Athletics sweep Rays in clash of playoff contenders

OAKLAND, California: Coco Crisp and Stephen Vogt homered, A.J. Griffin struck out seven in seven innings, and the Oakland Athletics completed a three-game sweep of fellow playoff contender Tampa Bay with a 5-1 victory Sunday.
After Crisp led off the bottom of the first with a home run, James Loney tied it with his own longball in the top of the second. Griffin (12-9) settled in after that to win his second straight outing following a four-start winless stretch.
Griffin allowed one run on five hits and walked one.
Alex Torres (4-1) — the first of six Rays relievers — pitched 3 1-3 innings of relief, giving up a go-ahead RBI single to Brandon Moss in the third.
Twins 4 Rangers 2: In Arlington, Texas, Kevin Correia pitched seven strong innings and the Twins clinched their first series victory at Texas in four years, beating the AL West-leading Rangers.
Correia (9-10) allowed one run and scattered five hits. The right-hander struck out two and got 14 outs on the ground, including a pair of double plays.
Rangers starter Travis Blackley (2-2) was gone after giving up three consecutive run-scoring hits with one out in the fifth.
Mitch Moreland and A.J. Pierzynski homered for the Rangers, who had finished August with an AL-best 20-7 record.
Orioles 7 Yankees 3: In New York, J.J. Hardy and Adam Jones hit three-run homers in the seventh inning as the Orioles suddenly broke loose, jolting the Yankees to avert a sweep in a matchup of wild-card contenders.
Shut out on three singles Saturday, the Orioles were blanked by Andy Pettitte for six innings before their seven-run rally against the 41-year-old lefty and a faltering bullpen.
Michael Morse lined a leadoff single against Pettitte to begin the comeback from a 3-0 deficit. Acquired from Seattle on Friday, he got two hits in his Baltimore debut.

Indians 4 Tigers 0: In Detroit, Mike Aviles hit a grand slam in the ninth inning that lifted Cleveland to a win over the Tigers.
The AL Central leaders had won seven straight against second-place Cleveland.
Joe Smith (6-2) got the win after giving up one hit and a walk in the eighth, keeping the Tigers scoreless after Danny Salazar’s strong start.
Joaquin Benoit (4-1) gave up Aviles’ slam after intentionally walking Jason Kubel to load the bases.

Royals 5 Blue Jays 0: In Toronto, James Shields pitched seven innings of three-hit ball to win his fourth straight decision, Eric Hosmer drove in two runs and the Royals beat the Blue Jays to avoid a three-game sweep.
The Royals won for the sixth time in eight games. They are 5½ games behind Tampa Bay in the AL wild-card race.
Former Blue Jays infielder Emilio Bonifacio had two hits, scored twice and stole two bases for the Royals. Shields (10-8) improved to 4-0 with a 1.53 ERA in his past five starts. The right-hander walked one and matched a season-high with nine strikeouts.
Red Sox 7 White Sox 6: In Boston, David Ortiz continued to rebound from a miserable stretch with two hits and three RBIs, leading the Red Sox to a win over the White Sox that completed a three-game sweep.
Stephen Drew added a solo homer for the AL East-leading Red Sox, who won for the seventh time in eight games.
Ortiz is 5 for 9 with six RBIs since going hitless in his previous 23 at-bats.
Brandon Workman (4-2) got four outs for the victory after starter Felix Doubront couldn’t make it out of the fourth inning.
Astros 2 Mariners 0: In Houston, rookie Brett Oberholtzer pitched a four-hitter and Jason Castro hit an RBI double in the eighth inning, lifting the Astros to a win over Seattle.
The 24-year-old Oberholtzer (4-1) struck out five and walked one. He did not allow an extra-base hit in his sixth career start and ninth appearance to lower his ERA to 2.79.
Seattle starter Hisashi Iwakuma scattered six hits and struck out seven. It was the third time in four starts that he’d pitched seven innings.