BOSTON — Eric Hinske slammed his chin into the ground making a spectacular, run-saving catch, and hit a go-ahead homer two innings later to give the Boston Red Sox a 4-2 win Thursday night and a doubleheader sweep of the Detroit Tigers.
Hinske, making a rare start in place of injured right fielder J.D. Drew, hit his first homer of the season, a two-run shot into Boston's bullpen in right-center field, to break a 2-2 tie in the seventh inning. Boston won the opener 2-1 behind starter Julian Tavarez's most effective game of the season.
The sweep increased Boston's lead in the AL East over the second-place New York Yankees to 9 1/2 games. The last time the Yankees were that far back was after games of Sept. 6, 1997.
Hinske's go-ahead homer came with two outs against Wilfredo Ledezma (3-1). Brendan Donnelly (2-1) pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings and Hideki Okajima got his second save, extending his streak of scoreless innings to 19 2/3.
In the opener, Manny Ramirez and Kevin Youkilis drove in runs for the AL East leaders. With his 1,541th RBI, Ramirez moved past Willie Stargell into sole possession of 38th place.
Tavarez (2-4), who lost three of his previous four starts, allowed one run, four singles and four walks and seven innings. Okajima pitched a perfect eighth, and Jonathan Papelbon finished the four-hitter for his 11th save.
Zach Miner (0-1) gave up two runs — one earned — and six hits in 5 1/3 innings in an emergency start for the Tigers.
WHITE SOX 4, YANKEES 1: At Chicago, Jon Garland limited New York to a run and six hits over seven innings and Jermaine Dye homered and had four RBIs for the Chicago White Sox.
Chicago's victory came a day after the teams split a day-night doubleheader at U.S. Cellular Field and a day before they both were to start a spirited interleague series. The White Sox go to Wrigley Field on Friday for three games with the Cubs, while the Yankees head to Shea Stadium to play the Mets.
The Yankees had two runners on in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings but couldn't score against Garland (3-2) until Doug Mientkiewicz hit a two-out RBI double in the seventh. Garland walked four and struck out two and was backed by three double plays in running his career record to 2-5 against the Yankees. Bobby Jenks pitched the ninth inning to record his 13th save.
Matt DeSalvo (1-1) lasted only 3 1-3 innings in his third major league start, giving up six hits and four runs.
INDIANS 2, TWINS 0: At Cleveland, Fausto Carmona outpitched Johan Santana again, and Victor Martinez and Ryan Garko homered in a three-pitch span off Minnesota's ace in the seventh inning, leading the Indians.
Carmona (5-1) allowed four hits for his first career shutout and complete game, a 121-pitch performance that beat Santana (4-4) for the second time in less than a month.
The Indians swept the three-game series and improved to 5-0 this season against one of their AL Central rivals. The Twins have lost seven of eight.
On April 24, Carmona snapped a personal 11-game losing streak by defeating Santana, the two-time Cy Young Award winner. The 23-year-old Carmona won his next start five days later, but he became the odd-man out in Cleveland's rotation when Cliff Lee came off the disabled list.
ROYALS 7, ATHLETICS 4: At Oakland, Calif., Scott Elarton got his first victory since last July and slumping Mike Sweeney had a pair of hits for Kansas City.
The Royals, who were 0-10 when opponents started lefties, got to Dallas Braden (1-3) early. Making his fourth major league start, Braden allowed five runs and six hits in 5 1/3 innings.
Elarton (1-0) gave up four runs and six hits in 5 1-3 innings, getting his first win since July 16 at Detroit. The right-hander made his second start of the season after missing the final 71 games last year and the first 36 this year because of shoulder surgery.
Joakim Soria finished for his eighth save in 10 chances.
Bobby Crosby hit a second-inning home run and drove in two runs as the A's lost two in a row for the first time since ending a three-game slide on April 28.
DEVIL RAYS 8, RANGERS 6 (10): At Kissimmee, Fla., Delmon Young's second homer of the night, a two-run shot in the 10th inning, helped the Tampa Bay Devil Rays beat the Texas Rangers and extend their season-high winning streak to four games.
Young's winning homer off Willie Eyre (1-2) completed a successful trip to Disney World, where the series was played as part of the Devil Rays' effort to expand their fan base and increase marketing opportunities in the Orlando area.
Sammy Sosa was 1-for-6 with three strikeouts for Texas and remained three homers shy of becoming the fifth player to hit 600 in a career.
Gary Glover (1-2) pitched the 10th to earn the victory for Tampa Bay, which hadn't won four in a row since last May 18-21.
ANGELS 7, MARINERS 3: At Seattle, Vladimir Guerrero homered for the first time in 12 games and drove in three runs, and Bartolo Colon stayed undefeated as the Los Angeles Angels beat former teammate Jarrod Washburn and the Seattle Mariners.
Colon (5-0) allowed three runs and nine hits in seven innings as the Angels won for the seventh time in nine games. Francisco Rodriguez pitched the ninth to send Los Angeles to a season-high six games over .500 entering their rivalry series this weekend against the Dodgers.
