The Twins trailed 5-3 entering the bottom of the fifth inning against Gavin Floyd (8-10). Mauer’s opposite-field solo shot cut into the lead before a three-run sixth sealed it.
Matt Capps gave up a run the ninth and got his fifth save, one night after blowing his second save chance since coming to the Twins in a trade last month. Jeff Manship (1-0) and Jesse Crain relieved a struggling Francisco Liriano with stellar relief.
The Twins have won nine straight at home and 24 of their last 31 overall. Mauer, the reigning AL MVP, has been a huge part of that, raising his batting average more than 30 points during his midsummer surge. This was his eighth homer of the season.
Andruw Jones hit a three-run homer for the second-place White Sox, but they fell to 15-17 since their 26-5 run that stretched one game past the All-Star break. They are 4-10 this season against the Twins.
Liriano walked four and needed 106 pitches to get through five innings, slamming his glove and cap down in disgust when he reached the dugout at the end of his last inning.
Rays 8 Rangers 6: At St. Petersburg, Florida, Evan Longoria hit a solo homer and drove in four runs to help the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Texas Rangers, completing a sweep of the three-game series between potential playoff opponents.
Longoria also had a pair of RBI doubles and a sacrifice fly. The All-Star third baseman had three RBIs in Tampa Bay’s 10-1 victory Tuesday night.
James Shields (11-11) allowed two runs and four hits over seven innings, stopping a personal two-game slide. Rafael Soriano got two outs for his 35th save.
Athletics 5 Blue Jays 4: At Oakland, California, Cliff Pennington hit an RBI single in the bottom of the ninth to bail out Oakland’s bullpen and give the Athletics the win.
The A’s blew a 4-1 lead in the top of the ninth but managed to pull out the victory to remain undefeated in 51 games this season when they led after eight innings.
Gio Gonzalez allowed two hits in seven innings and Coco Crisp had a homer, two doubles and two RBIs for the A’s, who won their sixth straight home series. Brad Ziegler (3-4) got the victory.
Yankees 9 Tigers 5: At New York, Mark Teixeira homered and Dustin Moseley pitched well enough to overcome the two home runs he gave up to Miguel Cabrera in the New York Yankees’ testy win over the Detroit Tigers.
Jeremy Bonderman (6-9) hit Brett Gardner in the leg with his first pitch and umpire crew chief Eric Cooper warned the benches against further trouble.
Gardner’s hard slide at the end of Monday’s game took out Detroit second baseman Carlos Guillen , who went on the disabled list with a bruised knee. One out after the speedy Gardner was hit, Teixeira made it 2-0.
With the Yankees leading 9-4, reliever Chad Gaudin hit Cabrera in the back to start the eighth. Tigers manager Jim Leyland came out to argue when Gaudin wasn’t ejected or warned. After the half-inning, Leyland came out again and was immediately ejected.
Red Sox 7 Angels 5: At Boston, Bill Hall and Adrian Beltre homered before the Red Sox took the lead without even hitting the ball, scoring runs on a wild pitch and a hit batsman to lead Boston over the Los Angeles Angels.
Boston improved to 9-0 against the Angels this season and John Lackey (11-7) won for the third straight time against his former team. The former Los Angeles right-hander allowed five runs and 10 hits in seven innings, picking up the win when the Red Sox overcame a 5-4 deficit in the seventh.
Jonathan Papelbon struck out the side in the ninth for his 30th save.
Kevin Jepsen (2-3) threw a bases-loaded wild pitch and, after an intentional walk reloaded the bases, hit pinch-hitter Daniel Nava to bring in the go-ahead run. Nava also may have saved a run in the eighth when he made a diving catch, ending the inning, on Maicier Izturis’ sinking fly ball with runners on first and second.
Mariners 6 Orioles 5: At Baltimore, Matt Tuiasosopo extended his unlikely power surge with a three-run homer, and the Seattle Mariners beat the Baltimore Orioles for their season-high fourth straight series win.
Tuiasosopo’s drive off Jeremy Guthrie (7-12) in the second inning put Seattle ahead for good. Tuiasosopo, a seldom-used utility player, has two homers and seven RBIs over the last two nights after totaling one homer and two RBIs in his first 30 games.
He also prevented the tying run from scoring in the eighth, making a diving catch of a two-out liner to left by Matt Wieters with Adam Jones running from first base on the pitch.
David Pauley (2-4) allowed four runs and five hits in six-plus innings to win his second straight start after opening his big league career with seven straight losses. David Aardsma worked the ninth for his 24th save.
Royals 9 Indians 7: At Kansas City, Missouri, Yuniesky Betancourt homered and drove in three runs as the Kansas City Royals beat the Cleveland Indians.
Betancourt had a two-run single in the fourth inning and hit his 12th homer in the sixth as the Royals took a 9-4 lead.
Mitch Maier hit a two-run triple and Billy Butler drove in a pair of runs for Kansas City. It was the Royals’ highest-scoring game since a 10-3 win over St. Louis on June 27.
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