Abreu's 7 RBIs lead Yankees in rout of Devil Rays

Bobby Abreu had a week&#39;s worth of production in the 1st inning for the New York Yankees. <br/><br/>Abreu hit a 3 run homer and a 3 run double in a 9 run 1st and finished with a career high 7 RBIs

Wednesday, September 13th 2006, 6:00 am

By: News On 6


Bobby Abreu had a week's worth of production in the 1st inning for the New York Yankees.

Abreu hit a 3 run homer and a 3 run double in a 9 run 1st and finished with a career high 7 RBIs in the Yankees' 12-4 rout of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays on Tuesday night.

“It was crazy,” said Abreu, who went 2-3 with a 3rd inning sacrifice fly.

Abreu's 4th inning flyout was caught by Delmon Young, who was just in front of the right field wall.

“If it's earlier, it's probably a home run with the warmer weather,” Yankees manager Joe Torre said.

Abreu became the first Yankees player with 6 RBIs in an inning since Gil McDougald in the 9th on May 3, 1951, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, and the first major leaguer with 6 RBIs in the 1st since Oakland's Matt Stairs on July 5, 1996.

Abreu, who has 31 RBIs in 41 games since the Yankees acquired him from Philadelphia on July 30, had 11 runners on base in his 4 at-bats. He homered on the first pitch he saw from starter Tim Corcoran (4-8) for a 3-0 lead.

In other AL games, it was: Detroit 3, Texas 2; Minnesota 7, Oakland 5; Kansas City 5, Cleveland 3; Boston 6, Baltimore 5; Seattle 4, Toronto 2; Los Angeles 4, Chicago 3 in 11 innings.

Hideki Matsui went 4-4 with a walk in his first game back with New York since a broken left wrist ended his consecutive games streak on May 11. He earned several standing ovations from the Yankee Stadium crowd and tied his major league high for hits in a game.

As fans rose before his first at bat, he removed his batting helmet and waved it at the crowd of 52,265.

“When I got to the plate, I never even imagined I would receive such an ovation,” he said through a translator. “I felt nothing but appreciation.”

Mike Mussina (14-6) pitched 6 1-3 shutout innings to win for the first time in 6 starts, and the Yankees lowered their magic number to 9 for clinching their ninth straight AL East title, maintaining a season-high 10 1/2-game lead over Boston.

Derek Jeter had 3 walks and was hit by a pitch before being removed for a pinch hitter in the 7th. His career high 21 game hitting streak remained intact under baseball's rules. With 3 runs scored, he increased his total to 102 and broke 100 for the 10th time.

Jeter, whose .346 average is 2nd in the AL to Minnesota's Joe Mauer (.348), can't avoid the streak these days.

“You notice it because every time you're on deck, somebody in the stands is yelling to get a hit,” Jeter said.

New York won its fourth straight and moved 31 games over .500 for the first time this season.

Tigers 3, Rangers 2

Carlos Guillen hit 2 solo homers, including the game winner leading off the bottom of the 9th inning against Ron Mahay (1-3).

Marcus Thames also homered as Detroit won for just the 6th time in 19 games. The Tigers, who had a 10 game lead over Chicago and 10 1/2 over Minnesota in the AL Central when play ended August 7, are just 1 1/2 games ahead of the Twins.

Fernando Rodney (7-3) pitched a perfect 8th and 9th to pick up the win.

Twins 7, Athletics 5

Justin Morneau's 2 run double against Joe Kennedy (4-1) highlighted a 4 run 8th inning, and host Minnesota rallied for its 44th come from behind victory.

Morneau and Jason Tyner each went 3-4 with 2 RBIs as the Twins increased their lead to 2 1/2 games over Chicago in the wild card race.

Dennys Reyes (5-0) pitched the 8th and Joe Nathan got the last 3 outs for his 32nd save in 34 chances.

Angels 4, White Sox 3, 11 innings

At Anaheim, Calif., Chone Figgins singled home the winning run against Bobby Jenks (3-4) in the 11th inning to help Los Angeles tighten up the AL West race.

The Angels won for the 8th time in 10 games and trimmed Oakland's lead in the division to 4 1/2 games. The White Sox dropped 4 games behind AL Central-leading Detroit and 2 1/2 behind the Twins for the wild card.

Hector Carrasco (5-3) allowed 1 hit over 2 innings for the win.

Royals 5, Indians 3

Kansas City pitcher Runelvys Hernandez and catcher John Buck exchanged punches in the dugout, before the Royals snapped an 11 game losing streak at Cleveland in the 1,000th game at Jacobs Field.

Hernandez (6-9) allowed 3 runs over 5 innings to earn the win and Joe Nelson pitched the 9th for his 7th save as the Royals got their 23rd road win, surpassing last year's total.

Kansas City's Esteban German went 4-4 and scored 3 times, raising his average to .351 (39-for-111) in his last 43 games.

Jeremy Sowers (7-4) gave up 4 runs and 7 hits over 5 innings in his first loss since July 16.

Red Sox 6, Orioles 5

Coco Crisp drove in 3 runs, Kevin Youkilis had 2 RBIs in the pivotal 6th inning, and Boston ended a 6 game road losing streak.

The Red Sox scored 3 runs in the 6th off Daniel Cabrera (7-10). After Baltimore got a run in the bottom half, Boston padded the lead with a 3 run 7th. The Red Sox are 12-1 against Baltimore this season and have won 17 of the last 18 games between the division rivals.

Craig Hansen (2-1), the first of six Red Sox relievers, got the win.

Mariners 4, Blue Jays 2

Adrian Beltre and Raul Ibanez hit solo homers, and Gil Meche (10-8) won for the first time in nearly two months to lead host Seattle.

J.J. Putz pitched the 9th for his 32nd save in 38 chances, getting Vernon Wells to fly out to center with runners on 1st and 2nd to end the game.

Wells hit a 2 run homer and Toronto starter Shaun Marcum (2-4) lasted just 2 2-3 innings for the second time in 12 starts.
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