Tigers pound Rangers 13-5

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) - Curtis Granderson led off the game with a home run and connected again in the second inning, and Justin Verlander equaled a career high by striking out 13 as Detroit beat Texas 13-5 on Wednesday night.

The Tigers scored in each of the first seven innings and matched a season high with 19 hits.

Miguel Cabrera, who had four hits and four RBIs, and Marcus Thames homered for Detroit. Andruw Jones homered twice for Texas.

Verlander (12-5) tied for the major league lead in wins. He boosted his AL-leading strikeout total to 172 while pitching seven innings.

The AL Central-leading Tigers improved to 5-8 since the All-Star break and scored more than three runs for just the fifth time in the span. Detroit stopped Texas' six-game home winning streak.

Granderson homered on the third pitch of the game from Scott Feldman (9-4). It was his 20th career leadoff home run.

Granderson's two-run homer and Carlos Guillen's RBI single gave Detroit a 4-0 lead. Ryan Raburn had an RBI single in the third, and Feldman was chased two batters later.

Feldman allowed a season-high six runs and 10 hits in 2 1-3 innings, his shortest start of the season.

Yankees 6, Rays 2

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) - Joba Chamberlain pitched eight scoreless innings and Mark Teixeira and Robinson Cano homered and drove in two runs apiece to lead New York.

The Yankees won for the 11th time in 13 games since the All-Star break.

Chamberlain (7-2) limited the Rays to three singles - two by Jason Bartlett - while allowing only one runner to reach second base. The right-hander struck out five and walked two, both coming in the fifth inning.

Teixeira and Melky Cabrera hit solo homers in the eighth. Teixeira and Jorge Posada also had RBI singles for the Yankees, who have won 24 of their last 31 games to move to the top of the AL East.

Cano grounded out to drive in a run in the fourth inning, then hit his 16th homer in the sixth for a 3-0 lead against Matt Garza (7-8).

Chamberlain is 4-0 over his last seven starts and improved to 5-0 in nine starts on the road this season.

Athletics 8, Red Sox 6

BOSTON (AP) - Adam Kennedy homered on the first pitch of the game and Oakland again outslugged Boston, winning a day after beating the Red Sox with a 21-hit attack.

Brett Anderson (6-8) was staked to a 5-0 lead before even taking the mound and won at Fenway Park for the second time in 23 days. He beat the Red Sox 6-0 with a two-hit complete game on July 6.

Anderson had only one bad inning on Wednesday when he gave up a three-run homer in the first to Mike Lowell, who had five RBIs. He allowed two singles in his other five innings.

On Tuesday, the Athletics overcame a 6-2 deficit after six innings and won 9-8 in 11. They had seven runs and 11 hits in the last five innings and ended that game with a .298 batting average in July, the second best in the majors. They outhit the Red Sox 10-9 Wednesday.

Oakland started with five runs and four hits in the first inning against Brad Penny (7-5).

Kennedy followed his career-high five hits on Tuesday with his eighth homer of the season.

Twins 3, White Sox 2

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Light-hitting Alexi Casilla had two RBIs and Minnesota's bullpen pitched four scoreless innings as the Twins swept the three-game series.

Casilla, who entered the game hitting .161, broke a 2-2 tie with a run-scoring single in the sixth and the Twins beat the White Sox for the sixth time in seven games. Minnesota has won four straight overall.

Joe Crede walked to lead off the inning, moved to second on a sacrifice and scored on Casilla's two-out single off Jose Contreras (4-10), who lost his third straight.

Jesse Crain (3-4) and Matt Guerrier combined for three innings of scoreless relief before Joe Nathan pitched the ninth for his 29th save.

Jayson Nix and Carlos Quentin homered for Chicago, which has lost six of seven. The White Sox have lost nine of their last 10 and 14 of 16 in the Metrodome. Chicago is 2-10 in its last 12 road games.

An RBI grounds-rule double by Casilla and run-scoring groundout by Denard Span gave Minnesota a 2-0 lead in the second.

Orioles 7, Royals 3

BALTIMORE (AP) - Adam Jones homered and drove in three runs and Nick Markakis also had three RBIs for Baltimore.

Kansas City did not have an assist in the game. The last team to go a game without an assist was Tampa Bay on May 17, 2003, also in a loss - eight innings in the field - to Baltimore, according to STATS LLC. Only five teams in big league history have done it for at least nine innings.

After Kansas City starter Zach Greinke pitched six innings of five-hit ball and left with a 3-2 lead, the Orioles went ahead with a three-run seventh that kept the Royals' ace winless in July.

Alberto Callaspo, Miguel Olivo and Mike Jacobs homered off Baltimore's Chris Tillman in his major league debut. The 21-year-old allowed three runs, seven hits and a walk in 4 2-3 innings.

Robinson Tejada (1-1) followed Greinke and walked the first two batters in the seventh. Jones then doubled in a run off John Bale, and Markakis followed with a line-drive single that easily cleared the drawn-up infield.

Markakis and Aubrey Huff added RBI singles in the eighth.

Matt Albers (2-4), who rescued Tillman with two on in the fifth, gave up one hit in 2 1-3 innings and Jim Johnson worked two innings for his second save.

Angels 9, Indians 3

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) - Howie Kendrick homered and drove in a career-high five runs and Los Angeles beat Cleveland hours after the Indians traded away reigning AL Cy Young winner Cliff Lee.

Lee and outfielder Ben Francisco were sent to Philadelphia for a package of four minor leaguers.

John Lackey (7-4) gave up a run and three hits in seven innings. He struck out eight and walked four.

Aaron Laffey (4-3) gave up seven runs and seven hits in four-plus innings.

Kendrick singled home a run in the first, had a two-run single off reliever Chris Perez in the fifth and added a two-run homer in the seventh off rookie Tony Sipp.

Cleveland scored in the fourth when Shin-Soo Choo doubled and Jhonny Peralta had a sacrifice fly, giving him 14 RBIs in his last eight games.

The Angels had five runs in the fifth to take a 7-1 lead.

Mariners 3, Blue Jays 2

SEATTLE (AP) - Ken Griffey Jr. doubled twice and drove in the decisive runs in the seventh inning, and Seattle tagged Roy Halladay with a season-high 11 hits.

The Mariners won for the second consecutive time after a four-game losing streak.

They got a solo homer from Jose Lopez, then loaded the bases on three singles in the seventh against Halladay (11-4), whom Toronto has declared open for bidding on the non-waiver trade market that closes Friday afternoon.

Griffey golfed the first pitch from Halladay into the right-field corner to score Michael Saunders and Ichiro Suzuki.

Ryan Rowland-Smith carried a no-hitter into the seventh in his third start of the season, before Aaron Hill singled leading off. Adam Lind homered to right-center for a 2-1 lead.

Rowland-Smith (1-1) allowed three hits and two runs in seven innings for his first win since Sept. 27.

David Aardsma pitched the ninth for his 25th save.