CLEVELAND — Jurickson Profar made quite a debut at age 19, homering in his first major league at-bat and doubling his next time up as the Texas Rangers beat Cleveland 8-3 Sunday. CLEVELAND — Jurickson Profar made quite a debut
CLEVELAND — Jurickson Profar made quite a debut at age 19, homering in his first major league at-bat and doubling his next time up as the Texas Rangers beat Cleveland 8-3 Sunday.
Profar opened the third inning with a drive over the right-field wall, connecting on a 2-1 pitch from Zach McAllister (5-6). The teen finished 2-for-4 as a late substitute after second baseman Ian Kinsler was scratched with a stiff back.
Josh Hamilton, Adrian Beltre and David Murphy all hit solo home runs in the Texas fifth.
Derek Holland (10-6) gave up two runs over seven innings as the AL West-leading Rangers took two of three in the series. Texas matched its best record through 133 games, having also gone 79-54 in 1999.
ATHLETICS 6, RED SOX 2
OAKLAND, Calif. — Seth Smith hit a two-run homer, Stephen Drew hit his first home run since joining Oakland, and the Athletics beat Boston for their season-best ninth straight win.
Brett Anderson (3-0) won his third straight start since returning from a 14-month absence to recover from Tommy John surgery. It was a big boost for the AL wild-card leading A’s down the stretch after losing Bartolo Colon to a 50-game suspension.
This is the club’s longest winning run since 10 in a row from June 8-18, 2006, the last year the A’s reached the playoffs.
ORIOLES 8, YANKEES 3
NEW YORK — Mark Reynolds hit a three-run shot in the sixth inning for his second two-homer game of the weekend series, and the Baltimore Orioles closed in on the AL East-leading New York Yankees.
Randy Wolf (1-0) made his first appearance for Baltimore when starter Chris Tillman left with right elbow stiffness after the third inning. He helped the Orioles pull within two games of the Yankees with 3 1/3 effective innings.
RAYS 9, BLUE JAYS 4
TORONTO — David Price earned his AL-leading 17th victory by pitching 6 2/3 solid innings, and Ben Francisco homered in his first start for Tampa Bay as the Rays beat Toronto.
Carlos Pena also homered as the Rays won for only the third time in nine games, pulling within 3 games of the AL East-leading New York Yankees. The Yankees begin a three-game series at Tampa Bay today.
MARINERS 2, ANGELS 1
SEATTLE — Jesus Montero hit another home run off Angels ace Jered Weaver, leading Hisashi Iwakuma and the Seattle Mariners past Los Angeles.
Carlos Peguero also homered against Weaver. Iwakuma (6-3) pitched 7 1/3 scoreless innings and helped end the Angels’ five-game winning streak.
Montero singled early, then hit his 15th home run of the season in the fourth. He has four homers in nine career at-bats against Weaver (16-4).
ROYALS 6, TWINS 4
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Tony Abreu drove in three runs, and the Kansas City Royals beat Minnesota to avoid a three-game sweep.
Abreu’s three RBIs matched his career high, set on Sept. 18, 2007, while with Arizona at Colorado.
Tim Collins (5-2) got a blown save and also got the win.
TIGERS 4, WHITE SOX 2
DETROIT — Justin Verlander shut down Chicago after the first inning, and Delmon Young hit a tiebreaking three-run homer in the sixth to lift the Tigers to a share of first place in the AL Central.
Alejandro De Aza hit Verlander’s second pitch of the night over the wall in right field, but the Detroit ace was outstanding after that. Verlander (13-7) allowed four hits in eight innings, striking out 11 with two walks. The Tigers swept the three-game series to pull even with the White Sox atop the division.
Chris Sale (15-6) allowed four runs and five hits in six innings.
