NEW YORK: Chris Archer threw a two-hitter for his second shutout in three starts, outpitching Ivan Nova and leading the Tampa Bay Rays to a 1-0 victory over the New York Yankees on Saturday.
Kelly Johnson had an RBI single off Nova (4-4) in the sixth to help the AL East-leading Rays improve to 24-5 since June 23, when they were in last place.
Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said before the game Archer (6-3) embraces the big moments, and he sure did at Yankee Stadium. The 24-year-old rookie with a Captain America lunchbox in his locker never threw more than 14 pitches in an inning and needed just 97 overall — 67 for strikes — for his second career complete game.
Astros 8 Blue Jays 6: In Toronto, Chris Carter hit a three-run home run, Justin Maxwell and Matt Dominguez added solo shots and Houston snapped a three-game losing streak.
Dallas Keuchel (5-5) pitched a season-high 7 1-3 innings to end a six-start winless skid. He allowed six runs and 10 hits, walked one and struck out six for his first victory since June 16.
Athletics 3 Angels 1: In Oakland, California, Derek Norris had a pinch-hit two-run home run in the bottom of the seventh, leading Oakland to its second straight win and fifth in the last seven.
Jed Lowrie also drove in a run for the A’s and Coco Crisp added two hits.
Tommy Milone (9-8) allowed four hits over seven innings, allowing one run. He walked four and struck out six.
Twins 4 Mariners 0: In Seattle, Brian Dozier and Justin Morneau homered, Samuel Deduno pitched seven scoreless innings and Minnesota got its fifth shutout of the season.
The Twins have won four of their last six games and are 6-3 since the All Star break.
Deduno (7-4) allowed three hits, walked three and tied his season high with six strikeouts. He has thrown seven innings in each of his last three starts, winning all three.
Indians 1 Rangers 0: In Cleveland, Michael Bourn homered to lead off the first inning for the only run of the game, and Justin Masterson took a shutout into the eighth inning, outdueling Texas’ Yu Darvish in Cleveland’s win.
Masterson (12-7), an American League All-Star, struck out eight and allowed five hits in 7 2-3 innings. That was enough to beat Darvish (9-5), who struck out 11 and held the Indians to three hits in six innings.
Darvish’s only mistake came on his second pitch of the game when Bourn lined a drive over the right field wall.
Royals 1 White Sox 0: In Chicago, Wade Davis pitched four-hit ball into the eighth inning, and Kansas City beat Chris Sale and the Chicago White Sox for its fifth consecutive victory.
Davis (5-9) allowed four singles and walked three in his longest outing of the season. The right-hander was 0-4 with a 10.91 ERA in his previous four starts.
Louis Coleman came in after Alejandro De Aza’s one-out single in the eighth and got Alexei Ramirez to ground into a double play. Greg Holland worked a shaky ninth for his 26th save in 28 chances.
Red Sox 7 Orioles 3: In Baltimore, Stephen Drew hit two homers, drove in five runs and scored three times to power Boston past Baltimore.
Shane Victorino also connected for the Red Sox, who won for only the fourth time in 10 games to remain a half-game behind first-place Tampa Bay in the AL East. Boston stood atop the AL East for 60 straight days before falling into second on Friday night.
Red Sox slugger David Ortiz was ejected from the game in the seventh inning by home plate umpire Tim Timmons for arguing a called strike during an at-bat that ended in a strikeout. Ortiz destroyed the covers of two dugout phones with his bat, then charged onto the field and had to be restrained by manager John Farrell and bench coach Torey Lovullo.
Interleague
Tigers 10 Phillies 0: In Detroit, Miguel Cabrera homered in his first at-bat after returning from a hip injury and Detroit’s Max Scherzer held Philadelphia to one hit in six innings to become baseball’s first 15-game winner.
The visiting Phillies lost their seventh in a row.
Scherzer (15-1) threw only 75 pitches — he was one of several stars pulled early after the game got out of hand.
Detroit scored five runs in the first and three in the second off Raul Valdes (1-1), who started because Cliff Lee was out with a stiff neck. Cabrera’s solo homer in the first was his 32nd of the year, and he later added two more RBIs to increase his season total to 99.
Archer fires 2-hitter in Rays’ shutout of Yanks
