Major League Baseball
White Sox open three-game lead in AL Central DETROIT (AP) – Jose Contreras won his eighth straight start and Scott Podsednik had four hits, leading Chicago to an 8-2 win over Detroit on Wednesday night that opened a three-game lead for the White Sox in the AL Central.
Chicago would clinch no worse than a wild-card berth in the playoffs with one more victory.
With Chicago’s win and second-place Cleveland’s 1-0 loss to Tampa Bay, the White Sox lowered their magic number to two for clinching their first division title since 2000.
Chicago, which had lost its previous two games, led the AL Central by 15 games on Aug. 1 – no team with a lead of more than 13 games has ever failed to finish first.
Carl Everett’s two-run triple broke a 1-1 tie in the fifth, and Juan Uribe and Aaron Rowand homered for the White Sox, who had 15 hits.
Carlos Pena homered for Detroit.
Contreras (15-7) gave up two runs and seven hits in eight innings, walked none and struck out nine.
Sean Douglass (5-5) allowed four runs – three earned – and nine hits in 5 2-3 innings as the Tigers had a four-game winning streak snapped.
Devil Rays 1, Indians 0
CLEVELAND – Tampa Bay’s Seth McClung pitched eight shutout innings and the Indians dropped three games behind the first-place White Sox with four to play.
Cleveland remained tied with Boston for first in the wild-card race.
McClung (7-11) allowed four hits and only two runners reached second base. He outpitched Cliff Lee (18-5) and handed the Indians their third straight setback – the club’s first three-game slide since being swept by the Devil Rays on Aug. 12-14.
Lee, who had gone 9-0 with four no-decisions since his last loss on July 8, took a five-hit shutout into the eighth when Toby Hall led off with a double and was lifted for pinch-runner Joey Gathright.
Damon Hollins sacrificed and Julio Lugo’s sacrifice fly made it 1-0.
Danys Baez pitched the ninth for his 41st save.
Yankees 2, Orioles 1
BALTIMORE – Alex Rodriguez hit a milestone homer, Derek Jeter singled in the tiebreaking run in the seventh inning, and the Yankees used a fine pitching performance by Shawn Chacon to beat Baltimore.
The Yankees took a one-game lead over Boston in the AL East with four games to play.
Rodriguez hit his 47th homer off Daniel Cabrera (10-13) to tie it at 1 in the sixth. The shot broke Joe DiMaggio’s season club record for home runs by a right-handed batter, set in 1937.
New York went up 2-1 in the seventh. After Jorge Posada hit a leadoff single and Cabrera hit Bernie Williams with a pitch, Robinson Cano moved the runners up with a sacrifice bunt against Tim Byrdak. Jeter then hit an opposite-field single to right off Todd Williams.
Chacon (7-3) allowed one run and four hits in 6 2-3 innings. Tom Gordon held the lead for Mariano Rivera, who got three quick outs for his 43rd save.
Javy Lopez put the Orioles ahead 1-0 in the second with his 14th homer.
Blue Jays 7, Red Sox 2
BOSTON – Bronson Arroyo gave up three homers and all seven runs for Boston, which dropped one game behind New York in the AL East with four games remaining.
Frank Catalanotto doubled, tripled and homered for the Blue Jays, who won their second straight over the Red Sox.
Boston remained tied in the wild-card race with Cleveland.
Twins 6, Royals 3
MINNEAPOLIS – Jacque Jones hit a go-ahead triple in a three-run eighth to lead Minnesota and hand Kansas City a team record-tying 104th loss.
Luis Rodriguez was walked by Andrew Sisco (2-5) to open the inning, and advanced to second on a groundout. Jones, who had two hits in his previous 17 at-bats, hit a drive to left-center for his fourth triple of the season. Michael Cuddyer doubled off Chris Demaria later in the inning for two more runs.
Astros 7, Cardinals 6
ST. LOUIS – Morgan Ensberg’s tiebreaking double in the ninth inning, his fourth hit of the game, gave Houston a 7-6 victory over St. Louis on Wednesday night and maintain the Astros’ 21/2-game lead over Philadelphia in the NL wild-card race.
With the score 6-6, Willy Taveras led off the ninth with his major league-leading 69th infield hit. He scored without a play on Ensberg’s double into the left-field corner off Jason Isringhausen (1-2).___
Phillies 16, Mets 6
PHILADELPHIA – Chase Utley hit a three-run homer and drove in five runs, and David Bell and Kenny Lofton each had four hits to keep Philadelphia’s postseason hopes alive.
The Phillies avoided a three-game sweep and remained 21/2 games behind the Astros, who beat St. Louis 7-6.
Jimmy Rollins extended his club-record hitting streak to 33 games with a leadoff single, and Shane Victorino and Pat Burrell each homered during a seven-run eighth inning. Utley drove in two runs in the eighth to give him 101 RBIs, and the Phillies had a season-high 20 hits.
Rockies 10, Braves 5
ATLANTA – Colorado’s Clint Barmes drove in the go-ahead run with a two-run double in the sixth. Fourteen rookies started for the Braves and Rockies, including the starting pitchers for both. It was the most rookies to start a major league game since Sept. 24, 2003, when 14 started for Cleveland and Minnesota.
Kyle Davies (7-5) gave up seven hits and five runs, two earned, in 5 2-3 innings for the Braves, who clinched the NL East on Tuesday.
Nationals 11, Marlins 7
MIAMI – Preston Wilson homered and had five RBIs and Nick Johnson added a home run and four RBIs as Washington swept the three-game series.
Miguel Cabrera had three hits, including his 33rd homer, and four RBIs for the Marlins, who lost their season-high sixth straight and 12th in 14. Rookie Jeremy Hermida also had three hits, including his second home run.
Reds 11, Brewers 4
MILWAUKEE – Adam Dunn hit his 39th home run and Felipe Lopez drove in three runs to lead Cincinnati.
Chris Capuano (18-11) pitched five innings, giving up six runs and eight hits. It was the second straight game he allowed six runs, although he was able to get the win over St. Louis on Sept. 23. He was trying to become the first Brewer to win 19 games since Teddy Higuera won 20 games in 1987.