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First Posted: 9/27/2013
TORONTO — R.A. Dickey slowed Tampa Bay’s stretch run, leading the Toronto Blue Jays to a 6-3 victory Friday night that stopped the Rays’ seven-game winning streak.
Tampa Bay wasted a 2-0 lead and committed a season-high three errors, including a pair by two-time Gold Glove third baseman Evan Longoria. The Rays began the night with a magic number of two over Texas for clinching an AL wild-card berth.
Dickey (14-13) allowed two runs and five hits in 7 1-3 innings, retiring 13 of 14 during one stretch. The 38-year-old knuckleballer, acquired from the New York Mets during the offseason after he won the NL Cy Young Award, struggled earlier this season but finished strongly, going 5-1 with a 3.17 ERA in his last seven starts.
Tampa Bay, which had won seven of its previous nine against Toronto, went ahead on home runs by Ben Zobrist in the first and Delmon Young in the second, his second in two games. Dickey allowed 35 homers, one behind the major league-high total of Oakland’s A.J. Griffin (36).
Hellickson retired nine in a row before Jose Reyes singled n the fourth. After a sacrifice, Brett Lawrie reached on Longoria’s fielding error and Moises Sierra and Anthony Gose followed with RBI singles.
Ryan Goins grounded a go-ahead single up the middle, and center fielder Sam Fuld overran the ball, which went all the way to the wall. Sierra scored on the error for a 4-2 lead, and Goins was thrown out at the plate on Zobrist’s relay from shortstop.
Lawrie and Sierra added run-scoring singles in the fifth.
Marlins 3, Tigers 2
MIAMI — Detroit’s Jhonny Peralta played in his first game since completing a 50-game suspension, going 1 for 4 with an RBI in the Tigers’ loss to the Miami Marlins.
Peralta was suspended for his involvement in the Miami-based Biogenesis performance-enhancing lab. His run-scoring double chased Miami starter Tom Koehler in the sixth and cut the Marlins’ lead to 3-2.
Giancarlo Stanton drove in three runs for the Marlins and Koehler (5-10) pitched 5 1-3 innings, allowing two runs and five hits while walking three and striking out three.
Steve Cishek pitched a scoreless ninth for his 29th consecutive save and 34th in 36 opportunities.
Detroit’s Jose Alvarez (1-5) lasted only 2 2-3 innings in his return to the starting rotation after eight relief appearances. He allowed three runs and two hits, walking two and striking out three.
Red Sox 12, Orioles 3
BALTIMORE — Clay Buchholz allowed three runs over seven innings as the AL East champion Boston Red Sox routed the Baltimore Orioles and moved closer to securing home-field advantage throughout the postseason.
Daniel Nava and David Ortiz hit three-run homers, Jarrod Saltalamacchia had a three-run shot overturned by replay.
Dustin Pedroia had three hits for the Red Sox would clinch the AL’s best record with another win or a loss by Oakland, which played Seattle later Friday.
Rivera could play OF against Houston
HOUSTON — Yankees manager Joe Girardi says Mariano Rivera can play center field this weekend against Houston if he wants to.
The 43-year-old closer, who is retiring Sunday, has said he wants to play in the outfield.
Girardi says “I’ll talk to him every day to see what he wants to do. I know he’s talked about playing some center field, but I know he has some concerns about his leg. That’s really up to him. If he wants to do it, he can do it. I’m OK with it.”
Yankees pitcher Andy Pettitte, scheduled to make his final career start Saturday before his hometown fans, is excited about the possibility of Rivera roaming the outfield.
Pettitte says: “He’s a great athlete and if he’s able to do that, it will be fun.”