AMERICAN LEAGUE
Zach Britton struck out a career-high 10 in eight innings, Taylor Teagarden and Adam Jones homered and the Baltimore Orioles beat the Chicago White Sox 5-3 on Thursday for their eighth win in 11 games.
Baltimore took three of four from the AL Central-leading White Sox to complete a 5-1 home stand that started with a two-game sweep of Toronto.
The victory moved the Orioles (72-58) within three games of the idle AL East-leading New York Yankees, who host Baltimore in a three-game series that was to start last night.
Britton (4-1) gave up one run, seven hits and did not issue a walk. He fanned Dewayne Wise three times and eclipsed his previous single-game career high of seven strikeouts by the fifth inning.
ATHLETICS 12, INDIANS 7
In Cleveland, Ohio, Jarrod Parker pitched into the sixth inning and Oakland hit four home runs, leading the Athletics to their sixth straight win, a victory over the free-falling Indians and a sweep of the four-game series.
Oakland, which have won eight of nine, maintained their one-game lead over Baltimore for the top spot in the AL wild-card race. George Kottaras’ three-run double broke a 1-1 tie in the fourth, while Coco Crisp, Cliff Pennington, Josh Reddick and Josh Donaldson homered.
While the Athletics are flying high, the Indians continue to fade. Cleveland have lost five straight, 14 of 15 and are 5-27 since July 27.
MARINERS 5, TWINS 4
In Minneapolis, Minnesota, Blake Beavan gave up two runs in seven innings and Trayvon Robinson drove in two runs to lift the Mariners over the Twins.
Beavan (9-8) scattered five hits, walked two and struck out one.
Kyle Seager also drove in two runs for the Mariners, who have won 11 of their last 15 games.
Brian Duensing (3-10) gave up three earned runs and four hits in 5-1/3 innings. He left after loading the bases in the sixth and left fielder Josh Willingham’s blunder contributed to Seattle’s four-run inning.
Willingham’s two-run homer in the eighth off Stephen Pryor made things interesting, but Tom Wilhelmsen picked up his 21st save to help the Mariners take three of four in the series.
In other AL play, it was:
‧ Blue Jays 2, Rays 0
‧ Angels 5, Red Sox 2
‧ Royals 2, Tigers 1
NATIONAL LEAGUE
AP, CHICAGO
Jonathan Lucroy hit a grand slam and drove in seven runs for Milwaukee, but Alfonso Soriano’s RBI single capped a three-run comeback in the ninth inning on Thursday that lifted the Chicago Cubs over the Brewers 12-11.
In a seesaw game featuring a combined 15 extra-base hits, the Cubs led 3-0, trailed 9-3 and were still down 11-9 going into the ninth.
Starlin Castro hit an RBI single against Francisco Rodriguez (2-7), Anthony Rizzo tied it with his second double of the afternoon and Soriano won the game with his one-out drive off the center-field wall.
Lucroy tied his career high for RBIs and Rickie Weeks had five hits. Ryan Braun and Cody Ransom also homered for Milwaukee, which had won eight straight against the Cubs.
NATIONALS 8, CARDINALS 1
In Washington, Bryce Harper hit his third home run in two games, Jason Werth homered for the first time since May and Edwin Jackson struck out 10 on Thursday night as the Nationals padded their NL East lead with a win over the punchless Cardinals.
The Nationals opened an 11-game home stand with an overwhelming performance against a wild-card contender that failed to score an earned run for the third straight game.
Jackson (8-9) was so dominant that three of his strikeouts required throws to first, because the Cardinals were chasing balls in the dirt.
The victory moved the Nationals 5-1/2 games ahead of idle Atlanta.
Jaime Garcia (3-6) allowed six runs for the Cardinals, whose streak of 28 scoreless innings ended in the eighth.
PHILLIES 3, METS 2
In Philadelphia, Phillies star Jimmy Rollins was benched after a pair of base-running blunders in Philadelphia’s win over the Mets.
Rollins was pulled for the start of the seventh inning after a pair of mistakes in the sixth.
The former NL MVP failed to run hard on a dropped pop-up that could have put him on second base. He stole second base, then was caught in a rundown on a grounder and was tagged out.
Rollins drew the ire of Phillies fans earlier this month when he jogged down the line on a grounder in a game at Miami. He met privately with manager Charlie Manuel the next day. Manuel refused to bench his All-Star shortstop then. He had no hesitation against the Mets.
GIANTS 8, ASTROS 4
In Houston, Texas, Hunter Pence hit a go-ahead two-run single in the seventh inning and the Giants rallied again for a win over the Astros.
The Giants were down 4-0 after four innings. They cut the lead to one with a three-run fifth inning and Pablo Sandoval singled in a run in the seventh to tie it. Pence, who hit a three-run homer on Wednesday, then caused trouble for his former team again, this time with a two-RBI grounder off Fernando Rodriguez (1-9) to shallow center field that put San Francisco on top 6-4.
In other NL play, it was:
‧ Diamondbacks 2, Dodgers 0
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