American League roundup
Tigers’ magic number at 1 after mauling Royals, 15-4 KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Curtis Granderson homered, tripled and drove in three runs in a 10-run first inning to help the Detroit Tigers rout the Kansas City Royals 15-4 on Saturday night.
The Tigers reduced their magic number to one for clinching their first playoff berth since 1987. Detroit, which lost an AL-record 119 games in 2003, maintained its 11/2-game lead in the AL Central over Minnesota.
Left-hander Kenny Rogers (17-6) held the Royals to five hits and one run over eight innings. Rogers struck out three and walked one.
The Tigers jumped all over the Royals, scoring 10 runs in the first.
Granderson led off the game for the fifth time this season with a home run. His triple to right scored Placido Polanco and Chris Shelton.
Polanco was playing for the first time since Aug. 15 when he separated his left shoulder, contributing a two-run double. Every Tigers starter reached base in the inning except for Craig Monroe, who grounded out twice.
Carlos Guillen, Brandon Inge, Chris Shelton and Marcus Thames each had run-scoring singles in the first inning. Ivan Rodriguez walked twice in the inning, including the second time with the bases loaded.
The 10 runs and nine hits in the inning were season-highs for the Tigers, who sent 16 men to the plate.
Royals left-hander Mark Redman (10-10) retired only one of the 10 batters he faced, allowing nine runs, before being replaced by Scott Dohmann. Kansas City also gave up 11 runs to Cleveland in the first inning on Aug. 13.
The last time the Tigers scored more than 10 runs in an inning was April 23, 2004, when they had an 11-run sixth against Cleveland.
Granderson added another RBI in the five-run fourth on a groundout. Guillen’s single scored Thames and Magglio Ordonez. Shelton had a run-scoring double. Jose Diaz had a wild pitch, which scored Craig Monroe.
Rogers, who is 6-0 in his past eight starts since an Aug. 12 loss, lost his shutout in the eighth, when John Buck led off with his 10th home run. He also added a two-run homer in the ninth to make it 15-4.
Angels 6, Athletics 2
OAKLAND, Calif. – Juan Rivera hit a go-ahead, three-run double in the sixth, John Lackey pitched seven strong innings and the Los Angeles Angels prevented Oakland from winning the AL West.
Oakland’s magic number to clinch its first division title since 2003 remained at two, so the A’s could still do it at home with a win in Sunday’s series finale. They lead Los Angeles by seven games with eight to go, including the final four of the season against the Angels in Anaheim.
Dan Haren takes the ball for the A’s on Sunday against fellow 14-game winner Ervin Santana.
Lackey (12-11) allowed two runs and four hits to beat Joe Blanton (16-12). The A’s had their four-game winning streak snapped with only their second loss in 10 games.
Twins 8, Orioles 5
BALTIMORE – Torii Hunter hit his 29th homer, Rondell White had four hits and Minnesota took advantage of some sloppy defense in a victory over Baltimore.
The outcome eliminated Boston from postseason contention and enabled the Twins to reduce their magic number for clinching a playoff spot to three. Any combination of Minnesota wins and Chicago White Sox losses totaling three will ensure the Twins no worse than a wild-card berth.
Minnesota could also get in as the AL Central winners. The Twins started the day 11/2 games behind first-place Detroit, which had a night game in Kansas City.
Justin Morneau got his 126th RBI and Matt Guerrier (1-0) pitched 1 1-3 innings to earn his first win in 89 career appearances. Joe Nathan, the seventh Minnesota pitcher, got three outs for his 34th save.
Erik Bedard (15-10) allowed a career-high 12 hits and three earned runs in 4 2-3 innings.
White Sox 11, Mariners 7
CHICAGO – Paul Konerko hit a go-ahead homer in a five-run eighth inning and Chicago rallied after a long rain delay to beat Seattle, maintaining its faint playoff hopes.
Konerko hit the third pitch from reliever Joel Pineiro (8-13) for a two-run homer, his 33rd, to put the White Sox ahead 8-7 after Jim Thome drew a leadoff walk against George Sherrill.
Rookie knuckleballer Charlie Haeger (1-1) relieved struggling Chicago starter Mark Buehrle and didn’t allow a hit for 3 1-3 innings in his first major league win.
Blue Jays 5, Red Sox 3
TORONTO – Lyle Overbay and Troy Glaus hit consecutive homers, and A.J. Burnett pitched seven strong innings to lead Toronto over Boston, which was eliminated from playoff contention.
Devil Rays 8, Yankees 0
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Ty Wigginton and B.J. Upton homered, spoiling Randy Johnson’s bid to become the American League’s third 18-game winner and leading Tampa Bay over New York.
J.P. Howell (1-3) allowed three hits in seven scoreless innings for his first major league victory since last Sept. 26, when he pitched five innings for Kansas City in a combined 5-0 shutout at Minnesota.
Rocco Baldelli doubled to drive in two runs against Johnson (17-11) in the third and Wigginton hit his 22nd homer for a 3-0 lead in the fourth. Upton’s two-run shot in the sixth was his first in 42 games since being recalled from Triple-A Durham.
Wigginton, who was 3-for-4 with three RBIs, added a two-run single off Jose Veras in the seventh.
In failing to join teammate Chien-Ming Wang and Minnesota’s Johan Santana as the only 18-game winners in the majors, Johnson allowed five runs and seven hits in six innings. He walked one and struck out seven.
Howell allowed singles to Robinson Cano in the second and Derek Jeter in the fourth, as well as a double to Hideki Matsui in the seventh. The 23-year-old left-hander walked two and struck out three before being replaced by Dan Miceli at the start of the eighth.
Juan Salas pitched the ninth for Tampa Bay to finish the four-hitter, the fourth time the Yankees have been shut out this season.
The Devil Rays won for just the fourth times in 16 games against the Yankees this year. Amazingly, the last-place team is 40-39 at home but 37 games under .500 on the road (19-56), including a 2-28 mark since July 1.
Johnson, who won six of his previous seven decisions, lost for the first time since Seattle beat him 4-2 on Aug. 23. In three starts against the Devil Rays this season, he’s 1-2 and has allowed 16 earned runs in 16 innings.
Howell allowed one runner past second base and worked out of potentially troublesome spots in the second and sixth.
Gary Sheffield, making his second start at first base for the Yankees, walked and moved to third on Cano’s single with one out in the second. Howell escaped when Matsui hit a checked-swing, soft liner back to the pitcher, who then threw to first base to double off Cano.
Bobby Abreu walked and Alex Rodriguez was hit by a pitch with two outs in the sixth. Sheffield, hitless in five at-bats since spending more than three months on the disabled list with a wrist injury, flied out to end the threat.