Lester (14-8) rebounded from the worst outing of his career to win for the third time in four starts. The left-hander walked five and uncorked three wild pitches, but also struck out 10 while limiting the Rays to two hits and an unearned run.

Martinez hit two-out solo homers off Price (15-6) in the first and seventh. David Ortiz doubled and scored on Jed Lowrie’s two-out single off the left-hander to give the Red Sox a 2-0 lead in the fourth.

Jonathan Papelbon pitched the ninth to finish a combined three-hitter and earn his 33rd save in 39 opportunities.

White Sox 9 Yankees 4: In Chicago, A.J. Pierzynski hit a two-run double in Chicago’s four-run first, and Freddy Garcia threw seven solid innings while the White Sox roughed up A.J. Burnett and New York.

Omar Vizquel had two hits and two RBIs for Chicago, which has won three of four after returning home following an ugly 2-4 road trip. Juan Pierre went 2 for 4 and scored twice.

Burnett (9-12) struggled once again, dropping to 0-4 with a 7.80 ERA in five starts this month and putting his spot in the rotation in jeopardy.

While Burnett struggled, Garcia (11-5) snapped out of his rut by yielding two runs, one earned, and five hits for his first win since July 29 against Seattle. The right-hander was 0-1 with a 6.97 ERA in his previous four starts.

Twins 6 Mariners 3:  In Seattle, Joe Mauer had three hits and two RBIs to lead Scott Baker and first-place Minnesota over Seattle.

The sixth three-hit game this month for Mauer, plus Baker holding baseball’s worst offensive team to five hits and two runs, kept the Twins 3 1/2 games ahead of Chicago in the AL Central.

Baker (12-9) went 6 2-3 innings to win his fifth consecutive decision. He joined Carl Pavano and Francisco Liriano with at least a dozen wins for the Twins.

Jason Vargas (9-7) allowed nine hits and five runs, four earned, in six innings.

Before the game, the Twins added a third left-hander to their shuffled bullpen by acquiring Angels closer Brian Fuentes for a player to be named.

Rangers 7 Athletics 3: In Arlington, Texas, Tommy Hunter pitched into the eighth inning, Josh Hamilton had his 24th three-hit game of the season, and AL West-leading Texas pulled farther away from Oakland.

Hunter (11-2) improved to 7-0 in nine starts at Rangers Ballpark this season, allowing three runs and seven hits with four strikeouts and two walks before leaving with two outs in the seventh.

The Rangers increased their division advantage over the second-place A’s to 9 1/2 games.

Hamilton raised his major league-high average to .358 and demonstrated his speed in the first when he scored from second on an infield single.

His dash home highlighted a three-run first off Brett Anderson (3-5).

Blue Jays 3 Tigers 2, 11 innings: In Toronto, Jose Bautista hit his major league-leading 42nd homer and Aaron Hill singled home the winning run in the 11th.

Adam Lind also went deep for the Blue Jays, who have hit a major league-best 195 home runs this season, including 110 at home.

Trailing 2-1, Detroit tied it in the ninth against Toronto closer Kevin Gregg . Austin Jackson led off with a triple to center and scored one out later when Johnny Damon singled through the drawn-in infield. The blown save was Gregg’s fifth.

The Blue Jays won it in the 11th against left-hander Phil Coke (7-3). John Buck hit a one-out single and, after Fred Lewis walked, Buck was replaced by pinch-runner John McDonald . Hill followed with a single to right and McDonald scored ahead of the throw from Casper Wells .

Indians 15 Royals 4: In Cleveland, Chris Gimenez drove in a career-high four runs and Cleveland hit a trio of three-run homers against Kansas City.

Matt LaPorta had a three-run shot in Cleveland’s six-run second inning off Bryan Bullington (1-3). Gimenez and Jayson Nix later connected with two on against relievers in the Indians’ largest offensive output since a 15-3 win over Oakland on July 3, 2009.

Josh Tomlin (2-3) won for the first time in five starts since beating the New York Yankees in his major league debut July 27. The right-hander allowed three runs and eight hits over five innings.

Orioles 3 Angels 1: In Anaheim, California, Brad Bergesen won his third straight decision with eight solid innings and Baltimore got RBI singles from Nick Markakis and Luke Scott to beat Los Angeles.

Bergesen (6-9) allowed a run and four hits, struck out four and did not walk a batter. The right-hander finished August 3-0 with a 3.49 ERA in five starts after going 0-5 with a 6.32 ERA in July.

Koji Uehara worked a scoreless ninth for his third save.

Angels rookie Trevor Bell (1-4) pitched a career-high seven innings in his ninth big league start, allowing two runs in a game that took just 2 hours, 12 minutes.