Roundup: Rays extend wild-card lead over Red Sox to seven
CBSSports.com wire reports
BALTIMORE -- Matt Garza pitched into the sixth inning to earn his 14th win, Carl Crawford had three hits and an RBI, and the Tampa Bay Rays cruised to a 4-1 victory over Baltimore Orioles on Friday.
The Rays stayed 1½ games behind the first-place New York Yankees in the AL East and extended their wild-card lead over Boston to seven games. Tampa Bay has won five of six and nine of 12.
Garza (14-7) gave up one run and five hits in 5 2/3 innings. It was an extension of an outstanding August in which he had a 1.27 ERA over five starts.
In his last outing against the Orioles, Garza yielded four homers and seven runs in 6 1/3 innings. The right-hander's performance in the rematch provided a measure of redemption and improved his lifetime record against Baltimore to 9-1, including 3-0 this season.
Rafael Soriano worked the ninth for his major-league leading 41st save.
Felix Pie drove in the lone run for the Orioles, mired in their first three-game losing streak under manager Buck Showalter. Baltimore is 17-13 since Showalter made his debut on Aug. 3. Full story
SEATTLE -- Luke French held the Cleveland Indians hitless through 6 1/3 innings and with the support of the bullpen, the Mariners threw a three-hitter.
French (4-4), nursing his one-run lead through most of his seven innings, gave up a single with one out in the seventh to Shelley Duncan to end his no-hit bid.
He threw 99 pitches in seven innings, walking three and striking out four.
Brandon League worked a routine eighth and David Aardsma threw the ninth for his 27th save in 32 opportunities.
OAKLAND, Calif. -- Gio Gonzalez pitched six innings to win a season-best third straight start, Kevin Kouzmanoff hit a two-run homer and the Oakland Athletics snapped a four-game losing streak with an victory over the Los Angeles Angels.
Gonzalez (13-8) has a 1.04 ERA over his last four starts and improved to 7-3 at home this season with a 2.59 ERA. The left-hander allowed four hits, struck out six and walked three.
Coco Crisp, Rajai Davis and Gabe Gross all hit RBI singles and Jack Cust drew a bases-loaded walk from Angels starter Scott Kazmir (8-13) in the first to put the A's ahead.
Kazmir lost his third straight start, fourth consecutive decision and eighth decision in nine.
PITTSBURGH -- Ryan Doumit had three hits, including a home run, and two RBI, and Garrett Jones drove in three runs to lead the Pittsburgh Pirates to a victory over the Washington Nationals.
Zach Duke (7-12) pitched five innings for the win, leaving after failing to retire any of the four batters he faced in the sixth inning as Washington scored four runs to close to 8-5. He allowed four runs and five hits with three walks and five strikeouts.
Livan Hernandez (9-10) was hit hard in his first start since signing a one-year contract extension with the Nationals last Sunday. He gave up eight hits and eight runs in 4 1/3 innings while walking two and striking out four.
Danny Espinosa hit his first major-league home run and also doubled for Washington.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Will Rhymes hit a two-run triple in a four-run 11th inning to lift the Detroit Tigers to a victory over the Kansas City Royals.
Rhymes' triple to right-center field off Jesse Chavez (2-3), the sixth Royals pitcher, scored Alex Avila, who had singled, and Casper Wells, who reached on a Josh Fields fielding error. After Johnny Damon walked, Ryan Raburn's single to right scored Rhymes. Austin Jackson's suicide squeeze bunt scored Damon with the final run.
Ryan Perry (3-5) picked up the victory with two perfect innings.
Raburn, who has homered in back-to-back games, homered on the first pitch from Royals rookie reliever Blake Wood leading off the eighth, putting the Tigers ahead 5-4.
PHOENIX -- Pinch hitter Augie Ojeda hit a tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the eighth inning to lift the Arizona Diamondbacks to their eighth win in nine games, over the Houston Astros.
Daniel Hudson pitched six effective innings, Aaron Heilman (5-5) allowed a hit in the eighth and Juan Gutierrez worked the ninth for his seventh save.
Adam LaRoche drove in two runs with a double in the first inning and a single in the fifth to reach 89 RBI, eclipsing Tony Clark's 2005 team record for a first baseman by two.
The Diamondbacks ended Houston starter Brett Myers' streak of lasting at least six innings at 27 games and pulled out the win in the eighth when Ojeda hit a ball to center off Wilton Lopez (5-1) that was just deep enough to score Ryan Roberts from third.
BOSTON -- The game between the Chicago White Sox and Boston Red Sox was postponed because of the threat of severe weather from Hurricane Earl.
The opener of the three-game series was rescheduled as the first game of a day-night doubleheader Saturday.
The pitching rotation remains the same with Friday's scheduled pitchers, Chicago's John Danks (12-9) facing Clay Buchholz (15-5) in the first game and Gavin Floyd (9-11) going against Boston's John Lackey (12-8) in the second.
The series marks the return of former Boston slugger Manny Ramirez to Fenway Park for the first time since he joined the White Sox on Tuesday after being claimed on waivers from the Los Angeles Dodgers.
