NEW YORK – Jorge Posada followed up a memorable game with two more RBIs, and Chien-Ming Wang pitched the New York Yankees past the Texas Rangers 4-3 Wednesday night.
Robinson Cano and Bernie Williams each added a run-scoring single for the Yankees, coming off a stunning comeback Tuesday night.
They rallied from 9-0 down behind Posada, who hit a game-winning, two-run homer with two outs in the ninth inning and withstood a violent collision at the plate in a 14-13 victory – matching the biggest comeback in team history.
Posada singled twice Wednesday and reached base safely in all four plate appearances. The All-Star catcher has seven RBIs in the past two games.
Wang (4-1) tossed eight efficient innings again to win his third straight start, allowing six hits and one walk with three strikeouts. Featuring a sharp sinking fastball, he threw only 81 pitches and got 17 of his 24 outs on grounders.
Gary Matthews Jr. hit a two-run homer in the eighth for Texas, cutting it to 4-3. Mariano Rivera worked a perfect ninth for his eighth save in nine chances.
The Yankees broke a 1-all tie with five consecutive two-out hits off Kameron Loe (2-4) in a three-run fifth and beat the Rangers for the 10th time in 11 meetings dating to last season.
Indians 5, Royals 0
CLEVELAND – Travis Hafner hit a grand slam and Jake Westbrook tossed a six-hit shutout to help the Cleveland Indians beat the Kansas City Royals 5-0 Wednesday night.
Westbrook (4-2) won for just the second time in seven starts since April 9 by pitching his second career shutout and first since June 14, 2004, against Baltimore. He struck out two and didn’t walk a batter.
It was Cleveland’s first complete-game shutout since C.C. Sabathia did it Sept. 4, 2004, at Seattle.
Cleveland got only three hits but won for the second time after a six-game losing streak. Hafner broke that streak with a game-winning two-run homer in a 6-4 win over the Royals on Tuesday night.
The Royals fell to 2-19 on the road, tying the worst start away from home in major league history. They have lost five straight overall.
Hafner was 0-for-7 in his career against Jeremy Affeldt (2-3) until hitting his 13th homer of the season. He joined Texas’ Kevin Mench as the only players with two grand slams this season. Hafner also did it May 1 against the Chicago White Sox.
Tigers 2, Twins 0
DETROIT – Rookie Justin Verlander outdueled Johan Santana and Vance Wilson homered to give the Detroit Tigers a 2-0 win over the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday night.
It was Detroit’s sixth-straight win and sixth consecutive victory over Minnesota at home this season. It was the Twins’ fourth-straight loss.
Verlander (5-3) allowed six hits in eight innings. He didn’t issue a walk or have a strikeout. Todd Jones pitched the ninth for his 11th save in 12 opportunities.
Santana (4-4), who had his four-game winning streak snapped, pitched a four-hitter. He struck out a season-high 12 and walked one.
Chris Shelton drew a walk with one out in the eighth inning. After Santana struck out Brandon Inge, Wilson lined the first pitch over the left-field fence for his first homer of the season.
The Tigers had runners on first and third with none out in the second after Magglio Ordonez led off with a double and Carlos Guillen followed with a bloop single to right. Santana then fanned Shelton. Ordonez was caught in a rundown and tagged out when he broke from third and Inge swung and missed. Guillen moved to third on the rundown, but Inge then struck out to end the inning.
White Sox 5, D-Rays 2
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Jermaine Dye drove in three runs and Jon Garland pitched seven solid innings to lift the Chicago White Sox over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 5-2 Wednesday night.
Dye hit a tiebreaking RBI single off Ruddy Lugo (0-2) during a three-run eighth inning that put the White Sox up 5-2. He also homered and has 28 RBIs in his last 24 games.
Garland (3-2) gave up two runs, six hits and struck out five.
He entered with a 1-2 record and a 9.10 ERA in five previous road starts. Bobby Jenks got the final three outs for his 12th save in 13 opportunities.
Greg Norton and Jonny Gomes homered for Tampa Bay. Seth McClung allowed two runs and eight hits over seven innings.
The right-hander has a 2.51 ERA in his last five starts.
Norton put the Devil Rays ahead 1-0 with a second-inning solo homer. Gomes made it 2-0 with his 14th homer of the season in the fourth.
Dye hit his ninth homer to cut it to 2-1 in the fifth, then tied it with a sacrifice fly in the sixth.
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