Monday, March 12, 2012

Kubel's 4 hits, Nathan's save help Twins hang on

Joe Nathan left the bases loaded in the final two innings for his 33rd save and the Minnesota Twins held on Sunday for an 11-8 victory over the Seattle Mariners.

Nathan got Ichiro Suzuki to ground out to complete the three-game sweep. The All-Star closer also struck out Adrian Beltre with the sacks full to end the eighth.

Jason Kubel had four hits and scored four runs and Justin Morneau homered and drove in two for the Twins, who stayed tied with the Chicago White Sox for the American League Central lead.

Knuckleballing reliever R.A. Dickey matched a major league record by throwing four wild pitches in an inning, and the reeling Mariners couldn't get any closer than two runs.

Minnesota's Glen Perkins (10-3) improved to 8-1 in his last 14 starts.

Raul Ibanez went 5-for-5 for Seattle, but Ryan Feierabend (0-1) allowed six runs and 10 hits in three innings.

Rays 7, Rangers 4

At Arlington, Texas, B.J. Upton homered and drove in three runs in his return from a benching, Scott Kazmir allowed two runs in six innings and Tampa Bay downed Texas to add a game to its AL East lead.

With the bases loaded in the ninth and Josh Hamilton coming to bat as the potential tying run, Rays manager Joe Maddon had the RBI leader walked to force in a run and help protect the lead.

The victory coupled with Toronto's 15-4 win over Boston gave the Rays a 4 1/2 game pad over the second-place Red Sox, who lost to Toronto.

Kazmir (9-6) earned his first win since July 21, giving up four hits with seven strikeouts and four walks to help the Rays improve to 20-9 since the All-Star break.

White Sox 13, Athletics 1

In Oakland, California, Carlos Quentin hit his 34th homer and drove in four runs, Alexei Ramirez added a grand slam and Chicago won a series in Oakland for the first time in eight years.

Javier Vazquez (10-10) allowed four hits in eight innings to help the White Sox win consecutive games in Oakland for the first time since August 2000. Chicago also took the season series from the A's for the first time in eight years.

Juan Uribe hit a two-run shot and Jermaine Dye also homered as the White Sox won for the fifth time in six games. Chicago is a season-best 17 games over .500.

Gio Gonzalez (1-2) was tagged for eight runs, six hits and five walks in 3 1-3 innings. The A's have lost 10 straight series, falling to a big league-worst 5-23 since the All-Star break.

Quentin took over the major league home run lead.

Blue Jays 15, Red Sox 4

In Boston, Alex Rios had five hits, matching a club record with four doubles, and Toronto chased Boston ace Josh Beckett in the third inning.

Adam Lind had a solo homer and four RBIs and John McDonald added three hits and three RBIs for the Blue Jays, who set a team record with 10 doubles. They won their fifth in six games and improved to 6-2 against the Red Sox this season.

Boston, the AL wild-card leader, lost consecutive games for the first time in August.

Shaun Marcum (8-5) gave up one run in five innings. He's won his last three starts.

Beckett (11-9) was roughed up for eight runs and eight hits in 2 1-3 innings. Toronto equaled its season high with 22 hits, the most Red Sox pitchers have given up this year.

Kevin Youkilis hit his 23rd homer and Dustin Pedroia his 12th for Boston.

Yankees 15, Royals 6

In New York, Jason Giambi hit a grand slam, Alex Rodriguez sent a three-run homer bouncing into Monument Park and New York battered Brian Bannister and Kansas City to salvage a split of the 10-game season series.

Cody Ransom added a two-run homer and Xavier Nady also went deep for the Yankees, who moved within five games of Boston in the wild-card race. Rodriguez finished 3-for-3 with five RBIs, and Derek Jeter went 4-for-4 and scored three times.

Mike Mussina (16-7) gave up three runs in the first but retired his last 14 batters for career win No. 266. Despite winning at least 15 games 11 times, Mussina has never been a 20-game winner.

Ross Gload hit a two-run homer and Billy Butler had a two-run double for the Royals, who wasted two chances over the weekend to win their first season series against New York since 1999. Instead, they've lost nine of 11 after a three-game winning streak.

Bannister (7-12) allowed 13 of the 16 batters he faced to reach safely, on 10 hits and three walks, and the 10 runs he yielded were a career high.

Indians 4, Angels 3

In Cleveland, Jeremy Sowers and two relievers cooled off Los Angeles' lineup, and Cleveland took two of three from the Angels to hand them a rare series loss.

It was the Angels' first series loss to an AL opponent since a three-game sweep in Tampa Bay from May 9-11. They hadn't lost any series since dropping two of three interleague games to the Los Angeles Dodgers from June 27-29.

Sowers (2-6) gave up only two earned runs over 6 2-3 innings for his first win in five starts. The left-hander earned his first home win in 13 starts at Progressive Field since beating Detroit on Aug. 25, 2006.

Rafael Perez struck out three over 1 1-3 perfect innings and Jensen Lewis got his third save.

Cleveland took a 4-3 lead in the sixth against Justin Speier (1-6) on Grady Sizemore's RBI single.

Orioles 16, Tigers 8

In Detroit, Melvin Mora and Luke Scott hit two home runs apiece, leading Baltimore to a rout of Detroit.

Mora had five hits and a career-high six RBIs, while Scott had three hits and four RBIs to pace a 22-hit outburst. It was the most hits for the Orioles since they had 22 on July 22, 2006, at Tampa Bay. Baltimore's 16 runs and 12 extra-base hits were season highs.

The Orioles, winners of four of five, have scored in double digits in three of their last four games. The Tigers fell to 5-11 in August.

Baltimore finally won a Sunday road game for the first time this season after going 0-10.

Fernando Cabrera (2-1) got the win with three shutout innings of relief.

Casey Fossum (2-1) took the loss, allowing four runs in two innings.

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