News » the left-field wall. Sabathia nicked Benintendi

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Christian Villanueva had a hard time walking http://www.brewersfanproshop.com/authentic-corey-knebel-jersey , yet still managed to get a walk-off hit.Villanueva, who fouled a ball off his foot on Friday night, had a walk-off pinch-hit single in the ninth inning, and the San Diego Padres ended a five-game skid with a 7-6 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday night.“The manager had asked me if I was good to go, and I took a few swings in the batting cage and said I could do it,” Villanueva said through a translator. “It’s a dream come true to be able to hit a walk-off up here at the big league level. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do.”Travis Jankowski led off the ninth with a walk against Andrew Chafin (1-4) and advanced to second on a groundout by Eric Hosmer. Yoshihisa Hirano replaced Chafin and intentionally walked Hunter Renfroe.Villanueva hit for Craig Stammen (6-2) and drove a 2-2 pitch into left field to score Jankowski and give San Diego its first win against Arizona at Petco Park this season. Stammen worked two scoreless innings.“His foot was huge. It was swollen,” Padres manager Andy Green said. “He probably had no business hitting there, but he said he was good to go.”After the broken-bat single landed in shallow left, Villanueva’s discomfort left him.“I forgot about it — I didn’t even think about the pain after that,” Villanueva said. “It was a matter of battling through it, especially after they put Renfroe on. Then I really wanted to come through.”Paul Goldschmidt had four hits and drove in four runs while tying a Diamondbacks record by reaching base safely in nine straight plate appearances. Goldschmidt also extended his hitting streak to 11 games.“I’ve hit some balls hard,” Goldschmidt said. “I’ve had some good luck. I’ve had some good swings, which is nice, but I’ve had some luck going my way to get me a few hits as well.”The Diamondbacks’ three-game winning streak ended, and their NL West lead over the Colorado Rockies fell to one-half game.Arizona built an early lead thanks to doubles by A.J. Pollack and Eduardo Escobar. Goldschmidt singled to give the Diamondbacks a 2-0 advantage, a familiar position for a team that leads the majors in first-inning runs with 107.San Diego evened the score in the fourth with a three-run inning. Goldschmidt doubled home Escobar in the fifth to build a 5-3 lead.The Padres answered with three more runs in the fifth. Cory Spangenberg’s single gave San Diego its first lead of the series at 6-5.“It’s no secret we have been having a rough time as of late,” Green said. “This was a big win for us.”Goldschmidt struck again in the seventh after another double by Pollack, singling against Phil Maton to tie the game.“It’s a tough loss to absorb,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “We’ve done it before. We can’t reverse time and go back and change the way the outcome of the game turned out. We’ve got to find a way to get this job done tomorrow, and that’s what we’ll focus on.”Both starters struggled. Arizona’s Zack Godley allowed six runs on eight hits in five innings. Clayton Richard went five for the Padres, allowing five runs on nine hits.UP NEXTDiamondbacks: RHP Zack Grienke (12-8, 3.00 ERA) looks to continue his dominance of the Padres in the finale of the four-game series. Grienke is 11-2 with a 2.10 ERA in his career against San Diego.Padres: RHP Brett Kennedy (0-2 Yovani Gallardo Jersey , 11.00) will make his third career start. In his previous outing, he allowed five runs in five innings against the Los Angeles Angels. NEW YORK (AP) — Eduardo Nunez charged Gleyber Torres‘ four-hopper toward third base and whipped the ball across the diamond . Steve Pearce stretched, falling on his chest for a sprawling catch. The umpire signaled: “Out!”The Boston Red Sox gathered around exhausted closer Craig Kimbrel, hugging and celebrating after the New York Yankees‘ two-run rally in the ninth inning fell short.But wait!In 21st century baseball, the game doesn’t always end when it seems, hanging in limbo until umpires in a downtown Manhattan replay room agree .A Yankee Stadium crowd of 49,641 wondered and the Red Sox paused as they watched from the infield in suspended celebration, fixated on the center-field video board.After 63 seconds that felt like a lot longer, crew chief Mike Winters heard the decision, took off his headset, raised his right fist and made it official: The Red Sox beat the Yankees 4-3 Tuesday night to win the AL Division Series 3-1, setting up a postseason rematch with the World Series champion Astros.“I’ve been talking about them the whole season, so now we go,” said Red Sox rookie manager Alex Cora, Houston’s bench coach last year. “Best of seven. They know me. I know them. It should be fun.”J.D. Martinez and the 108-win Red Sox reached the AL Championship Series for the first time since Boston won the title in 2013. A year after losing to Houston in a four-game ALDS, the Red Sox open the best-of-seven matchup against the 103-win Astros on Saturday night at Fenway Park. Houston went 4-3 against Boston this year.