Boston win but injuries mount

The Boston Red Sox suffered another injury but hung in to beat the San Francisco Giants 4-2. Starter Clay Buchholz lasted only one inning before going down with a knee injury, but seven Red Sox relievers got the job done as Darnell McDonald and Mike Cameron both hit homers. Buchholz's injury came on the same day as the Red Sox confirmed star second baseman Dustin Pedroia has fractured a bone in his foot. Paul Konerko cracked an eighth-inning home run to lift the streaking Chicago White Sox to a 3-2 victory over the Chicago Cubs. The win is the 11th straight for the White Sox, and the 14th in their last 15 games. Brian Sweeney marked his long-awaited return to the major leagues by pitching four shutout innings and picking up the win as the Seattle Mariners edged out the Milwaukee Brewers 5-4. Sweeney, 36, spent the last three seasons pitching in Japan but returned to the States this season hoping for one more crack at the majors. Johan Santana was roughed up for five runs in six innings - conceding four in the first frame - as he faced the Minnesota Twins for the first time since joining the New York Mets, losing 6-0. Josh Hamilton's hitting streak reached 20 games while Ian Kinsler homered as the Texas Rangers made it 15 wins out of 17 by topping the Houston Astros 7-2. Colby Rasmus and Skip Schumacher both hit home runs while emergency starter Blake Hawksworth handled the Kansas City Royals in a 5-3 St Louis Cardinals win. Chipper Jones cracked a three-run homer as the Atlanta Braves came from behind to top the Detroit Tigers 4-3. Miguel Cabrera hit his 20th homer of the season in the losing effort for Detroit. David Price struck out 11 in eight innings while giving up just two runs as the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-3. John Buck, Aaron Hill and Alex Gonzalez all went deep to power the Toronto Blue Jays to a 5-1 win over the Philadelphia Phillies. Luke Scott took advantage of a wild pitch from Drew Storen to score the winning run as the Baltimore Orioles topped the Washington Nationals 6-5. Hideki Matsui hit a first-inning grand slam and it proved enough for the Los Angeles Angels to beat the Colorado Rockies 4-2. James Loney collected four RBI as AJ Burnett's struggles continued in a 9-4 Los Angeles Dodgers victory over the New York Yankees. Jon Garland held the Florida Marlins to one run in 6 2/3 innings and drove in the winning run on a sacrifice fly as the San Diego Padres won 2-1 in Miami. The Cincinnati Reds rallied from an early deficit to beat the Cleveland Indians 6-4. Trevor Cahill tossed 7 2/3 innings of shutout ball, striking out 10, to lead the Oakland Athletics to a 5-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

* PA Sport