Jose Contreras came to the rescue of the faltering Chicago White Sox, pitching the best game of his major league career when his team needed it most.
The former Cuban star, who's been by far Chicago's best pitcher since the All-Star break, allowed six hits in his first career complete game Friday night, lifting the White Sox to a crucial 3-1 win over the Minnesota Twins.
"Two months ago everybody wanted to kill this kid and get him out of town because he was pitching horrible," White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said.
"Jose had always had the best arm on my team. It's a matter of time when he can use that. It's a matter of confidence. This kid won a big game for us and he showed the guys when you have confidence and throw strikes and attack the strike zone, you can win a lot of games."
The White Sox have been in first place every day of the season and led by 15 games on Aug. 1.
Runs came in the first when Jermaine Dye hit a three-run homer off Kyle Lohse. Dye had flied out with the bases loaded in the ninth inning Thursday night when the White Sox lost 4-1 to the Twins in 11 innings.
Contreras (14-7) matched a season high with nine strikeouts and walked one to win his seventh straight start since an Aug. 15 loss to Minnesota. He improved to 10-2 since the All-Star break. His 14 victories are a career high.
"It's one of the best games I've pitched in my whole career as a baseball player and the best I've pitched in the US," said the veteran of international competition with the Cuban national team.
In the second half of the season, Contreras has changed his arm angle and found his control, cutting down his walks and limiting his pitch count.
The White Sox play the Twins two more times and then finish with seven on the road, including a three-game finale in Cleveland.
Lohse (9-13) allowed three runs and eight hits in six innings.
Dye's 29th homer, a two-out liner that quickly cleared the left-field fence, followed a double by leadoff hitter Scott Podsednik and a walk to Paul Konerko.
Yankees 5, Blue Jays 0
At New York, Shawn Chacon (6-3) improved to 3-0 with a 1.17 ERA in three starts against the Blue Jays this season, allowing three hits in eight inning as New York maintained a one-game lead over second-place Boston in the AL East with nine games left. The Yankees have won five straight and 11 of 12.
Derek Jeter and Robinson Cano hit back-to-back homers off Ted Lilly (9-11) leading off a four-run first, which also included RBIs by Hideki Matsui and Tino Martinez.
Red Sox 6, Orioles 3
At Baltimore, Manny Ramirez hit his 40th homer and drove in three runs, and Boston took advantage of a key error by Miguel Tejada to hand Baltimore its sixth straight loss.
Bronson Arroyo (14-9) overcame a sluggish start to improve to 4-0 in his last five starts, allowing three runs and seven hits in seven-plus innings. Mike Timlin worked the ninth for his 10th save.
Boston scored three unearned runs off Daniel Cabrera (10-12) in the fifth to take a 4-3 lead. With two on and two outs, Ramirez hit a bouncer to deep shortstop. Tejada made a high and wide throw to first that allowed a run to score, and Trot Nixon followed with a two-run double.
Indians 7, Royals 6
At Kansas City, Missouri, Travis Hafner homered in his sixth consecutive game and Cleveland scored an unearned run in the ninth after wasting a 6-2 lead, to beat Kansas City and win for the ninth time in 10 games.
The Indians maintained a 11/2-game lead over Boston in the AL wild-card race.
With the score 6-all in the ninth, Grady Sizemore reached on a one-out error by second baseman Andres Blanco. Coco Crisp hit a high bouncer that pitcher Mike MacDougal (4-6) threw wildly for another error, and Jhonny Peralta followed with a run-scoring single.
Bob Howry (7-3) allowed a two-out homer in the eighth to Mark Teahen that tied the score 6-6.
Bob Wickman pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his league-leading 45th save.
Angels 7, Devil Rays 5
At Anaheim, California, pinch-hitter Casey Kotchman grounded a two-run single through a drawn-in infield against Joe Borowski (1-5) in the eighth, breaking a 5-5 tie and give Los Angeles a win over Tampa Bay.
The Angels won their seventh straight, taking advantage of three errors and increasing their AL West lead to four games over second-place Oakland.
Scot Shields (9-11) pitched a perfect eighth, and Francisco Rodriguez had a 1-2-3 ninth for his 41st save.
Rangers 3, Athletics 1
At Oakland, California, Mark Teixeira hit his 42nd homer leading off the fourth and Michael Young homered in the sixth off Dan Haren (13-12) to put Texas ahead of Oakland.
Kenny Rogers (14-7) improved to 4-0 this year against his former team and is 21-1 in the Coliseum since a loss Aug. 7, 1994. He matched his season high with five walks, allowing one run and five hits in 6 1-3 innings. Francisco Cordero pitched the ninth for his 35th save.
David Bell completed Philadelphia's comeback with a two-out, two-run homer in the top of the ninth inning for an 11-10 victory over Cincinnati that tightened the National League playoff race on Friday.
