Detwiler, LaRoche give Nationals 1st winning year

WASHINGTON: The Nationals have their first ever winning season after Ross Detwiler allowed just four hits in seven shutout innings and Adam LaRoche homered to give Washington a 2-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs.
The National League East-leading Nationals improved to 82 wins and 52 losses. The club moved from Montreal to Washington for the 2005 season and went 81-81 that year. In 2008 and 2009, the team lost a combined 205 games, then finished 80-81 in 2011.
The Nationals’ win allowed them to hold their 6 1/2-game division lead over Atlanta.
Detwiler (9-6) struck out three and walked three, allowing only one runner to reach third.
Jeff Samardzija (8-13) gave up a long home run to LaRoche to lead off the second.
Baltimore cut its American League East deficit to just one game as Joe Saunders and three relievers combined on a three-hitter in the Orioles 4-0 shutout of the Toronto Blue Jays.
The Orioles, who took two of three at Yankee Stadium over the weekend, moved even closer to New York. The Yankees lost 4-3 at Tampa Bay.
J.J. Hardy drove in two runs at Toronto as the Orioles won for the eighth time in 10 games. Their one-game gap marks the closest anyone has been to the Yankees since mid-June.
James Shields pitched eight strong innings to outlast CC Sabathia and light-hitting Chris Gimenez drove in two runs to help the Rays beat the Yankees.
Shields (13-8) and the Rays ruined the return of Alex Rodriguez. The slugger went 1 for 4 with a strikeout in his first game after being sidelined six weeks with a broken left hand.
In the NL, Jimmy Rollins hit a three-run homer off Johnny Cueto during a cloudburst that sent fans scurrying for cover, leading the Philadelphia Phillies past the Cincinnati Reds 4-2.
John Mayberry Jr. added a solo homer off Cueto (17-7), who failed in his attempt to become the majors’ first 18-game winner. Cueto also lost a day game for the first time this season — he’d been 11-0 in 13 afternoon starts.
Rookie right-hander Tyler Cloyd (1-1) got his first major league hit and win. He singled ahead of Rollins’ homer to extend the inning. The 25-year-old gave up four hits, including Jay Bruce’s 30th homer, and struck out nine in seven innings.
In other NL games, the San Francisco Giants beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 9-8, the Houston Astros downed the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-1, the St. Louis Cardinals snuck past the New York Mets 5-4, the Atlanta Braves defeated the Colorado Rockies 6-1, the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Diego Padres 4-3 over 11 innings and the Miami Marlins ended a four-game losing streak with a 7-3 win over the Milwaukee Brewers.
In the AL, the Cleveland Indians edged the Detroit Tigers 3-2, the Texas Rangers downed the Kansas City Rangers 8-4, the Los Angeles Angels trounced the Oakland Athletics 8-3, the Seattle Mariners beat the Boston Red Sox 4-1 and the Chicago White Sox overcame the Minnesota Twins.