took the loss.

Cleveland 8, Toronto 3--The Indians scored four runs off Pat Hentgen in the fourth inning at Toronto and Charles Nagy (7-2) pitched 6 1/3 solid innings for his fourth consecutive victory.

Jim Thome and Mark Whiten hit solo homers and David Bell and Omar Vizquel had run-scoring singles in the fourth off Hentgen (7-4).

Carlos Delgado put the Blue Jays up 2-0 in the first with a 433-foot home run to right-center.

Jose Mesa pitched the final two innings for his first save.