Tigers top Papelbon, Red Sox
Placido Polanco hit a broken-bat, tie-breaking single with two outs in the ninth off Jonathan Papelbon to lift the Detroit Tigers to a 10-9 win over the visiting Boston Red Sox on Wednesday.
Boston had everything set up for its sixth straight win, rallying from a 4-run deficit with its star closer on the mound. But Papelbon (2-1) blew his first save in 11 chances by allowing 2 unearned runs.
"It tells you a lot about our team," Polanco said. "We had some really tough at-bats against Papelbon to make something happen."
Todd Jones (1-0) pitched the ninth for Detroit, which snapped a five-game losing streak.
"We had a great comeback and we couldn't finish it," Boston manager Terry Francona said.
Blue Jays 6, Rays 2: Shaun Marcum gave host Toronto another outstanding pitching performance, and the Blue Jays' feeble offense gave the right-hander some runs to work with for a change.
Marcum (4-2) came within an out of a shutout, Scott Rolen hit a 2-run homer and the Blue Jays rolled past Tampa Bay.
Athletics 6, Orioles 5 (10): Mark Ellis watched his ball nick the foul pole in the 10th inning, and he thought back to a game-winning homer Marco Scutaro hit last year off Mariano Rivera that went nearly to the same spot.
Ellis hit the first game-winning homer of his career with two outs in the 10th, lifting host Oakland over Baltimore for a three-game sweep and its fourth straight victory.
Royals 9, Angels 5: David DeJesus and Alex Gordon both homered, and Kansas City, the lowest-scoring team in the American Leaugue, banged out 14 hits in a victory over Jered Weaver and visiting Los Angeles.
Zack Greinke (4-1) went 7 innings for the victory.
Indians 3, Yankees 0: Cliff Lee threw 7 sharp innings to beat Chien-Ming Wang in a matchup of unbeaten starters, leading visiting Cleveland to a victory over New York.
Lee became the first Indians pitcher to win his first six starts since Greg Swindell in 1988 and lowered his major league-best ERA to a microscopic 0.81.
National League
Rockies 4, Cardinals 3: The Rocktober magic returned to Coors Field at least for a night.
Chris Iannetta tripled home 2 runs off Jason Isringhausen (1-3) to cap a 4-run eighth-inning rally and carry slumping Colorado past the a stunned bunch from St. Louis.
After managing just 4 hits off Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright in 7 innings, the Rockies rallied against St. Louis' bullpen to win for just the fourth time in 17 games.
Pirates 3, Giants 1: His seventh start was much better than the previous 6, even if Barry Zito (0-7) still hasn't erased that zero in his record. Eight years after breaking into pro ball, Phil Dumatrait finally got rid of his.
Xavier Nady hit a 2-run homer to spoil Zito's mostly effective return to the San Francisco rotation, and Dumatrait pitched 5¿ scoreless innings for his first career win in 17 tries, leading host Pittsburgh past the Giants.
Mets 12, Dodgers 1: It had been almost a year since a New York starter made it through the eighth inning. John Maine (4-2) ended that drought and his teammates made it easy for him with the Mets' second-best offensive output of the season in a romp over visiting Los Angeles. Maine helped his cause with a 2-run single off Dodgers starter Brad Penny.
Marlins 6, Brewers 2: Milwaukee couldn't spell Burke Badenhop and had trouble hitting him, too.
The Florida rookie, who in the game notes was identified as "Badenhop," picked up his first major-league victory with a win over the visiting Brewers, who lost their fifth game in a row.
Braves 5, Padres 2: Greg Norton was brought to Atlanta to provide some punch in a pinch.
It was job well done for the Braves' new addition. Norton broke a seventh-inning tie with a bases-loaded, pinch-hit single, and the host Braves beat San Diego for their fifth straight win.
Astros 4, Nationals 3: Carlos Lee drove in the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift host Houston over Washington.
Lee's single, which flew just over the head of Lastings Milledge, scored Kaz Matsui and gave the Astros their fifth straight victory.