“Awesome to clinch this one,” Red Sox reliever Matt Barnes said, “but we’ve got eight more.”A New Jersey native who grew up a Mets fan, Rick Porcello held the Yankees to one run over five innings for his first postseason win in 13 appearances. Barnes and Ryan Brasier followed with a perfect inning each to protect a 4-1 lead.Red Sox ace Chris Sale told Cora when he arrived at the ballpark that he wanted to pitch, and he followed with a 1-2-3 eighth in a rare relief appearance that extended the Yankees’ streak of consecutive outs to 11.New York had not put a leadoff runner on until Kimbrel, a seven-time All-Star closer, walked Aaron Judge on four pitches leading off the ninth.Didi Gregorius singled and Giancarlo Stanton struck out Eric Thames Jersey , Luke Voit walked on four pitches, and Kimbrel hit Neil Walker on a leg with a next pitch , forcing in a run that made it 4-2.Gary Sanchez fell behind 0-2 in the count, worked it full and sent a drive that had the crowd roaring only for Andrew Benintendi to catch it on the left-field warning track, a few feet short of a series-tying grand slam .“I hit it well. But I got under it,” Sanchez said through a translator.Then came Torres’ bouncer.“You never want to give a game back and go to a Game 5, so it’s great that we could do it tonight,” said Kimbrel, who got his second save of the series.A night after Boston romped to a record-setting 16-1 rout in a game that included three replay reversals, Martinez, Ian Kinsler and Nunez drove in runs in the third inning off a wobbly CC Sabathia, who took the loss. For the second straight night, Yankees rookie manager Aaron Boone hesitated to remove his starting pitcher early.When Boone brought in Zach Britton to start the fourth, and Christian Vazquez led off with an opposite-field drive over the short porch in right field for his first career postseason homer.Not even the presence of 1978 AL East tiebreaker star Bucky Dent for the ceremonial first pitch could inspire the 100-win Yankees, who were outscored 27-14 in the series, including 20-4 in the final two games. New York set a major league record this year for most home runs in a season, but didn’t go deep in the two games at Yankee Stadium and hit .214 in the series, which included 3 for 14 by Gregorius, 1 for 15 by Andrew McCutchen and 3 for 15 by Sanchez.Stanton, New York’s big acquisition last offseason, was 4 for 18 (.222) with no RBIs.“I don’t want to experience the postseason. I want to win it all,” Stanton said. Dent’s home run over Fenway Park’s Green Monster in the 1978 AL East tiebreaker propelled the Yankees to their second straight World Series title Glenn Robinson Jersey , but Boston eliminated its rival in the Bronx in the teams’ second straight postseason meeting. In the 2004 ALCS — with Barnes in the crowd as a teen, rooting for the Yankees — the Red Sox became the first big league team to overcome 3-0 postseason deficit, winning the final two games on the road and going on to sweep the World Series for its first title since 1918.Boston added championships in 2007 and 2013, becoming one of baseball’s elite clubs. But the Red Sox were knocked out in the Division Series in 2016 and ’17, had not reached the sport’s final four since their last title.A lanky, bearded 29-year-old right-hander, Porcello lived a traffic jam from Yankee Stadium in Chester, New Jersey, and is a 2007 graduate of Seton Hall Prep in West Orange — the baseball field there was renamed in his honor last year after he helped fund artificial turf and pro-style dugouts. The 2016 AL Cy Young Award winner entered with a 0-3 in 12 previous postseason appearances, which included four starts.He didn’t allow a run until a sacrifice fly in the fifth by Brett Gardner , like Sabathia playing perhaps his last game for the Yankees. Aaron Hicks missed a two-run homer by about 4 feet on a foul drive down the right-field line.Sabathia escaped a bases-loaded jam in the first when Kinsler hit an inning-ending flyout to Gardner in front of the left-field wall. Sabathia nicked Benintendi on the right shoulder with a slider on his first pitch of the third, Pearce sliced a cutter into right-center to put runners at the corners and Martinez hit a third-inning sacrifice fly for second straight night , giving him a series-high six RBIs.With David Robertson starting to warm up, Kinsler hit a two-out double over a leaping Gardner for a 2-0 lead and Nunez singled on the next pitch for his first RBI of the postseason.New York’s starting pitchers allowed 15 runs in 13 innings, and Masahiro Tanaka was the only one to get an out in the fourth — a sign the Yankees may pursue top free-agent pitchers such as Dallas Keuchel and Patrick Corbin.“I think we’re right there knocking on the door,” Boone said, “very close to being a championship club right now. We just got to continue to improve on the margins in every facet. Pitching is one of those.”BEHIND THE PLATEA night after three of his calls at first base were reversed on video reviews, Angel Hernandez was the plate umpire. Benintendi argued after he was called out on a breaking ball with the bases loaded for the final out of the eighth, a pitch that may have been outside. Sabathia was livid. “I don’t think Angel Hernandez should be umping playoff games,” he said. “He’s absolutely terrible. He was terrible behind the plate today. He was terrible at first base.” Major League Baseball declined comment, spokesman Mike Teevan said.