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NEW YORK -- Even when a pitcher tried to walk him on purpose, Gary Sanchez almost hit a home run.Thats how good things are going for the rookie -- and his team, too.Sanchez homered and nearly launched another as Tampa Bay messed up an intentional walk, leading the hard-charging Yankees to their season-best seventh straight win, 5-1 over the Rays on Saturday.The guys feel really good about themselves, Yankees manager Joe Girardi said.No wonder, with how theyre playing and moving up in the playoff race.The Yankees closed within three games of AL East-leading Boston, their closest to the lead since mid-April, and remained one game behind Baltimore for the second wild-card spot. The Orioles beat Detroit 11-3, leaving the Tigers with the same record as the Yankees.Masahiro Tanaka (13-4) struck out 10 and took a shutout into the eighth inning. Chris Archer (8-18) tied the Tampa Bay record for losses in a season, set by Tanyon Sturtze in 2002.It was scoreless in the sixth when Jacoby Ellsbury hit a two-run homer and Sanchez followed with a long drive.In the eighth, after Ellsburys double put runners on second and third with no outs, the Rays seemed set to walk Sanchez.I knew they were going to walk me, Sanchez said through a translator. At the same time, I wanted to be ready.In case, maybe, a soft toss floated near the strike zone.Its not something pitchers are always doing a lot and comfortable, Girardi said.He was right.Catcher Bobby Wilson moved wide as reliever Enny Romero lobbed in his first pitch at 52 mph, but the ball drifted close to the plate. Alertly, Sanchez socked it to the warning track in deep center field for a sacrifice fly.Yeah, I know I was supposed to throw a base on balls on four pitches, intentional walk, Romero said.Romero said his hand was sweaty and the ball started to slip. But, he said, I cant stop because if I stop its a balk.From the dugout, Rays manager Kevin Cash seemed to say, What happened?While some officials in Major League Baseball have proposed making intentional walks an automatic affair -- just wave the batter to first base without a pitch -- things like this are bound to keep people talking.Up to a point, that is.As far as the eighth inning is concerned, Im not really going to talk about it other than to say its embarrassing, Cash said. Thats embarrassing, but were not going to talk about it any farther than that.Sanchez connected for the second straight day, giving the 23-year-old catcher 13 home runs in 125 at-bats this season.Tanaka won his sixth straight decision, giving up five hits and walking none. He left in the eighth after Bobby Wilson homered with one out and Logan Forsythe was hit by a pitch.An All-Star last year, Archer leads the majors in the losses this season -- James Shields, who has lost 17 with the Padres and White Sox, pitched Saturday night.Archer fanned six and tops the AL with 217 strikeouts. Nolan Ryan is the only AL pitcher to ever lead the league in losses and strikeouts, doing it in 1976 with the Angels.TARGET TAGGEDEllsbury picked on a familiar victim when he lined his eighth home run, a shot into the right-center field seats. Ellsbury is 19 for 34 (.559) with two homers against Archer, the most hits by anyone off the right-hander.Sometimes, it just happens, Girardi said. You wonder why one guy sees another guy so well.Said Archer: A lot of that is in the past.Im sure if we looked at the numbers from this year, and if we looked at the quality of contact and not just a traditional batting average, give us a much better depiction of how hes been against me recently. You know hes a veteran hitter, I left a cookie out there for him and he capitalized, he said.CLEARING UPTRAINERS ROOMRays: Brad Miller was at 1B, a day after he was the DH while recuperating from being hit by a pitch in the right elbow. ... RHP Chase Whitley is likely to make his Rays debut Sunday, pitching in relief. He started for the Yankees last year, had Tommy John surgery in May and was acquired Tampa Bay in November.UP NEXTRays: RHP Matt Andriese (6-7, 4.58) is 0-7 with a 6.11 ERA in his last 15 games, eight of them starts. The last Tampa Bay pitcher to lose eight straight decisions was Dan Wheeler in 2007-08.Yankees: RHP Luis Cessa (4-0, 4.07) makes his fifth start in the majors. The Yankees have won all four games hes started. Royals Jerseys China . Boucher previously coached the Tampa Bay Lightning and had a 97-78-20 record over two-plus seasons. He was dismissed by the team last March after the Lightning struggled in the lockout-shortened season with a 13-18-1 record. Kansas City Royals Gear . -- The Portland Timbers and Real Salt Lake played to a 0-0 tie Saturday night that left the top of the Western Conference standings unchanged. https://www.cheaproyals.com/ . -- Ty Montgomery had 290 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns, and fifth-ranked Stanford held on to beat No. Kansas City Royals Pro Shop . With Parker having a quiet game for once, Nicolas Batum and Boris Diaw provided the scoring as France won its first major basketball title by beating Lithuania 