Nick Swisher snapped a scoreless tie with a two-run blast to support Hiroki Kuroda in the Yankees' 3-0 shutout of the Rangers. Neither team scored until Swisher's drive to right-center in the bottom of the seventh, one night after his grand slam erased a 2-0 deficit.
Mark Reynolds homered twice and drove in four runs as Baltimore whipped Boston 7-1 to stay six games behind the East-leading Yankees. Wei-Yin Chen gave up one run, nine hits and a walk in six-plus innings to pick up his 11th win and help the Orioles move 10 games over .500 for the first time since late June. Boston Red Sox infielder Dustin Pedroia says he believes none of the team's problems this season should be attributed to first-year manager Bobby Valentine. Pedroia addressed a report from Yahoo! Sports that he complained about Valentine's performance at a meeting with team owner John Henry
In NL play, Jay Bruce belted a three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth to give Cincinnati a 3-0 win over the New York Mets. Kyle Kendrick have up five hits in seven innings as the Phillies shut out the Marlins for the second straight night, this time 1-0. Neither team scored after Jimmy Rollins led off the game with a homer, sending manager Charlie Manuel to his 700th career victory. Philadelphia is one game behind the Mets for third place in the NL East.
The Sox get another shot at Baltimore and the Yankees host Texas; the Mets spend the next two nights in Cincinnati. The Phillies are in Miami this afternoon
The Big East has hired CBS executive vice president Mike Aresco to be commissioner of a conference now in rebuilding mode. The conference is in the middle of a massive membership overhaul and will begin crucial negotiations on a new television contract in September. "It would be hard to overstate it," Aresco said of the importance of the next TV contract. "I consider it job one. The departures of longtime members West Virginia, Pittsburgh and Syracuse cost former commissioner John Marinatto his job this year.
Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press