Orlando Cabrera homered in the bottom of the 12th inning to lead the Boston Red Sox to their second straight win in their last at-bat, 7-6 over the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday night.
Cabrera lined a 2-2 pitch from Rick Bauer into the Green Monster seats in left field. On Tuesday, Mark Bellhorn’s two-out, two-run single in the bottom of the ninth lifted the Red Sox to a 3-2 win.
The victory moved Boston, which leads the AL wild-card race, 31/2 games behind the New York Yankees in the East. The teams play a three-game series at Fenway Park over the weekend.
Cabrera was back with the team after missing the previous two games. He flew home to Colombia to be with his wife, who was having an undisclosed surgical procedure.
Bellhorn got his 164th strikeout Wednesday, surpassing Butch Hobson’s Red Sox team record of 162. But, going into the game, he also had 82 walks and a .371 on-base percentage,
Rangers’ suspensions reduced
Rangers relievers Frank Francisco, Doug Brocail and Carlos Almanzar dropped their appeals Wednesday of suspensions that stemmed from the altercation with fans near the Texas bullpen in Oakland last week.
Each suspension was reduced by one game, the Rangers announced.
Francisco threw a plastic chair into the stands near the visitors’ bullpen in Oakland that broke the nose of a woman whose husband was heckling during the Sept. 13 game. Francisco started his 16-game suspension Saturday.
Francisco’s suspension was reduced to 15 games, which still will carry through the final game of the regular season. Almanzar began serving his four-game suspension Wednesday night, and will be eligible to return Sunday, the day Brocail will begin his six-game suspension.
WEDNESDAY’S GAMES
RESULTS, SYNOPSIS
Kansas City 7 at Tampa Bay 6
W: MacDougal (1-1)
L: Sosa (4-6)
S: Affeldt (13)
Tampa manager Lou Piniella watched game on his office TV after getting tossed in 2nd inning for arguing balls/strikes. Ruben Gotay’s grounder scored Wilton Guerrero in 10th to win it.
Baltimore 6 at Boston 7
W: Leskanic (3-5)
L: Bauer (1-1)
David Ortiz gave Boston 6-5 lead with 40th homer in 7th, but Rafael Palmeiro’s pinch homer in 9th tied it. It was Palmeiro’s 549th homer, passing Mike Schmidt for 10th on career list.
Toronto 5 at N.Y. Yankees 4
W: Lilly (12-10)
L: Hernandez (8-1)
S: Batista (3)
Yankees blew chance to clinch playoff berth. Vernon Wells hit go-ahead, 2-run triple off Orlando Hernandez in 7th as Jays rallied from 3-0 deficit and dealt El Duque first loss of season.
Cleveland 7 at Detroit 6
W: Westbrook (13-9)
L: Ledezma (4-3)
Johnny Peralta’s two-run double keyed Indians’ 5-run 7th. Josh Phelps homered for the Indians, who came back from a 3-0 deficit a night after overcoming a five-run deficit to win 8-7.
Oakland 4 at Texas 5
W: Rogers (17-8)
L: Zito (11-11)
S: Cordero (47)
Kenny Rogers matched career high with 17th win and Eric Young hit first homer in more than year, 3-run tiebreaker. Rogers allowed 3 runs in 5 innings. He won 17 for Texas in ’95.
Seattle 16 at Anaheim 6
W: Meche (6-6)
L: Colon (16-12)
Ichiro Suzuki went 4-for-6 1 night after going 5-for-5, pulling within 10 hits of George Sisler’s season record of 257. Raul Ibanez went 6-for-6 with 5 RBIs. 21 of Mariners’ 24 hits were singles.
