AMERICAN LEAGUE
The Minnesota Twins went top of the American League Central division with a 9-0 thrashing of the high-flying Los Angeles Angels yesterday.
Pitcher Glen Perkins was commanding over eight innings for Minnesota, while Denard Span and Delmon Young both homered for the Twins, who recorded a fourth straight win to move half a game above Chicago in the Central.
Los Angeles appears certain to reach the playoffs, but Perkins held the Angels to five hits on the way to winning his fourth consecutive decision.
RAYS 9, WHITE SOX 4
In Chicago, Tampa Bay assumed the American League’s best record by beating Chicago.
The Rays took over from Los Angeles as holders of the AL’s best win-loss record and maintained a 4.5 game lead over Boston atop the AL East.
The result also cost the White Sox their leadership of the AL Central, leaving them half a game behind Minnesota and the same margin behind Boston, which holds the wildcard.
Rocco Baldelli hit his first homer in more than a year while Carlos Pena and Ben Zobrist also went deep for Tampa Bay.
RED SOX 8, BLUE JAYS 4
In Toronto, Dustin Pedroia and Jason Varitek hit solo home runs to power Boston over Toronto.
Pedroia went 2-for-4 with three RBIs and has now hit safely in 46 of his past 50 games.
YANKEES 9, ORIOLES 4
In Baltimore, New York posted a rare late rally to beat Baltimore.
The Yankees got just their third win from 53 attempts in games in which they trailed after seven innings.
Bobby Abreu went 5-for-5, his fourth coming to lead off the eighth. He advanced to third on a double and then got home on a wild pitch. Xavier Nady then singled in the go-ahead run.
In other games it was:
• Indians 7, Rangers 5
• Tigers 4, Royals 3
• Mariners 7, Athletics 5
NATIONAL LEAGUE
The Philadelphia Phillies pounded veteran pitcher Greg Maddux in his Los Angeles debut to beat the Dodgers 8-1 in the National League on Friday.
Ryan Howard, Chase Utley and Chris Coste hit home runs for Philadelphia, which ended a six-game losing streak to the Dodgers and remained 2.5 games behind New York, which tops the NL East division.
Maddux, who was traded from San Diego on Tuesday, allowed seven runs in 5 2-3 innings.
Los Angeles remained two games behind NL West leader Arizona.
Howard hit his 34th homer to give the Phillies a 2-1 lead in the fourth. Howard entered the at-bat with a dismal record of 3-for-36 with 18 strikeouts and one homer in his past 14 games.
The Phillies scored four runs in the sixth to knock Maddux out of the game. Coste’s three-run homer capped the inning as the Phillies scored their most runs this month.
MARLINS 5, DIAMONDBACKS 4
In Phoenix, Florida came from behind in the eighth inning to edge Arizona.
Wes Helms tied the game with a sacrifice fly in the eighth and Cody Ross followed with a solo homer.
The comeback spoiled a 13-strikeout performance by Arizona’s Randy Johnson, who pitched seven strong innings. The Diamondbacks maintained a two-game lead over Los Angeles in the NL West.
METS 3, ASTROS 0
In New York, New York shut out Houston to maintain its buffer atop the NL East.
Mets starter Johan Santana allowed eight hits in seven innings to win his fifth straight decision.
New York took advantage of the only two mistakes made by Houston starter Roy Oswalt: capitalizing on a wild pitch to score in the first and hitting a two-run homer in the second.
In other games it was:
• Cardinals 18, Braves 3
• Brewers 10, Pirates 4
• Nationals 13, Cubs 5
• Giants 5, Padres 0
• Reds 8, Rockies 5
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