BOSTON (AP) ó Jon Lester allowed two hits in eight innings and the Boston Red Sox beat Tampa Bay 4-0 on Sunday for a doubleheader sweep, handing the AL champion Rays their 11th consecutive loss.
Tampa Bay’s losing streak is the longest by a major league team this season.
In the opener, Dustin Pedroia’s tiebreaking, two-run homer in the eighth inning sent Boston to a 3-1 victory behind Clay Buchholz and two relievers.
Lester (13-7) followed Buchholz’s strong outing with an even better one. Buchholz allowed one run and five hits in seven innings before Hideki Okajima (6-0) pitched a perfect eighth for the win. The Rays were outscored 16-2 and managed a total of 14 hits in Boston’s three-game sweep.
James Shields (9-11) lost the nightcap, Matt Garza (7-10) the opener.
Yankees 13, Orioles 3
NEW YORK (AP) ó Hideki Matsui homered and drove in five runs, CC Sabathia became the AL’s first 17-game winner and the Yankees avoided a three-game sweep against last-place Baltimore.
Melky Cabrera finished with four RBIs for New York, which totaled 20 hits after getting 19 in the first two games of the series combined. Derek Jeter went 3 for 5 and scored three times to give him 101 runs on the season, reaching the century mark for the 12th time.
Matsui hit a tiebreaking, two-run single off Jeremy Guthrie (10-14) in the sixth and a three-run homer in New York’s eight-run eighth.
Sabathia (17-7) held Baltimore to three runs and five hits in seven innings.
Angels 3, White Sox 2
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) ó Torii Hunter hit a tiebreaking home run leading off the seventh inning against Mark Buehrle, and Los Angeles beat Chicago.
The AL West leaders took two of three from the White Sox, who dropped into third place in the AL Central. They are six games behind division-leading Detroit, and a half-game back of Minnesota.
The win went to Darren Oliver (5-1), who pitched a scoreless seventh in relief of Scott Kazmir in a marquee matchup of All-Star left-handers. Kazmir threw a career-high 118 pitches over six innings, allowing two runs and seven hits and striking out two.
Buehrle (12-8) gave up three runs ó two earned ó and five hits in seven innings with three strikeouts and two walks.
Tigers 7, Blue Jays 2
DETROIT (AP) ó Gerald Laird and Brandon Inge each had two RBIs, helping the Tigers snap a season-worst five-game skid.
Rick Porcello won a matchup with fellow rookie Ricky Romero. Porcello (13-8) gave up two runs on four hits in six innings to improve to 3-0 in his last four starts.
Romero (12-8) also went six innings, allowing four runs on 10 hits.
Royals 7, Indians 0
CLEVELAND (AP) ó Kyle Davies carried a no-hit bid into the sixth inning and won his fourth straight start, pitching Kansas City past the Indians.
Davies (8-9) held the Indians hitless until Shin-Soo Choo lined a single to center to open the sixth. The right-hander walked six and struck out three over six innings.
Matt LaPorta lined a two-out single off Royals reliever Carlos Rosa in the ninth for Cleveland’s only other hit.
John Buck and Billy Butler each had two RBIs in the Royals’ sixth win in seven games.
Carlos Carrasco (0-2) gave up a solo homer to Buck.
Twins 8, Athletics 0
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) ó Joe Mauer had three hits, including his 27th home run, and rookie Brian Duensing helped Minnesota avoid a sweep.
Put in the rotation Aug. 22, Duensing (3-1) scattered eight hits and three walks over seven innings to win his third straight decision. He struck out six.
Bobby Keppel and Joe Nathan completed a 10-hitter for the Twins, who remained 51/2 games behind first-place Detroit in the AL Central.
Mauer drove in two runs and raised his batting average to a major league-best .366.
Gio Gonzalez (5-6) lasted three-plus innings, allowing seven runs and eight hits.
Rangers 7, Mariners 2, 1st game
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) ó Tommy Hunter threw a six-hitter for his first complete game and the Rangers hit three homers to beat the Mariners in the rain-delayed opener of a doubleheader.
Chris Davis, David Murphy and Nelson Cruz connected for the Rangers
Ichiro Suzuki doubled in four at-bats, leaving him one hit shy of setting a major league record with his ninth straight 200-hit season. Suzuki and “Wee” Willie Keeler (1894-1901) are tied.
Rain that pelted the area for the past four days caused the game to begin 4 hours, 31 minutes after the originally scheduled start time of 12:35 p.m. It was a makeup of Friday night’s rainout.
Hunter (8-3), a rookie, struck out three and walked one in his 15th big league start.
Seattle rookie Doug Fister (2-2) gave up five runs and 10 hits in 4 2-3 innings.
ST. LOUIS (AP) ó Javier Vazquez took a shutout into the ninth inning, and the Atlanta Braves roughed up Chris Carpenter in a 9-2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday to complete a three-game sweep.
Vazquez allowed a leadoff single to Skip Schumaker and then retired the next 17 batters before Schumaker reached on an infield single in the sixth. It was the 25th complete game of Vazquez’s career and his second of the season.
