Red Sox Slam the Door on Twins’ Win Streak

Carl Everett knocked down the surprising Minnesota Twins with a grand slam over the left-field wall.

Everett’s drive gave the Boston Red Sox the lead for good in the second inning, and they went on to a 9-4 victory Tuesday night in the matchup of division leaders at Boston.

Everett’s sixth career grand slam made the score 5-3. He connected on a fastball from Mark Redman (1-2), who had fooled Everett on changeups in the first inning.

“He just didn’t get away with the one pitch to Everett,” Twins Manager Tom Kelly said. “Carl deposited it where he’s supposed to and that changed the game.”

But the Twins, who began the night with baseball’s best record at 14-3 after having the American League’s worst record last year, remained optimistic.

“We’re still on a roll,” said Redman, who gave up five runs, seven hits and two wild pitches in 1 2/3 innings. “One game’s not going to make a difference.”

The Twins, with baseball’s lowest payroll, had won five in a row, are 10-2 in their last 12 games and lead the AL Central by three games over Cleveland.

Boston, with baseball’s second highest payroll, is 14-6 after winning seven of its last nine and leads the East by one game over Toronto. Manny Ramirez went three for five for the second game in a row and leads the league with a .429 batting average and 22 RBIs.

Seattle 7, New York 5--Tom Lampkin hit a questionable two-run home run at New York and the Mariners scored the first two runs off Yankee reliever Mike Stanton this season in winning their fifth consecutive game.

With the score tied at 5-5 and two out in the top of the eighth inning, Edgar Martinez hit a double and John Olerud followed with a run-scoring single off Stanton (1-1), who hadn’t been scored on in 11 innings over seven appearances.

In a rematch of last season’s AL championship series, Seattle starter Freddy Garcia (3-0) did just enough to extend his recent mastery of the Yankees.

Garcia, who beat New York twice in the playoffs and now is 3-1 with a 3.74 earned-run average against the Yankees in the regular season, gave up five runs and seven hits over seven innings.

After Al Martin flied out to left in the seventh, Lampkin drove a 3-and-1 pitch to the fence. Left fielder Chuck Knoblauch jumped in an effort to make the catch, but the ball hit the heel of his glove, caromed off the top of the wall and, with spectators reaching, dropped to the field.

Third base umpire Lance Barksdale ruled it a home run, though replays appeared to show the ball should have been in play.

Toronto 7, Texas 5--Raul Mondesi hit a home run and added a tiebreaking single in the seventh inning to lift the Blue Jays to the victory at Toronto.

Mondesi, who drove in three runs, gave Toronto a 4-3 lead in the fifth with a two-run homer off Texas starter Doug Davis.

Oakland 6, Chicago 4--Jason Giambi hit the eighth grand slam of his career and Terrence Long drove in two runs as the Athletics defeated the slumping White Sox at Chicago.

Tampa Bay 4, Kansas City 2--Greg Vaughn and Gerald Williams hit two-run homers to back another strong pitching performance by Albie Lopez as the Devil Rays came from behind to defeat the Royals before a franchise-low 11,056 at St. Petersburg, Fla.

Baltimore 8, Detroit 3--Jay Gibbons drove in two runs with two doubles and two singles as the Orioles won consecutive games for the first time this season in winning at Detroit.