Ramirez Connects for 20th Slam

Manny Ramirez took a few steps out of the batter’s box and slowed to admire the high-arching shot. The experience wasn’t new for the Boston slugger.

As soon as the ball fell beyond the wall in right-center field for his 20th grand slam, Ramirez threw his arms in the air and began the trot around the bases that gave the Red Sox a six-run lead en route to a 7-4 victory over the Texas Rangers on Tuesday night at Arlington, Texas.

“Manny does what Manny does, it’s incredible,” Manager Terry Francona said. “He has a knack for that. He stays on balls in those situations. He’s an RBI guy. He smells them; it’s unbelievable.”

His third grand slam this season was his 22nd home run, tying him with Texas’ Mark Teixeira for the American League lead. Ramirez leads the major leagues with 77 runs batted in.

The 20 grand slams are the second-most in major league history, trailing Lou Gehrig’s 23.

David Ortiz and Bill Mueller also homered for the Red Sox, all in the first three innings for a 7-0 lead. Knuckleballer Tim Wakefield (8-5) provided a huge boost for the pitching staff by going eight innings in his 300th start.

“When you get that kind of a lead, it makes my job a lot easier,” said Wakefield, 4-0 in six starts since a five-game losing streak. “Knowing our circumstances here with our bullpen, it’s just a matter of getting the job done.”

Wakefield held Texas to four runs and eight hits, improving his record to 136-117.

With struggling closer Keith Foulke scheduled to return to Boston to have MRI exams on his knees, Mike Timlin worked the ninth. He needed only six pitches to earn his second save in three chances.

“He kept that drama out of that game,” Francona said.

New York 12, Baltimore 3 -- Jason Giambi hit one of four Yankee homers at New York and doubled twice, and Randy Johnson (8-6) gave New York seven strong innings on short rest.

Alex Rodriguez, Gary Sheffield and Hideki Matsui also homered for New York.

Derek Jeter and Ruben Sierra each had three hits for the Yankees, who swept the two-game series and have won four games in a row to move within half a game of the second-place Orioles -- who have lost 11 of 13 -- in the AL East.

Johnson retired his first 12 batters, including five strikeouts, before Miguel Tejada’s infield single. The left-hander struck out eight without walking a batter for his 254th victory.

He improved to 5-1 in seven regular-season starts on three days’ rest and tossed a blooper pitch to Sal Fasano in the third, drawing cheers from the crowd of 55,276.

Oakland 10, Toronto 7 -- Scott Hatteberg’s two-run single in the top of the 11th inning gave the Athletics their 10th win in 11 games.

Bobby Crosby had an inside-the-park home run for the A’s.

Mark Kotsay, Crosby and Eric Chavez led off the 11th with singles against Miguel Batista (4-1) before Hatteberg’s hit.

Kotsay, Nick Swisher and Dan Johnson homered for the A’s.

Gregg Zaun and Orlando Hudson homered for Toronto. Hudson grabbed his right hamstring then left after his homer that tied the score, 5-5, in the seventh.

Chicago 6, Tampa Bay 4 -- Frank Thomas hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning at Chicago, and the White Sox rallied to go 30 games over .500.

Scott Podsednik started the inning with a double and Tadahito Iguchi singled before Thomas connected against Lance Carter (1-2) for his 10th homer in only 69 at-bats.

Cliff Politte (6-0) got the final out of the eighth, and Dustin Hermanson pitched the ninth for his 21st save.

Jermaine Dye hit his 19th homer for Chicago, which improved to 56-26 and handed Tampa Bay its seventh consecutive loss.

Detroit 3, Cleveland 2 -- Mike Maroth cooled off the host Indians, and the Tigers won for only the third time in 13 games.

The Indians, batting .297 and averaging 5.8 runs over their previous 29 games, lost for only the third time in 11 games.

Maroth (6-9) gave up one run and four hits in 6 2/3 innings. Troy Percival gave up a homer by Jhonny Peralta in the ninth but earned his sixth save.

Magglio Ordonez hit a two-run homer against Jake Westbrook (6-10) in a three-run third.

Kansas City 8, Seattle 6 -- David DeJesus drove in three runs for the host Royals, who had lost 14 of 16. The Royals had scored in only one of 38 innings before stringing together four singles and a walk and scoring four runs against Gil Meche (8-6) in the second inning.

D.J. Carrasco (4-3) worked 5 1/3 innings and Mike MacDougal got three out for his 10th save.