Inside-park homer lifts BoSox
Kevin Youkilis runs hard after every at-bat, and sometimes it pays off with an extra base.
Youkilis hit a stand-up inside-the-park homer, Curt Schilling struck out 10 to rebound from his worst start of the season, and the Boston Red Sox beat the Cleveland Indians 5-3 Monday night for their fourth straight win.
"He runs right out of the batter's box every time," Boston manager Terry Francona said of Youkilis. "Sometimes you get rewarded for that, not with a triple but with a home run."
At 35-15, the Red Sox lead the AL East by 11Z\x games over Baltimore and hold a 13½-game lead over the rival New York Yankees. Boston has never had a bigger lead through 50 games.
"We're good," said Schilling, who allowed one run in seven innings. "There's a lot more focus on the spread between us and the Yankees than we put on it. But to be 50 games into a season and be by double-digits up on anybody is good."
Youkilis hit a high fly ball to the deepest part of Fenway Park in the seventh and center fielder Grady Sizemore chased after it. He couldn't get to it before it hit the side of the Red Sox bullpen and kicked toward left field, where right fielder Trot Nixon ran it down.
Nixon — who happened to hit the last inside-the-park homer for the Red Sox, on July 15, 2005, against the Yankees — made a throw to the cutoff man but Youkilis was already coasting across the plate.
Schilling (5-2) beat Cliff Lee (2-2) in a matchup of pitchers coming off their season worsts. Lee allowed three runs and six hits in five innings.
The biggest ovation of the game was to welcome Nixon, who left in the offseason as a free agent after 13 seasons in the Red Sox organization.
Mariners 12, Angels 5At Anaheim, Calif., Adrian Beltre tied a franchise record with four extra-base hits, including two homers, and Richie Sexson added a three-run drive.
Blue Jays 7, Yankees 2Dustin McGowan won for the first time in more than a year and Lyle Overbay homered as host Toronto handed New York its fourth straight loss and eighth in 11 games.The Yankees had just five hits — including two infield singles — and were shut out until Hideki Matsui's two-run homer in the eighth. New York is a season-high seven games under .500, tied with Tampa Bay for last in the division.
Twins 10, White Sox 4At Minneapolis, Johan Santana pitched eight innings and Mike Redmond drove in three runs for the Twins.
Devil Rays 6, Tigers 5Elijah Dukes drove in two runs with a bases-loaded single in the ninth inning and host Tampa Bay rallied to hand Detroit its fourth straight loss.Dukes, who was held out of two games last week following a published report that he made death threats against his estranged wife and kids, hit a high bouncer to left field off Todd Jones (1-2).
Athletics 5, Rangers 3Eric Chavez hit a three-run homer and rookie Travis Buck added a solo shot for host Oakland.
Orioles 9, Royals 1Ramon Hernandez hit his fifth career grand slam, Steve Trachsel pitched a five-hitter and visiting Baltimore extended Kansas City's losing streak to five games.
Rockies 6, Cardinals 2Jeff Francis scattered five hits in 7 2/3 innings to lead Colorado past stumbling St. Louis for the Rockies' sixth straight victory.
Braves 2, Brewers 1Andruw Jones hit the 350th home run of his career and Chuck James tied a career high with eight strikeouts for visiting Atlanta.Chris Capuano (5-4) held the Braves hitless through two outs in the fourth, when the 30-year-old Jones hit his eighth home run of the season.
Marlins 5, Cubs 3Byung-Hyun Kim pitched six scoreless innings, Reggie Abercrombie homered and visiting Florida held off a late Chicago rally.Josh Willingham had two hits and an RBI and Miguel Cabrera had three hits for the Marlins. Kim (3-2) allowed three hits and struck out five while working around three walks.
Diamondbacks 5, Phillies 4Doug Davis pitched eight sharp innings, Conor Jackson drove in four runs and visiting Arizona picked up its fifth straight win.
