A’s beat Rangers, move up to tie for first in AL West

OAKLAND, California: Coco Crisp hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the fifth that was confirmed by a video review, and the Oakland Athletics pulled into a first-place tie with Texas atop the AL West by beating the Rangers 4-2 on Monday.Yoenis Cespedes homered leading off the second inning and Chris Young added an RBI single in Oakland’s fourth straight win.
Crisp set a career high with his 17th homer that stayed just fair of the left-field foul pole, topping his 16 for Cleveland in 2005. He fouled a ball off the area below his right knee in the sixth. He stayed in and struck out, and then was removed for what the team called a shin contusion.
Dan Straily (8-7) won back-to-back starts for the first time since early July and Grant Balfour got three outs for his 36th save.
David Murphy hit a tying two-run shot in the Texas fifth for his first homer since Aug. 1. Rangers starter Derek Holland (9-7) allowed four runs, three earned, and five hits in 4 2-3 innings.
Tigers 3 Red Sox 0: In Boston, Doug Fister rebounded from a miserable start with seven sharp innings, helping Detroit beat Boston in a matchup of teams with the AL’s best records.
The Tigers won despite missing Miguel Cabrera for the third straight game. He has been sidelined by a strained abdomen, though general manager Dave Dombrowski said the Triple Crown winner has been more hampered by a groin problem.
The AL Central-leading Tigers won for the fourth time in five games.
Fister (12-7) allowed four hits, struck out four and walked four. Jose Veras worked the ninth for his 21st save and second with the Tigers, finishing the six-hit shutout.
John Lackey (8-12) was the tough-luck loser, giving up three runs and seven hits over 7 1-3 innings.
Angels 11 Rays 2: In Anaheim, California, Garrett Richards worked around a career-high seven walks over five innings and Erick Aybar drove in four runs for the surging Angels.
Richards (5-6) gave up a run and two hits while striking out six in the opener of a four-game series. The seven walks matched Richards’ total from his previous five starts combined, but the Rays stranded eight runners while he was in the game and 12 altogether.
Ben Zobrist drove in both of Tampa Bay’s runs with a first-inning homer and a sixth-inning single. The Rays have lost five straight and eight of nine to fall 6½ games behind AL East-leading Boston.
Rookie Chris Archer (8-6) threw 90 pitches in 3 2-3 innings, giving up five runs and nine hits in a rematch of his 4-1 victory against Richards last Wednesday. The right-hander’s outing was the second-shortest of his 22 big league starts.
The Angels have won nine of 10.
Orioles 7 Indians 2: In Cleveland, Bud Norris stayed unbeaten as a starter with Baltimore and Nate McLouth homered and had three RBIs.
Norris (10-10) allowed one run — a homer to Jason Kipnis — and four hits in seven innings. The right-hander improved to 4-0 as a starter with the Orioles, who acquired him at the July 31 trading deadline from Houston. He lost once in relief.
Matt Wieters hit a two-run homer in the ninth and Brian Roberts drove in two runs for the Orioles, who came in three games behind Oakland and Tampa By in the wild-card race.