AL roundup: Texas completes 3-game sweep of Boston

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) - Dustin Nippert allowed one run while pitching into the sixth inning of a spot start for flu-ridden Vicente Padilla, and Texas completed a three-game sweep of slumping Boston, 3-1 on Wednesday night.

David Murphy shook off flu-like symptoms with two hits for the Rangers, who swept a series against Boston for the first time since 2004.

The Red Sox have lost a season-high five straight, a streak that has knocked them out of first place in the AL East. After losing the division lead Tuesday, Boston is two games behind New York, which has won six straight after beating Baltimore on Wednesday.

Nippert (2-0) threw 94 pitches - about 25 more than manager Ron Washington had hoped for. Doug Mathis pitched the final 3 1-3 innings for his first career save.

Clay Buchholz (1-1) allowed three runs and six hits over four innings.

Nippert struck out five and walked two in his third start of the season. He had been moved to the bullpen after going only 3 2-3 innings in both of his previous starts.

Yankees 6, Orioles 4

NEW YORK (AP) - A.J. Burnett won his fourth straight decision and Nick Swisher had a two-run single and made three fine plays to lead New York to its sixth consecutive victory.

Jorge Posada homered and drove in two runs, Alex Rodriguez had an RBI single and Mariano Rivera earned his fifth save in six days. The AL East leaders scored four times in the first inning and sent rookie Jason Berken (1-8) to his eighth loss in a row.

Swisher capped the early outburst with a two-run single and made three fine plays in right field, making up for a third-inning error.

Adam Jones homered and had four hits. He and Nick Markakis hit consecutive solo shots with two outs in the ninth off Brian Bruney.

Burnett (9-4) allowed two runs and six hits in seven innings, improving to 9-1 in 11 career starts against Baltimore.

Angels 9, Royals 6

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Maicer Izturis had four RBIs and Los Angeles scored five runs in the eighth against Kansas City's beleaguered bullpen to complete a three-game sweep.

Izturis hit a two-run homer off starter Brian Bannister and Howie Kendrick added a solo shot off him in the seventh. The AL West-leading Angels (55-38) had 15 hits - 40 in the three-game series - to move a season-high 17 games over .500.

Mike Napoli hit a tying two-run homer in the eighth inning off Roman Colon (1-1) and Chone Figgins followed three straight walks with his fourth hit, a two-run double that completed Los Angeles' majors-best 30th comeback and another Kansas City collapse.

Justin Speier (4-2) allowed a hit in 1 1-3 innings and Brian Fuentes worked the ninth to join Randy Myers as the only left-handers to get 30 saves in both leagues.

White Sox 4, Rays 3

CHICAGO (AP) - Alexei Ramirez hit a two-run triple and Jermaine Dye added a go-ahead RBI single in Chicago's unusual seventh inning.

Scott Podsednik homered for the White Sox, who pulled within one game of Detroit in the AL Central.

The Rays went through five pitchers in the seventh after Chad Bradford was injured warming up on the mound.

White Sox reliever D.J. Carrasco (3-0) pitched a perfect seventh and Matt Thornton pitched two scoreless innings for his first save of the season.

Leading 3-1, Rays starter James Shields walked Gordon Beckham with two outs. Left-hander Randy Choate got Podsednik to hit a bouncer to shortstop Jason Bartlett, who made a bad throw that allowed Beckham and Podsednik to move to second and third.

Bradford came on and had to leave the game with lower back stiffness.

Dan Wheeler (3-3) came in to face Ramirez, who hit a ball to center that B.J. Upton misjudged the ball and it went over his head allowing two runs to score. Dye followed with a RBI single to make it 4-3.

Gabe Gross hit a two-run homer and Pat Burrell added a solo shot for the Rays.

Athletics 16, Twins 1

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - Rajai Davis drove in four runs, Scott Hairston hit a three-run homer and the Athletics jumped all over Minnesota starter Glen Perkins in their highest scoring game in nearly two years.

Matt Holliday went 3 for 3 with three runs scored and Orlando Cabrera reached base safely three times in the first two innings, scoring twice and knocking in two runs as the A's took a 12-1 lead after two innings. Oakland finished with 18 hits.

The outburst helped Trevor Cahill (6-8) win for the first time in exactly one month. He allowed a solo homer to Justin Morneau in the first inning and nothing else in the rest of his seven-inning outing.

Perkins (5-6) once again was done in by first-inning woes, allowing five runs in the opening frame.

Mariners 2, Tigers 1

DETROIT (AP) - Russell Branyan hit a two-out, two-run homer in the eighth inning to give Felix Hernandez and Seattle the victory.

Branyan drove a 1-0 pitch from Bobby Seay (1-2) for his 24th homer and the last of Seattle's two hits in the game.

Hernandez (11-3) struck out eight in seven innings, allowing one run and six hits. David Aardsma pitched the ninth for his 23rd save.

Armando Galarraga allowed one run and one hit in 7 1-3 innings. He walked Jack Hannahan leading off the eighth and got one out before being replaced by Seay. After Ichiro Suzuki grounded out, Branyan homered.

Clete Thomas gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead with a two-out RBI single in the third.

Blue Jays 10, Indians 6

TORONTO (AP) - Marco Scutaro hit two of Toronto's season-high five home runs and matched his career-high with four RBIs.

Scutaro had a solo homer in the fifth and a three-run shot in the sixth, the first multihomer game of his career.

Aaron Hill, Alex Rios and Vernon Wells all hit solo home runs for Toronto.

All four solo shots came off Carl Pavano (8-8), who had won consecutive starts coming in but allowed seven runs and seven hits, six for extra bases, in 4 2-3 innings.

The Indians lost for the ninth time in 13 games.

Toronto rookie Ricky Romero (8-4) got the win, allowing four runs and six hits in 5 1-3 innings.