Sabathia tops Bosox for 19th win

By The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) - CC Sabathia combined on a two-hitter to become the major leagues' first 19-game winner, Robinson Cano hit a tiebreaking, opposite-field homer off the top of the left-field fence and the New York Yankees closed in on the AL East title with a 3-0 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Saturday.

Sabathia (19-7) allowed just one hit in seven innings to outduel Daisuke Matsuzaka (3-6) as New York cut to one the magic number for its first division title since 2006. Already assured of no worse than the wild card, the Yankees have won eight of nine against their rival after starting the season 0-8 against Boston.

They can wrap up the AL East on Sunday when they play the Red Sox for the final time this season.

Boston's magic number for a playoff berth stayed stuck at three.

Cano homered in the sixth inning, and Johnny Damon added a two-out, two-run single in the eighth off former Mets closer Billy Wagner, who entered to boos in his first game in New York since Boston acquired him last month. The runs were unearned because shortstop Chris Woodward dropped the ball for an error during a rundown after pinch-runner Brett Gardner got caught off third on a ball in the dirt.

Tigers 12, White Sox 5

CHICAGO (AP) - Miguel Cabrera got four hits and drove in four runs, giving him at least 100 RBIs for the sixth consecutive season, and Detroit rallied from a five-run deficit to beat Chicago.

Curtis Granderson, Placido Polanco and Gerald Laird each had three of Detroit's 20 hits, including singles in the decisive seventh inning, to help the Tigers win for the fifth time in six games.

The first-place Tigers, two games ahead of Minnesota in the AL Central, host the Twins in a four-game series beginning Monday night.

White Sox starter Freddy Garcia (2-4) faced the minimum 12 batters over the first four innings before allowing Cabrera's leadoff homer in the fifth. Cabrera singled home two more runs in the sixth.

In each of the next two innings, the Tigers scored four runs on six hits and sent 10 batters to the plate.

Alfredo Figaro (2-1) allowed one hit over 2 2-3 innings for the win.

Twins 11, Royals 6

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Denard Span had four hits and a career-high six RBIs, leading surging Minnesota past Kansas City for its 11th victory in 12 games.

The Twins batted around in a five-run fourth inning, highlighted by Span's bases-loaded triple. Four runs were unearned after shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt's wild throw, his fourth error in three games.

Span also had a two-run single in the fifth and an RBI single in the eighth. Matt Tolbert had three hits and scored three runs.

Joe Mauer added a two-run double in the eighth and went 2 for 4 with a walk to hike his major league-leading batting average to .371.

Scott Baker (14-9) earned his first win in four starts, holding the Royals to four runs in 6 1-3 innings.

Lenny DiNardo (0-2) gave up seven runs - three earned - and eight hits in five-plus innings.

Rangers 15, Rays 3

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) - Marlon Byrd homered twice, including his sixth career grand slam in an 11-run fifth inning, and Texas beat Tampa Bay.

Texas moved within six games of Boston for the AL wild card with eight to play. The Rangers also began the day trailing first-place Los Angeles by six games in the AL West. The Angels hosted Oakland on Saturday night, looking to reduce their magic number of four for clinching the division title.

The Rangers scored all 11 runs in the fifth with two outs as 10 straight batters reached base.

The two-out outburst started with Byrd's slam off starter Matt Garza (8-11) that gave Texas a 5-3 lead. After that, the Rangers strung together four singles, three walks and two doubles.

They finished the fifth with nine hits, one short of a club record, and sent 16 batters to the plate.

Texas starter Kevin Millwood (12-10) allowed three runs - two earned - and seven hits in seven innings.

Indians 9, Orioles 8

CLEVELAND (AP) - Jhonny Peralta hit a game-ending single to give Cleveland a wild win over Baltimore, extending the Orioles' losing streak to nine games.

Luis Valbuena started the ninth with a single against Jim Johnson (4-6), Baltimore's seventh pitcher, and moved up on Shin-Soo Choo's groundout. Peralta then lined a 3-1 pitch to center to win it.

The Orioles, mired in their longest skid since they dropped 10 straight Sept. 17-26, 2008, fell to 6-16 in September. Luke Scott and Michael Aubrey, both former Indians draft choices, hit two of Baltimore's three homers.

Cleveland earned consecutive victories for the first time since Aug. 26-27. The Indians beat the Orioles 4-2 on Friday night to avoid tying the franchise record for consecutive losses at 12.

Peralta got three hits after going 1 for 31 in his previous eight games.

Cleveland closer Kerry Wood (3-3) gave up two runs in the ninth for his sixth blown save.

Andy Marte and Choo also homered for Cleveland, which finished with 15 hits.

Blue Jays 5, Mariners 4, 10 innings

TORONTO (AP) - Adam Lind homered twice, including a game-ending solo drive in the 10th inning, to power the Blue Jays to a victory over the Mariners that included Seattle star Ichiro Suzuki's first career ejection.

Jose Bautista also went deep for the Blue Jays, who have homered in seven straight games and have 33 longballs in September, tops in the majors.

Suzuki was thrown out by plate umpire Brian Runge for arguing a called third strike in the fifth, the first ejection of the season for the Mariners and the first of the All-Star outfielder's career, including his years in Japan.

Suzuki used his bat to draw a line on the outer edge of the plate, indicating he thought David Purcey's strike three pitch was outside. That led to the ejection.

Lind hit a tying two-run homer in the eighth, and won it with a leadoff drive in the 10th off Shawn Kelley (5-4), his 32nd. Jason Frasor (7-3) pitched two innings for the win.