The AL Central might have the most compelling race in baseball. A couple of surprising contenders, and neither one is giving ground.
Joe Nathan left the bases loaded in the final two innings for his 33rd save and the Minnesota Twins held on Sunday for an 11-8 victory over visiting Seattle that kept them tied with Chicago atop the division.
The White Sox had a much easier afternoon, getting a home run and four RBIs from unexpected MVP candidate Carlos Quentin in a 13-1 rout of the Oakland Athletics.
“We have a very good team in all aspects of the game,” Quentin said. “We can play defense, hit and pitch and our bullpen is very good. I think we’re doing a good job of bringing the same effort level every day.”
Alexei Ramirez added a grand slam and Javier Vazquez (10-10) pitched eight strong innings to help Chicago win a series in Oakland for the first time in eight years. The White Sox have won five of six overall to move a season-best 17 games over .500.
Winning has been the only way to keep pace with Minnesota, also 70-53 despite losing Johan Santana and Torii Hunter last offseason. But the Twins signed Nathan to a $47 million, four-year contract, and the All-Star closer is a big reason they’re a playoff contender again.
Nathan retired Ichiro Suzuki on a grounder to end Sunday’s pressure-packed game. The right-hander also struck out Adrian Beltre with the sacks full to end the eighth.
“Wow! I grew a beard there in that game,” Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire said, having a hard time believing his team had swept the three-game series.
In other AL games, it was: Toronto 15, Boston 4; New York 15, Kansas City 6; Cleveland 4, Los Angeles 3; Baltimore 16, Detroit 8; and Tampa Bay 7, Texas 4.
Jason Kubel had four hits and scored four runs, and Justin Morneau homered and drove in two for the Twins.
The Mariners made it close after trailing 6-0 through three innings. Despite three homers in the sixth, by Beltre, Wladimir Balentien and Kenji Johjima, Seattle lost for the seventh time in eight games.
Knuckleballing reliever R.A. Dickey matched a major league record by throwing four wild pitches in an inning, and the reeling Mariners couldn’t get any closer than two runs.
Minnesota’s Glen Perkins (10-3) improved to 8-1 in his last 14 starts.
Raul Ibanez went 5-for-5 for Seattle, but Ryan Feierabend (0-1) allowed six runs and 10 hits in three innings.
“You win ugly sometimes,” Perkins said.
At Oakland, Calif., Quentin took over the major league lead with his 34th home run.
Juan Uribe hit a two-run shot and Jermaine Dye also homered as the White Sox won consecutive games in Oakland for the first time since August 2000. Chicago also took the season series from the A’s for the first time in eight years.
Gio Gonzalez (1-2) was tagged for eight runs, six hits and five walks in 3 1-3 innings. The A’s have lost 10 straight series, falling to a big league-worst 5-23 since the All-Star break.
“Every time we come here we get some crazy games,” White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. “We start out good with the Uribe home run and we took advantage of the guy not throwing strikes. He was all over the place and when he tried to find the plate, we didn’t miss them.”
Blue Jays 15, Red Sox 4
Alex Rios had five hits, matching a club record with four doubles, and visiting Toronto chased Josh Beckett (11-9) in the third inning.
Adam Lind had a solo homer and four RBIs and John McDonald added three hits and three RBIs for the Blue Jays, who set a team record with 10 doubles. They won their fifth in six games and improved to 6-2 against the Red Sox this season.
Shaun Marcum (8-5) gave up one run in five innings. He has won his last three starts.
Yankees 15, Royals 6
Jason Giambi hit a grand slam, Alex Rodriguez sent a three-run homer bouncing into Monument Park and the host Yankees battered Brian Bannister (7-12) to salvage a split of the 10-game season series with Kansas City.
Cody Ransom added a two-run homer, his first hit with New York. Xavier Nady also went deep for the Yankees, who moved within five games of Boston in the wild-card race. Rodriguez finished 3-for-3 with five RBIs, and Derek Jeter went 4-for-4 and scored three times.
Mike Mussina (16-7) gave up three runs in the first but retired his last 14 batters for career win No. 266.
Indians 4, Angels 3
Jeremy Sowers (2-6) and two relievers cooled off visiting Los Angeles’ lineup, and the Indians took two of three from the Angels to hand them a rare series loss.
It was the Angels’ first series loss to an AL opponent since a three-game sweep in Tampa Bay from May 9-11. They hadn’t lost any series since dropping two of three interleague games to the Los Angeles Dodgers from June 27-29.
Orioles 16, Tigers 8
At Detroit, Melvin Mora and Luke Scott hit two home runs apiece for Baltimore. Mora had five hits and a career-high six RBIs, while Scott had three hits and four RBIs to pace a 22-hit outburst.
Rays 7, Rangers 4
B.J. Upton homered and drove in three runs in his return from a benching, Scott Kazmir (9-6) allowed two runs in six innings and visiting Tampa Bay added a game to its AL East lead.
With the bases loaded in the ninth and Josh Hamilton coming to bat as the potential tying run, Rays manager Joe Maddon had the RBI leader walked to force in a run and help protect the lead.
The victory coupled with Toronto’s 15-4 win over Boston gave the Rays a 4 1/2 game pad over the second-place Red Sox, who lost to Toronto.
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