Rays' Price, Zobrist drill Red Sox
Cleveland Indians' Asdrubal Cabrera, right, follows through on a two-run home run against the Baltimore Orioles in the third inning of a baseball game. (July 15, 2011) Credit: AP
All-Star David Price pitched six solid innings and Ben Zobrist hit his fifth career grand slam as Tampa Bay snapped first-place Boston's six-game winning streak with a 9-6 win Friday night in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Price (9-7) allowed five hits -- three solo homers -- struck out seven and walked one in his first outing since giving up Derek Jeter's 3,000th hit last week.
Casey Kotchman hit a two-run homer for the third-place Rays, who continued a stretch in which they are playing 10 consecutive games against the Red Sox and second-place Yankees, the teams they are chasing in the AL East.
Kyle Farnsworth retired all four batters he faced, earning his 18th save in 20 opportunities.
Indians 6, Orioles 5: Asdrubal Cabrera and Grady Sizemore homered and Lonnie Chisenhall singled in the tiebreaking run in the sixth inning, as Cleveland extended host Baltimore's losing streak to nine games -- matching Buck Showalter's longest skid as a major-league manager -- and 14 losses in 15 games.
White Sox 8, Tigers 2: Chicago's Gavin Floyd allowed six hits into the eighth inning to outpitch Justin Verlander in Detroit. Carlos Quentin had three hits and three RBIs for the White Sox, who scored four runs off Verlander (12-5) in the third inning -- more than the Detroit ace had allowed in any start since May 24. Verlander threw six innings, his shortest outing since that same date.
Royals 2, Twins 1: Eric Hosmer hit a two-run homer in the top of the ninth inning for visiting Kansas City off reliever Matt Capps, whose seventh blown save this season matched the major-league lead.
Pirates 4, Astros 0: Jeff Karstens (8-4) pitched a five-hitter and Andrew McCutchen tripled and drove in two runs for visiting Pittsburgh.
Reds 6, Cardinals 5: Brandon Phillips hit a two-run homer off Fernando Salas with two outs in the ninth to rally host Cincinnati.
Braves 11, Nationals 1: Martin Prado had two hits, including a homer, in his return from five weeks on the disabled list as host Atlanta earned the 10,000th win in franchise history.
Cubs 2, Marlins 1: Ryan Dempster allowed four hits in eight scoreless innings and host Chicago overcame another shaky performance by closer Carlos Marmol to snap Florida's season-high, six-game winning streak.
Rockies 4, Brewers 0:Rookie Juan Nicasio pitched seven strong innings and Dexter Fowler doubled, walked and scored twice in his return from a nearly monthlong demotion to the minor leagues to lead host Colorado.
-- AP
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