Jacoby Ellsbury led off the game with a home run and Adrian Gonzalez hit an RBI triple as the Red Sox roughed up Freddy Garcia (4-5) early to move within two percentage points of the first-place Yankees in the AL East. Working on seven days’ rest, Jon Lester (8-2) gave up three runs and eight hits — seven singles — in six innings.
Derek Jeter had two hits to move within 12 of 3,000. He entered the 10-game homestand with 2,986 and said the most pressure he feels in his march toward the milestone is reaching the mark at Yankee Stadium.
Indians 1 Twins 0: In Cleveland, Carlos Carrasco took a shutout into the ninth inning and the Indians pushed across an unearned run to defeat the Twins, ending a season-high five-game skid.
Carrasco (5-3) gave up three hits, struck out six and walked one over 8 1-3 innings as Cleveland avoided its first eight-game losing streak ever at Progressive Field. The Indians opened the year 14-2 at home. They have not lost eight in a row at home since June 8-21, 1975, at old Cleveland Stadium.
Orioles 4 Athletics 0: In Baltimore, J.J. Hardy , Luke Scott and Adam Jones hit solo homers, Chris Jakubauskas pitched five shutout innings and the Orioles beat Oakland to stretch the Athletics’ losing streak to a season-high eight games.
Jones had three hits for the Orioles, who will try to complete a three-game sweep Wednesday night. Baltimore had lost eight straight series to Oakland since July 2007.
Hardy and Scott connected against Guillermo Moscoso (2-2), and Jones made it 3-0 in the sixth with a drive off Michael Wuertz .
White Sox 5 Mariners 1: In Chicago, Paul Konerko and Carlos Quentin homered, and Phil Humber held Seattle’s offense in check as the White Sox beat the Mariners.
Konerko’s solo shot in the second inning was his second in as many days and fourth in six games. The homer also marked the 1,000th run of his career.
Quentin’s two-run shot in the third inning was his 15th of the season and second off Seattle starter Felix Hernandez this year.
Humber (5-3) worked 7 2-3 innings, yielding just one run on five hits.
Blue Jays 8 Royals 5: In Kansas City, Missouri, Adam Lind and J.P. Arencibia each hit a two-run homer to lead the Blue Jays to a victory over the Royals.
Lind homered off Vin Mazzaro (0-1) in a three-run first inning. Jose Bautista was aboard on a single.
Blue Jays rookie right-hander Kyle Drabek (4-4), who failed to get out of the first inning in his previous start, a loss against Cleveland, labored through 5 1-3 innings to pick up the victory.
Tigers 8 Rangers 1: In Arlington, Texas, Austin Jackson had three of Detroit’s season-high 20 hits and Rick Porcello won for the sixth time in his last seven outings to help the Tigers beat the Rangers.
Porcello (6-3) gave up a run over six innings against the AL West-leading Rangers as the Tigers improved to 8-1 in their last nine games. Porcello has allowed less than two runs in five of his last nine starts.
A night after getting 18 hits, Jackson helped Detroit win its fourth straight with three RBIs. The Tigers scored four runs in the fourth off Matt Harrison (5-5).
Rays 4 Angels 1: In Anaheim, California, rookie Alex Cobb pitched 6 1-3 strong innings to earn his first major league victory, B.J. Upton homered and the Rays beat the Angels.
The Rays won the series opener 5-1 a night earlier, giving them back-to-back victories for the first time since May 11-13, when they won three in a row. Despite the wins, they’ve lost 14 of their last 23 since they were a season-high eight games over .500 on May 13.
