American League roundup

[May 07, 2009]  NEW YORK (AP) -- Rays manager Joe Maddon preaches to his team that it only takes one chance at the plate to have a great night.

Carlos Pena must have been listening.

The Tampa Bay slugger homered leading off the 10th inning -- his first hit of the night -- and the Rays survived a sudden downpour and Mark Teixeira's late, tying double to beat the New York Yankees 4-3 on Wednesday.

"Even with three strikeouts, Pena did a great job persevering there," Maddon said.

Pena said he couldn't remember ever facing young Yankees reliever Phil Coke (1-2), but it hardly seemed to matter. He drove a 1-0 pitch just over the right-field wall, sending New York to its fourth consecutive loss.

"It doesn't matter whether he put a good swing on it or not, I'm better than that," Coke said. "I feel like I let down the team."

Grant Balfour (1-0) stranded runners on second and third to end the ninth for the Rays, and Troy Percival worked around a one-out double to Johnny Damon for his fifth save.

"I was just trying to focus myself and stay calm in the box," Pena said of his major league-leading 12th homer. "I think it was a fastball away. He probably put it where he wanted it. I was glad I was able to put a barrel on it."

It was perhaps fitting that after going the entire game without a home run, it would ultimately end on one. There have now been 39 homers hit through 12 games at the new Yankee Stadium, many of them over a right-field wall that measures just 314 feet down the line.

The home run was especially deflating after the Yankees managed to tie the game against the Tampa Bay bullpen. Stuck in a season-long slump, Teixeira hit a three-run double with two outs in the eighth to make it 3-all, just as a light rain turned to a downpour.

A 28-minute delay ensued, sending most of an already meager crowd home.

Teixeira had a chance to be the hero again with one out in the 10th, but he stranded a runner at third with a shallow fly ball and slammed his helmet several times in the dugout.

"I've got to get that runner home," Teixeira said. "I tried to hit a fly ball and I popped it up a little bit. Little things."

Evan Longoria, Akinori Iwamura and Dioner Navarro drove in the other runs for the defending AL champs, who are on the first leg of a three-stop, seven-game road trip.

The Rays got help from their speed, too, stealing three bases. Carl Crawford easily swiped one of them, joining Bert Campaneris, Rickey Henderson and Corey Patterson as the only players since 1954 to steal a base in nine straight games. Crawford is perfect in 20 tries this season.

"Overall, it was a great game," Maddon said. "A lot of great things happened."

Indians 9, Red Sox 2

At Boston, Carl Pavano pitched his third strong game in three weeks, Victor Martinez homered and drove in four runs and the Indians ended Boston's home win streak at nine.

Pavano allowed two runs in six innings and lowered his ERA in his last four games to 3.75. It was 16.71 after his other two starts.

Pavano (2-3) allowed both runs in the second.

Blue Jays 13, Angels 1

At Anaheim, Calif., Roy Halladay (6-1) joined Kansas City's Zack Greinke as the majors' only six-game winners, dominating the Angels over eight innings. The right-hander allowed one run on six hits with two walks and six strikeouts.

Aaron Hill, Vernon Wells and Lyle Overbay each homered for Toronto.

The Blue Jays became the first American League team to reach 20 victories and increased their lead in the AL East to two games over Boston.

Angels starter Anthony Ortega (0-2) gave up six earned runs and six hits in 1 1-3 innings.

Royals 9, Mariners 1

At Kansas City, Mo., Mark Teahen had three hits and drove in three runs, and Sidney Ponson made a strong case to stay in the rotation with 7 1-3 solid innings to lead the Royals.

The Royals won their fifth straight, battered Carlos Silva (1-3) and got 17 hits.

Mike Jacobs, who had three RBIs, and Billy Butler each had three hits as Kansas City won for the seventh time in eight games. Ponson (1-4) allowed one run on eight hits.

Orioles 4, Twins 1, 6 innings

At Baltimore, Nick Markakis and Luke Scott homered, and the Orioles won a rain-shortened game that included four delays totaling 3 hours, 46 minutes.

The teams played a total of 1 hour, 27 minutes before the final stoppage occurred with one out in the top of the sixth.

Brian Bass (1-1) allowed one run in 2 2-3 innings for Baltimore. Half of the eight outs he recorded were strikeouts.

Baltimore went up 3-0 against Kevin Slowey (4-1) in the first inning.

Rangers 3, Athletics 2

At Oakland, Calif., Elvis Andrus homered, Scott Feldman pitched six strong innings and Texas won its fifth straight.

David Murphy and Chris Davis each drove in a run for the Rangers, who have won six of their last seven road games. Feldman (2-0) allowed two runs on four hits, walking two and striking out three.

Kurt Suzuki hit a two-run double for the A's, who dropped their fourth straight.

Dan Giese (0-3) went 5 2-3 innings, giving up three runs on eight hits.

[Associated Press; By DAVE SKRETTA]

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