AL roundup: Rays sweep Red Sox

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) - Carlos Pena, Carl Crawford and Pat Burrell homered in support of rookie left-hander David Price, and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Boston Red Sox 6-4 on Wednesday night to finish a two-game series sweep.

Facing the Red Sox for the first time since getting the last four outs of last season's AL championship series, Price (5-4) allowed two runs and six hits in six innings to improve to 5-1 at home compared to 0-3 with an 8.20 ERA on the road.

Pena hit a two-run homer off Brad Penny (7-6) in the second inning. Crawford, celebrating his 28th birthday, went deep with a man on in the third. Burrell added a solo shot off Penny for a 5-2 lead in the sixth.

Jason Bartlett also homered for the Rays, belting a solo shot off Manny Delcarmen in the seventh.

Yankees 8, Blue Jays 4

TORONTO (AP) - Johnny Damon hit a solo home run and had three RBIs, Nick Swisher also connected and New York completed a two-game sweep.

Reliever Alfredo Aceves (7-1) pitched two innings for the victory as the Yankees used a four-run seventh inning to win their third straight overall after losing three in a row in Chicago.

The AL East-leading Yankees, winless in eight games against second-place Boston, return home to open a four-game series against the Red Sox on Thursday night.

Phil Coke got two outs, Phil Hughes worked the eighth and David Robertson wrapped it up in the ninth for New York.

Indians 8, Twins 1

CLEVELAND (AP) - Aaron Laffey rebounded from one of his worst performances to pitch a career-high eight innings for the Indians.

The first three batters in Cleveland's lineup - Grady Sizemore, Asdrubal Cabrera and Shin-Soo Choo - along with No. 9 hitter Trevor Crowe combined to go 10 for 16 with five runs and seven RBIs. The Indians won for the eighth time in 12 games.

Francisco Liriano (4-11) remained winless in five starts since June 28.

Laffey (5-3) gave up one unearned run on six hits, striking out five and walking one as he continued to alternate good and bad starts.

On July 29, he was tagged for seven runs in four innings in a 9-3 loss to the Angels.

Tigers 4, Orioles 2

DETROIT (AP) - Edwin Jackson took a shutout into the ninth inning, Magglio Ordonez homered and the Tigers beat Baltimore.

Jackson (8-5) allowed two runs on three hits, walking two and striking out eight. He has allowed two runs in 16 innings over two starts against Baltimore this season.

Jackson hit Nolan Reimold with a pitch to start the ninth, and Adam Jones followed with a homer to left. Fernando Rodney entered and got three outs for his 22nd save.

Jeremy Guthrie (7-11) gave up three runs on six hits in 7 1-3 innings. White Sox 6, Angels 2

CHICAGO (AP) - Jim Thome homered twice, giving him 561 for his career, and Gavin Floyd pitched into the ninth as the White Sox won their fifth in six games.

Floyd (9-6), who was aided by three double plays, allowed six hits and two runs in eight-plus innings.

Thome hit a three-run shot to greet reliever Darren Oliver in the sixth - his second of the game and 20th of the season. With 561 homers, the 38-year-old slugger is two homers behind Reggie Jackson, who is in 12th place all-time.

Sean O'Sullivan (3-1) had pitched a no-hitter for Triple-A Salt Lake on July 28. He gave up six hits and was charged with four runs. Mariners 11, Royals 6

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Ichiro Suzuki had his major league-leading 52nd multihit game and Russell Branyan and Jose Lopez drove in three runs apiece to lead Seattle.

Everyone in the Seattle lineup had a hit and only two failed to score as the Royals' home record since the All-Star break dropped to 1-10.

Luke French (2-2) worked five innings in his first start since being acquired from Detroit by the Mariners and gave up four runs on nine hits.

Kyle Davies (3-8) had a nightmarish start on the day he was called up from a successful six-week stint in Triple-A. The right-hander retired the first seven batters, gave up two runs in the third, then fell apart in a six-run fourth while allowing eight runs on eight hits in just 3 2-3 innings. Athletics 7, Rangers 5

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - Adam Kennedy hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the sixth inning, helping the Athletics beat Texas for the third straight time.

Scott Hairston, Kurt Suzuki and Chad Pennington also homered for the A's.

David Murphy hit a pair of homers for the Rangers, who have lost four of their last five games.

Craig Breslow (5-5) pitched an inning in relief of A's emergency starter Chad Reineke to record the win. Andrew got three outs for his 15th save.

Vicente Padilla (8-6) allowed six runs on seven hits over 5 2-3 innings. He walked two and struck out four.