League leaders the New York Yankees completed a four-game sweep of their arch rivals the Boston Red Sox, scoring four runs in the bottom of the eighth inning for a 5-2 win on Sunday. Johnny Damon and Mark Teixeira hit back-to-back homers to key the eighth-inning rally as the Yankees finished their first four-game home series sweep over the Sox in 24 years. For New York, it was a seventh consecutive win while the Red Sox suffered a sixth loss in a row, as the Yankees opened up a six and a half- game gap at the top of American League East.
Elsewhere in the American League, Taylor Teagarden homered in the eighth and Marlon Byrd connected in the ninth to seal a 7-0 win and the series for the Texas Rangers against the AL West-leading Los Angeles Angels. The Detroit Tigers, leaders of the AL Central, edged a tight game against the Minnesota Twins 8-7, with Placido Polanco hitting the go-ahead RBI single in the eighth.
The Toronto Blue Jays overcame the Baltimore Orioles 7-3, the Cleveland Indians were 8-4 winners against the Chicago White Sox, the Oakland Athletics saw off the Kansas City Royals 6-3 and the Seattle Mariners trounced the Tampa Bay Rays 11-2. In the National League, the Washington Nationals continued their fine run with an eighth consecutive victory.
Elijah Dukes drove in three runs, Adam Dunn hit his 30th homer of the season and Ryan Zimmerman had three hits as the Nationals, bottom-ranked in the NL East, defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks 9-2. The Philadelphia Phillies are still top of the East despite a 12-3 loss to the second-ranked Florida Marlins, while a two-run homer from Skip Schumaker in the eighth sealed a 7-3 win for the NL Central-leading St Louis Cardinals over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
* With agencies