Tillman, Orioles top Yanks in contentious game

BALTIMORE: Chris Tillman took a three-hitter into the eighth inning and the Baltimore Orioles beat the New York Yankees 4-2 on Monday night in a game that featured an on-field confrontation between the teams’ managers.
With the victory, the Orioles moved within 1 1/2 games of idle Tampa Bay for the second AL wild card. The Yankees fell three games behind Tampa Bay.
Tillman (16-5) allowed two runs and four hits in seven-plus innings. He walked none and struck out nine, matching his career high.
Both dugouts emptied briefly after the first inning, when Orioles manager Buck Showalter angrily exchanged words with Joe Girardi after the Yankees manager apparently said something to Baltimore third base coach Bobby Dickerson. Showalter had to be restrained by home plate umpire Ed Hickox.
Alex Rodriguez hit his 652nd homer.
Indians 4 Royals 3: In Cleveland, Ubaldo Jimenez struck out 10 in seven innings and Asdrubal Cabrera, Yan Gomes and Carlos Santana each hit solo homers, leading the Indians to a win over the Royals in a matchup between two teams in the thick of the AL wild-card chase.
The Indians, who won despite having only five hits, stayed even with Baltimore, 1 1/2 games back of Tampa Bay for the second wild-card spot. The Royals dropped to four games behind the Rays.
Jimenez (11-9) allowed one unearned run and didn’t walk a batter. The right-hander left with a 4-1 lead after throwing 99 pitches, but Alex Gordon hit a two-run homer off Cody Allen in the eighth.
Royals starter Ervin Santana (8-9) gave up the three homers.
Twins 6 Angels 3: In Minneapolis, Trevor Plouffe had two hits and drove in the tying and go-ahead runs as the Minnesota Twins snapped a 10-game home losing streak with a victory over the Angels.
Plouffe’s two-run, two-out double in the fifth inning tied the game 3-all, and his bases-loaded sacrifice fly off Cory Rasmus (0-1) in the seventh put the Twins ahead as the Twins won at home for the first time since Aug. 15, avoiding the longest home losing streak since the franchise started in Washington in 1901.
The home skid was the Twins’ longest since moving from Washington in 1961. The Senators lost 10 straight home games in 1957.
Casey Fien (4-2) earned the victory with a scoreless seventh.
White Sox 5 Tigers 1: In Chicago, Chris Sale gave up a run and four hits in eight innings, denying Max Scherzer his 20th win, and Miguel Cabrera was ejected in the first inning as the White Sox beat the Tigers.
Sale (11-12) won for the fifth time in six decisions.
Scherzer (19-3) gave up five runs and six hits in four innings as he lost consecutive starts for the first time this season after Boston beat him Sept. 3.
Astros 6 Mariners 4: In Seattle, Jonathan Villar’s two-run single highlighted a four-run ninth inning as the Astros rallied to beat the Mariners in front of the smallest crowd in Safeco Field history.
Abraham Almonte hit his first major league homer, a two-run shot in the seventh inning, to give the Mariners a 3-2 lead. Seattle reliever Charlie Furbush got out of a jam in the eighth, but in the ninth the Astros broke through.
Danny Farquhar (0-3) walked Marc Krauss and Carlos Corporan with one out, and Jimmy Paredes’ run-scoring single tied the game at 3. Villar then gave Houston a two-run lead with his hit to center.
Interleague
Pirates 1 Rangers 0: In Arlington, Texas, clinching their first winning season since 1992, rookie right-hander Gerrit Cole had a career-high nine strikeouts over seven innings to outpitch Yu Darvish and lead the Pirates to a victory over the Rangers.
The Pirates (82-61) didn’t get a runner to second base against Darvish (12-8) until Marlon Byrd’s two-out double in the seventh. He came home when Pedro Alvarez followed with a double.
Pittsburgh had lost a season-high four games in a row since getting their 81st victory last Tuesday at Milwaukee to guarantee their first non-losing season in more than two decades.
Darvish is 0-3 his last five starts, all Rangers losses. The Japanese right-hander struck out six while allowing one run and four hits over seven innings.