Buehrle (12-9) allowed five hits and struck out four. Konerko hit his 31st home run and had a double and three singles among Chicago’s 21 hits to help the Sox avoid a sweep and shave the Twins’ lead to four games in the AL Central.

Carl Pavano (15-8) set a career high and tied a club record with 15 hits. He gave up seven runs in six innings. The Twins lost at sold-out Target Field for the first time in 10 games and missed a chance to take a six-game lead in the division.

Mark Teahen and Alexei Ramirez each had three hits and two RBIs for the White Sox. Ramirez’s two-run homer in the eighth off Glen Perkins made it 11-0.

Buehrle allowed just three baserunners past first base all game, an encouraging sign for a guy who was 1-4 with a 6.69 ERA in his last six starts against the Twins.

Athletics 4  Rays 3: At Oakland, California, Cliff Pennington hit a go-ahead two-run double in the sixth inning and right-hander Trevor Cahill shook off an unusually rough start to record his team-leading 13th win for Oakland.

Cahill, who allowed one earned run in his previous 33 innings, gave up two home runs and was in trouble until Pennington’s two-out hit off reliever Dan Wheeler (2-1).

Carlos Pena and Evan Longoria homered for the Rays, who had a five-game winning streak snapped and fell one game behind the Yankees in the AL East.

It was the third straight win for Oakland after being held to one hit by Toronto’s Shaun Marcum on Monday.

Cahill (13-5) had not allowed a home run since July 17 before giving up a two-run shot to Pena in the fourth and a solo shot to Longoria in the sixth.

Jerry Blevins pitched the ninth for his first career save.

Angels 7 Red Sox 2: At Boston, Hideki Matsui hit a three-run homer, then drove in another run with a bases-loaded walk, and Ervin Santana took a two-hitter into the eighth inning to help Los Angeles snap a nine-game losing streak against Boston.

Santana (13-8) allowed two runs and four hits in seven-plus innings, walking four, hitting a batter and striking out three. Kevin Jepsen , who blew Wednesday night’s game by giving up runs on a wild pitch and hit batsman, pitched out of Santana’s bases-loaded, no-outs jam in the eighth.

The Angels had lost three straight to fall below .500.

Josh Beckett (3-3) took a two-hit shutout into the sixth inning before giving up four straight hits with one out, leading to four Los Angeles runs.  

Orioles 4 Rangers 0: At Baltimore, rookie Brian Matusz pitched eight innings, and Baltimore used a four-run seventh to defeat Colby Lewis and skidding Texas.

Matusz (5-12) gave up five hits, walked one and struck out six. Only two Rangers reached second base and none advanced to third.

It was the fourth straight defeat for the Rangers, who were coming off a three-game sweep in Tampa Bay. Texas received a fine pitching performance from Lewis (9-10) until the seventh, when Baltimore did all its scoring on five hits.

The Orioles improved to 11-6 under Buck Showalter, whose previous managerial job was with Texas from 2003-06.

Yankees 11  Tigers 5: At New York, Robinson Cano hit a tiebreaking double and a two-run homer in New York’s nine-run sixth inning.

Austin Kearns added a two-run double and Derek Jeter a two-run triple for New York.

Miguel Cabrera hit his third homer in two games and fourth of the series for Detroit.

Cano has homered in three straight games while batting in A-Rod’s cleanup spot. He had three hits and scored three times for the Yankees, who took the final three in a four-game series with the fading Tigers to remain in first place. New York began the day tied with Tampa Bay atop the AL East.

Porcello (5-11) gave up six runs and six hits in five innings.

Phil Hughes (15-1) allowed four runs and two hits in six innings.

Indians 7  Royals 3: At Kansas City, Missouri, Shin-Soo Choo hit a tiebreaking RBI single in Cleveland’s five-run eighth inning.

Asdrubal Cabrera had two hits and drove in two runs for the Indians, who committed a season-high five errors and had a runner thrown out at every base. Matt LaPorta and Jayson Nix had two hits apiece.

Rafael Perez (4-0), the fourth of five Indians pitchers, pitched 1 1-3 scoreless innings and Chris Perez got four outs for his 15th save.

Alex Gordon had three hits and Wilson Betemit drove in two runs for Kansas City, which had won three straight. Kyle Davies allowed three runs and seven hits in 7 1-3 innings.