AL roundup: White Sox avoid 4-game sweep

BOSTON (AP) - Jayson Nix drove in three runs and Chicago scored four runs in both the second and third innings, beating Boston 9-5 on Thursday night to avoid a four-game sweep.

Chicago battered rookie Junichi Tazawa (2-3) for nine runs just five days after he pitched six scoreless innings in a 14-1 win over New York. Infielder Nick Green pitched two scoreless innings for Boston.

John Danks (12-8) allowed two runs and six hits in six innings to improve to 3-0 in his last four starts and 5-1 in his last eight outings on the road.

J.D. Drew hit two solo homers and Alex Gonzalez added one as the Red Sox hit more than one homer for the 11th time in 13 games.

Chicago broke a four-game losing streak, snapped a tie for second place in the AL Central with Minnesota and moved four games behind first-place Detroit.

Boston remained six games behind the Yankees in the AL East and dropped to 1 1/2 games ahead of Texas in the wild card.

Athletics 2, Angels 0

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) - Rookie Trevor Cahill and two relievers combined on a three-hitter and Ryan Sweeney came within a double of hitting for the cycle to lead Oakland.

Sweeney, who came in 4 for 9 lifetime against Angels starter Ervin Santana, homered, singled and tripled in his three at-bats against the right-hander to help the A's recover from a three-game sweep at Seattle.

Cahill (7-12) held the AL West leaders to a two-out single by Vladimir Guerrero in the fourth inning and a leadoff double by Jeff Mathis in the sixth.

Michael Wuertz pitched a perfect eighth, and Andrew Bailey gave up a two-out bunt single by Torii Hunter in the ninth to earn his 19th save.

Santana (7-7) allowed two runs and eight hits over six innings and struck out six.

Sweeney hit his sixth homer with one out in the second and Daric Barton had a one-out RBI single in sixth.

Rangers 7, Yankees 2

NEW YORK (AP) - Ian Kinsler homered twice and the Texas bullpen pitched shutout ball as the Rangers became the first visitors to win a series at Yankee Stadium since mid-June.

Kinsler and Chris Davis both had three-run homers for Texas, which took two of three from the club with the best record in the majors. Jason Grilli (2-2), C.J. Wilson and Frank Francisco combined for 5 1-3 innings of two-hit relief.

A.J. Burnett (10-8) lost despite striking out a season-high 12 in six innings. Texas' Dustin Nippert was pulled after walking seven in 3 2-3 innings.

Kinsler got Texas' first hit, the three-run homer in the fourth, and connected for a solo homer in the eighth, giving him a career-high 28.

Davis hit his three-run homer in the seventh off Phil Coke.

Indians 5, Orioles 4

BALTIMORE (AP) - Andy Marte hit a two-run homer with two outs in the ninth for Cleveland.

Jim Johnson (3-5) got the first two outs in the ninth before allowing a single to Matt LaPorta. After going 3-0 on Marte, the No. 9 hitter in the lineup, Johnson worked the count full before Marte hit a liner that barely cleared the 7-foot wall in left field. It was his second home run in 69 at-bats this season.

Rafael Perez (3-2) pitched 1 2-3 innings of one-hit relief and Kerry Wood got three outs for his 17th save.

Grady Sizemore homered and Shin-Soo Choo had three hits for the Indians, who trailed 4-2 in the seventh. Cleveland has won 15 of 25 and is 22-16 since the All-Star break.

Melvin Mora and Matt Wieters homered for the Orioles, now 44-3 when leading after eight innings.

Royals 8, Mariners 4

SEATTLE (AP) - Yuniesky Betancourt hit one of Kansas City's four home runs in his return to Seattle.

Brayan Pena, Alberto Callaspo and David DeJesus homered for the Royals in their first four-homer game this season. The last time they hit four was May 23, 2007, against Cleveland.

Kyle Davies (5-9) went six innings to earn the victory. He allowed five hits and two runs, walking three and striking out five. Jamey Wright allowed one hit over two innings and Bruce Chen gave up a two-run homer to Jack Wilson in the ninth.

Doug Fister (1-1) worked six innings for the Mariners, allowing five runs and five hits.

In the fifth, Betancourt, who was traded by the Mariners to the Royals on July 10, hit his third homer with the Royals.

Mariners right fielder Ichiro Suzuki missed his fourth straight game with tightness in his left calf.