AMERICAN LEAGUE
ORIOLES 5, WHITE SOX 3
BALTIMORE (AP) — 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 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 homestand 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 begins Friday 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
CLEVELAND (AP) — Jarrod Parker pitched into the sixth inning and Oakland hit four home runs, leading the Athletics to their sixth straight win, a 12-7 victory over the free-falling Indians and a sweep of the four-game series.
Oakland, which has won eight of nine, maintained its 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 has lost five straight, 14 of 15 and is 5-27 since July 27.
MARINERS 5, TWINS 4
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Blake Beavan gave up two runs in seven innings and Trayvon Robinson drove in two runs to lift the Mariners over the Twins, 5-4.
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.
BLUE JAYS 2, RAYS 0
TORONTO (AP) — Carlos Villanueva (vee-ah-noo-WAY'-vah) pitched six sharp innings and the Toronto Blue Jays beat slumping Tampa Bay 2-0 on Thursday night, snapping a five-game losing streak against the Rays.
Tampa Bay lost for the fifth time in six games and dropped 1½ games behind Baltimore for the second AL wild-card berth. The Rays have been shut out twice in the past three games, losing 1-0 at Texas on Tuesday night.
Kelly Johnson drove in both runs and Toronto won consecutive games for the first time since Aug. 12-13, improving to 3-9 against the Rays this season.
ROYALS 2, TIGERS 1
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Jeremy Guthrie pitched effectively into the eighth inning and Alex Gordon homered to lead the Kansas City Royals over the Detroit Tigers 2-1 Thursday night for a three-game sweep.
Prince Fielder had three hits for the slumping Tigers, who remained three games behind the first-place Chicago White Sox in the AL Central. The teams begin an important three-game series Friday night in Detroit.
Guthrie (3-3), who did not give up a hit to the White Sox until the eighth inning on Aug. 19 in his previous Kauffman Stadium start, held Detroit to one run on 10 hits — nine of them singles. He walked none and struck out three.
ANGELS 5, RED SOX 2
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Zack Greinke (GREHN'-kee) yielded five hits over seven strong innings, Albert Pujols (POO'-hohlz) hit an early two-run double and the Los Angeles Angels swept their season series with Boston for the first time with a 5-2 victory over the Red Sox on Thursday night.
Mark Trumbo and pinch-hitter Alberto Callaspo drove in runs in the third inning for the Angels, who stayed in the AL wild-card hunt by winning all six meetings with Boston over the past 10 days.
Los Angeles has won seven of nine overall, keeping pace with Baltimore and Oakland in the five-team wild-card race.
James Loney went 3 for 4 with a homer and Jon Lester threw eight innings of nine-hit ball for the Red Sox, who have lost eight of 11.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
CUBS 12, BREWERS 11
CHICAGO (AP) — 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 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.
PHILLIES 3, METS 2
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Phillies star Jimmy Rollins was benched after a pair of baserunning blunders in Philadelphia's 3-2 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 popup 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.
NATIONALS 8, CARDS 1
WASHINGTON (AP) — 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 Thursday night as the Washington Nationals padded their NL East lead with an 8-1 win over the punchless St. Louis Cardinals.
The Nationals opened an 11-game homestand 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 5½ 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.
GIANTS 8, ASTROS 4
HOUSTON (AP) — Hunter Pence hit a go-ahead two-run single in the seventh inning and the San Francisco Giants rallied again for an 8-4 win over the Houston Astros on Thursday night.
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.
San Francisco came back to win the opener of the series and Thursday's win completed their sixth sweep this season.
Joaquin Arias added a solo homer in the eighth for the NL-East-leading Giants.
D-BACKS 2, DODGERS 0
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Ian Kennedy pitched two-hit ball into the seventh inning and Chris Young hit a two-run homer off Clayton Kershaw to help the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 2-0 Thursday night, snapping a six-game skid.
The Diamondbacks extended their winning streak over the Dodgers to seven in a row in the opener of a four-game series. Los Angeles lost for the seventh time in 10 games on a night when slugger Matt Kemp was out of the starting lineup with a stiff left shoulder.
Kennedy (12-11) struck out seven and walked two over 6 1-3 innings, bouncing back from a loss against San Diego in his previous outing. His last six starts against the Dodgers have been decided by three runs or less.
