The Associated Press
Despite being sick to his stomach, Shaun Marcum put together another strong pitching performance for the Toronto Blue Jays.
Marcum struck out a season-high nine, Shannon Stewart drove in the only runs and the Blue Jays beat the White Sox 2-0 on Friday night, handing Chicago its third straight defeat.
Marcum (3-2) won for the first time in three starts, lowering his ERA to 2.70. He allowed just two singles by Orlando Cabrera, and walked three.
Marcum said he began feeling ill while the Blue Jays were in Boston earlier this week.
“When I was warming up, maybe from running around or something, my stomach felt like it wasn’t going to be able to keep anything down,” he said. “I threw up after the first and the second, but other than that I was able to hang with it.”
The Blue Jays have allowed only three runs in the past four games – though they’ve won just two of them.
In other AL games, it was: Boston 7, Tampa Bay 3; the New York Yankees 5, Seattle 1; Minnesota 11, Detroit 1; Texas 4, Oakland 3; and Baltimore 4, the Los Angeles Angels 3. The Kansas City at Cleveland game was postponed by rain. No makeup date was announced.
Jeremy Accardo relieved Marcum after back-to-back walks with two out in the seventh for Toronto. Accardo loaded the bases by walking Brian Anderson, but got Juan Uribe on a fly out.
The White Sox, who have lost six of nine, have the lowest batting average in the American League (.237) and are a measly 6-for-46 with runners in scoring position in their past six games.
“It’s a shame when our pitching staff is doing real good and we’re not helping them to win games,” White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said.
Toronto left-hander Jesse Carlson worked the eighth, right-hander Shawn Camp struck out one batter in the ninth and lefty Scott Downs closed it out for his second save.
The Blue Jays have won two straight, both shutouts, after losing eight of their previous nine – including six in a row.
Chicago left-hander Mark Buehrle (1-3) gave up two runs – both unearned – on five hits in eight innings. He hasn’t won since April 6 at Detroit, a span of four starts.
The Blue Jays scored the only runs with two out in the first. Scott Rolen reached on third baseman Joe Crede’s throwing error and went to third on a ground-rule double by Vernon Wells. Both runners scored when Stewart singled up the middle.
Yankees 5, Mariners 1
At New York, Chien-Ming Wang became the American League’s first six-game winner, ending the Yankees’ three-game losing streak on a chilly night in the Bronx.
Wang (6-0) pitched shutout ball into the sixth inning, and Kyle Farnsworth, Joba Chamberlain and Mariano Rivera completed a four-hitter. The Yankees improved to 27-7 when Wang starts following a loss, winning 11 in a row, and he is 22-6 in those games. He’s even more consistent against Seattle, improving to 7-0 against the Mariners in seven career starts.
Hideki Matsui hit an RBI single in the first inning and Melky Cabrera added a two-run double in the second off Erik Bedard (2-1). Bedard entered with a 20-inning scoreless streak against the Yankees but was hurt by Seattle’s defense, which made four errors and allowed two unearned runs.
Orioles 4, Angels 3
At Los Angeles, Jeremy Guthrie won for the first time in 16 starts, Nick Markakis and Melvin Mora each drove in two runs and Baltimore began a 10-game road trip with a win.
Guthrie (1-3) got his first win since beating the Yankees 4-2 at Baltimore on July 27. The right-hander allowed two runs and three hits over seven innings with six strikeouts.
George Sherrill pitched a shaky ninth for his 11th save.
Jered Weaver (2-4) gave up four runs and six hits over seven innings, struck out six and walked two.
Twins 11, Tigers 1
At Minnesota, Livan Hernandez baffled Detroit’s mighty offense for seven innings and the host Twins beat up the Tigers’ normally reliable bullpen.
Hernandez (4-1) gave up one run on eight hits to bounce back from a horrendous start in Texas, and the Twins scored four runs off Aquilino Lopez in the seventh inning to get some breathing room in their third straight win.
Magglio Ordonez went 2-for-3 with a solo homer for the Tigers. Armando Galarraga (2-1) gave up four runs – two earned – on six hits.
Rangers 4, Athletics 3
At Oakland, Milton Bradley had three hits against his former team, and visiting Texas took advantage of four errors for its first three-game winning streak of the season.
Michael Young and Brandon Boggs each had sacrifice flies and Ian Kinsler added an RBI groundout to help Vicente Padilla (4-2) win his second straight start.
Texas beat Joe Blanton (2-5) and sent the Oakland opening day starter to 0-5 at home this year – the most home losses by a pitcher in the majors.
Red Sox 7, Rays 3
At Boston, Dustin Pedroia drove in three runs, including a two-run single in a five-run fourth inning that gave host Boston its third win in nine games.
Brandon Moss hit a solo homer, and Pedroia had a double and two singles for the Red Sox. The start was delayed 2 hours, 27 minutes by rain. Only a couple thousand fans remained in Fenway Park when the game ended at 12:48 a.m.
Clay Buchholz (2-2) allowed one run, five hits, walked four and struck out six in 5 1-3 innings. Jonathan Papelbon, the fifth Boston pitcher, worked a perfect ninth.
Edwin Jackson (2-3) gave up six runs on nine hits in four-plus innings.
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