Davis’ 38th home run keys Orioles win over Astros

BALTIMORE: Chris Davis hit his major league-leading 38th home run, a two-run shot in the sixth inning that gave the Baltimore Orioles their first lead in a 4-3 victory over the Houston Astros on Tuesday night.
Davis had gone 10 straight games without a long ball until connecting off Lucas Harrell (5-11). Earlier, Davis extended his run of games with a strikeout to 23, the longest streak in team history.
The slumping slugger came in with a .205 batting average since the All-Star break and hadn’t hit a home run since July 14. The drive off Harrell was his first extra-base hit in seven games.
J.J. Hardy hit a two-run single in the fourth inning to start Baltimore’s comeback from a three-run deficit. The Orioles got only three hits in winning for the second time in seven games.
Wei-Yin Chen (6-3) allowed three runs, seven hits and a walk in 7 1-3 innings for his fourth straight win. The left-hander had a season-high nine strikeouts.
Red Sox 8 Mariners 2: In Boston, rookie Brandon Workman struck out nine while picking up his first major league win, allowing one run over six innings as Boston beat Seattle.
Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia homered in the second, giving Workman a cushy 5-1 lead that the young right-hander never squandered in just his third start in the big leagues. He allowed six hits, three of them in the sixth when Seattle loaded the bases with one out before Workman (1-1) ended the threat with back-to-back strikeouts.
Blue Jays 5 Athletics 0: In Oakland, California, Mark Buehrle allowed five hits over seven innings, Jose Bautista and Emilio Bonifacio each homered and Toronto ended Oakland’s winning streak at four.
Colby Ramus also drove in a run and Edwin Encarnacion added two hits for the Blue Jays.
Derek Norris had two hits for the A’s, who during the game acquired third baseman Alberto Callaspo from the Angels for infielder Grant Green.
Buehrle (7-7) ran his scoreless innings streak to 20, did not walk a batter and struck out two.
Indians 7 White Sox 4: In Cleveland, pinch-hitter Ryan Raburn hit a two-run single in the eighth inning as Cleveland beat freefalling Chicago to win its sixth straight.
The Indians stayed within 2 1-2 games of first-place Detroit in the AL Central.
Cleveland was in danger of losing to Brazilian rookie Andre Rienzo in his debut before coming back against Donnie Veal (1-2), who started the eighth. Rienzo, the first Brazilian-born player to pitch in the major leagues, did not allow an earned run and only five hits in seven innings.
Rangers 14 Angels 11, 10 innings: In Arlington, Texas, Leonys Martin hit a three-run homer in the 10th inning and Texas, after trailing four times, pulled out a victory over Los Angeles that took nearly five hours.
Daniel Stange (0-1) walked Mitch Moreland and Geovany Soto to start the 10th. David Murphy then reached on a fielder’s choice before Los Angeles put five players in the infield with only two outfielders. That alignment didn’t matter when Martin sent his sixth homer of the season to the opposite field, barely clearing the 14-foot wall and just inside the left-field foul pole.
Closer Joe Nathan (2-1) worked around a leadoff walk in the 10th for a scoreless inning.
Royals 7 Twins 2: In Minneapolis, Mike Moustakas homered twice and drove in four runs to back another strong start from Ervin Santana, and surging Kansas City beat Minnesota.
Santana (7-6) gave up two runs on four hits and struck out eight in seven innings and Eric Hosmer had three hits and an RBI for the Royals, who have won seven in a row and nine of 11 coming out of the All-Star break. At 52-51, they are over .500 for the first time since May 18.
Mike Pelfrey (4-9) gave up four runs on eight hits with four strikeouts in four innings for the Twins. Joe Mauer had two hits and an RBI after missing the last week for the birth of his twin girls.

Interleague
Tigers 5 Nationals 1: In Detroit, Alex Avila hit a tiebreaking grand slam in the sixth inning off Stephen Strasburg to lead Detroit past Washington.
Anibal Sanchez (9-7) gave up one run, five hits and two walks over seven innings for Detroit. Jose Veras, a day after being acquired from Houston, was perfect in the eighth in his Tigers debut. Joaquin Benoit, who will keep his job as the team’s closer, gave up one hit in the ninth inning.
Strasburg (5-9) allowed five runs, six hits and three walks while striking out seven over seven innings. Strasburg is winless in his last four starts and has given up at least four earned runs in three of his last five outings.
Rays 5 Diamondbacks 2: In St. Petersburg, Florida, Roberto Hernandez came within one out of a complete-game shutout, and Yunel Escobar and Ben Zobrist drove in two runs each as Tampa Bay beat Arizona.
The Rays maintained their half-game lead over Boston in the AL East.