Detroit Tigers relief pitcher Jose Valverde hugs catcher Alex Avila after beating the Royals 2-1 on Sunday, moving the club into the division lead past the Cleveland Indians. (Ed Zurga/Associated Press) Tigers 2, Royals 1
Justin Verlander became the first Tigers pitcher earn his 12th win before the all-star break in 24 years and Detroit climbed past Cleveland into first place in the AL Central on Sunday with a 2-1 victory over the Kansas City Royals.
Verlander (12-4) pitched 7 2/3 strong innings in the sweltering heat to match Jack Morris' win total in 1987. Striking out the side in the second and sixth, he fanned nine altogether and raised his league-leading strikeout total to 147.
He allowed six hits and did not walk a batter while getting charged with one unearned run. He has not allowed more than two runs in nine straight starts.
The 28-year-old right-hander threw 119 pitches, 82 strikes, as temperatures got as high as 37 C.
Twins 6, White Sox 3
Anthony Swarzak dominated over six innings, and the Minnesota Twins got back to beating the Chicago White Sox with a 6-3 victory on Sunday.
The Twins head into the all-star break with nine wins in 12 games after taking three of four in this series.
They shook off a 4-3 loss on Saturday that snapped a nine-game winning streak against Chicago dating to last season, getting an RBI single by Drew Butera and run-scoring double by Jason Repko in the fourth before tacking on three more while knocking out Jake Peavy (4-3) in the fifth.
That was more than enough for Swarzak (2-2), who simply dominated while filling in for the injured Scott Baker (strained right flexor muscle).
Red Sox 8, Orioles 6
Marco Scutaro, Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis homered in the second inning, and the Boston Red Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles 8-6 on Sunday for their sixth consecutive victory.
The Red Sox completed a four-game sweep and stayed one game ahead of the New York Yankees in the AL East, the sixth time in seven seasons that Boston has led the division at the All-Star break.
Baltimore has lost seven straight and 12 of 13.
Managers Terry Francona of the Red Sox and Buck Showalter of the Orioles both were ejected after pitches hit or came close to their batters.
Boston also had three homers in an inning in Thursday's 10-4 series-opening win, with David Ortiz, Josh Reddick and Jarrod Saltalamacchia hitting solo shots in consecutive at-bats.
Yankees 1, Rays 0
James Shields and B.J. Upton made bad throwing errors that let Robinson Cano score the only run, sending CC Sabathia and the New York Yankees to a 1-0 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday.
A day after Derek Jeter got five hits, including No. 3,000, All-Stars Shields and Sabathia (13-4) staged a classic pitchers' duel, matching zeros until the bottom of the seventh inning.
Cano led off with a single, and Jorge Posada's popup to shallow centre was gloved on the run by Upton, who wound up and rocketed a throw well over first baseman Casey Kotchman's head.
Cano moved to third, and took a big lead. Shields (8-7) tried to pick him off.
The ball went wide and a stunned and happy Cano trotted home.
Angels 4, Mariners 2
Alberto Callaspo hit a tiebreaking two-run double in the eighth inning, Dan Haren pitched five-hit ball before falling one out short of his second straight complete game, and the Los Angeles Angels rolled into the All-Star break with their 14th victory in 17 games, 4-2 over the struggling Seattle Mariners on Sunday.
Mark Trumbo homered in his third straight game for the Angels, who swept the four-game series and remained one game behind similarly streaking Texas atop the AL West standings.
After Haren (10-5) and Seattle ace Felix Hernandez dueled through the first seven innings, Callaspo drove a two-out pitch from reliever David Pauley (5-3) into the gap, scoring Torii Hunter and Howie Kendrick.
