Red Sox nick narrow win

The game made up for the washed out contest on April 12th, with Seattle stopping in Boston at the start of an eight-game road trip that moves on to New York and Detroit.

Manny Ramirez hit two home runs, the second coming with two outs in the eighth inning, to give the Red Sox the win.

Matsuzaka pitched five innings, yielding the seven runs on five hits and walking five. He is 3-2, but with a 5.45 ERA. In three starts at Fenway Park, two of them against Seattle, he is 1-1 with a 7.58 ERA.

He opened the game with three straight walks, the first of those to countryman Ichiro Suzuki, who stole second base for his 41st consecutive successful steal, a new American League record.

"I wonder," Matsuzaka said through an interpreter when asked what went wrong. "I don't really know what happened myself."

Matsuzaka said it had been tough trying to meet the expectations built up after the Red Sox paid $100 million for his services.

"During the past few games, the manager, the coaching staff and [catcher Jason Varitek] have all told me to be confident in my own stuff and to pitch my own game.

"So I feel that I have been able to approach the game in the same manner that I usually do. I don't think it's a lack of confidence in my stuff that is a problem."

Suzuki went 0-for-1 with two walks against Matsuzaka, and is 0-for-5 in two games against the right-hander this season.

Down 5-0, the Red Sox scored five runs in the second inning to tie the game and went ahead 7-5 in the fourth when Ramirez launched a two-run homer.

But the Mariners, who had won three straight and seven of their last eight, came right back and tied the game 7-7 in the top of the fifth.

The game stayed that way until the eighth, when Ramirez came through against losing pitcher Chris Reitsma. Seattle manager Mike Hargrove was angry after the game, thinking the umpires had failed to call a Ramirez check swing a strike, changing the pitching pattern in the winning at-bat.

The home run, hit to right field, was the 475th of Ramirez's distinguished career, tying him with Stan Musial and Willie Stargell for 27th place on the all-time home run list.

Ramirez, who has struggled at the plate this season, now has five home runs on the year.

"I thought the timing was perfect," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said of Ramirez's heroics.

Hideki Matsui and Doug Mientkiewicz supplied timely hits as the New York Yankees swept a doubleheader from the Texas Rangers , winning 4-3 and 5-2 on the road.

Matsui hit a tiebreaking double in the eighth inning of the opener as the Yankees blew a 3-1 lead but still beat the Rangers.

Mientkiewicz hit a two-run homer in the second inning as the Yankees won the nightcap to move out of last place in the American League East.

Reliever Mariano Rivera saved both games for the Yankees. It marked the fifth time in his career he had two saves in one day.

"Obviously, this was a huge game," manager Joe Torre commented.

"It almost got away from us in the seventh inning. [Kyle] Farnsworth and Mo [Rivera] came in and basically blew people away."

The loss was the fifth straight for the Rangers.

Jason Giambi homered in the fourth inning of the opener and Johnny Damon followed with a run-scoring sacrifice fly in the fifth to give New York a 3-1 lead.

But the Rangers' Sammy Sosa doubled in a run in the fifth and Jerry Hairston tied the score with a seventh-inning homer.

Matsui broke the deadlock with his game-winning double for the Yankees in the eighth.

Andy Pettitte pitched two-run ball for six innings as the Yankees starter.

In the nightcap, Elky Cabrera and Derek Jeter hit run-scoring singles in the seventh inning to give New York a 4-1 lead.

Mike Mussina returned from the disabled list to pitch five innings and gain the win.

Grady Sizemore's tiebreaking eighth-inning double lifted the Cleveland Indians to a 6-5 home win over the Toronto Blue Jays . Victor Martinez went 4-for-4 and drove in two runs for the Indians, who won for the tenth time in 11 games.

The New York Mets pounded six runs in the ninth inning to rally past the stunned Arizona Diamondbacks 9-4.

Damion Easley and David Wright belted three-run homers in the ninth as the Mets won their 11th straight at the Diamondbacks' home field. Arizona had taken a 4-3 lead on Orlando Hudson's sixth-inning homer off Tom Glavine.

"I'm not going to say that I go up there expecting to hit homers in all these situations," Easley said. "I like to go up there thinking I can come through."

Easley drilled a fastball from Jose Valverde into the left-center field bleachers with two runners on base to put the Mets up 6-3.

Then Wright homered off Dustin Nippert after Valverde had given up a walk and a single to Jose Reyes.

It was not all good news for the Mets though, as Moises Alou could be out for some time because of swelling in his left knee.

Alou told reporters he thought he injured it while scoring in the fourth inning.

Jimmy Rollins hit two triples and drove in two runs as the Philadelphia Phillies outlasted the San Francisco Giants for a 9-7 road win. Giants slugger Barry Bonds went 1-for-2 in the loss.

Jose Bautista and Ronny Paulino hit consecutive home runs in a four-run seventh inning as the Pittsburgh Pirates ended the Milwaukee Brewers' four-game winning streak with a 4-2 road win.

Luke Scott's two-run double sparked a three-run eighth inning as the Houston Astros overtook the Cincinnati Reds for a 7-5 home win.