Carpenter Shuts Down Red Sox

Chris Carpenter enjoyed beating his hometown team.

Carpenter pitched seven scoreless innings, and Eric Hinske went four for four to lead the Toronto Blue Jays over the Boston Red Sox, 4-1, Saturday at Toronto.

A New Hampshire native, Carpenter (2-1) improved to 2-5 career against Boston.

“It’s fun to spoil their hearts a little bit,” Carpenter said. “Everybody at home that roots for me just hopes I go out and have a good game and maybe it’s 0-0 when I’m done, and they end up winning.”

Rey Sanchez drove in Boston’s only run with a pinch-hit single in the ninth as the Red Sox avoided being shut out in consecutive games. Roy Halladay and Kelvim Escobar combined on a three-hit shutout in a 5-0 victory Friday night.

This time, Cliff Politte and Escobar finished the seven-hitter. Escobar struck out pinch-hitter Jason Varitek and Jose Offerman with runners at first and third to end it.

“Hopefully, we can continue to be the spoiler for the rest of the year,” Carpenter said.

Boston’s Trot Nixon said the Red Sox just ran into a couple of good pitchers the last two days. He doesn’t think they need to trade for offense.

“I think we are fine just the way we are,” Nixon said. “Obviously, we didn’t swing the bats the way we wanted to, but that’s not to say things won’t open up on Sunday.”

Carlos Delgado, Josh Phelps and Hinske hit RBI doubles for the Blue Jays, who have won two in a row against Boston after losing 11 consecutive games to the Red Sox this season.

“They’ve beaten us up pretty good, but we got these last two,” Toronto’s Darrin Fletcher said.

Detroit 5-3, Chicago 3-1--Bobby Higginson hit a two-run homer at Detroit as the Tigers completed their first doubleheader sweep in nearly nine years.

Carlos Pena hit a tiebreaking RBI single in the eighth inning and drove in three runs to lift the Tigers to a victory in the first game. It was Detroit’s first doubleheader sweep since Sept. 26, 1993, at Baltimore.

Higginson’s third-inning homer, which came after Damion Easley walked with two outs, was his sixth of the season. It came off Chicago starter Rocky Biddle (1-2), who lasted only 4 1/3 innings.

New York 14, Cleveland 5--Jorge Posada hit a grand slam and drove in a career-high six runs, and Alfonso Soriano had two home runs and four RBIs at Cleveland to power the Yankees.

Soriano hit the second pitch of the game by Ryan Drese (8-7) into the left-field bleachers for his 21st homer. He had a three-run shot off Drese on an 0-2 count during a seven-run second.

Posada hit his second grand slam of the season and fifth of his career to highlight a five-run fifth off reliever Jake Westbrook. He also had a two-run double in New York’s big second inning.

Oakland 6, Baltimore 0--Barry Zito pitched seven innings of three-hit ball and Miguel Tejada hit a three-run homer at Baltimore as the Athletics cruised to their fourth consecutive victory.

Zito (12-3) struck out three, walked three and allowed only one runner past second base to tie for the American League lead in victories.

Texas 8, Minnesota 1--Alex Rodriguez homered and drove in three runs, Rafael Palmeiro had four RBIs and Kenny Rogers extended his dominance of the Twins as the Rangers won at Minneapolis.

Rogers (10-5) gave up one run and five hits in seven innings to improve to 7-1 against the Twins since 1995. He walked four and struck out four as the Rangers ended a four-game losing streak.