Baltimore Orioles' Jim Thome watches his ground-rule double that drove in the go-ahead run in the 12th inning of a baseball game against the Boston Red Sox in Boston on Saturday. The Orioles won 9-6. (Michael Dwyer/Aassociated Press)
Jim Thome hit a go-ahead double in the 12th in his first game in nearly two months and the Baltimore Orioles won in extra innings for the 16th straight time, beating the Boston Red Sox 9-6 on Saturday.
The Orioles won their sixth in a row overall. They began the day one game behind the AL East-leading New York Yankees.
Baltimore's extra-inning streak is the best in the majors since the Cleveland Indians won 17 straight in 1949. The Orioles are 16-2 in extras this year, losing only to the Yankees on April 10-11.
Thome had been on the disabled list from July 31 until Friday with a herniated disc in his neck.
Yankees 10, Athletics 9 (14)
NEW YORK — Raul Ibanez hit his second home run of the game during a dramatic rally in the 13th inning, then the New York Yankees won a thriller when Ichiro Suzuki scored on first baseman Brandon Moss' two-out error in the 14th to beat the Oakland Athletics 10-9 Saturday.
The AL East leaders held their one-game edge over Baltimore. Down 9-5 in the 13th, the Yankees won for just the second time in team history after trailing by at least four runs in extra innings.
Oakland began the day with a 3 1-2 game lead over Los Angeles for the second AL wild-card spot, and blew a huge opportunity.
Moss let a bases-loaded grounder by Eduardo Nunez skip off his glove, ending a game that took 5 hours, 43 minutes.
Tigers 8, Twins 0
DETROIT — Miguel Cabrera hit his 42nd homer, putting him in Triple Crown position, and Doug Fister pitched his first career shutout to help the Tigers get the win.
Detroit began the day 1½ games behind the AL Central-leading Chicago White Sox, who played later at the Los Angeles Angels.
Cabrera's solo shot in the fourth inning tied him with Texas star Josh Hamilton for the most homers in the AL. Cabrera has a relatively comfortable league lead with a .332 batting average and 131 RBIs. Hamilton is sidelined for this weekend's series at Seattle because of a sinus condition that has caused blurred vision.
Carl Yastrzemski won the last Triple Crown in 1967. He took the batting and RBIs title, and tied Harmon Killebrew for the AL homer lead.
Fister (10-9) gave up seven hits while striking out seven. He won for the third time in four starts.
Twins starter Samuel Deduno (6-5) was charged with seven runs, matching a career high, in just 2 1-3 innings.
Royals 5, Indians 3
KANSAS CITY — Billy Butler hit a run-scoring single in the first inning to reach 100 RBIs for the first time and the Kansas City Royals beat the Cleveland Indians 5-3.
Butler also doubled twice in his 53rd multihit game, raising his batting average to .312. He became the first Royals player to drive in at least 100 runs since Carlos Beltran had 100 RBIs in 2003.
Alcides Escobar doubled in Jarrod Dyson, then scored on Butler's base hit to give Kansas City a 2-0 lead in the first. Rookie left-hander Will Smith (6-8), who was 1-4 in his previous five starts, allowed two runs and eight hits in seven innings for the Royals.
Rays 11, Blue Jays 5
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.— B.J. Upton and Jose Molina homered during a six-run fifth inning and the surging Tampa Bay Rays beat the Toronto Blue Jays 11-5 for their fourth consecutive victory.
Evan Longoria and Desmond Jennings also connected for the Rays, who moved within 3 1/2 games of Oakland for the second AL wild card. Tampa Bay has scored 43 runs during its winning streak.
The Blue Jays have lost 17 straight road series at Tampa Bay, which is two short of the AL record. The New York Yankees won 19 consecutive home series against the St. Louis Browns from 1946-51.
Blue Jays shortstop Yunel Escobar was back in the starting lineup two days after he served a three-game suspension for wearing eye-black displaying an anti-gay slur written in Spanish and went 0 for 4.
Mariners 1, Rangers 0
SEATTLE — Michael Saunders hit a solo home run in the second inning, former Texas prospect Blake Beavan threw seven shutout innings against his former club, and the Seattle Mariners kept the Rangers from extending their lead in the AL West with a 1-0 win on Saturday night.
Seattle took the first two games in the weekend series — handing the Rangers consecutive defeats for the first time in more than a month — and finally solved Matt Harrison's mastery of the Mariners.
Harrison (17-10) had won nine straight times against Seattle, the second-longest streak in Rangers' history against one team, but was not able to extend the roll despite holding the Mariners to just the homer by Saunders.
Texas remained four games ahead of Oakland in the division race after the A's lost at New York earlier in the day.
Angels 4, White Sox 2
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Dan Haren earned his first win at home in more than a month, Mark Trumbo capped a four-run first inning with a two-run single and the Los Angeles Angels beat the White Sox 4-2, trimming Chicago's AL Central lead to a half-game over Detroit.
Haren (12-11) allowed two runs and six hits in six-plus innings, struck out four and walked one for his first win in Anaheim since beating Tampa Bay on July 27. He had been 0-3 with an 8.77 ERA in three home starts since then.
Ernesto Frieri pitched the ninth to earn his 20th save in 23 chances after giving up a go-ahead home run in each of his previous two outings.
The Angels have won six of nine and are 2 1/2 games behind Oakland for the second AL wild card.
Jose Quintana (6-5) gave up four runs and six hits in five innings, struck out three and walked five for the White Sox, who have scored just 10 runs in their last five games. Chicago struck out 12 times in a 6-2 loss in the series opener Friday.