Vazquez (13-9) has won his last three decisions. He stuck out eight while walking none. He threw just 94 pitches.
Carpenter (16-4) had his worst outing of the season. He allowed seven earned runs on nine hits in six innings pitched.
Giants 7, Dodgers 2
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ó Brad Penny kept his emotions in check and pitched seven strong innings to beat his former club, Juan Uribe hit a two-run homer and the Giants avoided a sweep by with a victory over the first-place Dodgers.
Los Angeles’ lead in the NL West remained at three over Colorado after the Rockies lost again at San Diego. The Giants moved within 41/2 games of Colorado in the NL wild-card race.
Uribe had three hits, as did Travis Ishikawa, who added an RBI double for San Francisco, which ended a four-game home losing streak.
Penny (3-0) has a perfect record since signing with the Giants on Aug. 31 ó after he lost his final four decisions with the Red Sox before they released him.
Chad Billingsley (12-10) saw his winless stretch reach five starts, going 0-4 during that span since beating St. Louis on Aug. 18.
Phillies 5-4, 1st Game
PHILADELPHIA (AP) ó Kyle Kendrick pitched into the eighth inning and Shane Victorino and Ben Francisco each homered, leading the Phillies over the Mets in the opener of a day-night doubleheader.
Brad Lidge, who was temporarily demoted from his Phillies closer role this week, gave up two runs in the ninth but finished for his 29th save in 39 opportunities. Ryan Madson had blown the save in Saturday’s loss to the Mets.
Making his first Phillies start of the season, Kendrick (1-1) lasted until surrendering a two-run homer to Anderson Hernandez with one out in the eighth inning.
New York right-hander John Maine (5-5) made his first start since June 6. He gave up an RBI double to Ryan Howard in the first of his three innings. He threw 57 pitches and gave up two hits.
Padres 7, Rockies 3
SAN DIEGO (AP) ó Tony Gwynn drove in the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly in a three-run sixth inning, lifting San Diego to a win over Jason Marquis and the Rockies.
Marquis (15-11) carried a 3-2 lead into the sixth when San Diego rallied. Marquis walked four batters in the inning, including one with the bases loaded.
The Rockies lead in the wild-card race fell to 41/2 games after the Giants beat the Dodgers.
Adam Russell (1-0) pitched an inning of scoreless relief as five San Diego pitchers combined on five-hitter.
Marquis allowed five runs on eight hits in 5 2-3 innings.
Pirates 2, Astros 1
HOUSTON (AP) ó Paul Maholm pitched eight shutout innings and Pittsburgh snapped a 13-game road losing streak.
Ryan Doumit homered and Garrett Jones had an RBI single for the last-place Pirates, who had dropped five in a row overall.
Maholm (8-8), who lost four of his previous five decisions, scattered six hits and two walks. He struck out two.
Matt Capps allowed Lance Berkman’s leadoff homer in the ninth before earning his 25th save.
Felipe Paulino (2-9) lost his fifth straight decision. He went five innings and allowed one run on six hits and a walk. He struck out six.
Cubs 5, Reds 2
CHICAGO (AP) ó Ted Lilly pitched six scoreless innings and Derrek Lee homered and singled twice, helping the Cubs beat the Reds.
Andres Blanco had three hits and two RBIs for the Cubs, who won the season series 10-5.
The Reds were officially eliminated from the NL Central race. They were 26-20 and 11/2 games out of first place on May 28 but are 38-58 since and have fallen 191/2 behind St. Louis.
Lilly (12-8) allowed six hits, walked two and struck out seven in winning his seventh consecutive home decision.
Homer Bailey (5-5) allowed three runs on nine hits in 5 1-3 innings, losing after a four-start stretch in which he went 3-0 with a 1.67 ERA.
Nationals 7, Marlins 2, 81/2 innings
MIAMI (AP) ó John Lannan won for the first time in seven starts and Pete Orr hit his first home run of the season for Washington.
The game was called after a 53-minute delay in the bottom of the ninth inning. The Marlins had a runner on base with nobody out. Rain also halted play for 2 hours, 10 minutes in the sixth.
Lannan (9-11) allowed one run and six hits in five innings. He did not return after the first delay.
Florida starter Chris Volstad (9-12) gave up five runs ó four earned ó and five hits over three innings.
Brewers 5, Diamondbacks 3
PHOENIX (AP) ó Prince Fielder homered to tie Milwaukee’s single-season RBI record, Alcides Escobar had a two-run single in a four-run seventh inning and the Brewers completed a three-game sweep of Arizona.
Fielder’s fourth-inning home run, his 39th of the season, gave him a major league-leading 126 RBIs and tied him with Cecil Cooper for the Brewers’ franchise record. Cooper, Houston Astros’ manager, set the mark in 1983.
Daniel Schlereth (0-4) was the loser.
Carlos Villanueva, the fourth of seven Milwaukee pitchers, retired all six batters he faced to improve to 3-10.
Trevor Hoffman got his 32nd save in 35 chances with a perfect ninth.