Associated Press
NEW YORK — All these intentional walks to David Ortiz are becoming a good move — for Mike Napoli and the Boston Red Sox, that is.
Napoli hit a grand slam right after Ortiz got a free stroll, Felix Doubront stifled the Yankees once again and the Boston Red Sox sent New York to its sixth loss in seven games, 11-1 Saturday night.
Napoli has batted four times this season after intentional walks to Ortiz. He’s produced in those spots, homering twice and driving in eight runs.
“My job is to be his protection,” Napoli said. “I like protecting him and maybe giving managers another thought.”
Daniel Nava added a three-run homer in the eighth inning that emptied the crowd. The aisles were full of fans streaming to the exits by the time Nava touched the plate, and a “Let’s go, Red Sox!” chant erupted when Stephen Drew homered in a three-run ninth.
The Red Sox stopped Phil Hughes’ recent run of success against them and evened this three-game series going into Sunday night’s wrapup. Boston won on a warm evening, with Yankees catcher Chris Stewart leaving after the fourth inning because of dehydration.
Napoli’s second slam of the season capped a five-run burst in the third and followed the one-out walk to Ortiz. Stewart and shortstop Jayson Nix visited Hughes when the count reached 2-2 — Hughes said it was to change signs — and Napoli lined the next pitch over the right-center fence for his fifth career slam.
“Maybe a little bit of an extra challenge,” Boston manager John Farrell said. “He responded well.”
Napoli admitted he was extra eager, and swung too hard at first. He then took a deep breath, relaxed and connected.
“You got one guy that’s struck out 75 times in 200 at-bats, one guy that’s struck 22 times in 150 at-bats coming into this series,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “To me, you’re looking for a strikeout in that situation.”
“It’s a situation where I don’t necessarily want to do it, either,” he said. “I don’t want to start putting people on base, but you’re trying to shut down an inning. I’m going to do what I think is the best thing to do. I thought the best thing to do was to try and get Napoli.”
The Red Sox had been outhomered by the Yankees 4-0 in their first four meetings this year. Napoli and Nava provided pop, and more — Nava got four of Boston’s 18 hits and had an RBI grounder in the ninth, Napoli had three hits.
Doubront (4-2) won for the first time in five starts since his last victory on April 27. He permitted one run and six hits in six innings, striking out six.
The 25-year-old lefty with the slow, big-breaking curve has a 2.52 ERA in 10 career outings against the Yankees, including four straight quality starts last year.
“The adrenaline, facing those guys,” he said.
Robinson Cano was hitless in 12 career at-bats against Doubront before solving him for a single. The next time up, the All-Star took a wild swing and missed a 72 mph breaking ball by a lot.
Hughes (2-4) was pulled in the fifth when Napoli came up. The right-hander won his final three starts against Boston last year while allowing a total of three earned runs.
TIGERS 10, ORIOLES 3
BALTIMORE — Miguel Cabrera’s grand slam capped a wild fourth inning in which Detroit hit four home runs and Orioles pitcher Jason Hammel was ejected.
Prince Fielder hit a sixth-inning drive for the Tigers, whose five homers were a season high.
Justin Verlander (7-4) allowed three runs and eight hits in seven innings to win his third straight start and improve to 8-0 lifetime against Baltimore. But his performance was secondary to that of the Detroit offense, which used an eight-run fourth to take a 9-1 lead.
It was the first time the Orioles have ever given up four homers in an inning, according to STATS, Inc. Detroit had not hit four home runs in an inning since Sept. 10, 1986.
A’s 4, WHITE SOX 3, 10
OAKLAND, Calif. — Hector Santiago walked Josh Reddick with the bases loaded and two outs in the 10th inning to force in the winning run and lift the Athletics over the White Sox.
The A’s had 16 hits and failed to score after loading the bases with no outs in the ninth before scoring the game-winner off Santiago (1-4).
Chris Young, who had two hits, started the rally with a one-out double. After Yoenis Cespedes was intentionally walked, Josh Donaldson drew a free pass from Santiago to load the bases. Brandon Moss then lined out to second before Reddick walked on five pitches.
Jed Lowrie matched his career high of four hits for the A’s, who have won seven straight at home and 13 of 15 overall.
ROYALS 4, RANGERS 1, 10
ARLINGTON, Texas — Robbie Ross hit David Lough with a pitch with the bases loaded to score the go-ahead run in the 10th inning and the Royals beat the Rangers.
George Kottaras added a two-run double in the 10th for Kansas City.
Ross (2-1) gave up a leadoff single to Alcides Escobar in the 10th. Eric Hosmer followed with a single and Billy Butler was intentionally walked to load the bases. Ross struck out Mike Moustakas and Lorenzo Cain before Lough came up. Lough was hit on a 2-1 pitch to force in the go-ahead run.
INDIANS 5, RAYS 0
CLEVELAND — Ubaldo Jimenez pitched eight scoreless innings and the Indians defeated the Rays.
Jason Giambi and Asdrubal Cabrera hit two-run homers in the game that began about 10 hours following the conclusion of Friday night’s contest that ended at 2:53 a.m. on Saturday after nearly five hours of rain delays.
Jimenez (4-3) gave the Indians exactly what they needed.
TWINS 5, MARINERS 4
MINNEAPOLIS — Ryan Doumit’s two-run triple off Tom Wilhelmsen with one out in the ninth inning sent the Twins to a victory over the Mariners.
This was the third blown save of the season for Wilhelmsen (0-1), all in his last four tries. The right-hander pitched a perfect ninth for the save Friday night, but he walked the first three batters he faced a day later after inheriting a 4-2 lead. Josh Willingham followed with a sacrifice fly, and Doumit — who missed the cycle by a home run — drove in two more for the walkoff win.
ASTROS 2, ANGELS 0
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Bud Norris dominated the Angels’ high-priced lineup for the third time this season with six innings of four-hit ball and Chris Carter hit a two-run homer in the seventh against Jerome Williams, leading the Astros to a victory over Los Angeles.
Norris (5-4) struck out six, walked three and escaped a bases-loaded jam in the sixth to end a winless streak of three starts — including a six-inning scoreless outing against Kansas City that resulted in a no-decision.
The right-hander became the first starting pitcher to beat the Angels three times before the All-Star break since 2001, when Oakland’s Tim Hudson, Seattle’s Freddy Garcia and Texas’ Darren Oliver all did it.
ATHLETICS 4, WHITE SOX 3
OAKLAND, Calif. — Hector Santiago walked Josh Reddick with the bases loaded and two outs in the 10th inning to force in the winning run and lift the Athletics over the White Sox.
The A’s had 16 hits and failed to score after loading the bases with no outs in the ninth before scoring the game-winner off Santiago (1-4).
Jed Lowrie matched his career high of four hits for the A’s, who have won seven straight at home and 13 of 15 overall.
Jerry Blevins (4-0) retired one batter to get the win.
Alejandro De Aza had two hits and two RBIs for the White Sox, who have lost five straight.