Colon, who struck out one and walked three, is perfect since making his season debut three weeks late because of a partial tear to his rotator cuff. And he hasn't lost to the Mariners in six starts. The 2005 AL Cy Young Award winner has won 17 consecutive starts against AL West rivals Seattle and Texas.
Washburn (3-4) was sixth in the AL with a 2.64 ERA entering Thursday, but he allowed season highs of nine hits and six runs in six innings against the Angels, for whom he played from 1998-2005.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
METS 6, CUBS 5: At New York, Carlos Delgado's two-run single capped a five-run rally in the bottom of the ninth inning, and the Mets startled the Chicago Cubs.
Manager Willie Randolph started a makeshift lineup because the Mets' rain-delayed, 8-1 win Wednesday night ended at 12:53 a.m. David Wright, Carlos Beltran and Jose Reyes were among those scheduled to have a day off.
Instead, Wright and Beltran contributed as pinch-hitters as the Mets pulled off their biggest ninth-inning comeback since 1999.
Delgado's one-out single gave them a final thrill — and their seventh win in nine games — going into Friday night's opener against the New York Yankees at Shea Stadium.
Cubs manager Lou Piniella watched relievers Ryan Dempster (1-2) and Scott Eyre blow the big lead. They lost for the sixth time in eight games, and headed back to Wrigley Field to play the Chicago White Sox on Friday.
Ambiorix Burgos (1-0) won in relief.
Down 5-1 in the ninth, the Mets got going when David Newhan led off with a single and Carlos Gomez singled with one out. Piniella went to the mound to talk to Dempster, who loaded the bases with a walk to Beltran.
Endy Chavez drew a walk that forced in a run, and Ruben Gotay's RBI single brought Eyre from the bullpen. Wright batted for Shawn Green and singled to make it 5-4. Delgado followed with a grounder just beyond diving second baseman Ryan Theriot.
BREWERS 3, PHILLIES 2: At Philadelphia, Ben Sheets struck out eight in 7 2/3 innings, and Gabe Gross hit a pair of solo homers for the first multihomer game of his big league career, helping Milwaukee end a four-game losing streak.
The NL Central-leading Brewers won 10 of 11 before going on the road and have lost five of seven since.
Sheets (4-2) combined with Francisco Cordero on a six-hitter and Gross added some surprising power from the No. 7 spot in the order, helping prevent the Phillies (20-21) from moving over .500 for the first time this season.
Freddy Garcia (1-3) gave up two runs and seven hits in 5 2/3 innings, and the big hits that carried the Phillies back to .500 after a 4-11 start were silenced. Philadelphia lost for the second time in eight games.
Sheets gave up only three hits, including Pat Burrell's solo homer, through seven innings and five hits in all.
NATIONALS 4, BRAVES 3: At Washington, Felipe Lopez returned from a rare day off by stopping an 0-for-13 skid with a single, double and go-ahead triple, and Washington rallied past Atlanta.
Last-place Washington has won six of its past seven games, including three of four against Atlanta. That means the Nationals have taken two consecutive series after failing to win any of their first 12 this season.
The recent success has hinged on some top bullpen work and occasional clutch hitting. Washington relied on that formula again, although not until after Chipper Jones' two-run homer to center in the fourth helped Atlanta take a 3-1 lead off Matt Chico (3-4).
The rookie starter allowed three runs and five hits in six innings, but relievers Billy Traber, Jesus Colome and Jon Rauch combined for three perfect innings, with Rauch earning his third save. Chad Paronto (2-1) was the loser.
DIAMONDBACKS 3, ROCKIES 1: At Denver, Livan Hernandez allowed four hits over seven innings, singled twice and scored a run for Arizona.
The win gave the Diamondbacks two victories in the three-game series and their sixth series win of the year.
Hernandez (4-2) gave up a run while walking four and striking out two. He was 2-for-3 for his 30th multiple hit game of his career and a hit short of his career high. He raised his season batting average to .333.
Eric Byrnes had an RBI single and triple. Chris Young had two hits and scored a run for the Diamondbacks. Jose Valverde pitched the ninth for his 14th save in 16 tries.
Colorado wasted a good outing from Josh Fogg (1-5), who allowed two runs and seven hits over seven innings.
PIRATES 7, MARLINS 2: At Pittsburgh, the Pirates tied a team record with four sacrifice flies and took advantage of a team-record tying five Florida errors for the win.
Ronny Paulino had three RBIs and Shawn Chacon (1-0) pitched five shutout innings out of the bullpen for the Pirates, who earned a split of the four-game series.
The Pirates, who committed two errors, tied a club record set Sept. 9, 1988, against Philadelphia with four sacrifice flies. It was the third time the Marlins committed five errors in a game.
Hanley Ramirez and Jeremy Hermida each had two hits for Florida, which had a two-game winning streak snapped and had not committed five errors in a game since July 25, 2000. Ricky Nolasco (1-2) took the loss for Florida.
GIANTS 2, ASTROS 1 (12): At Houston, Randy Winn beat out a grounder off Brad Lidge to score Pedro Feliz in the 12th inning, helping the San Francisco Giants avoid a three-game sweep with a victory over the Houston Astros.
Winn also singled in the eighth and scored a run after two wild throws by the Astros on the same play.