The three-game sweep was crippling for the Rays, who have lost a season-high five straight after briefly moving ahead of the New York Yankees in the AL East earlier in the week.
Vernon Wells drove in the only run before leaving with a dislocated toe, which happened when he made a leaping catch against the wall in the sixth inning to preserve Morrow’s no-hit bid.
The Rays came close to being involved in their fourth no-hitter of the season, which would be a record for the modern era. Matt Garza threw the first no-hitter in Rays history against Detroit on July 26, and Tampa Bay was on the short end against Arizona’s Edwin Jackson on June 26 and Oakland’s Dallas Braden on May 9, when he finished off a perfect game.
Dave Stieb threw the only no-hitter for the Blue Jays on Sept. 2, 1990, at Cleveland. The club record for strikeouts in a game is 18, set by Roger Clemens on Aug. 25, 1998.
Yankees 7 Red Sox 2: At New York, Derek Jeter passed Babe Ruth on the career hits list and drove in three runs and Dustin Moseley filled in admirably for an injured A.J. Burnett , leading the New York Yankees to a 7-2 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Sunday night.
Mark Teixeira hit his 25th homer, becoming the fourth player to hit at least 25 in each of his first eight big league seasons, and Lance Berkman won over Yankees fans with two doubles — and not hitting Alex Rodriguez again.
Rodriguez was back in the lineup a day after he was struck on his left leg by Berkman’s grounder during batting practice Saturday and missed the Yankees’ win. A-Rod was feeling so good Sunday, he stole his first base since May 8. It was his 300th career steal.
Moseley (2-1) gave up two runs in 6 1-3 innings.
Twins 5 Indians 4: At Cleveland, Jim Thome hit a two-run shot for career homer No. 578 and the Twins rallied for five runs in the fifth to pull within a half-game of the AL Central-leading White Sox.
Thome’s drive against his former team came against David Huff (2-11), helping the Twins take two of three in the series and earn their 12th win in 16 games.
Brian Duensing (5-1) pitched a career-high 7 1-3 innings for the Twins, yielding three earned runs and nine hits. Matt Guerrier retired the two men he faced in the eighth and Matt Capps worked a perfect ninth for his second save in three tries since being acquired July 29 from Washington. He had 26 saves with the Nationals.
Orioles 4 White Sox 3: At Baltimore, Jeremy Guthrie outpitched Mark Buehrle , and the surging Orioles won for the fifth time in six games under new manager Buck Showalter.
Felix Pie homered for the Orioles, who took the lead for good with a two-run sixth. Since Showalter made his debut in the dugout Tuesday, Baltimore has swept three games from the Los Angeles Angels and won two of three from the first-place White Sox.
Guthrie (6-11) allowed one run and six hits in eight innings, while Buehrle (10-9) gave up four runs and 10 hits in seven innings.
Tigers 9 Angels 4: At Detroit, Johnny Damon drove in three runs, Alex Avila and Will Rhymes had two RBIs apiece and the Tigers snapped a four-game losing streak while avoiding a series sweep.
Rick Porcello (5-10) allowed three runs, two earned, and eight hits in six innings to earn his first win since May 23. Damon hit a two-run single in the eighth and Austin Jackson drove in a run with a base hit as the Tigers increased their lead to 9-4.
Detroit chased Trevor Bell (1-3) in the sixth.
Mariners 3 Royals 2: At Seattle, Jason Vargas allowed one run in six solid innings to win his seventh game at home, and Casey Kotchman’s two-run single in the sixth gave Seattle the lead for good.
Vargas (8-5) improved to 7-2 at Safeco Field this season, taking a shutout into the sixth inning. It was his second consecutive victory after going more than a month without a win.
Kansas City starter Kyle Davies (5-7) was Vargas’ equal until the sixth inning when he gave up three straight one-out hits. The last single, a liner up the middle by Kotchman, scored Ichiro Suzuki and Chone Figgins with the go-ahead runs.
Athletics 3 Rangers 2: At Oakland, California, Kurt Suzuki hit a tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the seventh inning, Trevor Cahill allowed six hits through eight and the Athletics beat the first-place Rangers.
Rajai Davis and Coco Crisp also drove in runs for the A’s, who won for the eighth time in their last 10 home games. Josh Hamilton and Nelson Cruz drove in runs for the Rangers, who have lost four of their last seven.
Cahill (12-4) won his fifth straight against the Rangers despite allowing two unearned runs in the sixth. Michael Wuertz pitched the ninth for his fifth save. Darren Oliver (0-1) started the seventh, and gave up a single to Chad Pennington and an RBI double to Crisp before leaving the game.