80-66 on Sunday. It was a victory that ended a decade of frustration for Parker and a talented French generation, which lost the final against Spain two years ago and took bronze in 2005. Custom Kansas City Royals Jerseys . Houston won 3-0 to advance to face New York in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Last in the game, Di Vaio and Romero got into a shoving match with several Houston players. Romero appeared to elbow and kick Houston defender Kofi Sarkodie.SAINT-AMAND-MONTROND, France - On a contrasting day for British riders at the Tour de France, Mark Cavendish moved up the list of sprint greats while Chris Froome lost a large chunk of his overall lead to his main rival. Cavendish sealed his 25th stage win to move into a tie for third place on the Tours all-time list, during an eventful day in which Froome gave up more than one minute to two-time former champion Alberto Contador. To make things more worrisome for Froome, he once again had to fend for himself at the end because none of his withering Sky teammates could keep the pace. This is the second stage so far that they have been unable to support him, and with a tough mountain trek looming on Sunday rivals may try to take advantage. Dutchman Bauke Mollema is 2 minutes, 28 seconds behind Froome, and Contador is 2:45 back — having both gained 1:09 on the leader. "Im just happy Ive got an advantage of more than two minutes," Froome said. Sky is down to seven riders — Edvald Boasson Hagen fractured his shoulder on Thursday and Vasili Kiryienka was disqualified earlier in the race for missing a time cut. Also, Brit Geraint Thomas is riding with a fractured pelvis. "(Edvalds) a huge part of the team and we could really have done with him today and the same with Vasili," Froome said. "Theyre both really strong engines and the team is definitely weakened without those guys." Contador, the Tour champion in 2007 and 09 who was stripped of his title the following year for doping, is now looking like a serious contender again after struggling in the Pyrenees. Froome knows that Sundays massive climb up to Mont Ventoux could have a major bearing on the race. "I think there will be more time won and lost on a stage like Ventoux than the last 20 (kilometres) on this stage," he said. Contadors late attack Friday was timed to perfection and caught Froome cold. "Near the end we saw that many riders were at their limit," Contador said. "There were a lot of people barely hanging on, and we couldnt have asked for a better result." Cavendish, meanwhile, was preparing to "have some Champagne" after moving even with Frenchman Andre Leducq on the all-time list of stage winners. "My team did an incredible job," Cavendish said. "They rode themselves into the ground." His relief was clear to see as he rushed into the arms oof teammate Sylvain Chavanel after the stage.dddddddddddd. On Thursday his teammates had put him into a great position to attack but he was beaten to the line by Marcel Kittel of Germany. "Yesterday they gave everything and I let them down," Cavendish said. "The Tour de France is the most incredible race in the world. It means so much to me. When I think about it, it makes me want to cry." Flat stages are normally relatively free of incident, but the 173-kilometre (107.5-mile) trek from Tours, which is surrounded by the Loire river, to Saint-Amand-Montrond in central France was quite the opposite. With about a third of the stage gone, the main pack split into three and Alejandro Valverde dropped way out of contention after stopping to repair a puncture. None of the teams ahead waited and he lost a huge amount of time, dropping down from second overnight to 16th. "Thats a really unfortunate position for Valverde," Froome said. Contador bounced back after being battered by Froome in the Pyrenees last weekend and losing more time in Wednesdays time trial. "I only can say thanks, thanks and thanks to my whole team," the Spaniard tweeted. "Proud of all of you." Victorias Ryder Hesjedal remained the top Canadian in the overall classification in 54th place, 48:49 behind Froome. Quebec Citys David Veilleux was 135th overall while Svein Tuft of Langley, B.C., was 180th. The peloton had splintered after an attack from Cavendishs Omega Pharma QuickStep team, with Tony Martin leading the charge. Thankfully for Froome he did enough to stay with the small group forming at the front as it pulled away from the two groups behind. The reason for Omegas attack was to try and shake off Kittel — who has won three sprint stages so far — and it worked to perfection. "We just felt the wind wasnt in the right position," Cavendish said. "So we decided to ride harder, to make the peloton more tired and finally it broke." Belkin showed no mercy, profiting from Valverdes mishap to push Mollema and countryman Laurens Ten Dam, who is now fifth, up the overall standings. "I just hope that no team would do that to me if I had a mechanical problem," Froome said. Belkin pushed so hard that Richie Porte, Froomes strongest teammate, had to drop back. If Froome is left all alone on Mont Ventoux, his lead could be further shredded. ' ' '