After driving in the winning run yesterday, Jacoby Ellsbury, who never had a walk-off hit, does it in consecutive contests when he blasts a two-out ninth inning homer, giving the Red Sox another dramatic victory over Cleveland. The center fielder becomes the first Red Sox player with game-ending hits on consecutive days in the regular season since Butch Hobson accomplished the feat in 1978.

The Cubs hit 6 homers, including 2 by Alfonso Soriano, as they beat the Pirates, 11 – 6, in Pittsburgh. Briefly in first place in the NL Central in late July, Pittsburgh has now lost 5 straight and 10 of 13 and risks falling out of the playoff race entirely. Also homering for the Cubbies are Aramis Ramirez, Geovany Soto, Marlon Byrd and Tyler Colvin; Garrett Jones goes deep twice for the Pirates, and Brandon Wood once.

The Cardinals stop a seven-game winning streak by the Brewers with a wild 8 – 7 win at Milwaukee. They score 5 runs in the 4th off Shaun Marcum, including a three-run homer by starting pitcher Jaime Garcia, to take a 6 – 3 lead, but blow it by giving up a four-spot in the 5th. After the Cards tie the game in the 7th, tempers begin to flare. Both Albert Pujols and Ryan Braun are hit by pitches, almost causing a brawl, then in the 10th, Redbirds C Yadier Molina is ejected for arguing a third-strike call; he bumps and apparently spits at umpire Rob Drake during the altercation and will receive a five-game suspension. Matt Holliday reaches on a two-out infield single in the top of the 11th, then steals second and scores on a flare by Lance Berkman. Kyle McClellan, moved back to the bullpen after a series of trading deadline deals, is the winner, while the recently-acquired Octavio Dotelpicks up his first save as a Redbird.

The Yankees’ 6 – 0 win over the White Sox is shortened to 7 innings by rain at U.S. Cellular Field, but not before Mark Teixeira sets a record by hitting a homer from both sides of the plate for the 12th time of his career. He hits a long ball righthanded off starter John Danks in the 3rd, then one lefthanded in the pouring rain off reliever Jason Frasor in the 7th. Teixeira had been tied with Eddie Murray and Chili Davis with 11 such games. Phil Hughes is the winner in his best outing of the season.

After intentionally throwing a pitch at Alex Avila two days ago, Jered Weaver, who will appeal the ruling, is suspended for six games and fined an undisclosed amount of money. The Angels right-hander threw the seventh-inning pitch over the Tigers catcher’s head after being annoyed by Carlos Guillen, the previous Detroit batter, who stayed at home plate to admire his home run before starting to trot around the bases.

CC Sabathia wins his major league-leading 16th game in the Yankees’ 3 – 2 defeat of the White Sox. The big lefthander is 9-1 over his last 10 starts.

Asdrubal Cabrera hits a pair of two-run homers in Cleveland’s 9 – 6 win over Boston. His second long ball, in the 8th inning, is originally ruled a single until the decision is overturned by instant replay. Travis Hafner for the Indians and Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Carl Crawford for the the Red Sox also homer in a high-scoring game typical of Fenway Park.

After popping out in a pinch-hitting appearance, Craig Counsell remains without a hit in his last 45 at-bats, tying the longest single-season hitless streak by a position player in history, established by Brooklyn backstop Bill Bergen in 1909. The major league record is 0-for-70, established in 1970 by Bob Buhl, a pitcher who toiled with the Braves and Cubs that season.