The Phillies' victory moved them within a game of first-place Houston in the wild-card race. The Astros lost 5-4 to Chicago.
The Phillies wasted a five-run lead, but homers by Chase Utley, his second of the game, and Bell in the ninth off David Weathers (7-4) accounted for the five-run inning.
Rheal Cormier (4-2) got the victory, and Billy Wagner pitched the ninth for his 35th save.
Both teams hit four homers, matching the record for a game during Great American Ball Park's three seasons.
Jimmy Rollins of the Phillies extended his hitting streak to 28 games in his first at-bat. By the fifth inning, the lead was 6-1.
Felipe Lopez's bases-loaded single helped the Reds cut it to 6-5. Jacob Cruz led off the sixth with a tying homer, and Jason LaRue's third career pinch-hit homer -- a two-run shot -- gave the Reds their first lead.
Cubs 5, Astros 4
At Chicago, Derrek Lee went 3-for-3 and made a spectacular defensive play at first base that preserved the victory for Chicago.
Nomar Garciaparra drove in two runs for the Cubs, who handed the Astros only their second loss in the last 10 games. Houston's lead in the wild-card race was cut to one game over Philadelphia.
Trailing 5-1 after four innings, the Astros rallied tied it on an RBI double by Craig Biggio, an RBI single by Lance Berkman, an error by center fielder Corey Patterson that let a run score and Jeff Bagwell's RBI when he was hit with a pitch with the bases loaded.
It was after that when Lee made his fine play in the field, grabbing a grounder and throwing out Charles Gipson at the plate.
Glendon Rusch (8-8) allowed four runs -- three earned -- and nine hits in five innings. Ryan Dempster pitched the ninth for his 30th save.
Braves 4, Marlins 3
At Atlanta, Jeff Francoeur, Ryan Langerhans and Brian McCann had RBIs in the eighth inning and Atlanta moved a step closer to a 14th straight division title.
McCann's two-out single off closer Todd Jones (1-5) capped the rally that reduced the Braves' magic number to five for winning the NL East.
Josh Beckett extended his scoreless streak against the Braves to 19 innings this season, leaving after the seventh with a 3-0 lead. The Marlins have two wins in their last nine games and remained three games behind Houston in the wild-card race.
Carlos Delgado drove in all three Marlins runs with an RBI single in the first and a two-run homer in the third off John Smoltz.
Giants 7, Rockies 6
At Denver, Barry Bonds, who had his streak of four straight games with a homer stopped, drew a key walk in San Francisco's rally over Denver from four runs down in the eighth inning.
The Giants (72-81) improved to 7-1 with Bonds in the starting lineup and remained five games behind first-place San Diego in the NL West. San Diego beat Arizona 5-3 on Friday night.
Bonds finished with two singles, a walk and an RBI. The unintentional four-pitch walk came off Mike DeJean (5-4) with the Giants trailing by four and two men on. Moises Alou followed with a two-run double and Ray Durham followed with a two-run single to tie it. Pinch-hitter J.T. Snow singled in the go-ahead run to complete the five-run inning.
Jeremy Accardo (1-4) pitched the seventh to pick up the win. Tyler Walker got the final two outs for his 23rd save.
Matt Holliday and Danny Ardoin hit homers off Matt Kinney, who was making his first start of the season, to help Colorado to a 6-0 lead after three innings.
Mets 5, Nationals 2, 10 innings
At Washington, Carlos Beltran's three-run homer in the 10th lifted New York, which led 2-0 with two outs in the bottom of the ninth when pinch-hitter Carlos Baerga hit a two-run homer off reliever Roberto Hernandez, who has blown six of seven save opportunities this season.
Beltran hit his 16th homer off Gary Majewski (4-4) with two outs in the 10th. He also had a single and double. Cliff Floyd also had three hits, including a 380-foot single off the wall that drove in the Mets' first two runs.
Floyd threw out Nick Johnson at third base in the fourth inning for his league-leading 15th outfield assist.
Hernandez (8-6), who gave up a single to Ryan Zimmerman before Baerga's homer, earned the win. Aaron Heilman pitched the 10th for his second save.
Padres 5, Diamondbacks 3
At Phoenix, Khalil Greene homered and drove in three runs and San Diego maintained its five-game lead over San Francisco in the NL West and trimmed its magic number to five with nine games to go.
Ramon Hernandez had an RBI single and Brian Giles added an RBI double off Arizona reliever Oscar Villarreal in San Diego's two-run eighth inning.
The Padres (77-76) moved back over .500 with their sixth win in nine games after a four-game losing streak. The Giants kept pace with a 7-6 victory at Colorado.
Pedro Astacio (3-2) allowed two runs and six hits in six-plus innings.
Trevor Hoffman pitched the ninth for his 38th consecutive save and 41st overall.
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