ARLINGTON, Texas: Yu Darvish struck out 14 and Adrian Beltre hit an RBI single with two outs in the ninth inning as the Texas Rangers beat Boston 4-3 Sunday, completing a three-game sweep and matching the Red Sox for the best record in the majors.
The Rangers, Red Sox and St. Louis all have 20-11 marks.
Beltre lined a hit to right-center off Clayton Mortensen (0-2) that sent home Elvis Andrus, who reached on a two-out single and moved up on a wild pitch. Boston then intentionally walked Lance Berkman.
Darvish matched a career high for strikeouts and left after throwing a career-high 127 pitches in seven innings. Joe Nathan (1-0) worked around a walk and a hit in the ninth.
While Darvish had 14 strikeouts for the second time this season, the right-hander from Japan allowed multiple homers in a game for only the second time in 36 starts for the Rangers. David Ortiz and David Ross connected in the first two innings.
Darvish leads the majors with 72 strikeouts.
Tigers 9 Astros 0: In Houston, Justin Verlander held Houston hitless until the seventh inning and Detroit romped to a four-game sweep.
Verlander, who has already pitched two no-hitters in his career, made a bid for another one against the overmatched Astros in their sixth straight loss.
Carlos Pena got Houston’s first hit, a single with one out in the seventh. Carlos Corporan followed with a single.
Verlander (4-2) struck out nine and left after the seventh. The 2011 AL MVP and Cy Award Young winner has a 1.55 ERA this season.
Prince Fielder homered and drove in four runs. Andy Dirks had four hits, including a home run. Brayan Pena and Omar Infante also went deep.
Athletics 5 Yankees 4: In New York, Josh Donaldson hit Oakland’s third home run of the game, a tiebreaking drive off Boone Logan in the eighth inning that lifted the Athletics over New York.
Luke Montz and Yoenis Cespedes homered as Oakland took a 4-1 lead against Andy Pettitte, who struggled for the second straight start, but the Yankees rallied in the sixth against reliever Jerry Blevins.
Preston Claiborne followed Pettitte and retired six straight batters in his major league debut. Donaldson homered into the left-field second deck with one out in the eighth against Logan (2-2).
Orioles 8 Angels 4: In Anaheim, California, J.J. Hardy and Manny Machado each hit a two-run homer off Jerome Williams in his first start of the season, leading Baltimore over the reeling Los Angeles Angels.
Jason Hammel (5-1) allowed four runs and nine hits through six innings. The right-hander came in 0-3 with a 7.31 ERA in three previous starts against the Angels.
Mike Trout homered for the Angels, whose 11-20 start has matched the worst in franchise history. They have lost seven of nine and are a season-worst nine games behind first-place Texas in the AL West despite the offseason addition of 2010 AL MVP Josh Hamilton. Their only victory in this four-game series came Friday night.
Twins 4 Indians 2: In Cleveland, Mike Pelfrey pitched six effective innings, Trevor Plouffe hit a two-run homer and Minnesota stopped Cleveland’s six-game winning streak.
Justin Morneau drove in a run with a bases-loaded single in the sixth while Joe Mauer, who was in a 5-for-43 slump, added an RBI double in the seventh for his 1,300th career hit.
Pelfrey (3-3) slowed down an Indians lineup that produced 53 runs during the winning streak. The right-hander gave up one run and four hits while striking out seven in his longest outing of the season.
Blue Jays 10 Mariners 2: In Toronto, Mark DeRosa hit a three-run homer, Melky Cabrera added a solo shot and Toronto snapped a four-game skid by beating Seattle.
Brandon Morrow (1-2) pitched three-hit ball over eight innings for his first win of the year. He struck out eight, matching a season high.
Cabrera was 3 for 4 with two RBIs and his first home run for the Blue Jays. DeRosa went 3 for 5 with three RBIs and scored three times as Toronto improved to 8-0 when scoring five or more runs.
Royals 6 White Sox 5, 10 innings: In Kansas City, Missouri, Alex Gordon hit an RBI single with two outs in the 10th and Kansas City, saved when Billy Butler sent the game into extra innings, rallied past Chicago.
Butler’s two-out, two-run double in the ninth tied it for the Royals. Addison Reed blew his first save in 18 opportunities dating to Aug. 25. He was 10 for 10 this season.
Lorenzo Cain led off the 10th with his third hit and stole second with one out. With two outs, Chris Getz was intentionally walked and George Kottaras walked on five pitches, loading the bases for Gordon.
