NEW YORK: New York’s Hiroki Kuroda pitched a shutout as the Yankees beat the Texas Rangers 3-0 in Tuesday’s meeting of American League divisional leaders.
Kuroda (11-8) pitched a two-hitter and the New York Yankees got consecutive homers from Nick Swisher and Mark Teixeira in a victory over the Rangers.
Kuroda (11-8) held Texas hitless until an infield single leading off the seventh. He walked only two and struck out five in his second shutout of the season and fourth of his career.
The Yankees too were held in check until the seventh, when consecutive homers from Nick Swisher and Mark Teixeira broke the game open.
Texas’ All-Star Matt Harrison (13-7) took the loss.
Orioles 7 Red Sox 1: In Baltimore, Mark Reynolds homered twice and drove in four runs to power Baltimore past Boston.
Reynolds hit a solo shot in the fifth and a three-run drive in the sixth, while Omar Quintanilla also went deep for the Orioles, who moved 10 games over .500 for the first time since June.
Baltimore starter Wei-Yin Chen (11-7) gave up one run and one walk in six-plus innings.
Red Sox starter Josh Beckett (5-10) surrendered six runs in 5 1-3 innings. He is 1-6 in his past 12 starts.
Boston stranded 12 and went 1 for 10 with runners in scoring position.
White Sox 3 Blue Jays 2: In Toronto, Jose Quintana snapped a five-start winless streak to steer Chicago to a rare win at Toronto.
Quintana (5-2) allowed two runs in 6 2-3 innings, helping the White Sox win at Rogers Center for only the fourth time in six years.
Blue Jays starter Henderson Alvarez (7-10) allowed two earned runs in seven innings.
Tigers 8 Twins 4: In Minneapolis, Miguel Cabrera became the first player to reach 100 RBIs this season with a run-scoring single as Detroit downed Minnesota.
With the game locked 4-4 in the sixth inning, Andy Dirks hit a solo home run off Brian Duensing (2-8) to put the Tigers ahead for good. Cabrera got his 100th RBI in the seventh, becoming the third player in Tigers history to collect at least 100 RBIs in five or more consecutive seasons.
Detroit starter Doug Fister (7-7) pitched eight strong innings, not allowing any earned runs and striking out seven.
Royals 5 Athletics 0: In Kansas City, Jeremy Guthrie allowed only three singles in seven innings as Kansas City rolled to a win over Oakland.
Guthrie (5-12), who struck out a season-high eight, ran his scoreless streak to 15 innings. He has struck out 14 over his past two starts.
The A’s failed to get a runner past second base and were shut out for a major league-high 14th time.
Alex Gordon and Eric Hosmer delivered run-scoring singles in the Royals’ five-run fifth inning. A’s rookie right-hander Jarrod Parker (7-7) was pulled after 4 2-3 innings. He gave up five runs.
Boston’s Pedroia denies reports of Valentine rift
Meantime, Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia has denied reports of a rift between the players and under-fire manager Bobby Valentine, insisting that he and his team mates were to blame for Boston’s disappointing season.
Despite boasting one of the highest payrolls in the league, the Red Sox have failed to spark this season and with a 57-60 record, find themselves languishing 12 1/2 games behind bitter rivals and AL East leaders the New York Yankees. The 62-year-old Valentine has been under immense pressure in his first season at the club due to Boston’s poor form, leading to reports that several players had complained about his leadership at a meeting with team owners last month.
“I don’t think Bobby should be fired,” Pedroia, considered one of the most vocal critics of Valentine, said in a post-game interview given to a regional sports television network on Tuesday.
“We haven’t played well. That’s the bottom line. I’m not going to blame anything on Bobby. It’s on the players.” Valentine replaced Terry Francona in December, who left the Red Sox after the team missed last season’s playoffs following a dramatic late-season collapse.
“Last year wasn’t on Tito (Francona). I know he took it hard,” Pedroia said.
“We were 99.7 percent in the playoffs last year, and we weren’t in there. Anything can happen. Baseball’s a crazy game.
“We’re going to go out and play as hard as we can. We dug ourselves this hole, and we’ve got to try to dig ourselves out of it. We’ve got to be professional.” Pedroia confirmed that the players had a meeting last month but denied he had any problems with the manager.
“I had one problem with Bobby earlier in the year and I went into his office and talked to him like a man. He talked to me like a man,” he said.
“We’ve been great, had a great relationship. I’ll go out there and play for him any day of the week. I’m playing for all my team mates.
“We had a meeting in New York. The coaches had a meeting. Bobby had a meeting. We all had a meeting. Basically, when I spoke, I said we all need to do better.
“That includes the owners, Bobby, coaches and especially the players.”
