NEW YORK: Jhonny Peralta belted a two-run walk off homer in the bottom of the ninth to lift the Detroit Tigers to a 4-3 win over the Boston Red Sox in the battle of American League division leaders yesterday.
Peralta placed an Andrew Bailey slider over the left-field fence to move the Tigers (40-31) to their 40th win of the season while dropping the Red Sox to (44-31).
Elsewhere Jordan Zimmermann notched up win number 10 and Ian Desmond homered for second straight game as Washington beat Colorado 5-1.
Zimmermann (10-3) allowed just one unearned run on six hits with nine strikeouts as the Nationals improved to 36-36 while dropping the Rockies to 37-37.
In Texas, the Rangers threw out Josh Donaldson trying to score from first base in the ninth to hold on to a 4-3 win over the Oakland Raiders.
The result helped the Rangers (41-32) close within a game of their AL West leading rivals (43-32).
Pittsburgh’s Pedro Alvarez was responsible for all five of his side’s runs as the Pirates took down division rival Cincinnati 5-3 and closed within half a game of the Reds. REUTERS
