Baseball-Highlights of Friday's Major League Baseball games

Sept 13 (The Sports Exchange - Highlights of Friday's Major League Baseball games. - - - Red Sox 8, Yankees 4 Jarrod Saltalamacchia's seventh-inning grand slam broke open a tied game and helped the Boston Red Sox to an 8-4 win over the New York Yankees at Fenway Park on Friday. Saltalamacchia's slam off Yankees reliever Preston Claiborne was the third grand slam of his career and first since May 5, 2009. New York starter Hiroki Kuroda, who began the inning, took the loss. With the score tied 4-4 in the seventh, Saltalamacchia blasted his 13th home run of the season, giving Boston an 8-4 lead, which they held to retain a commanding lead in the American League East. - - - Indians 3, White Sox 1 Pitcher Danny Salazar had a short but effective outing, and his bullpen did enough to keep the opposition in check, as the Cleveland Indians defeated the Chicago White Sox 3-1. Salazar was strong, but the Indians are limiting the young right-hander's workload so he only tossed 78 pitches in 3 2/3 innings. Salazar gave up no runs on four hits, striking out nine and walking two. The 23-year-old rookie now has 54 strikeouts in 40 2/3 innings pitched. - - - Mets 4, Marlins 3 Lucas Duda's three-run homer in the seventh inning lifted the New York Mets to a 4-3 home win over the Miami Marlins. The Mets (65-81) snapped a four-game losing streak and won for just the third time in their last 12 games. The Marlins (54-92) have lost seven of nine. - - - Tigers 6, Royals 3 Prince Fielder drove in three runs with a home run and a single, and Justin Verlander broke a six-start winless streak to lead the Detroit Tigers to a 6-3 home victory over the Kansas City Royals. Detroit reduced their magic number for clinching the American League Central to any combination of 10 Tigers wins or losses by the second-place Cleveland Indians. - - - Orioles 5, Blue Jays 3 Chris Davis led off a two-run eighth inning with his 50th home run of the season and the Baltimore Orioles defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 5-3 to end a three-game losing streak. Adam Lind and Colby Rasmus hit homers for the Blue Jays (67-80), who took a 3-0 lead before going on to lose their fourth game in a row. - - - Nationals 6, Phillies 1 Wilson Ramos and Ryan Zimmerman, a pair of hot hitters, crushed home runs, and emergency starter Ross Ohlendorf improved to 4-0 as the Washington Nationals beat the Philadelphia Phillies 6-1 to continue a last-gasp playoff push. The Nationals (78-69) have won seven games in a row and hit 15 home runs in their last five games. Washington are a season-best nine games above .500 and are 24-9 since Aug. 9, the best mark in the majors during that time. - - - Cubs 5, Pirates 4 Anthony Rizzo hit a two-run home run in the seventh inning as the Chicago Cubs secured a 5-4 road victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates. The loss dented Pittsburgh's hopes of winning the National League Central, where they are in a tight race with St Louis and Cincinnati. - - - Padres 4, Braves 3 David Hale made Atlanta Braves history in his major league debut, but it did not pay off in a victory for either the right-hander or his team as the San Diego Padres won 4-3 on the road. Hale, a 25-year-old from suburban Atlanta, set a Braves debut record with nine strikeouts, allowing just four hits and a walk over five scoreless innings. The usually reliable Atlanta bullpen, though, could not protect a 3-0 lead. The loss dropped Atlanta to 0-4 against San Diego this season and kept the Braves' magic number for winning the National League East at six. - - - Brewers 5, Reds 1 Kyle Lohse threw a complete game and Carlos Gomez tied a career high with five RBIs as the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Cincinnati Reds 5-1 at home. In his three previous starts, Lohse (10-9) had allowed 13 earned runs on 31 hits in 16 innings of work, but he held Cincinnati to a run while allowing four hits and striking out five to win for the first time since Aug 20. - - - Rays 3, Twins 0 The Tampa Bay Rays beat Minnesota 3-0 on the road as the Twins collected just five hits. Tampa starter Chris Archer was the hottest pitcher of the night, shutting out the Twins for six innings. He threw 87 pitches, allowing no runs on three hits. He had seven strikeouts and did not issue a walk. - - - Astros 9, Angels 7 The Houston Astros rode a six-run fifth inning and a resilient bullpen performance to their fourth consecutive victory, a 9-7 home win over the Los Angeles Angels. Matt Dominguez's fifth-inning grand slam keyed the big rally for Houston (51-96), who improved to 10-7 against the Angels (70-77) and clinched the season series. - - - Cardinals 2, Mariners 1 The St Louis Cardinals took advantage of some sloppy play by the Seattle Mariners to eke out a 2-1 home win in 10 innings. The Cardinals went top of the National League Central - one game ahead of Pittsburgh - but it took an assist from the Mariners, who lost their fifth in a row. Seattle led 1-0 into the eighth inning, but allowed the Cardinals to tie it up on an error and a missed double play. St Louis then won in the 10th when an Oliver Perez pitch glanced off catcher Mike Zunino's glove and Pete Kozma raced home from third. - - - Athletics 9, Rangers 8 The Oakland Athletics extended their lead in the American League West with a 9-8 road win over the Texas Rangers. The Athletics moved 4 ½ games clear of the second-placed Rangers in the division, thanks in no small measure to slugger Yoenis Cespedes. The Cuban belted a three-run homer in the first inning and Oakland led 9-2 after seven innings, before Texas scored six runs in the eighth to give the visitors a fright. - - - Rockies 7, Diamondbacks 5 Willin Rosario matched his career high with four RBIs as the Colorado Rockies scored five runs in the seventh inning en route to a 7-5 road victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Rockies, out of contention for the play-offs, improved their poor road record to 27-49. - - - Giants 4, Dodgers 2 The San Francisco Giants scored three runs in the seventh inning to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-2 on the road. The Dodgers had more hits - 10 to San Francisco's nine - but had trouble converting them into runs. But it was hardly a costly win for the Dodgers, who remain almost certain to win the National League West, 12 ½ games clear of second-placed Arizona. (Editing by Andrew Both/Peter Rutherford)