Red Sox get homers from Lowell, Youkilis and Ortiz in 6-3 victory over slumping Tigers
Associated Press | May 5, 08 10:16 PM CDT
Mike Lowell hit one of Boston's three homers for his first RBIs this season, and the Red Sox beat the Detroit Tigers 6-3 Monday behind a wild Daisuke Matsuzaka.
Kevin Youkilis and David Ortiz also connected for Boston, which won its fourth straight game and sent the Tigers to their fourth consecutive defeat.
Matsuzaka (5-0) won despite walking a career-worst eight batters in five innings, which also tied the major league high for walks this season. But he didn't allow a hit until Curtis Granderson's two-out RBI single in the fourth.
Craig Hanson gave up two runs in 1 2-3 innings. Hideki Okajima worked 1 1-3 scoreless innings before Jonathan Papelbon pitched the ninth for his 10th save in 10 chances.
Angels 4, Royals 0
At Kansas City, Missouri, Ervin Santana extended his outstanding start by pitching a four-hitter, and Garret Anderson and Brandon Wood hit consecutive homers in a four-run ninth inning to lead Los Angeles past Kansas City.
Santana joined teammate Joe Saunders at 6-0, becoming the third and fourth Angels pitchers to open a season 6-0 or better. Saunders and Santana are just the eighth pair of teammates to start a season 6-0 since 1920.
Santana gave up just four hits, striking out nine without a walk. It was his second career complete game, his first since hurling a five-hit shutout against the White Sox on May 23, 2005, for his first major league win.
Blue Jays 1, White Sox 0
At Toronto, Dustin McGowan outpitched Javier Vazquez in an entertaining duel, and Matt Stairs homered to help Toronto beat slumping Chicago for a four-game sweep.
Blue Jays closer B.J. Ryan walked the bases loaded in the ninth inning but got Pablo Ozuna to ground into a 1-2-3 double play to end the game, earning his fifth save. It was Toronto's first four-game sweep since May 2003 against the New York Yankees.
McGowan (2-2) gave up four hits in 7 1-3 innings to win for the first time in three starts. He walked none and struck out six.
Stairs hit a leadoff homer in the seventh off Vazquez (3-3), who struck out nine while throwing 120 pitches in 7 2-3 innings.
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