AMERICAN LEAGUE
Miguel Cabrera homered twice, including an eighth-inning grand slam, and the Detroit Tigers had no trouble overcoming an early injury to right-hander Max Scherzer in a 12-2 rout of the Oakland Athletics on Tuesday night.
Cabrera matched a career high with six RBIs and now has 40 homers on the season — also a career best. Prince Fielder and Jhonny Peralta added home runs for the Tigers, who remained three games behind the first-place Chicago White Sox in the AL Central.
Scherzer left after two innings because of a fatigued throwing shoulder. An MRI showed no structural damage.
Darin Downs (2-1) pitched 2-2/3 scoreless innings for the win.
Oakland rookie A.J. Griffin (6-1) lost for the first time in his career.
WHITE SOX 3, ROYALS 2
In Kansas City, Missouri, Gavin Floyd pitched seven crisp innings, Alex Rios hit a tiebreaking homer in the seventh and the Sox beat the Royals for their fifth consecutive win.
Alejandro De Aza and Gordon Beckham also went deep for AL Central-leading Chicago, who maintained a three-game advantage over Detroit.
Floyd (10-10), who was making his second start since coming off the disabled with an elbow flexor strain, gave up two runs in the first inning and nothing after that. Luke Hochevar (8-14) allowed just one single the next four innings before Beckham led off the sixth with his 16th home run.
RED SOX 7, RAYS 5
In St Petersburg, Florida, Felix Doubront limited Tampa Bay’s sputtering offense to one hit over six innings and the Boston Red Sox rallied for a victory that dealt another blow to the Rays’ fading playoff hopes.
Jacoby Ellsbury, Dustin Pedroia, James Loney, Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Ryan Lavarnway drove in runs for the Red Sox, who beat their AL East rivals for the second straight night, extending Tampa Bay’s losing streak to four games and dropping the third-place Rays six games behind the division-leading New York Yankees.
Doubront (11-9) walked five and struck out five, ending a stretch in which he went 0-5 over eight starts dating to late July.
The Red Sox took the lead with an unearned run off Kyle Farnsworth (1-6) in the sixth.
TWINS 6, INDIANS 5, 12 INNS
In Cleveland, Ohio, Darin Mastroianni scored the go-ahead run from second base on an infield hit in a two-run 12th inning and the Twins tied the Indians for fourth place in the AL Central.
Mastroianni singled with two outs and stole second off Scott Maine (1-1), the team-record 10th pitcher used by Cleveland. Alexi Casilla then poked a ball between first and second that second baseman Jason Kipnis fielded in short right. However, Casilla was safe when first baseman Matt LaPorta fielded Kipnis’ throw, but was not on the bag. LaPorta held the ball before reacting too late to throw out Mastroianni at home.
Tyler Robertson (2-2) pitched 1-1/3 innings for the win.
ANGELS 11, RANGERS 3
In Anaheim, California, Jered Weaver earned his 100th victory, Chris Iannetta had a two-run single and scored on a wild pitch during a crazy eight-run rally in the fourth inning, and the Angels moved up in the AL playoff race with a victory over Texas.
Erick Aybar had three hits and scored two runs for the Angels (81-67), who moved within 3.5 games of wild card-leading Oakland with their 15th win in 20 games after the Athletics (84-63) lost in Detroit.
Weaver (18-4) gave up third-inning homers to Mike Napoli and Ian Kinsler during seven innings of six-hit ball.
Ryan Dempster (6-2) yielded six hits and five runs while failing to get out of the fourth inning, ending his five-start winning streak.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
AP, PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania
Yovani Gallardo gave up just two hits over 6-2/3 innings and the surging Milwaukee Brewers dropped the weary Pittsburgh Pirates 6-0 on Tuesday night.
Gallardo (16-8) struck out six and walked four to win his eighth straight decision as Milwaukee moved in front of fading Pittsburgh in the jumbled National League wild-card race. The teams entered the day 2.5 games back of the Cardinals, who played Houston later.
Ryan Braun had two hits, drove in a run and stole three bases for the Brewers, who have won six of seven. Milwaukee’s seven stolen bases were the most by the franchise since they moved to the National League in 1998. Carlos Gomez and Jonathan Lucroy had three hits apiece for the Brewers.
A.J. Burnett (15-8) gave up two runs in six innings, but could not stop Pittsburgh’s late season swoon. The Pirates are 4-12 this month.
CARDINALS 4, ASTROS 1
In St Louis, Missouri, Kyle Lohse threw seven scoreless innings for his 15th victory and contributed an RBI double as the Cardinals beat the Astros to stay in front for the second NL wild card.
Fernando Abad (0-5) had a career-best six strikeouts in the Astros’ 100th loss. They are 8-8 this month under interim manager Tony DeFrancesco and need nine wins in the final 14 games to avoid topping last season’s franchise-record 106 losses.
Jon Jay had two hits and two RBIs for the Cardinals, coming off a 2-5 trip, but with a favorable upcoming schedule with the next eight against lowly Houston and Chicago. With 14 games to play, the defending World Series champions are 1.5 games ahead of the Dodgers.
Lohse (15-3) matched his season best for victories set in 2008 with St Louis. Jason Motte worked the ninth for his 36th save in 43 chances.
GIANTS 6, ROCKIES 3
In San Francisco, California, Tim Lincecum pitched San Francisco one win closer to an NL West crown as the Giants lowered their magic number to clinch the division to seven. Lincecum (10-14) struck out six and walked two in 6-1/3 scoreless innings on a day the second-place Los Angeles Dodgers were postponed by rain in Washington.
Marco Scutaro had three singles, drove in a run and scored twice and Xavier Nady had two RBI singles for the Giants (85-63), who moved a season-high 22 games over .500.
Wilin Rosario hit a two-run homer off Santiago Casilla in the eighth inning, matching the Rockies’ rookie record of 25 set by Todd Helton in 1998.
Angel Pagan extended his own San Francisco record with an RBI triple in the eighth, his major league-leading 14th.
Jeff Francis (5-6) lost consecutive starts for just the second time all season and his winless stretch reached four outings since he beat the Dodgers on Aug. 27.
MARLINS 4, BRAVES 3, 10 INNS
In Miami, Florida, Jose Reyes hit a two-out RBI single in the 10th inning, and Miami overcame an awful ninth inning to snap Atlanta’s four-game winning streak.
With one out in the 10th, pinch-hitter Rob Brantly was walked by Cory Gearrin (0-1), and Gorkys Hernandez was hit by a pitch. Following a strikeout, Reyes hit a blooper that fell in front of a diving Jason Heyward in right field and Brantly scored without a play.
Atlanta lost to Miami for only the fourth time in 14 meetings.
The Braves rallied from a 3-0 deficit in the ninth to tie the game. Heyward doubled to start the inning against Steve Cishek, and Chipper Jones walked on a 3-2 pitch. With one out, Dan Uggla singled home a run, and Brian McCann followed with a tying two-run double off Mike Dunn.
In other NL action, it was:
‧ Reds 3, Cubs 1
‧ Diamondbacks 3, Padres 2
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