Boston marathon: Red Sox outlast Blue Jays 3-2 in 19 innings

Boston Red Sox’s Hanley Ramirez watches his single that drove in the winning run in the 19th inning against the Toronto Blue Jays in a baseball game at Fenway Park in Boston early Wednesday. Boston won 3-2. (AP)

BOSTON: The Red Sox have won their own version of the Boston marathon, playing 19 innings and beating the Toronto Blue Jays 3-2.
The game at Fenway Park took six hours and ended after 1 a.m. Wednesday. About 700 fans were left in the ballpark when Hanley Ramirez hit a winning single.
It was the longest game in the majors since July 2016, when Cleveland beat Toronto 2-1 in 19 innings.
Boston used 12 pitchers, tying an American League record set a day earlier by the Los Angeles Angels.
Toronto took a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the ninth inning. The AL East-leading Red Sox tied it on run-scoring groundouts by Ramirez and Mitch Moreland.
Cardinals 8 Padres 4: In San Diego, Jose Martinez hit two home runs, rookie Harrison Bader added a career-high three RBIs and Michael Wacha survived a shaky start to last six innings as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the San Diego Padres 8-4 Tuesday night.
Martinez added a double to go 3 for 3 and finish with three RBIs.
Bader, who was a September call-up on Friday, smacked his third home run and had his third multi-hit game since being summoned.
Wacha (11-7), who blanked the Padres over his last four innings, was charged with four runs (three earned) and seven hits. He walked three and struck out six in winning for the second straight time after suffering three consecutive losses.
Three Cardinals relievers shut out the Padres in the final three innings.
Indians 9 White Sox 4: In Chicago, Jose Ramirez hit two more homers, Austin Jackson also connected and the Cleveland Indians beat the Chicago White Sox 9-4 on Tuesday night for their 13th straight victory, the longest run by a major league team this season.
Danny Salazar got just two outs in his return from right elbow inflammation, but Cleveland’s deep bullpen took over from there. Seven relievers combined for 8 1/3 scoreless innings as the Indians moved within one of their franchise-record 14-game win streak last year.
Jackson and Ramirez hit back-to-back homers during Cleveland’s three-run first against David Holmberg (2-4). Ramirez added another solo shot in the second, and the AL Central leaders went ahead to stay on Greg Allen’s tiebreaking, two-run double in the third. Yan Gomes tacked on a three-run shot in the ninth.
Tigers 13 Royals 2: In Detroit: JaCoby Jones and John Hicks hit two home runs and the Detroit Tigers had six homers in all in a 13-2 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday night.
Tigers starting pitcher Anibal Sanchez threw only five pitches and was knocked out of the game in the first inning after getting hit by Whit Merrifield’s single in the right leg. Sanchez, who was charged with one earned run when Merrifield later scored, left the game with a calf injury.
Reliever Myles Jaye (1-0) replaced Sanchez and pitched 2 1/3 innings. He allowed one hit, two walks and a wild pitch, leaving in the third inning with the Tigers holding a 7-1 lead. Jason Vargas (14-10) took the loss, allowing seven earned runs and six hits, a walk and a hit batter in two innings of work.