Indians, Bucs end seasons with ‘L’s

ASSOCIATED PRESS

BOSTON — J.D. Drew homered twice and Jed Lowrie hit his first career grand slam on Sunday to lead Boston over the Cleveland Indians, 12-7.

Lowrie’s homer made it 12-6 in the sixth inning, but it cost David Ortiz his best chance at reaching 100 RBIs for the sixth time in seven years. Ortiz, who was batting .185 with one homer and 18 RBIs on June 1, finished with 28 homers and 99 RBIs for the season.

The loss was the last in Cleveland for manager Eric Wedge, who was fired on Wednesday with six games left in the season. The Indians went 1-5 to finish out his tenure, finishing with a club-record 15 consecutive road losses.

Dustin Pedroia and Alex Gonzalez also homered for Boston, which will begin the playoffs in Anaheim against the Angels on either Wednesday or Thursday. Michael Bowden (1-1) pitched 2 2/3 innings in relief for the win, allowing one run and three hits and striking out two.

Tomo Ohka (1-5) gave up seven runs and six hits and two walks, striking out four for the Indians.

Luis Valbuena hit the third pitch of the game over the Green Monster, and the Indians added five more in the third to make it 6-4 on a bases-loaded walk, a two-run single by Jhonny Peralta and Andy Marte’s two-run double.

Reds 6, Pirates 0

CINCINNATI — Brandon Phillips drove in three runs and Homer Bailey shut out Pittsburgh for six innings.

The Pirates finished their 17th straight losing season, while the Reds ended their ninth in a row.

Phillips had an RBI double in the first off Jeff Karstens (4-6), a run-scoring groundout and another RBI double.

Bailey (8-5) finished his breakout season by improving to 4-0 career against the Pirates. The 23-year-old pitcher went 6-1 with a 1.70 ERA down the stretch, making him a top candidate for next year’s rotation.

The Pirates’ 17 consecutive losing seasons are a record for a major professional team in North America.

They underwent another near-total makeover at midseason and wound up losing 99 games with a cast of young players that collapsed down the stretch.

The Pirates led the majors with only 73 errors, fewest in franchise history. The previous club mark was 83 in 2007.