Indians keep rolling, win 13th straight
CHICAGO: Jose Ramirez hit two more homers and Austin Jackson also connected as the Cleveland Indians beat the Chicago White Sox 9-4 on Tuesday night for their 13th straight victory, the longest run by a major league team this season.
Danny Salazar got just two outs in his return from right elbow inflammation, but Cleveland’s deep bullpen took over from there. Seven relievers combined for 8-1/3 scoreless innings as the Indians moved within one of their franchise-record 14-game win streak last year.
Jackson and Ramirez hit back-to-back homers during a three-run first against David Holmberg (2-4). Ramirez added another solo shot in the second, and the AL Central leaders went ahead to stay on Greg Allen’s tie-breaking, two-run double in the third. Yan Gomes tacked on a threerun shot in the ninth.
Ramirez has five homers in his last three games. He is batting .500 (17 for 34) with seven homers and nine RBIs on Cleveland’s 11-game road trip.
Matt Davidson hit a three-run drive for last-place Chicago, which has dropped six of eight. Top prospect Yoan Moncada went 1 for 5 in his return from a bruised right shin.
Dan Otero (3-0) pitched two scoreless innings for the win.
In Boston, the Red Sox won their own version of a Boston marathon, beating Toronto 3-2 in the 19th inning on an RBI single by Hanley Ramirez in a game that took six hours.
Mookie Betts led off with a double and Ramirez followed with a bloop single to end it at 1.11am. The AL East leaders stopped a three-game losing streak and increased their cushion to 3½ games over the second-place Yankees.
About 700 fans stayed until the end to see Boston win the longest game in the majors since July 2016, when Cleveland beat Toronto 2-1 in 19 innings. The Red Sox forced extra innings by rallying for two runs in the ninth to hand Roberto Osuna his 10th blown save.
This was the second-longest game ever at Fenway Park, which opened in 1912. The Red Sox lost to Seattle 8-7 in 20 innings in 1981 — that game was suspended after 19 innings past 1am because of an American League curfew rule, and resumed about 18 hours later.
In Los Angeles, Brandon Drury hit a grounder to third base that scored the goahead runs when Justin Turner’s throw home got away, and Arizona beat slumping Los Angeles 3-1 to equal a franchise record with their 12th straight victory.
Dodgers reliever Pedro Baez (3-4) issued consecutive walks to open the 10th. He retired JD Martinez, who tied a major league record with four home runs in a 13-0 blowout on Monday, on a brokenbat groundout that left runners at second and third.
In Seattle, Justin Verlander pitched six strong innings and won his Astros debut after Cameron Maybin hit a two-run homer with one out in the seventh for Houston’s first hit against Seattle.
With all the attention on Verlander’s first game for Houston, it was another deadline acquisition that sent the Astros to a 3-1 victory, their sixth straight. Maybin was claimed off waivers from the Angels on Aug 31 and hit his second home run since joining the Astros to snap a 1-all tie.
Verlander (11-8) allowed six hits and struck out seven.