Ortiz rescues Red Sox while Yankees take a hammering

NEW YORK (Reuters) - David Ortiz hit his major league leading 35th homer of the season and drove in four runs, including the game winner in the 11th inning, to lift the Boston Red Sox to 7-6 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday at Fenway Park.

Ortiz finished the afternoon with four hits, the biggest coming with two out in the bottom of the 11th when the Boston slugger drove an offering from Angels reliever J.C. Romero into left field scoring Alex Gonzalez with the winning run.

It is the fourth time this season and the 14th since joining the Red Sox that Ortiz has delivered a game-ending hit.

The win allowed the Red Sox to open up a 1 game cushion top the American League East standings on the New York Yankees, who were demolished 19-6 by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

"You just feel like you know he's going to get a hit," Red Sox manager Terry Francona told MLB.com. "They have to shift because of who he is.

"He ends up staying on the ball and getting what a lot of times is a groundout for 95 percent of the league, and for David, it's a game-winner."

With the Red Sox trailing 6-3 in the bottom of the eighth, Ortiz had another hit that was nearly as significant, slamming a solo homerun to trigger a three-run burst.

Mike Lowell then kept Boston hopes alive with a two-run ground rule double to tie the score at 6-6 and force extra-innings.

"He (Ortiz) has got a knack, he sure does," said Lowell. "We feel very confident and we feel very good when he's at the plate in those situations. He keeps coming through. We almost expect it out of him now, so he better not pop up -- ever."

Julian Tavarez (2-3) worked one inning of relief for the win while Hector Carrasco (2-3) was tagged giving up one run on two in hits in 1 2/3 innings of work.

In New York, Tomas Perez equaled a major league record belting four doubles while Damon Hollins, Jorge Cantu, Travis Lee and Jonny Gomes all homered as the Tampa Bay Devil Rays crushed the Yankees 19-6.

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The Devil Rays unleashed a 17-hit attack on the stunned Yankees matching a franchise record by pushing across 19 runs.

"They killed us today," said Yankees manager Joe Torre. "I wish I could come up with an explanation other than that we got our rear ends kicked, but that's the best I can do."

The Yankees got the game off to a bright start with Derek Jeter and Jason Giambi both connecting on first inning solo home runs to take 2-0 lead.

But the Devil Rays roared back with three in the second and never took their foot off the gas putting runs on the board in the next six consecutive innings, including a six-run explosion in the seventh.

Hollins finished with a career-high five RBI while Rocco Baldelli drove in three and Tomas Perez scored four times while also driving in a pair.

"It's just weird how all of a sudden things just fall into place a little bit," said Hollins. "You have a day like this and it's definitely something to build on.

"Hopefully this will get me going a little bit. Have a little luck out there and keep going hard."

Yankees ace Randy Johnson (11-9) certainly had no luck taking the loss after being rocked for a season high nine runs -- six earned -- in just 3 1/3 innings of work.

Tampa Bay starter Jae Seo (3-9) was far from sharp giving up five runs on nine hits in 5 2/3 innings of work but still took credit for the win.