American LeagueJered Weaver became the first Major League Baseball rookie in 25 years to win his first seven starts, pitching the Los Angeles Angels past the Kansas City Royals 3-1 on Sunday.
Robb Quinlan hit a two-run single and Adam Kennedy had an RBI single off Brandon Duckworth (1-4), sending the surging Angels to their eighth win in 11 games. They improved to 15-4 in July and 11-2 in their last 13 games at Kansas City.
Weaver (7-0) allowed one run and three hits in 6 2-3 innings, striking out four and walking four. The 23-year-old right-hander has a 1.15 ERA in 47 innings.
Fernando Valenzuela of the Los Angeles Dodgers was the last rookie to win his first seven starts when he opened 8-0 in 1981.
Tigers 8, Athletics 4
In Detroit, Carlos Guillen tripled, doubled and singled, leading Nate Robertson and Detroit over Oakland.
Magglio Ordonez added a two-run single and scored twice, and Brandon Inge had three hits for the Tigers, who improved MLB's best record to 66-32 with their fourth win in five games. Guillen also drove in two runs. After getting three hits in the first four innings, he missed a chance at the cycle when he walked in the sixth.
Twins 3, Indians 1
In Cleveland, rookie Francisco Liriano struck out 10 in five innings, and Minnesota tied a 40-year-old team record with 17 strikeouts in a victory over Cleveland.
The 17 strikeouts set an Indians record for a nine-inning game and tied the Twins' mark for pitchers set on May 6, 1966, at Boston. Liriano (12-2) gave up one run and four hits while walking three. It was his third double-digit strikeout game this season, and Minnesota rebounded from its first loss in nine games.
White Sox 5, Rangers 0
In Chicago, Jon Garland came within two outs of a shutout and Chicago beat Texas to snap a four-game losing streak.
The ill will between the White Sox and Vicente Padilla resurfaced after Texas' starter hit Alex Cintron with a third-inning pitch. Garland responded by throwing the first two pitches of the fourth behind Ian Kinsler.
The White Sox managed just five hits, but they moved runners. And Tadahito Iguchi delivered the big blow in the fifth, when he followed Scott Podsednik's second RBI grounder with his 11th homer to extend Chicago's lead to 4-0. Podsednik led off the eighth with a homer against Joaquin Benoit.
Mariners 9, Red Sox 8
In Seattle, Richie Sexson homered leading off the bottom of the ninth inning to give Seattle a victory over Boston.
Adrian Beltre hit the first inside-the-park homer in the seven-year history of Safeco Field and Eduardo Perez also homered and drove in three runs for the Mariners, who took two of three in the series. First-place Boston remained 2.5 games ahead of the New York Yankees in the AL East Division.
Blue Jays 13, Yankees 5
In Toronto, Vernon Wells hit two of Toronto's five homers and the Blue Jays scored eight times in the third inning to rout New York.
Orioles 4, Devil Rays 2
In St. Petersburg, Florida, Erik Bedard pitched seven strong innings to win his seventh consecutive start and Melvin Mora hit a tiebreaking single in the eighth as Baltimore beat Tampa Bay.
National League
Pitcher Roy Oswalt touched off a four-run Houston rally with his second hit of the game and the Astros came from behind on Sunday to beat the New York Mets 8-4.
The victory ended a three-game losing streak for the Astros, who avoided a weekend sweep.
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