OAKLAND, CALIF. (AP) - Coco Crisp hit a go-ahead single in the eighth inning and the Oakland Athletics beat the first-place Texas Rangers 4-3 on Thursday to avoid a series sweep.
The reigning AL champion Rangers had their magic number for winning the West Division reduced to two when the Angels lost to Toronto later Thursday night.
Texas, which started the day with a five-game lead over Los Angeles, headed home for three games with the Mariners before ending the regular season at Anaheim.
Grant Balfour (5-2) pitched a 1-2-3 eighth for the win, then Andrew Bailey finished for his 21st save in 23 chances as the A’s snapped Texas’ four-game winning streak.
Crisp’s hit came against Mike Adams (1-3) and helped stop a three-game skid.
Rangers catcher Yorvit Torrealba left in the eighth after experiencing a headache following a foul tip.
Rays 15, Yankees 8
NEW YORK (AP) _ Matt Moore struck out 11 in five innings of his first major league start and the Rays unloaded on the watered-down Yankees a night after New York clinched the AL East title.
The Rays avoided a four-game sweep and pulled within two games on idle Boston in the AL wild-card race. Both teams have six games left.
Before this game, New York catcher Russell Martin declared how much he hated the Red Sox and would like to see them miss the playoffs. Tampa Bay took advantage of four Yankees errors and romped.
B.J. Upton was a double shy of the cycle in four at-bats, Ben Zobrist homered among his three hits and Johnny Damon also connected for Tampa Bay. Facing a lineup of backups and rookies, the Rays roughed up Bartolo Colon and led 13-0 in the fifth inning.
Twins 3, Mariners 2
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) _ Rene Tosoni hit an RBI double with two outs in the ninth inning and the Minnesota Twins snapped their 11-game losing streak, beating the Seattle Mariners.
The Twins avoided another sweep and won for just the second time in 17 games. This was the third-longest skid in Minnesota’s 51-season history, behind a 14-game slide in 1982 and a 13-game drought in 1961, the first year the franchise moved from Washington.
Trevor Plouffe drew a two-out walk from Steve Delabar (1-1) and Tosoni followed with a drive that hopped off the right-field wall. Plouffe slid home, easily beating the relay.
Joe Nathan (1-1) pitched a scoreless ninth to earn the win.
Indians 11, White Sox 2
CLEVELAND (AP) _ Asdrubal Cabrera drove in five runs and Jeanmar Gomez won his fifth straight start for Cleveland as the Indians beat the White Sox to remain in second place in the AL Central.
Gomez (5-2) gave up one earned run and four hits over six innings. Since being recalled from Triple-A Columbus on Aug. 30, the right-hander is 5-0 with a 1.80 ERA.
Cabrera hit a three-run homer and tied his career-high for RBIs. Kosuke Fukudome added three RBIs and Travis Hafner singled for his 1,000th career hit as Cleveland moved 1 1/2 games ahead of the White Sox.
Fukudome’s two-out, two-run single off Philip Humber (9-9) in the fifth inning broke a 2-2 tie.
Blue Jays 4, Angels 3
TORONTO (AP) _ Edwin Encarnacion hit a game-ending home run in the 12th inning and the Toronto Blue Jays beat Los Angeles, dealing the Angels another blow in their chase for a playoff berth.
Encarnacion led off the 12th with a drive down the left field line off Garrett Richards (0-2), his 17th homer of the season. Encarnacion turned to watch the ball and with his right arm kept trying to wave it fair. The ball ended up just inside the foul pole.
Shawn Camp (5-3) worked one inning for the win as the Blue Jays improved to 11-0 in extra inning games at home. Toronto is the first team in recorded history to win 10 or more extra-inning home games without a defeat.
The defeat dropped the Angels three games behind idle Boston in the wild card race.
Orioles 6, Tigers 5
DETROIT (AP) _ J.J. Hardy and Adam Jones homered and the Orioles ruined the Tigers’ homecoming.
Back home from a road trip during which they clinched their first division title since 1987, were given a standing ovation when they took the field for the first inning. The crowd of 28,847, though, was the smallest at Comerica Park since June 29.
Zach Britton (11-10) gave up five runs, six hits and four walks in five innings.
Vladimir Guerrero’s RBI single scored Hardy in the first, and Hardy’s 29th homer made it 2-0 in the third.
Detroit tied the game with four runs in the fifth, including a long three-run homer by Delmon Young, but Baltimore went back up in the sixth when Reimold beat out a two-out infield single off David Pauley (5-6).
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