Red Sox rebound to hand Yanks 2nd loss in 19 games
NEW YORK » J.D. Martinez hit a tiebreaking home run against Dellin Betances leading off the eighth inning, just beyond Aaron Judge’s reach at the right-field wall, and the Boston Red Sox rebounded after wasting a four-run lead to beat New York 5-4 Thursday night and send the Yankees to only their second loss in 19 games.
In another dramatic game before a sellout crowd, Boston moved back into a tie with the Yankees for the AL East lead at 26-11, the best record in the major leagues. The rivals have 13 more games this year but don’t meet again until June 29 in the Bronx.
Boston built a 4-0 lead against CC Sabathia as Hanley Ramirez drove in three runs with an RBI groundout in the first, an RBI single in a two-run third and a solo homer in the fifth just before a 55-minute rain delay.
But the Yankees tied the score in the seventh after loading the bases with one out against Heath Hembree.
Joe Kelly (2-0), who served a sixgame suspension for hitting the Yankees’ Tyler Austin with a pitch last month, was booed loudly when he entered. Kelly forced in a run with a four-pitch walk to Brett Gardner, gave up an RBI single to Judge and a run-scoring groundout to slumping Didi Gregorius, then bounced a wild pitch off catcher Christian Vazquez as Gardner scored standing up.
New York had won eight straight games overall and 11 in a row at home. Boston improved to 11-1 in series finales this season and is unbeaten in Eduardo Rodriguez’s seven starts. MARINERS 9, BLUE JAYS 3 » Kyle Seager hit two home runs, including his fourth career grand slam, and Jean Segura had four hits as Seattle beat Toronto.
Seager hit a two-out grand slam off left-hander J.A. Happ in the first inning and a leadoff shot against Jake Petricka in the fifth, his seventh career multihomer game. Seager’s homers were his fifth and sixth of the season. ORIOLES 11, ROYALS 6 » Adam Jones homered, scored three runs and had three RBIs, and Baltimore outslugged Kansas City to emerge with the Orioles’ second winning streak of the season.
Manny Machado and Trey Mancini also went deep for the Orioles, who trailed 4-0 in the first inning and 6-3 in the second before rallying to beat the Royals for the second night in a row. The only other time Baltimore (10-27) won successive games this season was April 5-6 at Yankee Stadium. BRAVES 9, MARLINS 2 » Ozzie Albies hit Atlanta’s first grand slam of the season to highlight a seven-run sixth inning, Freddie Freeman had a career-high five hits and the NL East-leading Braves beat Miami.
Freeman also homered for the Braves in that sixth-inning outburst, when Atlanta got all of its runs with two out.