Mench's homer off Franklin Nunez (0-1) scored the decisive run for Texas, which remained 11 games behind Oakland in the AL West and one game back of Boston in the wild-card race.
Angels 11, Tigers 8
In Anaheim, California, Chone Figgins hit a tiebreaking two-run homer and drove in four runs, leading Anaheim over Detroit.
With a revamped lineup, the Angels had 17 hits.
Figgins' fourth homer of the season triggered a five-run sixth inning against rookie Roberto Novoa (1-1).
David Eckstein, Jose Guillen and Robb Quinlan also homered for the Angels, whose other four-homer game this season was at Dodger Stadium on June 25.
Carlos Pena homered twice for the Tigers, who also got home runs from Rondell White and Ivan Rodriguez.
Kevin Gregg (5-1) pitched 2 1-3 innings in relief of starter Ramon Ortiz, and got credit for the victory despite giving up Rodriguez's 16th homer and Pena's 17th in the seventh.
Francisco Rodriguez inherited a bases-loaded, one-out jam from Brendan Donnelly in the eighth and got out of it by striking out Ivan Rodriguez and White. Rodriguez finished up with a scoreless ninth for his ninth save in 15 chances.
Chipper Jones homered twice and pinch-hitter Julio Franco had a go-ahead two-run double in the seventh inning to lead the Atlanta Braves over St. Louis 9-7 Saturday, only the third loss in the Cardinals' last 11 games.
In a matchup of Major League Baseball division leaders, Andruw Jones and Rafael Furcal also homered for the Braves, who opened a season-high eight-game lead over second-place Philadelphia in the NL East. Furcal had four hits.
Albert Pujols homered twice for St. Louis, raising his total to 35 and tying for the major league lead.
St. Louis, 12 1/2 games ahead of second-place Chicago in the NL Central, took a 7-6 lead with an unearned run in the seventh off Antonio Alfonseca (6-4) on an error by Furcal. Ray King (4-2) was the loser, and John Smoltz got four outs for his 29th save.
Cubs 2, Dodgers 0
Wood (7-5) homered, and allowed four hits and struck out seven in eight innings as Chicago won for just the third time in eight games.
He hit his seventh homer in 305 career at-bats in the third inning off Kazuhisa Ishii (11-6), a drive into the left-field bleachers against a 25kph wind. Chicago added a run in the fifth when Michael Barrett tripled leading off and scored on Corey Patterson's two-out single.
Giants 7, Phillies 6
Yorvit Torrealba hit a tiebreaking homer in the eighth inning off former-Giant Felix Rodriguez (4-6).
Cody Ransom, Dustan Mohr and Marquis Grissom also homered for San Francisco, which has won three in a row for the first time in a month. The Giants moved within 6 1/2 games of the Dodgers.
Jason Christiansen (2-2) got two outs in the seventh, and Dustin Hermanson got three out for his second save.
Philadelphia dropped eight games behind Atlanta and 4 1/2 games behind the Cubs.
Pirates 6, Rockies 1
In Pittsburgh, Jose Castillo drove in a career-high three runs to back a wild Oliver Perez, and Pittsburgh beat Colorado.
Other results: Marlins 11, Brewers 1; Mets 4, Diamondbacks 3; Expos 8, Astros 3; Reds 11, Padres 5.
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