The Major League Baseball playoffs continued Wednesday, with the series opener between the Houston Astros and Atlanta Braves and the second games of the best-of-five series between the New York Yankees and Minnesota Twins and the Boston Red Sox and Anaheim Angels.
After Atlanta took a 1-0 lead at home in the first inning, the Astros got home runs from Brad Ausmus, Lance Berkman and Carlos Beltran to go up 6-1 and oust Braves' starter Jaret Wright after 4 and 1/3 innings. Roger Clemens got the win as Houston went on to a 9-3 victory.
In New York, the Yankees evened their series with the Minnesota Twins at one game apiece, beating the Twins in 12 innings, 7-6.
Minnesota took a 6-5 lead in the top of the twelth on a Torii Hunter home run. But the Yankees tied it up in the bottom of the 12th, when Alex Rodriguez doubled to score Miguel Cairo. Japan's Hideki Matsui then won the game on a sacrifice fly, scoring Derek Jeter.
In the late game, the Boston Red Sox took a commanding two games to none lead in their series by beating the Anaheim Angels, 8-3. Jason Varitek homered for Boston, which came back from a 3-1 deficit and scored seven runs in the last four innings. Manny Ramirez and Orlando Cabrera drove in two runs each for the Red Sox.