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Rogers leads as Tigers blank Chicago

Chewbacca of Star Wars fame throws the ceremonial first pitch as Wicket the Ewok looks on before the game between the Florida Marlins and the Washington Nationals on Tuesday at Dolphin Stadium in Miami. PHOTO: AP

American League

Kenny Rogers dominated for seven innings and was backed by Marcus Thames' solo homer and RBI triple in the Detroit Tigers' 4-0 win over the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday, its second straight victory in a possibly pivotal four-game series.

Rogers (13-6) shut down the slumping White Sox, giving Detroit its biggest lead in the American League Central in almost two weeks and guaranteeing their first .500 season in more than a decade.

The World Series champions, who got just five hits, have lost six of eight, falling behind Detroit in the division by 7.5 games, the biggest the gap since after play on Aug. 11.

Mark Buehrle (10-11) allowed four runs and nine hits over 5 1-3 innings.

Orioles 6, Twins 3

At Baltimore, rookie Nick Markakis homered in his first three at-bats, and Baltimore beat Minnesota.

Markakis homered in the first, third and fifth innings off Carlos Silva (8-11). Seeking to become the 16th player in major league history to hit four in a game, he hit a short fly ball to left in the sixth against Willie Eyre.

Florida Marlins' Alfredo Amezaga of Mexico is shown as Yoda from Star Wars fame during the game against the Washington Nationals on Tuesday at Dolphin Stadium in Miami. PHOTO: AP

Markakis was left standing in the on-deck circle at the conclusion of the Baltimore eighth.

Brian Roberts and Corey Patterson also connected off Silva, who allowed six runs and 10 hits in 5 1-3 innings. He has yielded 30 homers this season.

Adam Loewen (4-4) gave up singles to four of the first six batters, then retired 21 straight before being removed after eight innings and 108 pitches.

Blue Jays 4, Athletics 3

At Toronto, A.J. Burnett won his fourth straight start and Vernon Wells homered to lead Toronto past Oakland.

Before the game, manager John Gibbons said he overreacted when he tangled with Ted Lilly near the dugout during Monday's game.

The A's tied an Oakland record for the biggest comeback victory by rallying from a 8-0 deficit on Monday, but their win was overshadowed by the scuffle between Lilly and Gibbons.

Burnett (6-5) allowed three runs and nine hits in 6 2-3 innings. B.J. Ryan pitched 1 2-3 innings for his 28th save in 32 chances.

Wells' two-run homer off Brad Halsey (3-4) in the fifth gave Toronto a 4-1 lead.

Devil Rays 5, Rangers 3

At St. Petersburg, Florida, Rocco Baldelli and Ben Zobrist hit consecutive sacrifice flies in the seventh inning, helping Tampa Bay beat Texas.

Baldelli's flyball off Vicente Padilla (12-8) tied it at 3, and Zobrist drove in the go-ahead run on a drive to center. Travis Lee extended lead to 5-3 with an eighth-inning homer of Ron Mahay.

Shawn Camp (5-1) struck out two in a perfect seventh.

Seth McClung earned his second save despite loading the bases in the ninth. McClung allowed back-to-back singles to Ian Kinsler and Gerald Laird and walked pinch-hitter Matt Stairs before retiring Michael Young on a game-ending flyout.

Royals 5, Indians 2

At Kansas City, Missouri, Mark Teahen was 4-for-4 with a home run and two doubles, and scored the go-ahead run on catcher Victor Martinez's throwing error as Kansas City downed Cleveland.

Odalis Perez (1-1) gave up two runs and seven hits in seven innings for his first victory as a starter since April 21. Joe Nelson pitched the ninth for his third save.

Cliff Lee (10-9) gave up three runs and five hits in six innings while taking his first loss in five career decisions at Kansas City.

Angels 4, Red Sox 3

At Anaheim, California, Juan Rivera homered, Garret Anderson drove in the go-ahead run with an RBI single and Los Angeles dealt Boston its sixth straight loss.

Vladimir Guerrero doubled twice and scored the deciding run, helping the Angels improve to a season-best eight games over .500. Boston's losing streak is its longest since a nine-game drought from Aug. 25-Sept. 4, 2001.

Leading 3-2 with two outs in the seventh, Scot Shields (7-7) walked Ortiz, who came all the way home with the tying run on a double by Kevin Youkilis. The Angels regained the lead in the bottom half when Guerrero doubled with two out and scored on Anderson's hit to right-center against Kason Gabbard (0-1), who was called up earlier in the day from Triple-A Pawtucket.

Francisco Rodriguez got the last three outs for his 35th save in 38 attempts, getting Youkilis to hit a fly ball to the warning track in right field with runners on first and second.

Mariners 6, Yankees 5

At Seattle, Adrian Beltre homered twice, including a ninth-inning drive off Ron Villone that ended Seattle's 11-game losing streak.

Beltre lined an opposite-field drive on a shoulder-high 1-2 pitch from Villone (3-2) just over the right-field fence.

Coming off a five-game sweep at Boston, New York had two on with two outs in the ninth, but Julio Mateo (9-4) struck out Alex Rodriguez. The Yankees' AL East lead remained a season-high 6.5 games over the second-place Red Sox.

Rodriguez, booed and then mocked by 42,454 of his former Seattle fans for striking out in his first two at-bats, hit a two-run homer in the sixth that put New York ahead 5-3.

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