Humber rocked
KEVIN YOUKILIS hit a grand slam, Jarrod Saltalamacchia homered twice and the visiting Boston Red Sox roughed up Philip Humber in a 10-3 victory over the Chicago White Sox.
KEVIN YOUKILIS hit a grand slam, Jarrod Saltalamacchia homered twice and the visiting Boston Red Sox roughed up Philip Humber in a 10-3 victory over the Chicago White Sox.
Youkilis, mired in an early-season slump, hit his second career slam into the rightfield bullpen during a five-run third inning against Humber, who was making his first start since pitching a perfect game in a 4-0 victory at Seattle on Saturday.
There was no such suspense Thursday. Humber walked leadoff batter Mike Aviles in the first, snapping his streak of 29 straight batters retired.
One out later, the righthander allowed a single to Dustin Pedroia, a dribbler up the third-base line that was the first hit off Humber since Nick Markakis' one-out double for Baltimore in the fifth inning of the Orioles' 10-4 victory at Chicago on April 16.
Humber was tagged for a career-high nine runs and eight hits in five innings. The nine earned runs he allowed after his perfect game were a record, topping the eight given up by Jim "Catfish" Hunter after his perfecto for Oakland in 1968.
Johnny Vander Meer remains the only major league pitcher to throw consecutive no-hitters, accomplishing the feat in 1938 with Cincinnati.
The resurgent Red Sox have scored 34 runs in winning their last four games, a streak coming on the heels of a five-game skid.
Adrian Gonzalez followed Pedroia with an RBI double, and David Ortiz added a run-scoring single to give the Red Sox a 2-0 lead.
After throwing just 96 pitches to complete his masterpiece, Humber twice needed more than 30 pitches to get through an inning. He threw 92 pitches over the first four innings.
Saltalamacchia followed Youkilis' slam with a home run just inside the right-field foul pole. He added a two-run shot in the fifth off Humber, his fourth homer of the season.
Humber followed up his best game with perhaps his worst, allowing three walks and three homers. His ERA rose from 0.63 to 4.66.
In other games * At Baltimore, Adam Jones led off the eighth inning with a tiebreaking homer and the Orioles beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 5-2, completing a three-game sweep with their fourth straight victory.
* At Detroit, Chone Figgins hit a two-out, tiebreaking double in the seventh inning that was misjudged by rightfielder Brennan Boesch, and the Seattle Mariners completed a three-game sweep of the Tigers with a 5-4 victory. Justin Smoke hit a three-run homer and Miguel Olivo also connected for the Mariners.
After the game, the Tigers released slumping third baseman Brandon Inge, 34, who is batting .100 (2-for-20) with a home run and two RBI this season. He is in his 12th season in the majors, all in Detroit.
* At St. Petersburg, Fla., Brandon Allen hit a two-run pinch-hit homer in the ninth and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Los Angeles Angels, 4-3. Albert Pujols went 1-for-4 for the Angels, ending his hitless streak at 21 at-bats.
Pujols, with 445 homers, has not gone deep in 19 games this season, a span of 76 at-bats.
* At Cleveland, Luis Mendoza (1-2) pitched into the sixth inning and Kansas City's bullpen made a lead stand up, helping the Royals beat the Cleveland Indians, 4-2.
Noteworthy *
The Minnesota Twins said first baseman Chris Parmelee was "doing well" and showing no signs of a concussion, a day after he was hit in the head by a pitch from Boston's Justin Thomas.
* Red Sox leftfielder Carl Crawford has a sprained ligament in his throwing elbow and will remain sidelined indefinitely, possibly a few months.
* Toronto Blue Jays righthander Dustin McGowan has experienced shoulder pain while rehabilitating a foot injury and will be shut down for 2 weeks.