New York pitching ace C.C. Sabathia extended his win streak to four games and Derek Jeter hit a two-run homer as the Yankees beat the Kansas City Royals 6-2 on the road Friday. Sabathia went eight innings for the third straight time, allowing two runs on seven hits and retiring 12 straight at one point before finishing with five strikeouts and no walks. “C.C. steps up when we need him the most,” Jeter told reporters after belting a two-run blast to left field, his fifth homer of the season. “He likes to be out there. He likes to finish games. He threw eight great innings today.” Mark Teixeira also homered as the Yankees snapped a three-game losing skid just one day after veteran closer Mariano Rivera, Major League Baseball's career saves leader, tore a knee ligament in batting practice. Rivera gave his team a welcome boost earlier Friday when he said he planned to come back from his injury following surgery on his right knee rather than retire from the sport. “I'm coming back,” Rivera, 42, said. “Write it down in big letters. I'm not going down like this. God willing and given the strength, I'm coming back.” Indians 6, Rangers 3: Johnny Damon hit a two-run triple and Jeanmar Gomez pitched seven strong innings to lead the Cleveland Indians over the Texas Rangers 6-3. Gomez (2-1) gave up seven hits and three runs as Cleveland won for the fourth time in five games. Texas has lost five of seven, but still leads the AL West. Shin-Soo Choo and Jack Hannahan homered off Colby Lewis (3-1) as Cleveland took an early lead. Tigers 5, White Sox 4: Jhonny Peralta's two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning gave the Detroit Tigers a win over the Chicago White Sox. Chicago led 4-2 after Gordon Beckham's tiebreaking two-run shot in the seventh, but Detroit got a run back in the eighth on an RBI single by Miguel Cabrera. After Alex Avila's one-out single in the ninth, Peralta ended it with a homer to right-center off Matt Thornton (1-1). Jose Valverde (2-0) pitched the top of the ninth for the win. Rays 7, Athletics 2: David Price struck out 12 over eight strong innings and Jose Molina hit his first homer of the season to lead the Tampa Bay Rays to their sixth straight win, over the Oakland Athletics. Orioles 6, Red Sox 4: Chris Davis drove in the go-ahead run with a single in the top of the 13th inning and the Baltimore Orioles outlasted the Boston Red Sox 6-4. Mark Reynolds, who hit his first homer of the season in the third, added a sacrifice fly in the 13th and Jim Johnson put Boston down in order to end the game after 4 hours and 37 minutes. Twins 3, Mariners 2: Joe Mauer's two-out RBI single in the seventh inning helped the Minnesota Twins rally for a 3-2 win, handing the Seattle Mariners their seventh straight loss. The Twins snapped a 25-inning scoreless streak when they scored three runs in the seventh inning as Seattle's bullpen was unable to hold a 2-0 lead after 6 1-3 strong innings from starter Jason Vargas. Another game saw Toronto blank LA Angels 4-0.
