Santana's two-hitter makes it 17 wins

Los Angeles Angels shortstop Orlando Cabrera, top, jumps over the Baltimore Orioles' Kevin Millar after throwing to first base during the fifth inning of their game in Anaheim, California, on Monday. PHOTO: AP

American League

Johan Santana became the first 17-game winner in the major leagues, allowing two hits over eight scoreless innings on Tuesday night as Minnesota beat Tampa Bay 8-0 -- the Twins' 14th win in a row over the Devil Rays.

Santana (17-5) struck out 12 and walked one.

The left-hander, 8-0 since the All-Star break, retired his first 10 hitters before Delmon Young doubled with one out in the fourth. He then got eight straight outs before Young singled to lead off the seventh.

The only other batter to reach base against Santana was B.J. Upton, who drew a two-out walk in the eighth.

Jason Tyner had an RBI double and Jason Bartlett hit a sacrifice fly off Jae Seo (1-6) during a three-run fourth that put the Twins ahead 3-0. Michael Cuddyer hit an RBI double and Justin Morneau had a run-scoring triple in a three-run seventh to make it 6-0.

Red Sox 1, White Sox 0

At Boston, David Ortiz returned to the Red Sox lineup, going 0-for-3 with two strikeouts and a walk in Boston's 1-0 win over Chicago.

Ortiz not played in eight days and was hospitalized for two days last week because of heart palpitations.

Kason Gabbard earn his first major league victory with seven innings of three-hit ball. Gabbard (1-3) allowed two walks and struck out six.

Mike Timlin pitched two innings for his fourth save, his second since closer Jonathan Papelbon went out with a tired right shoulder.

Javier Vazquez (11-9) pitched a three-hitter, struck out 11 and retired his last 13 batters. He is winless in five starts.

Indians 7, Blue Jays 2

At Toronto, Andy Marte's grand slam in the eighth inning snapped a tie and carried Cleveland to a 7-2 victory over the Toronto.

Down in the eighth, the Indians rallied with five runs off reliever Jeremy Accardo (1-1). Marte's first career bases-loaded homer was the Indians' team-record 13th slam of the season.

Jeremy Sowers (7-3) pitched seven innings for the victory, allowing just two runs and five hits. He struck out three and walked none.

Mariners 4, Tigers 3

At Detroit, Joel Pineiro came on after a long rain delay and worked 3 2-3 innings of perfect relief, leading Seattle over Detroit.

The win was just Seattle's second in 16 road games. Detroit has lost nine of 13, and leads Minnesota by only four games in the AL Central. The Tigers had a 10-game edge in the division on Aug. 8.

Pineiro retired all 11 batters he faced when he entered the 3-3 game to start the fifth inning after an 1 hour, 23-minute rain delay. He struck out four.

J.J. Putz got the final four outs for his 30th save.

Royals 5, Yankees 0

At Kansas City, Missouri, Jorge De La Rosa and Todd Wellemeyer combined on a shutout and Mike Mussina was hit hard in his return from a groin injury as Kansas City routed New York.

Emil Brown homered for the Royals, who wasted a 5-1, eighth-inning lead in a 12-5 loss in Monday's series opener.

Derek Jeter was 1-for-5, extending his hitting streak to 16 games and leaving his average at .343, two points behind Minnesota's Joe Mauer, who leads the American League.

New York was 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position. The Yankees, who lead the major leagues in scoring, were blanked for just the third time this season.

Mussina pitching for the first time since Aug. 20, gave up four runs and eight hits in five innings.

Rangers 5, Athletics 4

At Oakland, California, Mark DeRosa hit a three-run homer, and Michael Young went 4-for-5 with a triple and scored twice, leading Texas over Oakland.

Frank Thomas hit his 31st home run of the year, a three-run shot in the sixth that pulled Oakland within 5-4. It gave the Big Hurt 1,553 career RBIs and moved him past Fred McGriff for 36th place on the career list.

Oakland lost a series for the first time in 12 chances. The A's won 10 and split a four-game set with Kansas City after dropping two of three games to the Boston Red Sox at home from July 24-26.

Angels 5, Orioles 2

At Anaheim, California, Adam Kennedy hit a three-run homer off Julio Manon (0-1) in the 10th inning, and Los Angeles won their fourth straight to close within 5 1/2 games of first-place Oakland in the AL West.

