Baseball

Big Unit helps Yanks move within three

NEW YORK - Randy Johnson allowed only a soft single in seven innings and Jason Giambi homered off Tim Wakefield to give the New York Yankees a much-needed 1-0 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Sunday. After the teams exchanged sloppy wins in the first two games, they played nine crisp and tense innings, and the Yankees moved back within three games of the first-place Red Sox in the AL East with three weeks left. Wakefield (15-11) struck out a career-high 12 and pitched a three-hitter. Boston's only hit off Johnson (14-8) was by Kevin Youkilis in the fourth inning. ● Angels 6, White Sox 1: In Chicago, John Lackey (12-5) pitched seven shutout innings, and the Angels hit three first-inning homers to complete a three-game sweep of Chicago. ● Rangers 7, Athletics 4: In Arlington, Texas, Mark Teixeira hit a tiebreaking, three-run homer that made him the major-league RBI leader (125), and Texas dropped Oakland to third place in the wild card chase. ● Devil Rays 6, Blue Jays 5: In St. Petersburg, Fla., Travis Lee hit a tying infield single with two outs in the ninth, then drove in the winning run on an 11th-inning grounder to help Tampa Bay avoid a three-game sweep. ● Tigers 14, Royals 4: In Detroit, Placido Polanco had four hits, including a home run, to power an 18-hit effort that carried Detroit past Kansas City. ● Orioles 6, Mariners 3: In Seattle, Bruce Chen overcame a shaky start to pitch six solid innings, and Baltimore roughed up Seattle rookie Felix Hernandez. ● Indians 12, Twins 4: In Cleveland, Cliff Lee won his seventh straight decision and Cleveland hit for the cycle on the first nine pitches it saw in a rout of Minnesota, stretching its winning streak to seven games.