KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Carlos Beltran drove in the winning run with a ninth-inning single Thursday as the Kansas City Royals continued their string of last at-bat wins with a 6-5 victory over the Baltimore Orioles.
The Royals, who ended the last three games with winning home runs, rallied after blowing a 5-0 lead.
Rey Sanchez, whose three-run, ninth-inning homer gave Kansas City a 7-6 win Wednesday over Baltimore, led off the ninth with a single off B.J. Ryan (1-1). Johnny Damon followed with a sacrifice bunt, and Carlos Febles walked. Beltran followed with the game-winning hit.
Cal Ripken went 0-for-4 and remained four hits short of 3,000.
DEVIL RAYS 6, WHITE SOX 5 (12): At St. Petersburg, Fla., Greg Vaughn's RBI single with two outs in the bottom of the 12th inning helped Tampa Bay snap a five-game losing streak.
Vaughn's line drive to left field off Tanyon Sturtze (0-1) drove in Kevin Stocker from second base. The Devil Rays' bullpen held the White Sox scoreless over the last seven innings to keep Tampa Bay in the game. Jim Mecir (2-0), the fifth Rays pitcher, got the win.
RED SOX 4, TWINS 3: At Boston, Wilton Veras drew a bases-loaded walk to break an eighth-inning tie, and Boston rallied to beat Minnesota.
Nomar Garciaparra singled to lead off the eighth, then Troy O'Leary walked. Carl Everett hit a double-play ball to second base, but Jason Maxwell kicked the ball around for an error that loaded the bases.
Jeff Frye hit a fly ball to shallow left field, and Denny Hocking threw Garciaparra out at the plate to preserve the tie. Eddie Guardardo relieved Bob Wells (0-1), walked Jason Varitek and then walked Veras to score the game-winner.
TIGERS 2, MARINERS 0: At Detroit, Juan Gonzalez, making his first home start for Detroit, hit an RBI double to break up a scoreless tie in the eighth inning.
Gonzalez, who hadn't started since the opener last week in Oakland because of a right hamstring strain, started at designated hitter and went 2-for-4.
Shane Halter drew a leadoff walk off Arthur Rhodes (0-1) in the eighth before Gonzalez scored him easily with a drive up the right field gap.
Doug Brocail (1-1) pitched one scoreless inning before Todd Jones finished for his third save.
YANKEES 5, RANGERS 1: At New York, Jorge Posada hit a tiebreaking triple with the bases loaded, and Orlando Hernandez (2-0) shut down Texas on three singles for eight innings.
The Yankees, who have won nine straight playoff games against Texas on their way to three World Series titles since 1996, completed a two-game sweep.