Devil Rays Finally Defeat Red Sox, 9-7

Steve Cox and Greg Vaughn each hit three-run home runs and Brent Abernathy hit a go-ahead run-scoring single in the eighth inning Wednesday night as the Tampa Bay Devil Rays defeated the Boston Red Sox, 9-7, at Boston for their first victory in 12 games against the Red Sox this season.

“I knew it wasn’t over,” Devil Ray Manager Hal McRae said after his team rebounded after blowing a 6-0 lead. “It’s disappointing to lose the lead each night, but we had outs to play with.”

Doug Creek (2-1) got the victory in 2 2/3 innings of relief. Pete Schourek (1-5) gave up one run and two hits in one-third of an inning to take the loss.

The Devil Rays blew leads of 4-0 in the series opener Monday and 5-1 Tuesday, the Red Sox winning both games. On Wednesday, the Devil Rays jumped to a 6-0 lead on the home runs by Vaughn and Cox, then gave it all back before regaining the lead in the eighth and adding two runs on Aubrey Huff’s RBI single in the ninth.

“They’re a good team, they keep coming at you,” Huff said. “The way things are going, we could have just folded.”

Every Devil Ray starter had at least one hit, and Cox finished two for four with four runs batted in.

With the score tied, 6-6, Abernathy lined a one-out infield single off reliever Rod Beck’s glove to drive in Ben Grieve. Grieve led off with a double and moved to third on Huff’s single before scoring on Abernathy’s single.

Schourek gave up two hits and retired one batter before Beck replaced him.

“Pete was the right man in the right spot,” Red Sox Manager Jimy Williams said, “but it didn’t work.”

Oakland 6, Seattle 3--Ramon Hernandez hit the first grand slam of his career and Terrence Long had a two-run homer for the Athletics at Seattle.

Tim Hudson (8-5) got help from the A’s bullpen, which pitched 3 1/3 scoreless innings.

The A’s won without slugger Jason Giambi. Last year’s American League most valuable player sat out for the first time this season while nursing a sore right calf.

The Mariners left the bases loaded three times, with Carlos Guillen fouling out in the second, John Olerud striking out in the fourth and Bret Boone fouling out in the sixth. The Mariners stranded 12 runners.

Baltimore 7, Toronto 3--Tony Batista hit a tiebreaking, two-run homer against his former team to lead the Orioles at Toronto.

Batista, claimed on waivers Monday, went three for four and his homer against Esteban Loaiza (5-8) gave the Orioles a 5-3 lead in the sixth. Loaiza gave up five runs and eight hits in 5 1/3 innings.

The 27-year old Batista, who fell out of favor because he hit .207 with the Blue Jays, leads the Orioles in home runs (14) and RBIs (47).

New York 15, Cleveland 5--Tino Martinez went four for five with a homer and five RBIs at New York to give some rare run support to Mike Mussina.

The Yankees scored one more run in this game than they had in Mussina’s previous six starts. Mussina (8-7), signed to a six-year, $88.5-million contract in the off-season, had been averaging only 3.6 runs of support coming into the game.

Martinez hit a two-run double in the first, an RBI single in the second, a two-run homer in the fourth and doubled in the fifth. He scored three runs.

Minnesota 4, Chicago 1--Kyle Lohse gave up three hits in seven innings at Minneapolis to earn his first major league victory and help the Twins move back into first place in the American League Central.

Jacque Jones homered for the Twins, who have a half-game lead in the division after the Indians’ loss to the Yankees. The Indians had held the top spot since June 20, the day Lohse was called up from triple-A Edmonton.

The Twins, who won their fourth in a row, are 8-0 against the White Sox. After reaching the .500 mark by winning 16 of their first 22 games in June, the White Sox have lost two in a row.

Kansas City 5, Detroit 4--Endy Chavez ended an 0-for-21 slump with an RBI single, capping a two-run rally in the ninth inning to lift the Royals at Kansas City, Mo.

Carlos Beltran led off the ninth with a single, his fourth hit of the game. He stole second and scored the tying run on Brent Mayne’s single against Todd Jones (3-5).

Luis Alicea grounded into a fielder’s choice, then stole second and scored on Chavez’s one-out single.