BoSox hammer away for win over Devil Rays

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Jay Payton hit a grand slam and Manny Ramirez homered one pitch after nearly being hit by a pitch as the Boston Red Sox avoided a three-game sweep with an ejection-filled 11-3 victory over the Devil Rays on Sunday.

There were six ejections in the seventh inning following a sequence of inside pitches and two bench-clearing scuffles. Tampa Bay manager Lou Piniella, and Devil Rays' pitchers Lance Carter and Dewon Brazelton were all thrown out, along with Boston manager Terry Francona, starting pitcher Bronson Arroyo and outfielder Trot Nixon.

Carter threw a high-and-tight pitch in the seventh to Ramirez, one inning after Arroyo had hit Aubrey Huff with a pitch. Then he threw a 1-2 pitch near the head of the next batter, David Ortiz.

Both dugouts and bullpens emptied, with pushing and shoving taking place around the mound. Piniella, Carter, Nixon and Brazelton were all thrown out following that incident, which delayed the game nine minutes.

In the bottom of the inning, Arroyo hit Chris Singleton in the leg with his second pitch, prompting the teams to meet again near the mound and causing a four-minute delay. Arroyo and Francona were thrown out.

Arroyo (2-0) allowed three runs and seven hits in six-plus innings.

Ramirez also had a sacrifice fly during a two-run first against Hideo Nomo (2-2). He has six homers and 16 RBIs over his last past nine games.

YANKEES 11, RANGERS 1: At New York, Randy Johnson pitched eight dominant innings, Derek Jeter and Andy Phillips each homered and doubled, and the Yankees avoided a three-game sweep.

Phillips hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning and drove in four runs, and Jeter finished a triple shy of the cycle and had three RBIs. A Yankees offense that mustered just 12 hits and five runs in two losses to Texas amassed 14 hits.

After giving up 16 runs — 14 earned — in his last three starts, Johnson (2-1) pitched like the ace the Yankees expected when they traded for him in the offseason, stopping the team's two-game skid and giving a taxed bullpen some much-needed rest.

Pedro Astacio (1-2) had given up just four runs in his first three starts after spending nearly all of the past two seasons on the disabled list, but was roughed up for seven runs and nine hits in 4 2-3 innings — all the hits and runs coming in the second and fifth.