Marcus Thames' hard slide broke up a potential inning-ending double play in the seventh and Chris Shelton followed with a go-ahead double as the Detroit Tigers beat the Chicago White Sox 2-1 on Thursday.
A sellout crowd of 41,075 at Detroit's Comerica Park was on its feet as right fielder Magglio Ordonez ran down Brian Anderson's fly ball at the warning track for the final out. The victory gave the Tigers a season-high 5.5-game lead over Chicago in the American League Central.
Detroit has the best record in Major League Baseball at 64-31 after taking two of three from the World Series champions. Chicago has lost seven of nine.
PHOTO: AP
Kenny Rogers allowed only one run and six hits over six innings. Rookie Joel Zumaya (5-1) gave up one hit in the seventh and eighth, and Todd Jones pitched the ninth for his 25th save in 28 opportunities.
Jose Contreras (9-2) was solid, giving up two runs, six hits and a walk over seven innings.
Twins 6, Devil Rays 4
At Minneapolis, Johan Santana struck out seven in six innings and Minnesota won its seventh straight game.
Minnesota improved to a major-league best 37-11 home record and have won 20 of their last 21 at the Metrodome.
Travis Lee and Jorge Cantu hit solo home runs for Tampa Bay, which lost its season-worst seventh in a row overall and 12th straight to Minnesota, the most consecutive losses in franchise history against one opponent.
Santana (11-5) allowed three runs and six hits with a season-high four walks. Joe Nathan worked the ninth to earn his 18th save in 19 chances.
James Shields (4-4) allowed five runs and eight hits in 4 1-3 innings for the Devil Rays.
Red Sox 6, Rangers 4
At Boston, Curt Schilling pitched seven innings to lead Boston to its fourth straight win.
Schilling (12-3) allowed four runs and a season-high 10 hits while walking one and striking out six. He allowed three runs in the second to end Boston's string of 22 scoreless innings, including consecutive 1-0 victories over the lowly Kansas City Royals.
Mike Timlin pitched the ninth for his second save in the makeup game for a May 14 rainout.
Rangers reliever Bryan Corey (1-1) gave up a single run in the sixth and seventh innings, allowing an RBI single to Mark Loretta and a run-scoring double by Jason Varitek.
Rod Barajas had two hits and three RBIs for the Rangers.
Blue Jays 5, Yankees 4
At Toronto, Vernon Wells homered off Mariano Rivera in the 11th inning to lift Toronto over New York.
Frank Catalanotto led off the 11th with a single to right but was thrown out trying to steal second. Wells then hit his 24th homer and the first Rivera (4-5) has allowed all year. It was the first game-winning homer off Rivera since Bill Mueller did it for Boston on July 24, 2004.
Wells, who finished with four hits, was mobbed by his teammates when he touched home plate after the homer to left-center. His drive ended a game that started as a matchup between two of the AL's best pitchers, Toronto's Roy Halladay and New York's Mike Mussina.
Brian Tallet (3-0) pitched the 11th for the victory.
Royals 9, Angels 4
At Kansas City, Missouri, the Royals took advantage of three errors by Los Angeles in the sixth inning to score the tie-breaking run.
With the score 4-4, Joey Gathright led off the sixth with a bunt single and he continued to third on a two-base throwing error by pitcher Kevin Gregg (2-3). Gathright scored when first baseman Kendry Morales misplayed David DeJesus' groundball. The third error came when Mike Napoli was charged with catcher's interference on a pitchout when Doug Mientkiewicz reached for the pitch.
The Angels committed four errors in the game to bring their American League-leading total to 77. Elmer Dessens (5-7) allowed one hit over three innings for the win.
Endy Chavez's tiebreaking double in the 10th inning sent the New York Mets over the Cincinnati Reds 4-2 on Thursday, leaving the National League's top team on an upswing. Cliff Floyd and Carlos Delgado hit solo homers off an otherwise-tough Bronson Arroyo, helping the Mets take two of three in the series.
New York has won six of its last eight overall, improving the league's best record to 57-38.
Right-hander Gary Majewski (3-3), acquired in an eight-player deal with Washington a week ago, gave up doubles to Xavier Nady and Chavez in the 10th, leaving him with a blown save and a loss in three appearances for the Reds.
Carlos Beltran completed the 10th-inning rally with a run-scoring double off Kent Mercker.
Pedro Feliciano (4-2) pitched the ninth, and Billy Wagner got the last three outs for his 19th save in 23 chances.
Cubs 4, Astros 1
At Chicago, Carlos Zambrano won his seventh straight decision and Michael Barrett and Aramis Ramirez hit back-to-back homers for Chicago.
Zambrano (10-3) gave up one run and two hits in eight innings. He struck out 10 and walked four. The Cubs' ace had a shutout going until Willy Taveras singled and scored on Chris Burke's sacrifice fly in the eighth.
Barrett singled in a run in the first against Houston's Andy Pettitte (8-10) and hit a one-out homer in the third. Ramirez followed with his team-high 17th homer to make it 3-0. It was the first time this season the Cubs have hit home runs in consecutive at-bats.
Ryan Dempster pitched the ninth for his 16th save.
Pirates 5, Marlins 3
At Miami, Jeromy Burnitz's single through a drawn-in infield drove in the tie-breaking run in the ninth inning and Pittsburgh rallied past Florida.
Giants 9, Padres 3
At San Francisco, Barry Bonds hit his 722nd career home run hours after the federal grand jury considering possible perjury and tax-evasion charges against him expired without an indictment, and San Francisco beat San Diego.
Diamondbacks 5, Dodgers 2
At Phoenix, Carlos Quentin homered in his major league debut and Brandon Webb pitched eight strong innings for his third straight victory as Arizona beat Los Angeles.
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