The Tampa Bay Rays have been on top of the AL East for the last month. Now, they are on top of the whole league.
Willy Aybar’s two-run single broke an eighth-inning tie and the Rays beat the Los Angeles Angels 4-2 on Tuesday night to claim the AL’s best record (77-48), which matches the Chicago Cubs for the best in the majors.
“It just means we’re starting to do things in the right way,” manager Joe Maddon said after the Rays maintained their 4 1/2-game lead over second-place Boston in the division. “We’re making less mistakes. We’re starting to believe in what we’re doing. It just validates the work that we’ve done. It’s good. But still, there’s a long ways to go. It’s just nice to be there right now.”
The win was the ninth in 11 games for Tampa Bay and the second in two nights over the Angels, the runaway AL West leaders who are now 76-48. The Rays lead the season series 6-2, including 5-0 at home.
Tampa Bay won the series opener 6-4 behind two-run homers from Eric Hinske and Cliff Floyd. The Rays got their first run Tuesday night on B.J. Upton’s infield RBI single and added three unearned runs in the eighth, with Aybar’s hit the only ball that made it out of the infield.
“I don’t think we’ve played particularly bad in any of these games, but tonight was one bad inning,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. “We set the table for them and cracked it open further with an error and those guys capped it off with a hit. We just didn’t get it done late. We’ve been doing a terrific job of that, but not tonight.”
In other AL games on Tuesday, it was: Boston 7, Baltimore 2; Toronto 2, New York 1; Chicago 5, Seattle 0; Minnesota 13, Oakland 2; Detroit 11, Texas 3; and Cleveland 9, Kansas City 4.
Los Angeles’ Ervin Santana took a no-hit bid into the sixth and left with a 2-1 lead after allowing one run and four hits in seven innings.
In the eighth, the Rays loaded the bases with no outs against Scot Shields (5-4) on two walks and an error. Carlos Pena drew a one-out walk from Darren Oliver, forcing in the tying run before Aybar singled.
James Shields (11-7) allowed two runs and nine hits in eight innings, and Dan Wheeler pitched a perfect ninth for his seventh save.
Vladimir Guerrero hit his 23rd home run for Los Angeles, a solo shot in the second, and Garret Anderson made it 2-0 in the fourth with an RBI double that extended his hitting streak to 22 games.
“We’ve been pitching well, it’s just, at the end, we cracked the door for them and let them win,” Scioscia said. “It’s frustrating because we didn’t play well enough, certainly in the eighth inning. There’s not much more you can say about it.”
Red Sox 7, Orioles 2
Daisuke Matsuzaka won his fourth straight start and visiting Boston got homers from Jason Varitek and Kevin Youkilis.
Matsuzaka (15-2) gave up two runs, six hits and five walks in five innings.
Varitek’s second homer in two games put Boston up 3-0 in the second. It enabled Varitek to become the first Boston catcher to hit at least 10 home runs in nine seasons, breaking a tie with Carlton Fisk.
Daniel Cabrera (8-8) allowed six runs and nine hits in 4 1-3 innings and dropped to 2-11 with a 7.13 ERA in 16 career starts against Boston.
Blue Jays 2, Yankees 1
At Toronto, the Blue Jays scored the go-ahead run in the eighth when Marco Scutaro’s drive glanced off the glove of center fielder Johnny Damon for a double. Damon was charged with a two-base error in the first inning when he dropped a fly ball.
A.J. Burnett (16-9) earned a win in his sixth straight start, allowing one run and five hits in eight innings with a season-high 13 strikeouts.
Blue Jays first baseman Lyle Overbay helped preserve the lead in the top of the ninth when he made a brilliant throw to get Alex Rodriguez trying to stretch a leadoff hit into a double.
White Sox 5, Mariners 0
Clayton Richard (1-2) allowed five hits in six innings for his first major league win in his fourth start. Matt Thornton, Octavio Dotel and Bobby Jenks each threw an inning to complete the shutout.
Nick Swisher and Jim Thome homered for host Chicago, which won for the seventh time in eight games and maintained a one-game lead over Minnesota in the AL Central.
Felix Hernandez (7-8) gave up five runs and 11 hits in five innings for Seattle, which has lost five straight and 10 of 12.
Twins 13, Athletics 2
Kevin Slowey (10-8) allowed two runs – one earned – and five hits in seven innings with a career-high 12 strikeouts.
Slowey, who had a total of three strikeouts in his previous two starts combined, racked up the most strikeouts by a Twins pitcher since Johan Santana had 17 against Texas exactly one year earlier.
Brian Buscher had three hits and matched his career best with five RBIs for the host Twins.
Oakland starter Sean Gallagher (1-2) allowed 10 earned runs in five innings.
Tigers 11, Rangers 3
Matt Joyce’s second homer of the game was a three-run shot in visiting Detroit’s nine-run seventh inning.
Armando Galarraga (12-4) allowed three runs and six hits and struck out five in six innings to beat the team that designated him for assignment before spring training.
Vicente Padilla (12-7) gave up five runs and eight hits in six-plus innings for the Rangers, who have lost 11 of 13 since they were a season-best six games over .500.
Indians 9, Royals 4
Grady Sizemore hit a three-run homer in the sixth, his 28th, to give host Cleveland a 7-3 lead. The All-Star center fielder was 0-for-3 to extend his slump to 10-for-61 (.164) before hitting his first homer since July 31.
Anthony Reyes (2-1) gave up two runs and six hits over five innings in his third start for Cleveland.
Royals starter Luke Hochevar (6-12) left as he was warming up for the sixth inning. He was listed as day-to-day with tightness in his right ribcage.
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