Brendan Donnelly (4-0) pitched a shaky 10th inning for the win. Baltimore's Brian Roberts singled for the fourth consecutive time and David Newhan tried to score from second on the hit, but he was thrown out by left fielder Chone Figgins to end the inning.

National League

AP, CINCINNATI
Bronson Arroyo pitched his first career shutout and Rich Aurilia and Todd Hollandsworth had three hits apiece, leading the Cincinnati Reds to a 3-0 victory on Tuesday over the San Francisco Giants.

Pitching three days of rest, Arroyo (12-9) allowed only three singles to turn Cincinnati around after a 2-8 West Coast trip. He struck out seven and walked one.

The Giants couldn't overcome a wild first inning by Matt Morris (10-12), whose first eight pitches were out of the strike zone, spotting the Reds a pair of runners. Cincinnati then scored on Aurilia's broken-bat single, Edwin Encarnacion's sacrifice fly and Todd Hollandworth's double.

Barry Bonds went 0-for-3 with a walk, ending his streak of three straight games with a homer. Ken Griffey Jr. was out of Cincinnati's lineup, a day after dislocated a toe on his right foot while trying to catch Bonds' 730th career homer.

Cardinals 2, Nationals 0

At Washington, Albert Pujols hit his fifth home run in three days and Jeff Suppan took a shutout into the eighth inning to lead St. Louis to victory over Washington.

Pujols a flat, 76-mph pitch from Pedro Astacio over the left field fence in the first inning for his 44th homer, a solo shot.

Suppan made it stand up over 7 2-3 innings, his second scoreless outing in three starts. He allowed five hits, struck out five and walked two.

Diamondbacks 4, Marlins 0

At Miami, Dontrelle Willis lost for the first time in four starts, giving up home runs to Carlos Quinten and Damion Easley before leaving in the seventh inning as Florida lost to Arizona.

Florida for just the third time in 16 games and dropped back to .500 at 69-69. The Marlins, 11-31 on May 21, beat the Diamondbacks on Monday to become the first team in major league history to climb above .500 after being 20 games under.

Marlins Joe Girardi made it to the ballpark a few hours after his wife gave birth to the couple's third child, a daughter named Lena Yvonne.

Brewers 9, Dodgers 0

At Milwaukee, Doug Davis pitched a four-hitter and Corey Hart drove in a career-high six runs as Milwaukee handed Los Angeles its third straight loss following a seven-game winning streak.

Davis struck out eight, walked one and retired his final 16 batters in his third career shutout, his first since a seven-hitter at Minnesota on May 21, 2005. He had lost his three previous starts since beating Pittsburgh on Aug. 15.

Hart, who entered with four homers this year, had a three-run drive in the first off Mark Hendrickson (1-7) and a solo shot in the fifth for his first career multihomer game. It was hit first multi-RBI game this season.

Pirates 6, Cubs 5

At Chicago, Jason Bay homered twice and Jose Bautista scored the go-ahead run in the ninth inning on a wild pitch as Pittsburgh moved out of last place in the National League Central.

The Cubs (55-83) have lost five straight against the Pirates (56-83) and fell behind Pittsburgh into last place in the division for the first time this season. The Pirates started the season 0-6 and hadn't moved out of the cellar all year.

Chicago for the 15th time in 18 games, while the Pirates have won six of eight.

With two outs in the ninth and Bautista on first, Cubs closer Ryan Dempster (1-8) walked Freddy Sanchez and Bay to load the bases. On the first pitch to Xavier Nady, Dempster threw a wild pitch.

Padres 5, Rockies 4

At San Diego, Mike Piazza homered, Cla Meredith extended his scoreless streak to 27 1-3 innings and San Diego pulled within one game of the NL West lead.

With his 417th career homer, Piazza reached the 20-home run mark for the 12th time in 15 major league seasons.

San Diego closed within one game of division-leading Los Angeles and opened a two-game lead in the wild-card race over Philadelphia.

Meredith pitched two scoreless innings and is one-third of an inning short of San Diego's club record, set by Mark Davis in 1988. Meredith has not surrendered a run in 24 appearances.

Manny Alexander had two RBIs for San Diego, including a run-scoring triple in the sixth that put the Padres ahead 4-3.

Trevor Hoffman pitched a perfect the ninth for his 37th save.