American League
Rookie Jon Lester allowed one hit in eight innings and Jonathan Papelbon pitched a perfect ninth, leading the Boston Red Sox over the Kansas City Royals 1-0 on Tuesday.
Lester (5-0) gave up just Mark Teahen's clean single to center field in the second and four walks in his eighth major league start. The left-hander struck out four and allowed only five balls to leave the infield.
PHOTO: AP
Papelbon retired the Royals in order in the ninth for his 28th save in 31 opportunities.
Brandon Duckworth (1-3) also pitched very well, allowing one run and five hits in six innings. But the Royals still suffered their seventh loss in eight games.
Boston scored in the fifth on a double by Jason Varitek and an RBI single by Alex Gonzalez.
White Sox 7, Tigers 1
At Detroit, Paul Konerko hit two home runs, and Jon Garland pitched seven strong innings to lead Chicago over Detroit. The Tigers still have the best record in baseball (62-31) and a 3 1/2-game lead over Chicago in the American League Central, but they are just 1-6 against the World Series champions this season.
Rangers 5, Blue Jays 2
At Toronto, Hank Blalock hit a go-ahead single in a five-run eighth inning and Texas rallied to beat Toronto. Texas scored just four runs in the previous four games, but they came back from a 2-0 deficit by sending 10 batters to the plate in the eighth.
Twins 8, Devil Rays 1
At Minneapolis, Francisco Liriano topped fellow young gun Scott Kazmir, allowing three hits over 8 2-3 innings in Minnesota's victory over Tampa Bay.
Athletics 5, Orioles 4
At Baltimore, Bobby Crosby and Mark Ellis hit consecutive homers, and Oakland scored two runs without a hit in the fourth inning to take the lead for good against Baltimore.
Yankees 5, Mariners 4, 11 innings
At New York, Melky Cabrera homered leading off the 11th inning and New York rallied for a rain-delayed victory over Seattle. Helped by a blown call in the ninth, the streaking Yankees won their fifth straight and ninth in 10 games.
Angels 7, Indians 5
At Anaheim, California, Joe Saunders pitched seven sharp innings in an emergency start for the ailing Kelvim Escobar and Los Angeles beat Cleveland to extend its longest winning streak of the season to eight games.
National League
Carlos Beltran hit the last of New York's three homers on Tuesday, a seventh-inning grand slam off Eric Milton that powered the Mets to an 8-3 victory over the Cincinnati Reds.
Xavier Nady and Jose Valentin also hit solo homers that helped right-hander Mike Pelfrey improve to 2-0 after two major league starts. The 22-year-old rookie gave up seven singles and a pair of runs in six innings.
Beltran's grand slam off Milton (6-5) was the sixth of his career and his second in two games. He and Cliff Floyd connected Sunday during a club-record 11-run sixth inning at Chicago.
Rockies 13, Pirates 4
At Pittsburgh, Matt Holliday hit a two-run homer, Jamie Carroll drove in three runs and Colorado beat Pittsburgh to stop an eight-game losing streak.
Yorvit Torrealba went 3-for-5 with two RBIs and Choo Freeman scored twice and drove in two runs for the Rockies, who had scored a total of eight runs in their previous four games.
Jeff Francis (7-8) won for only the second time since June 12.
The Rockies pushed across three runs in the second inning against Tom Gorzelanny. Torrealba and Carroll had two-run doubles in the third to help Pittsburgh build a 7-0 lead.
Gorzelanny (0-2) allowed seven runs, five earned, in 2 2-3 innings.
Nationals 7, Marlins 6
At Miami, Alex Escobar's RBI single in the ninth inning capped Washington's rally from a four-run deficit against Florida.
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